Teisco/Kawai Synthesizer 100F
Although Kawai began manufacturing synthesizers under the company name of Teisco, they soon took over as Kawai which resulted in synths like the S100F above which can be found labeled either Teisco or Kawai (as pictured above). The Synthesizer 100F is a very good and classic single-vco monophonic analog synth. It has a small but usable 37 note keyboard. Sawtooth, square and noise waveforms and external sounds can be run through the synth's filters and envelopes and mixed with the oscillator.
Although there is only one oscillator, there's plenty of modulation ability to really liven up the sound. There's an LFO which can modulate the VCO, VCF and VCA. The VCF resonant filter is good and can be modulated by the LFO, Envelope 1, the external input or even the VCO! There's also a VCA section with Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release controls and finally there's a Hi-Pass filter. There is also a portamento effect for that final crucial analog synth effect! A typical analog synth with just about all the features and functions you'd need. It's got the classic wood side panels and a front panel layout that leads to very straight forward programming resulting in good analog bass, lead and synth sounds.
- Demos & Media
-
Video 1 - DEMO - fun with the kawai synthesizer-100f
- Specifications
- Polyphony - Monophonic
- Oscillators - 1 VCO: saw, square, noise, external audio in (2', 4', 8', 16', 32', 64' and "low" pitches)
- LFO - Saw, Triangle, square waveforms with adjustable Rate
- Filter - Low Pass resonant filter and High Pass non-resonant filter
- VCA - Simple AD, ADS or ADR envelope modes
- Keyboard - 37 notes
- Memory - None
- Control - CV/Gate
- Date Produced - 1977
- Websites of Interest
- Resources & Credits
Images by Nils Odegaard.
Errors or Corrections? Send them here.
this synth is not perfect, but it is a way underrated one. the filter is really great and the single oscillator is one of the best sounding one ever put in a 1osc synth,the overall sound is really huge. it has plenty of character. got mine for 200 euros and i won't part with it...NEVER. if you compare with let's say a sh101 the sh101 is more polished and sweet and has many good features but in terms of "balls" and sonic possibilities it can't even get close to the 100f. buy one if you can find one under 400 £.
Also I got put off by this Retrozone review in Sound On Sound magazine:
..."an intriguing but ultimately disappointing single-oscillator monosynth. The S100F's sound is about as engaging as last week's lunch." LOL!