Siel
Societa Industrie Elettroniche (SIEL) was an Italian company that made electronic organs and synthesizers in the 1980s.
Timeline of major products
* 1979 - Siel Orchestra, Orchestra (Divide down oscillator network for full poly. Brass/string/ ...
square
In geometry, a square is a regular polygon, regular quadrilateral. It has four straight sides of equal length and four equal angles. Squares are special cases of rectangles, which have four equal angles, and of rhombuses, which have four equal si ...
and sawtooth waveforms (not independently configurable).
, filter = 1 resonant 4 pole VCF
, attenuator = 2
ADSR envelope
In sound and music, an envelope describes how a sound changes over time. For example, a piano key, when struck and held, creates a near-immediate initial sound which gradually decreases in volume to zero. An envelope may relate to elements such ...
Keytar
A keytar (a portmanteau of ''keyboard'' and ''guitar'') is a keyboard instrument similar to a synthesizer or MIDI controller that is supported by a strap around the neck and shoulders, similar to the way a guitar is held.
Overview
Though the ...
grip that allows for pitch bend, program change and modulation
, ext_control =
MIDI
Musical Instrument Digital Interface (; MIDI) is an American-Japanese technical standard that describes a communication protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, ...
, memory = 2 track Polyphonic sequencer
, fx = Chorus
, dates = 1986-1990
, price =
The Siel DK70 is a
synthesizer
A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...
produced in 1986 by
Siel
Societa Industrie Elettroniche (SIEL) was an Italian company that made electronic organs and synthesizers in the 1980s.
Timeline of major products
* 1979 - Siel Orchestra, Orchestra (Divide down oscillator network for full poly. Brass/string/ ...
.
Description
The DK70 is the cut-down little brother of the Siel DK80. It is often compared to the
Korg
, founded as Keio Electronic Laboratories, is a Japanese multinational corporation that manufactures electronic musical instrument
An electronic musical instrument or electrophone is a musical instrument that produces sound using electr ...
Poly-800, to which it is conceptually similar, but while is had a similar appearance and used a very similar digital interface (even "sharing" the extended envelope parameters of break-point and slope) it is no clone. It operates like an analog synth, but its envelope generators and LFOs are all digital and its oscillators use a digitally-controlled divide-down organ chip. The DK-70 has eight "oscillators", but all the voices are mixed together through a single "monophonic" analog lowpass filter which was shared for all voices. Similar "paraphonic" arrangements were used in instruments like the ARP Omni. While the DK70 offers similar features and settings to the Korg Poly 800, it appeared several years later, has a different chipset and sound and offers additional features like two LFOs, memory cartridges and accepts velocity response over MIDI.
Like a monophonic synthesizer, the filter was switchable between single or multiple modes. In single mode, the first key pressed triggers the filter envelope, and unless all keys are released, the filter does not re-trigger. In multi mode, each key pressed in turn triggers the filter envelope, even if other keys are still pressed down.
The oscillators are called " DCOs", and the envelope generators called ''DEG'' (for Digital Envelope Generator). Digital components were much cheaper at the time and using digital access and control, an (SGS M112) organ chip and a single (SSM2045) VCF, the DK70 could approximate the sound of an analog synth, but have 8 note polyphony without being cost prohibitive to the average user.
An unusual feature of the DK70 is that, while it appears to have the form factor of a standard synth, it has guitar strap pegs and can be used as a
keytar
A keytar (a portmanteau of ''keyboard'' and ''guitar'') is a keyboard instrument similar to a synthesizer or MIDI controller that is supported by a strap around the neck and shoulders, similar to the way a guitar is held.
Overview
Though the ...
. (The Poly-800 also had this feature.) An accessory called the "Stage Set" can be attached to the left side to provide a grip (similar to that of the
SH-101
The Roland SH-101 is an analog synthesizer manufactured by the Roland Corporation between 1982 and 1986. Though it did not achieve significant commercial success, it later became a staple of electronic music in the 1990s, particularly house music ...
), where the player may manipulate a ribbon-style pitch bender, as well as have access to buttons that change patches, change
octave
In music, an octave (: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is an interval between two notes, one having twice the frequency of vibration of the other. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referr ...
s and engage the LFO
modulation.
It stores 50 patches, 10 of which are user assignable. A cartridge port accepted a cartridge which could store an additional 50 patches. All programming is done via pushbuttons, somewhat limiting its "tweakability" for live performances.
It also has an onboard two-track sequencer, which can be programmed by setting the tempo and recording a performance (unlike a step sequencer, where notes were entered in sequential order and played back at fixed durations). The performance would then loop when played back.
The synth engine was also available in the earlier keyboardless, table top Siel Expander-80 (actually a cut-down DK-80), similar to the Korg EX-800.
Released in Brazil as Giannini GS 7010 polyphonic synthesizer