Teisco 100P

Remarkably easy to use, just plug in and start tinkering. not much room for adjustment sound-wise, adding flanger and some simple filter stuff is possible with the tone slider, but that said, the sounds don't need much monkeying with. There should be something here for any occasion, some more than adequate brass/woodwind patches, but this synth scores mainly for bass sounds. Some lovely rich and warm bass sounds - try playing the bassoon sound whilst manipulating the tone slider - great fun to be ahd.

Monophonic synth means you actually have to THINK about the lines you play, instead of just padding by numbers, but hey, this is surely no bad thing. This frees up your other hand to play about with the flanger, pitch bend, tone control or portamento/glissando. This is a basic piece of kit, but the number or sound possibilities are numerous. No sequencer, and it can't even spell MIDI, but I believe a kit is available.

This keyboard has an early incarnation of touch sensitivity which is surprisingly good. This isn't limited to simple dynamics. The touch sensitivity can be assigned to pitch bend up/down, growl, some crazy wow effect which makes it a real joy to play. Great bass sounds make it ideal for dance/brum and bass stuff, also doubling bass guitar lines in pop and rock stuff for extra depth in the mix. Lovely deep flanger really livens up some of the simpler patches, and the spring reverb warms up the sounds of this synth. That said, the reverb can sometimes be a little noisy. Some of the lead patches can sometimes be a little piercing if you're not careful, which just demonstrates the broad spectrum of noises available to even the most casual user.

Don't think i would gig this piece of kit (although I have in the past) It's getting on a bit and despite the fact that it's built like
a tank (and weighs about the same) this unit can sometimes go a bit awry on the tuning front. Mine is just for studio use only, and makes a good conversation piece with visiting musicians in the studio. In a controlled environment this unit is dependableand will (hopefully) run for ever.

Never had to contact Kawai / Teisco / ARP (depending on whose label is on your particular model), but schematics are available on the internet with a minimum of searching. These are ok if you know what you're looking for and can read said diagrams, but then if you're playng about with kit like this, then you're probably a bit of an anorak anyway, but hey, it's a diry job and I like doing it.

If it were lost or stolen I really wouldn't know where to find another one. This isn't a particularly sought after piece of kit, but they really are irreplaceable synths - ever seen two in the same place? thought not. I love the way the keyboard responds to key pressure, and a great number of my recordings would be sadly lacking in warmth and richness were it not for this beast. I bought this on a whim over ten years ago, and have never regretted it. Best impulse buy I've ever made.

Dead simple. 32 presets with pressure sensitive keyboard which can add growl, vibrato, brilliance and pitch bend to output. Some of the presets are absolutely fantastic on this thing - especially the brass and woodwind sounds. Nice white and pink noise generator as well. Only thing missing is any asdr control. Don't have manual but the only thing that I needed to work out was what the different portamento's settings did (this is the A/B/C switch at the top).

Monophonic of course. Nice keyboard action. Brilliance and vibrato controls. Three way portamento, spring reverb and an in-built flanger add variety to sounds. The reverb is really nice, the flanger works well with sustained sounds like brass (try with the horn preset - great) but not so good for decaying sounds like the sitar. No midi or c/v interfaces but can be midi'd with the synhouse midi kit.

Some of the sounds are suprisingly realistic - at least comparable with the Roland SH2000 or pro-soloist - but it's not really expected to sound accurate is it? The fact is some of the sounds are great - realistic or not. I use the tuba, horn, flute and clarinet sounds most but the others are useful at times. The only ones that I don't use much are the piano and one of the synth presets.

I imagine it would work well for trancy gong-type stuff or acid. Also for prog.

Mine is 100% reliable. Wouldn't hesitate to gig it if I need to.

Never needed to worry about it. Schematics are available on line. Mine is the Kawai badged version. Some have a sticker on them saying that it was produced by arrangement with ARP.

May get laughed at for this but I think this is one of the most under rated synths out there - certainly the most under rated preset touch sensitive board. I have a Roland SH2000 and if I had to run into the house to save one from a fire I would grab this one - though you can pick it up for much less. Overall the sounds are better than the Roland too. For a preset synth of this type its really between this and the pro-soloist. Given what the ARP's go for this is a no-brainer.

imho this must be one of the greatest and most overlooked preset machines. very musical. i've a couple of these archaic synths (a roland sh 2000, a yamaha sy2, and a yamaha sk20), but this is by far the most versatile. very pleasantly cutting, "arpy" sound. the flanger is WILD, totally changes the sound on some presets. amazing bass end for such a little fellow.

the pressure sensitivty is very musical, again better than in most machines of that age.

guess what: some of the instruments ARE relatively realistic, in that you can play them in a similar manner as you would play the original instrument. eg the flute patches.

i wouldn't necessarily gig it as it's construction is a little flimsy.
but great for studio work. also individual sound levels are poorly balanced and require adjustment.

never had to

i've grown to love it, so i'd get it again. it's a little luxury, you won't use it on every song. but it's nice to play ins inspiring.

Teisco/Kawai 100p analog presetsynth.

can't get any simplier with this machine!!
32 presets with very warm sounds!!

it's a monophonic synth with a nice 4 octave keyboerd that features touch sensitivity (patented by Arp) also used in the pro dgx/soloist?
touch sensitivity can add growl,vibrato,wow,brilliance,bend up, bend down.
other specs: hold, sustain, repeat.
It also features a portamento/glissando function.
It even has 2 build in fx: reverb(spring) and a very fat flanger.
on the left side you have the control panel with 3 knobs 2 switches and 4 sliders: tune, reverb, touch sensitivity, portamento mode, octave, volume, brilliance, portamento/glassiando time, pitchbend, transpose.
32 presets: trombone, tuba, sax, bassoon, trumpet, mute trumpet, horn, shaku hachi, clarinet, oboe, flute, piccolo, violin, cello, electric bass, wood bass, fuzz guitar, hawaian guitar, piano, accordian, sitar, banjo, vibraphone, glocken, whistle, voice, wind, wave, synthsound 1, 2, 3, 4.

very warm sounds!!
great woodwinds, a 1vco saw preset for leads and a pwm/detune preset for fat sounds, great winds and waves, and a very weird sounding human voice.
Great for prog. music like Gong, tin Blake, hillage, hawkwind.
I play in a prog. rockband myself and it's great!
The reverb is a bit weak but it's just got that vintage sound.
flanger is very very fat and does remind me of the song: complex by gary numan when used with a leadsound.
I'm still repairing the keyboard's sensitivity cause i have to press very hard to make it modulate, i know it's great when working cause i got a Teisco sx400 with the same Arp patented touch sensitivity and that thing plays !@#$%* great!!!

it's heavy and built as a tank.
you need to tune it ones in a while.

never had contact.

If it got lost or stolen it would almost be impossible to find another one.
Never spotted one on the web.
If you find one make sure you check it out!!
I think it's value is betwean 150/350 dollar.

Greta synth!!