The historical find of the 'Museo del Synth Marchigiano‘

Members of the 'Synth Museum Marchigiano' have found remains of the IRIS Studio (M.A.R.S.)


In 2019 I received an email. A group of enthusiasts of old electronic musical instruments from Italian production, who also run the 'Museo del Synth Marchigiano', not far from Ancona/Italy, came up with a historical find!

sample-imageAfter gaining access to a long-closed and half-ruined warehouse of the Bontempi company, which was to be demolished, the team discovered a considerable amount of " liquidated " material. As it turned out, it was the stored equipment from the Research Center 'IRIS' in Paliano, which had been moved there after the sudden and unexpected closure, around 1999. Above all, prototypes of various devices that had been developed at IRIS, but mainly M.A.R.S. from the last generation! A real coup of the 'Museo del Synth Marchigiano' was finally the successful "liberation" and transfer of the material into the inventory of the museum. The good folks also got lots of documentation on it, boxes of chips, individual parts and they have since brought some of the devices back into service!

However, prior to that, they had to find out first what exactly they had found there - and the only information about these devices that could be found was on my website. This is how the email reached me. Quickly a kind affiliation developed, and in the meantime they reunited a good part of the old M.A.R.S. people from the studio in Paliano (including Peppino di Guigno, Sylviane Sapir and Paolo Andrenacci) - especially by regular events in their own 'Museo del Synth Marchigiano'. Viva Italia! Life is beautiful!

The coincidence was that the home of the 'Museo del Synth Marchigiano' is also the homeland region of the Bontempi-Farfisa Group and the warehouse therefore was in the immediate vicinity. Even the NeXT cube, which was used to program the (Windows95/98) software ARES, including source codes, is part of the discovery.

sample-imageFor me this discovery is particularly pleasing, since I had stopped working with my M.A.R.S. due to the disappearance of IRIS, in order not to lose my entire work in case of an irreparable, technical damage. Many components (especially the chips) were IRIS developments and there were no addresses or documents that would have made a repair by outsiders possible. Now at least a lot of hardware and also documents are available again and for all involved now the question is how to connect the M.A.R.S. to current computers - my 27 years old Siemens PC is still running, but it would be more comfortable to run Windows 95 with the software 'ARES' on a more up-to-date computer. Perhaps it can be done with the help of a USB to ISA board.


Text & Translation Soon!

Great Reset?
4th Industrial Revolution?
New World Order?

The Fall of Babylon the Great

And I heard another voice from heaven saying,
“Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues!
"Eat ze Bugs!"


"We are the CO2 to be reduced!"

For Sale

Used Equipment

19 inch devices - Cases - Buchla - Eurorack.

RME Bob 32
AES Breakoutbox - NEW!

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€ 180.- plus shipping

Can be folded so that front and rear can be screwed into the rack as a 2U unit.

Buchla (Clone)
Frequency Shifter Model 285r

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€ 550.- plus shipping

Shifter/Ringmodulator. Only operated for a few hours. Superbly built by A. Scramstad in Oregon/USA (my favorite builder).

Synovatron
CV-Tools - ARP 2600 inspired

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€ 130.- plus shipping

Great Eurorack Voltage Processor and Slew Generator from the company Synovatron, unfortunately closed due to reasons of age.

ADDAC
Dual Amplifier. As new!

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€ 90.- plus shipping

Two amplifiers in a 4HP Eurorack module. Very good quality - I have always liked ADDAC very much.

Expert Sleepers
ESX-8GT. Neuwertig!

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€ 45.- plus shipping

Gate Expander for the ES-40 Audio to CV Module. Passive (without power connection).

MakeNoise Wiard Wogglebug
Random Generator

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€ 145.- plus shipping

The Wiard Random Generator - still in the original licensed circuitry.

Intellijel Dixie CTRL
Control Expansion für den Dixie VCO

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€ 35.- plus shipping

- allows control of PW, PWM, Lin FM and Exp FM on the Dixie VCO.

SKB R2U Roto Rack
As new!

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€ 160.- plus shipping

Installation depth 45cm (deep version). In original box. Used for one day only.

SKB 6U+3U, Gator GR-4S
In top condition!

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180.- 140.- 80.- plus shipping

Have never been on the road and are in TOP condition! Are no longer produced by SKB.

TEKTRONIX 2215A
Dual-channel oscilloscope

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€ 130.- plus shipping

incl. test probes. 2 mV/cm sensitivity, 60 MHz, deflection speed up to 5 ns/cm, 6.1 kg.