From the EMS VCS3 modifications page

The normal pitch characteristic was 0.32V/octave which has led to rumours of incapatibility with 1V/octave synthesizers. This is untrue, it is only necessary to scale down the control voltage by about a factor of three.

Maybe you might consider the XILS 3 as a soft alternative.

XILS 3 is Here !

I have a nice Synthi AKS with 2 expansions for sale.
Check the adverts.

news?

It's kinda easy to do melody stuff with a synthi.
VCO1 and VCO2 track 0.33 volt oct and vco3 something like 0.28.
Atentiate the input for about 1/3 and you're there.
Another big thing which makes the EMS sound is the matrix.
And let's not forget the ringmod and reverb.
BTW my Synthi is no more for sale

EMS Synthi A & EMS VCS3 Synthesizers Back In Production » Synthtopia

The rumor says that the Synthi & VCS3 will be back in production in 2011.
About £3000 for a unit says the rumor.

Me too, I always wanted to make those gorgeous trills on Oxygene using a joystick but I doubt I would be happy paying £4000 + for such a synth as much as I want one. I think it's basically a rich mans toy.

There is a software VCS3 or Synthi emulator and I always wondered if it would be possible to to do the joystick emulation with a midi controller that actually has a joystick like the CME bitstream3x:



Given how expensive the controller is I never took the risk of buying it to find out.

Hah hah! Thats a good one..... will never happen

French film composer Francois De Roubaix (RIP) used to use the VCS3 on
quite a lot of scores back in the early-to-mid '70s. Another sci-fi score featuring lots of VCS3 is John Carpenter's Dark Star from 1974.

The link isn't working currently.
Still, that rumour has been going around for 10+ years now. Most of us that have heard it, are of the "I'll believe it when I see it" attitude now..

I have had a VCS3 MK1 and the Cricklewood keyboard now for nearly six months and have only bearly scratched the surface of what this beautiful machine can do ,

it amazes me,

its even sometimes scares me with what comes out the speakers,

its truly from another world,,,

there is nothing that will come close to this machine,,,

theres one for sale on ebay that belonged to the legend and the visual designer for the EMS VCS3 synthesizer Tristram Cary,,,

EMS Vcs3 Putney Synthesizer on eBay (end time 07-Nov-10 12:17:01 GMT)

Lol it just went up over £300 between me looking at the listing and adding it to my watched items list.

I'll bet JMJ gets it. He's a greedy bugger for them and he won't be satisfied until he owns them all! heh

The vostok looks nothing like a VCS3 and it says it uses MS20 clone filters right on the website.

I'm not pointing fingers at anyone, but I'm always confused why people think it's a VCS clone just because of the pin matrix in spite of the description that nobody obviously read on the webpage.

Exactly. Nothing comes close to a synthi.

Well Oscillators 1 & 2 in a VCS3 and a Synthi A track at 0.32V/Octave, and Oscillator 3 at 0.26V/Octave, so driving them at 5V will make them super sonic, but if your feeding the Voltage into the VCS3 properly then all you should do is turn the Input Ch1 pot down to 1, that way you should at least start hearing the Oscillator within the normal Human Audio range.

Pink Floyd used a VCS3 in a few of their albums. They now emulate those sounds using the Kurzweil K2600. Kurzweil released the PC3 series which now includes the VA-1 virtual analog synthesizer that they developed but never released. I am able to get many of the Pink Floyd synth tones from the PC3. If you are just trying to emulate the sound of the VCS3 I'd consider that keyboard as a candidate.

Fear not! Another VCS3 on the bay:

EMS VCS3 MKII | eBay

Need a overpriced broken EMS keyboard? There is an auction for that:

EMS DK-1 EXTERNAL KEYBOARD CONTROLER FOR SYNTHI A VCS 3 VCS-3 WITH CASE | eBay

Anyone wants my "Random Voltage Generator". I would sell mine at a 10% discount compared to this:

EMS RANDOM VOLTAGE GENERATOR Synthi VCS-3 vintage modular synthesizer | eBay

I do like the RVG. Stupidly sold mine.

Robin Wood still seems to make EMS synths in Cornwall (albeit a handful in a year) for about £4000 a piece. Their website hasn't been updated since '98 but there are posts around the net that people have ordered one from Wood as late as 2012.

Electronic Music Studios

Hi, someone knows if their still making them?

Yes, Robin Wood @ EMS in Cornwall is still making them, but only the VCS3, as there is no spartanite cases left to make Synthi A's. There is a rather long waiting list though.

iPad and iVCS3 would be the cheaper viable option

I sent an email, and they are indeed making them. You have to be really patient tho, like waiting 12 years or more...The prices on their website are outdated.

Quote:

''The 2016 price for an unmodified instrument is 4500 GBP (excluding VAT – if applicable)''

''We are also making the DK2 mechanical keyboard again and these are just becoming available now at 1250 GBP''

Would it be hard for a company to start producing eurorack modules that cloned the original circuits?

I started with an ASYS modular system in 2005 to emulate a VCS3 but a year later got the real thing and realized modular and it were worlds apart. It's the tracking, gain staging, raw oscs, vca, reverb tank and the ring mod that set it unique and unduplicatable.

This was my demo in 2006:

http://www.rewiremusic.com/Audio/Dem..._VCS3_Demo.mp3

However, STG is working on EMS type OSCs and the Trapezoid and has the best filter already, the Sea Devil.

Dan