Ahead Of Its Time: Publison DHM89B2 (1978)

The French Publison DHM89B2 with its FB2000 keyboard controller is a stunning instrument for its time. Released first in 1978 (keyboard in 1980) it quickly made its way into the electronic music studios of the experimental avantgarde, such as INA GRM and SWR Experimentalstudio. For the time it offered incredible fidelity of pitch-shifting and sampling, surpassing the more famous Fairlight with ease. Pop stars like Prince used it extensively, and it became the go to vocal doubler / harmonizer for many years. This particular unit belonged to Manuel Göttsching (E2-E4) and resides now at the Akademie der Künste Berlin. Robert Henke (Monolake) and Dave Hilowitz joined me there to explore it.

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[mustakatu]

Seeing Robert Henke, Hainbach, and David Hilowitz in one video playing with Göttsching's gear feels like a Christmas special of a fav show or something. And a plot twist of PitchLoop89 being inspired by Publison adds even more festive melodrama to the whole thing, ahaha

[jason.martin]

The guy that is the last one left that knows how to repairs these needs to share his skills with the next generation- he could do a youtube series

[mrotaveria]

It's always wonderful to appreciate the personality that these instruments have, mostly caused by their technical limitations. This is something we've lost in this era of infinite possibilities.

[AlexBallMusic]

What a curious creation! Sounds incredible with the looping piano samples.

[AynenMakino]

Holy crap, it's a Morphagene from the 70s!

[blaisebaileyfinnegan]

Ludicrously amazing piece of kit for 1978!

[ProjetHomeStudio]

Man, Hainbach & Monolake. I'm impressed. Thanks for everything you're doing !

[kiviakinstruments]

Impossible to make a video about Publison without Robert Henke, nice !! I was not aware that this keyboard was designed to be used with !

[bricelory]

What an amazing piece of kit! That's really impressive for 1978 - and it's remarkable to me that sounds that seem so modern could have been created nearly 50 years ago.

[Sagaoas]

Hainbach + Henke? Be still, my beating heart 😍

It's remarkable just how much this thing sounds like Monolake, especially the ambient tracks.

[Gazdatronik]

Publison made the most batshit cool digital gear I have ever seen. Never seen anything like them before, or since.

[memorycurse]

1978?! Im floored that this existed and sounds so good

[wilbo]

This is insane for when it was made. Talk about ahead of its time.

[DRP]

Wish this could be made into a virtual instrument!! I LOVE IT❤❤❤

[Shaderdiceblock]

I love the world of synthesizers that are rare and mostly unknown it’s amazing

[djshire]

An amazing synth that I had never heard of til this vid.

[TheMachinesWon]

Man, your videos are so special, a real homage to electric music every time. Thank you!

[ringsystemmusic]

Ah, this was sublime! What a unique device- and using an analog oscillator for the clock was the kind of unique workaround that simply isn’t done these days. Love love love the phonic textures with this.

[Человек-шчц]

Каждый раз при просмотре твоих видео хочется бросить все насущные, ничего не стоящие делишки и заняться тем, что на самом деле по душе, но реальность заставляет отвлекаться на пустое...😢

[BerndScheurer]

phantastic instrument! thanks for this video.