The Hybrid Music System

The Hybrid Music System was a set of hardware expansion modules and software that together made up a full digital sequencing system for the BBC Microcomputer.

Since using Dave Moore's Hybrid System for the Beeb@30 event in 2012, I've been building up my own Hybrid Music System and the photo below shows my Hybrid Music system running the Soundstage software.

In the photo, you can see the Hybrid Music 6000 Sensor (on the left) to control the Hybrid Music 5000 Synthesiser (on the right). Also pictured are the Hybrid Music 1000 Amplifier (on the right) and the Hybrid Music 4000 keyboard (at the bottom).

The Hybrid Music System

Hybrid Music 6000 Sensor Hybrid Music 5000 Synthesiser Hybrid Music 1000 Amplifier Hybrid Music 4000 Keyboard Acorn BBC Master 128 Retroclinic Datacentre external

Hi-Res photo available

The Hybrid Music system can be used to compose and arrange musical scores and at its heart is a BBC Microcomputer Master 128. The setup in the photograph also has a Retroclinic External Datacentre and an IFEL ROM/RAM cartridge which add a little bit of modern flexibility to the system.

Other Modules

In January 2014, I managed to complete my Hybrid Music System with the addition of the Hybrid Music 2000 Interface and the Hybrid Music 3000 Expander which add the ability to control MIDI devices with the Hybrid 2000 and adds a further 8 channels and voices to the Hybrid Synthesiser itself.

Hybrid Music 2000 Interface and Hybrid Music 3000 Expander

See it, hear it!

The Hybrid Music System on the BBC Software Show with Carol Vorderman and Alistair Johnson, 1989

Here are a few mp3's of tracks that have been arranged for the Hybrid system. 

About the Archive

This Hybrid Music System archive attempts to bring together a host of different sources into one place making it hopefully the definitive archive for the Hybrid Music System.

The archive is comprised of information I've collated from my own Hybrid Music System collection and other sites on the internet.

Contributors

There have been many contributors to this archive, either directly or indirectly including but not limited to:

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Hybrid 1000 Resources

Hybrid 6000 Software

The Sound stage contains software used in special needs educational environments to work with the Hybrid Music system including the Soundstage, Soundspace, Soundscape and Soundstory suites, collectively known as Soundworlds.

Acorn BBC Master 128