EMS VCS 3

The VCS 3 (an acronym for Voltage Controlled Studio with 3 oscillators) is a portable analog synthesiser with a flexible semi-modular voice architecture, initially made in 1969 by Peter Zinovieff's EMS company. The electronics were largely designed by David Cockerell and the machine's distinctive visual appearance was the work of electronic composer Tristram Cary. The VCS 3 was more or less the first "portable" commercially available synthesiser—portable in the sense that the VCS 3 was housed entirely in a small, wooden case, unlike previous machines from American manufacturers such as Moog Music, ARP and Buchla which were housed in large cabinets and were known to take up entire rooms. Significantly, it retailed for just under £1000 in the UK. It was alleged by many (including synthesizer enthusiast Gordon Reid in his articles on the EMS company for Sound on Sound magazine in 2000 ) to be somewhat hopeless as a melodic instrument due to its unusual method of tuning and inherent instability; however, it is renowned as an extremely powerful generator of electronic effects and processor of external sounds.

The VCS 3 has three Oscillators, a Noise Generator, two Input Amplifiers, a Ring Modulator, a 18dB/octave Voltage Controlled Low Pass Filter (VCF), a Trapezoid Envelope Generator, Joy-Stick Controller, Voltage Controlled Spring Reverb unit and 2 Stereo Output Amplifiers. Unlike most modular synthesiser systems which use cables to link components together, the VCS 3 uses a distinctive patch board matrix into which pins are inserted in order to connect its components together.

The VCS 3 was quite popular among progressive rock bands and was used on recordings by The Alan Parsons Project, Jean Michel Jarre, Hawkwind, Brian Eno (with Roxy Music), King Crimson, The Who, Gong, and Pink Floyd, among many others. Well-known examples of its use are on The Who track "Won't Get Fooled Again" from "Who's Next" and Pink Floyd's "On the Run" from "Dark Side of the Moon".

The VCS 3, in spite of the fact that it is a monophonic synthesiser, underwent something of a renaissance in the late 1990s and early 2000s, both in popularity and in price. Artists looking to evoke a quaint, synthesized sound began to make the VCS 3 popular, and thus, prices for the synthesiser reached as much as £3000 and even more for famous ones—higher even than when they were first released.

The VCS 3's basic design was reused by EMS in many other of their own products, most notably in the EMS Synthi 100 and the Synthi A (essentially a VCS 3 housed in a plastic briefcase).

The EMS VCS 3 was referenced in the 2006 song "Seka Wants Your VCS3" by the electro psychedelic group [http://www.myspace.com/emperormachine The Emperor Machine] As featured on the NME Dance Floor Distortion CD of the same year.

Notable users

*Brian Eno
*The Who
*Pink Floyd
*King Crimson
*Tim Blake
*TONTO's Expanding Head Band
*Zorch
*David Vorhaus
*Edgar Froese
*Aphex Twin
*Jean Michel Jarre
*Chemical Brothers
*Ozric Tentacles
*Tangerine Dream

External links

* [http://www.ems-synthi.demon.co.uk/snaps/everynun.jpgAn advertisement for the company, "every nun needs a Synthi"]
* [http://www.ems-synthi.demon.co.uk/ EMS' homepage (last updated August 1998)]
* [http://www.hinton-instruments.co.uk/ems/emsmods.html VCS3 Modifications]
* [http://www.emsrehberg.de/SYNTHI__s/SYNTHI_Avs_plugin/synthi_avs_plugin.html A (commercial) VST simulation of a VCS3/Synthi A]
* [http://www.thesynthi.de/ THE EMS SYNTHI BLOG]
* [http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/nov00/articles/retrozone.htm Gordon Reid's EMS article from Sound on Sound, November 2000.]
* [http://www.ninecows.dk/cynthia A free VST based on the architecture of VCS3/Synthi A]