The electronic designs were again, by David Cockrell, the physical layout of the machine and choice of modules was by Tristram Cary, and the overall design concept was by Zinovieff.

The second fate was that these designs were expanded upon, using a unique pin-matrix patch panel, into the VCS3, a more commercially oriented product. The rest of the panel is additional modules suggested by Australian composer Keith Humble, and built by Thirkell (this machine is now in the collection of the Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio – MESS). The original VCS1 is the knobs in the lower right of the panel. First, in 1970, in Australia, it was expanded into the unit shown just below, by engineer Graeme Thirkell. Cary, with engineer David Cockrell, and designer Peter Zinovieff produced a small box called the VCS1.

In 1968, Australian composer/pianist Don Banks, in London, asked fellow composer and electronic musician Tristram Cary what it would take to make a small box of electronic music modules that he could travel around with. The story of the classic EMS (Electronic Music Studios) VCS3 synthesizer, and its spinoff, the Synthi AKS, begins more than 50 years ago. But it’s appropriate, because we here embark on a journey into the deep past of electronic music, which happened right at the same time.

I was indeed a DJ in 1967-68 (The Saturday Night of Gold), and I had to learn patter like that for the gig. “Another Solid Gold Blast from the Past, Another Moldy Oldy from the Grooveyard”. Arturia does it again, recreating one of the earliest vintage synths, and adds a pile of new features while they’re at it – another solid gold blast from the past.

Arturia ems synthi v