Update: Formant book 2 is now also posted!
Building your own modular synthesizer with discrete components was quite a thing in the seventies. There were many electronica magazines covering this subject. The Elektor (Elektuur) Formant DIY synth was very successful, not only because it looked and sounded good, but there were many additional modules to be added to your system.
Here is the first book on the Elektor Formant, by C. Chapman. This is the English version, we will upload the second book soon and we have a lot (lot!) of articles about expanding the formant with additional modules.
We would like to know if there are still users / owners of the Formant synth out there. In the future we will share thoughts and experiences on building or playing this machine.
nice website, hope it will expand soon
This sounds fantastic! Looking forward to more content. Website bookmarked. Best of luck!
Greetings, Still have the ETI build documents for 4600 and 5600. Also have an original Formant Build / Book but the Blue Cassette Demo Tape by Colin Chapman dies a few years back.
Hello David
thanks for your comment, if there is anything you would like to share (& publish) just let me know. Do you still own the ETI synth/modules?
best wishes
Eric
Please upload what you have when you get a chance. I have been thinking about buliding one for years.
I have uploaded more materials now, please note that the Formant post is now split into 2. Including the second book. I also have a bunch of articles for projects that fit onto the Formant concept. I will upload these soon. Keep me informed about your projects please. Regards from Holland
Hello, nice website here!
Never had a complete Formant synth but i build some modules in the late seventees.
The keyboard and the ringmodulator which sounded very cool btw.
Unfortunately they are lost over the years, i only have the books (Dutch) and the demo cassette.