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Another discovered Stepp video. Watch from 2.35 in. Alan Murphy was a genius session guitarist who was a friend and really helpful in developing aspects of the Stepp. He played with Kate Bush, Level 42 and here with Go West. Alan is sadly missed.
A Quick History Of Stepp
Stepp Ltd was formed by Stephen Randall and Pete Braslavsky in 1985 in London, UK.
The company set out to design and build the world's first electronic guitar.
An electronic guitar is an instrument that is totally solid-state, but has the physical interface of a real guitar - strings that when touched, plucked, strummed, muted or bent, translate those movements into digital information that can then be understood by computers and/or synthesizers and used to create digital guitar music or completely new sounds.
The Company's first product was the DG1 which had its own on-board synthesis. The electronics of DG1 was designed by Dave Simmons the inventor of the Simmons Electronic drums.
The DG1 comprised an electronic guitar that plugged in to a power supply and synthesizer unit contained within a guitar stand. The synth unit featured 12 Curtis music chips that were the engine behind the then popular Prophet 5 synthesizer. The DG1 sold for $3,000.
The guitar controls allowed the user to edit 2 banks of oscillators, filters and envelops and tuning for every string. The user could also create unique tunings. The DG1 came with 10 presets and a total of 100 programmable sounds and tunings.
The DG1 was launched at the music industry's NAMM trade show in 1985.
Stepp also produced the DGX, a MIDI controller without any of the on-board sounds of the DG1. The DG1 sold for $1500.
The DG1 won a British Design Award, presented by Prince Philip to Stephen Randall in 1988.
The DG1 and DGX guitars was mainly sold to professional musicians including Pete Townshend (The Who), Steve Howe (Yes), The Bee Gees, Kate Bush and record producers including Terry Britton (Tina Turner) Steve Levine (Culture Club).
Me, Stepp Guitar and Prince Philip. British Design Award presentation.
The Stepp Guitar.
This was me in the '80s! Big hair and big glasses - that period doesn't age gracefully. In this video the presenter (Chris Serle) was the only person allowed to speak. As he says - "Create your own weird sounds...." indeed.
