Towards the end of the eighties, the British company Cheetah released their finest, the MS6. It's a 6-voice polyphonic/multitimbral analog synthesizer in a single-unit rack module. It has two digitally controlled oscillators per voice (12 DCOs) to provide better stability, and they sound surprisingly warm and musical. It's got the same sound chips (CEM 3396) as the Oberheim Matrix 6/6R and Matrix 1000 but the MS6 is multitimbral! Get creative with layering patches for ensembles or Trance heaven! Hidden within this little unit are some wonderful string, bass, lead, voice and percussion sounds!

The MS6 is a full-featured analog synth with 12 oscillators with PWM, noise and sync. There are 6 analog 24dB/oct filters which are warm and resonant! Programming from the front panel is possible but quite a bit tedious, so use of an editor is definitely recommended, such as Unisyn or the Knobby. The MS6 has been used by OMD and Rick Wakeman.

12 VISITOR COMMENTS

ian

January 10, 2012 @ 10:17 am

@Eraser
thanks for the tips. Yep you were right it was stuck in calibration mode due to the faulty voice chip. Got it repaired and now its working like charm. I'd forgotten how amazing the MS6 sounds!

Eraser

July 28, 2011 @ 10:00 am

@ Ian.

It just means that your no. 6 voice chip (CEM 3396) has gone bad. Your options are:

1) Buy a new voice chip and replace it (it will need soldering in).

2) Try just removing the faulty voice chip and not replacing it (snip it off at the top of the 'legs' so you can use the stumps if you ever want to solder in a new chip). I'm fairly certain that the calibration will then complete.

3) Remove the OS chip and leave for 24 hours or so, then replace. One of my MS6's froze up once and after I did that it came back to life. Try this first!!!...

Good luck!

ian

April 30, 2011 @ 6:12 pm

can anyone help me?
I have an MS6 but when I turn it on it goes into calibration mode and gets stuck on voice 6 and freezes. It used to work fine with just 5 voices but now cant get out of calibration mode at all. This is the 2nd MS6 I've had and they keep dying on me! Shame as I love the sound.

lamster

February 11, 2011 @ 6:07 pm

I agree putting the instructions on the lid is a bit silly when its in the rack thats the only thing I've ever thought was wrong with it. If you ever suffered the programing of a DX7 Poly 800 or a D50 then this is quite easy. Sounds great . I've had mine from new no trouble. dont worry about whats in it or how much like the matrix1000 it is Buy one there worth the money providing you not paying the eBay its a classic analog price tag.There is some real S**t for sale, that was c**p when it was new, 20-30 years later still is only is now past its best but its now classic yeah right! Ms6 is Ok

stevo0476

January 11, 2011 @ 11:34 am

It is a very capable machine and sounds like a milliondollar synth but it's let down by bad soldering joints etc. It's made cheap but soundwise there is nothing like it (if it works). People by crappy analogs (and are willing to pay silly prices for them) because they made a name for themselfs but the MS6 beats them bigtime soundwise.Who the hell gave the order to print the midispecs and patches on top of a synth made to sit in a rack for example is an other thing. And programming 128 midiparameters per voice with 2 knobs? Not well thought out I must say.....

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