| The three sections on offer
were synth (essentially an enhanced Polysix), strings (a typical
swirly string synth) and brass (a simplified synth for creating
brass-like sounds) and these could be stacked up on top of each
other for a truly big sound. The Trident also had built in effects
such as chorus and flanging.
The synth section of the Trident was improved over the
Polysix by adding an extra oscillator for each voice. Although this
only had a single sawtooth waveform, it did allow a greater range
of sounds to be produced. Initially, the Trident was shipped with
16 memory locations but their later Trident MkII (shown above) was
given 32 and added a second ADSR envelope generator so that the
filter and amplifier had their own, separate envelope shaping. Aside
from these refinements, the two instruments are pretty much the
same.
Of course, these were pre-MIDI days but retrofit kits
for the Trident were available to bring the magnificent sound of
the Trident into the modern age.
I have been lucky to be given some sounds from an original
Trident by Davide Ruggerini from Italy. He says:
"The Trident has been a very kind gift from a friend
of mine called Salvo Geraci from Sicily -Italy- who has sent by
mail this monster synth across the country to the north of Italy
where I live. I made some restorations: a new bending arm, new backup
battery, deep cleaning"
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