From Stephen Parsick Sent Fri, Nov 13th 1998, 12:15
Hi Jason, hi all, thanks for your reply to my posting on AH. Even though I=B4m=20 reluctant to say so, I=B4m afraid you=B4re wrong : BOEHM and BOHM=20 actually are the same company, it=B4s just a different spelling.=20 Some people use "OE" to replace the German umlaut "=D6" as it=20 originally occurs in B=D6HM (or Dr. B=F6hm, to be correct), others=20 don=B4t care for the umlaut at all and just write BOHM. I have the=20 original 1984/85 folders by Dr. B=F6hm complete with price lists (I=20 think the prices quoted in Peter Forrest=B4s book were from my price=20 lists actually) and they announce the SoundLab as a complement to=20 their organ line, the modular synthesizers were actually demoed by=20 some of these organ entertainers like the late Mark Shakespeare. I=20 even checked out a SoundLab at Dr. B=F6hm=B4s store in Switzerland in=20 1984 and -- even though I was twelve years old then -- I was=20 pretty much impressed.=20 As for the developement of the instrument=20 itself, you=B4re right, it clearly shows that people like Dieter=20 Doepfer (here we go again with that umlaut), Bernd Enders or=20 Andreas Kellog were involved in it rather than the organ people=20 who made digital junk like the 4x9 or 1224. Dieter Doepfer, by the=20 way, was trying to sell an own small modular synth at that time=20 called the PMS (a lot later this became the A-100 series) which=20 also incorporated an eight-bit sound sampler. Exactly the same=20 module can be found in the SoundLab (sometimes, at least).=20 But Dr. B=F6hm at the same time had the production means to manufacture=20 the SoundLab cost-efficiently. Did you actually know=20 that PPG (yes, the very) originally used lots of components that=20 were made by (or for) Dr. B=F6hm for their DIY organs ? All the=20 keyboard assemblies of the old PPGs (e. g. 1002/1020, 350/360,=20 Wave 2) were courtesy of B=F6hm, the 350/360 even used LED switches=20 and displays you could also find on Dr. B=F6hm=B4s Orchestra 3003=20 triple-manual organs (around 1978-80). Hopefully, that helped you further. =20 BFN, cheers, Stephen. On Thu, 12 Nov 1998, Vertical 8 wrote: > >Mind you, the only ambitious=20 > >synth-project they ever had -- the Soundlab -- never really took off=20 > >because organ-grampas did not want modular synthesizers, and=20 > >synth-fanatics were not too keen on buying something manufactured by an= =20 > >organ firm. Pretty much the same thing with the Elka Synthex, I would=20 > >say.=20 >=20 > I think this is a mistake. I believe there are tow companies with similar > names. boEhm did the digital stuff. BOHM did the sound lab. >=20 > Just thought Id clear this up. > Jason >=20