A
fictional synthesizer conceived by one "
Jam Master A" in
May of
1996. The
highly amusing thread in which it is
described can be read in the
Analogue Heaven Archives, at
http://machines.hyperreal.org/Analogue-Heaven/archives/ah.9605 (warning: it's a 2.9 meg file).
Excerpts follow for those with slow connections:
Jam Master A:
There were only 42 ever made, in Pre-Production. They look similar to the TB-303, except that the writing is purple. The word 'Bootsy' has 2 5-pointed stars instead of o's. Also, the 'Accent' feature was labeled 'SLAP!', and affected the filter differently than in the '303 ... It had a bit more sustain than the 303, so that increasing the Env Amount gave it more of a 'WAH' sound ... Allegedly, the music department in a small northwester university has one in thei e-music department, and they covet it as the 'Treasure of the Northwest.' The story is, they traded and Xpander for it, though this rumor is unconfirmed.
David Chandler:
I openned up the 323 once: it has "Atomic Dog" etched on the circuit board and the tune from that "Computer Games"-George Clinton song in notation drawn in solder. BTW, some of the diode-ladder filter circuit is made of the rare Gypsum diodes from Siberia. There is crystaline deposits on the circuit board from where the resonance oozed out!
Matt Haines:
The filter is set up differently, which accounts for most of that 'bootsy' sound. Roland 'borrowed' the technology for Musonic's (aka ARP) Mutron III. That of course is the famous auto-wah that got used a lot by Bootsy in Parliament/Funkadelic days. Roland was subsequently sued by the owners of the patent (not ARP as they had already gone under). This may have been the reason for its short manufacturing run, I'm not sure. Just like the Mutron III, you could select bandpass or hipass filters as well.