Technos Acxel Resynthesizer Demo/Jam

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Demo of the rare Technos Acxel at Perfect Circuit Audio.

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I've known the conceptual creator of this instrument, Nil Parent. He was my "History of Electronic Music" professor back in the days, for one elective class I took back then in 1990 (+ or - a year), at Laval University in Quebec. Nil and I stayed in touch after that. So the summer after that semester, Nil brought this beast to my home so I could spend a weekend ordering the library of sounds (and, obviously, fiddle with it). ! What a blast !

In those days (I was, my studio rig consisted of a Juno-106, a DX-27, and a Tascam PortaStudio-II with a Boss DM-2 Delay pedal. That was IT. So, you can imagine the clash in my brain when these kind of sounds came out of that big black box and that shiny interactive LED matrix.

Anyhow... My opinion is that this machine was WAY ahead of its time. The reason is: CPU power. Back then, computers were sluggish. And to do that kind of reverse Fourrier transforms and data manipulation (resynthesis), you need lots of CPU power and fast computers. Something like that, today, would be awesome. I hope someone will take it and rejuvenate it, now that computers kick ass. But the concept of that synth, in itself, is astounding.

I am sad that Yamaha never put their hands on it, when the company started to have weak knees or when it failed. Not sure if it was ever proposed to them or not (I could ask Nil if I see him again) but I see Yam as the most logic and best-suited company to have picked-up that project. It was directly in line with their FM and digital specialty.

From what I remember, Nil told me that Peter Gabriel and Michael Jackson had bought one (or more) of those synths. I'm not 100% sure. But it certainly doesn't sound unlikely...

I'll end by saying that I'll be ever grateful to Nil for opening my mind with his teachings, and for inspiring me and giving me his trust (oh, I should mention that time when he opened the door to a small studio room in which he let me in and said "have fun, I'll be back in an hour" and just there in front of me, was a genuine, full-blown, Moog Modular-55... 'Nuf said...). A true professor. Always willing to help and trust young people.

That's my 2 cents on the Acxel. Happy to share insider info for the community.

SynthOSphere

This is pretty wild. It's begging to be made into a VST or touch app.

Psychlist

I've known about this unicorn for decades. This is the first time I've heard it. Doesn't sound very musical. May explain why it never reached commercial success. More of a curiosity than an instrument of music.

StarfieldBound

Oh wicked. ... $19, 000 ?!? **drinks water just to spit it out** edit: Also, this thing is sooo cool! According to wikipedia, about 35 of these were sold when they were produced in the 80s. Reading about *it* is fascinating. Too bad no one else has done this recently, I would think the cost could be significantly reduced in the modern era.

Zinfidel

LOL at Perfect Circuit discounting this $19, 999.00 to $19, 819.00 . Better jump right on it before the sale ends. ;)

Psychlist

this is the sound of Steampunk synth! A mix of Yamaha DX with Crazy thrown in for good measure. I have pictures of the Technos 16 pi keyboard but can not find any video demos or websites on it.

pianokeyjoe

Just saw one go on sale for $30k and it sounds like this? It sounds like someone smashed a Banjo Kazooie game but that touch wave interface is brilliant for ‘88.

cablevamp

Last time i saw it was at musikmesse in the 90s, funny how different its technology seems now.

lab-by-the-sea

0:57 sounds like a great Super Nintendo game that never existed and then 2:25 sounds like that game's item shop. 1:13 sounds like the Sega Genesis shovelware the game company put out the year before.

DollarHeadache

Could you actually explain what this is? Like a spectrum fm synthesiser? Are all the sounds coming from it or are some of them modulation a of sounds?

jakayboy