Estradin Altair - 231 soviet analog synthesizer 1986 black

Altair 231 is an almost identical copy of the famous Moog Minimoog, made in the former Soviet Union. Biggest difference in sound is caused by different brand of components: soviet equivalents are used everywhere.

The oscillator board is based on the older version. However, the soviets  were clever and used multi-turn potentiometers for the scaling controls. Result: Synth stays in tune better. The soviets didn't seem to have reverse log pots. Because of that, the resonance control was wired backwards and a regular logarithmic pot was used instead. Other than that, the synth seems to be very robust and easy to service - the real Mini schematics come for good help when comparing the component numbers etc. It sounds like a Mini! I heard a Mini with the newer oscillator board and I think that's the reason for minor differences in sound between it and the Altair.

It is a monophonic 3 OSC analog synthesizer. Synth has 4-oct keyboard (F-C) with velocity (sensitivity assign to vibrato effect). The synthesizer has based on 3 VCO (osc. No.3 can work as the modulator), 1 VCF (lowpass 24dB/oct)with ADSR, 1 VCA, 3 LFO, noise generator (white/pink), portamento, memoryloop. It has an EXTERNAL INPUT allowing to use FILTER and GENERATORS with external audio INPUT.

OSCILLATORS section: - osc 1,2,3 registers - 2", 4", 8", 16", 32", LF - osc 1,2,3 waveshape select - triangle, saw, square, pulse, sine - osc frequency - freq 1..3, freq 2, freq 3 -linked to keyboard pitch on/off (osc 3 ONLY) MIXER: - osc 1,2,3 on/off, level - ext input level, on/off - noise generator level, on/off - noise mode switch: white/pink MOD section: - portamento on/off, rate; - mod mixer knob: balance between modulated by OSC3 and noise, depth amount; - pitch wheel (glissando)

FILTER: - mod on/off - cutoff, resonance, brightness - attack, decay, sustain - keytrack on/off

AMPLIFIER: - attack, decay, sustain - key hold memory on/off Next - global section: main volume, phones volume, phones out (5din), A-440Hz tone on/off, power. Connections :

Audio OUTPUT, Audio INPUT on standard 1/4''jack, pedal input on 5-Din socket , power wire connection (220/240V), fuse (0,5A) .

Architecture

Type: Analog

Synthesis: Subtractive

Oscillators

Oscillators: 3

Waveforms: Pink Noise, Pulse, Saw Up, Sine, Square, Triangle, White Noise

Osc Modulation: Envelope, Glide / Portamento, Keyboard, Knob, LFO, Mod Wheel, Pitch Wheel

Envelopes

Envelopes: 2

Evelope Paramerters: Attack, Decay, Sustain

Filters

Filters: 1

Types: 24dB Slope (4-pole), Low Pass, Resonance

Filter Modulation: Envelope, Keyboard, Knob, LFO

LFO

LFO: 1

LFO Parameters: Noise, Saw Down, Sine, Square, Triangle

Polyphony & Tuning

Polyphony: 1

Timbrality: 1

Tuning: Standard

Modes: Mono

Case

Case: Keyboard

Keyboard: 49 keys

Controls: Knobs, Switches, Mod - Wheel, Pitch -Wheel

Connections

Audio Output Connections: 1/4" Phone Jack, Mono Out

Inputs: 1/4" audio input

Power: 220V AC

Contact me with any questions!!!