Free Mattel Synsonics Sample Set For Ableton Live By Francis Prève

Francis Prève has released a free Mattel Synsonics sample kit, available as a Live Set for Ableton Live.

Mattel Synsonics is an analog drum machine/toy released in 1981, featuring cheesy and completely unrealistic, but still oh-so-sweet sounds.

In the pantheon of vintage analog drum machines, there’s an unsung classic that isn’t from a big name manufacturer like Roland or Korg, but from a toy company. Released in 1981, the Mattel Synsonics was an affordable black box that housed a fully analog kit consisting of kick, two toms, snare, cymbal and hi-hat – all playable via velocity sensitive pads. Of course, since it was a “toy”, few artists took it very seriously – with one notable exception: Kraftwerk.

Unlike the more insectile sounds coming from the Roland and Korg boxes of the same era, the sound of the Synsonics was vaguely reminiscent of the Simmons SDS-V or Pollard Syndrum. The toms had an aggressive vibe that few products from that time could match – and the cymbals were glorious blasts of white noise.

Mattel Synsonics Live Set is available for free download via Francis Prève’s website.

Video Demo

Check out the Mattel Synsonics demo video (by FailedMuso):

Features

Main features of the Mattel Synsonics Live Set:

• I’m posting the patch within a Live Set, as opposed to a Live Pack or single preset, so you can hear the patch with example clips and twist the macro knobs to see what’s what.
• The patch will run on Ableton Live 7.0.18 or higher.
• What you see/hear is what you get. I tested it on a couple of systems and the Zip file works as expected.

Links

Download Mattel Synsonics Live Set: click here
Francis Prève’s Blog: click here