The Lambda ES50 is a vintage poly-ensemble type synthesizer with slightly editable Preset orchestral sounds. It is divided into two sections: The Percussion set includes Preset pianos, clavis and harmonics; The Ensemble section has Presets for brass, strings, organ and choruses. Filter and envelope controls affect the different instruments individually. The Lambda has 96 discrete envelopes and VCAs - two for each key - a very unusual design. There are also vibrato and chorus effects.

The Percussion group and Ensemble group each have their own separate outputs which is nice. A joystick is proveded left of the keyboard for simultaneous control of pitch bends and chorus phase speed.

The String sounds are the nicest sounds this synth can create. With three oscillators you can vary and detune them enough to get a nice layered analog string. Piano and Brass sounds are pretty cheesy. The Lambda is cased in a great big wooden case that gives it that authentically vintage status. It's nice to have around, but a good sample of it is all you'll really need these days.

TTT

December 26, 2011 @ 10:37 am

Piano-like presets are not specially interesting. But it gives you awesome string presets too (low, high and human vox type - vox preset is incredible!) with AR and filter cutoff control. There's also nice percussive preset called "harmonics". Joystick with pitch/effect control is cool feature. Onboard phaser sounds very good - classic!
3 vcos are divided down to achieve polyphony, but it doesn't affect sound quality in way it does in cheapo string synths.
For me, Lambda is among the best string synths. Simple, but quality of some sounds is just astounding!

Henrik

November 15, 2011 @ 3:03 pm

I sold my Lambda in the mid 80s, but have finally got my hands on one again. It’s great. Vintage, analogue, good sounding, good fun. 2 stars? 4 stars? I think it’s meaningless to compare a Lambda to, say, MS2000. They are so different, and of course a MS2000 can do a lot more.The sheer qualites of the Lambda are different from so many others, so the comparison is futile. As said before, what it does, it does extremely well. It has character. A little refurbishing and it will shine in my living room. I’ll never part with this wooden monster!

PS: Anybyody know where to get a joystick?

wjmwpg

November 3, 2011 @ 1:15 pm

Oh man I love this thing.

I got mine from a guy in the Maritimes who'd found it in his barn. It powered on once for him, screeched and then died. He sold it to me for the cost of shipping.

When it arrived I took it to my tech and we opened it up to find a mouse habitat. It was full of pink insulation and mouse turds. We laughed so hard we almost fell over. After a good cleaning and a handful of inexpensive parts replaced the thing sounds like new! And what sounds . . .

wjmwpg

November 3, 2011 @ 1:14 pm

I think it deserves a third star (at least) for its incredibly lush and rich sonic character. I hate trying to describe sound in words but I'll say this about it:

1. It doesn't do nearly everything, but what it does excel at it does better than any of my other 15 vintage synths. There's no replacement for it.
2. No other synth so immediately brings me pure joy as soon as I play it. It cures a bad mood in about 20 seconds.

Hal A.

August 14, 2011 @ 5:10 pm

Yea, like Johannes writes, it's a joy to play. Great for hi strings, I like the brass too, with the adjustable filter cutoff.

Josh Philips from Procol Harum used this, see:
http://www.procolharum.com/99/jp_scrap-keys.htm

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