For starters, you need an Apple II+ or Apple IIe with at least 48k of RAM, at least one floppy disk drive, and a monitor. Paddle controllers are helpful, because some sound controls use them.

There is some dispute over whether or not all Apple IIe computers are compatible. Many users have told me that later Apple IIe's are incompatible because of a change in the register structure, but at least one alphaSyntauri authority disputes this.

In any case, original Apple II's, Apple IIc's, and Apple IIgs's are definitely not compatible.

Next, you need a set of Mountain Computer Music System cards. Mountain Hardware Inc. manufactured these, and were the basis for other synthesizer systems as well as the alphaSyntauri. Note that there are two cards, connected with a very short ribbon cable. Early models had a lightpen attached, but later ones did not. Since almost no alphaSyntauri software used the lightpen, there is no functional difference between the two models.

Third, you need a keyboard. In total, there were apparently four different keyboard models: Early and late, 49-key and 61-key. Shown at left is the early 61-key keyboard. The early models are distinguished by the relatively plain "alphaSyntauri" logo on the face. The 61-key models were velocity-sensitive.

Here is an image of the later 49-key keyboard. The later models are distinguished by the slightly fancier italic "Syntauri" logo. Velocity sensitivity was not supported on the 49-key models.

Fourth, you need the keyboard interface card. This is by far the most difficult part to locate. They are extremely rare. I have only ever seen two, and both of them came with complete systems I bought. But hey, look around the Internet, you might get lucky....

As with the keyboards themselves, there are early and late keyboard interface cards. To add insult to injury, they are not interchangeable. Shown at left is the early keyboard interface card, with the attached large ribbon cable connector on the left side of the card. The copyright date on the early card is 1980.

Here we see the later keyboard interface card. This model has a much smaller ribbon cable connector that consists only of pins on the board, no plug per se, on top just right of center. The copyright date on the later card is 1983.

If you're really fortunate, you might find yourself one or two footswitches. Compatible with all models of keyboards, these are somewhat optional (like the Apple II paddle controllers) but they do control certain aspects of some sounds. They're nice to have but not essential.

Finally, you need at least one piece of software, called "Alpha Plus". This is the basic control software and you can't do anything with the system without it. There's plenty of other software out there for other tasks, such as sound editing and sequencing.