Welcome to the world of Ned Frankly. It’s not always pleasant, but at least it’s noisy….
Ned was born in South Philly in the early 60’s. His early beats were too much for the City of Brotherly Love, so at the age of 6 months he and his posse made their way to South ATL. Ned found what he was looking for in the southern music scene, and the rest is a rollercoaster ride that we’ll share a little at a time as we go along.
Radio Shack Electronics Kit circa 1975
Ned was influenced by modular and electronic music early on.
Radio Shack ® electronics kits became pieces of a very rudimentary modular synthesizer. Think Gakken SX-150, but not as well made.The Radio Shack kits were the
absolute best, however. It was Ned’s construction techniques that left a little something to be desired.
Gakken SX-150
Ned discovered MIDI along with the rest of the world – from the Winter NAMM Show in 1983 when Dave Smith connected a Prophet 600 to a Roland JP-6 and played both. Without voltage control. The crowd went wild, and Ned was on a mission. He finally got his hands on a Kawai K3 in 1987, and he still has it. In fact, it just starred in a new how-to video called MIDI 101.
Also, Ned would like to ask that you support The MIDI Association. These standards don’t publish themselves, and there’s quite a bit of work that goes into making something as simple and powerful as MIDI remain just that – simple, but powerful. Visit and join: https://www.midi.org/
We mentioned the Kawai K3, Ned’s first “real” synthesizer. He bought it new in 1987 for the princely sum of $1,200.00. Ned still has it, still plays it, and it makes it onto almost every track we record. It has analog filters with 2 wavetable oscillators, so this was not a subtle entry into the price zone. This was, and is, a serious, very fat synth. It’s not easy to program, single knob and all, but it’s not difficult once you figure out where everything is.
Ned’s Kawai K3. Purchased new in 1987.
If you have specific questions about Ned, the studio, (or anything else) contact Ned and he’ll do his best to get back in touch in a timely manner.
Jay