Synthesizer products available to buy now - posters, mugs and gifts.
808 Day is the perfect day to confirm that the foreword to my forthcoming book, BEAT GEMS, is to be written by none other than techno legend and Underground Resistance founder, Jeff Mills. A real honour, needless to say. He’s written a lovely piece about his relationship to music, rhythm, drum machines, and - of course - the 909!
BEAT GEMS is to launch very soon, in autumn 2026, but you can pre-order your copy right now!
PRE-ORDER BEAT GEMS FROM BJOOKS!
I had a great chat with Ian Dixon of #thedigitallifestyle last week. We chatted about loads of exciting drum machine related stuff, and I give a little demo of the legendary Oberheim DX.
Pop over to YouTube, or just watch below!
I’m super proud to announce my new book, BEAT GEMS, due to be published in October has gone live on Kickstarter! It’s to be published by Bjooks, who specialise in beautiful books about electronic music instruments. (The earlier Synth Gems Vol. 1 could be considered the ‘partner’ book for Beat Gems!)
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bjooks/beat-gems-drum-machines-in-modern-music
It was announced at Superbooth 2026, and reached its funding goal in only five hours! But don’t worry if you haven’t already signed up - there’s plenty of early bird offers still on offer!
The book is a serious and deep dive into the sixty year history of drum machines. Backed up by gorgeous photography that Bjooks are famous for, we tell the story of over sixty crucial, music-changing, innovative and fascinating instruments, plus covering dozens more to support the narrative.
Above is just a small selection of the inspirational artists who used drum machines prominently in their work - and helped shape the sound of modern music.
I had a very enjoyable conversation this week with Ian Dixon of The Digital Lifestyle. As I’m currently researching and writing a book about vintage drum machines, it was a great opportunity to discuss and demo them. They are all quite different, and whilst not the big-name classics like the 808 or 909, still illustrate the fascinating evolution of these important devices.
Units covered are the: Keio Mini Pops Junior (1972), Boss DR-55 (1980), Roland TR-606 (1982), Korg DDM-110 (1985), Yamaha RX17 (1987).
Had a splendid time at Superbooth 2025 - inexplicably my first time, but glad to have made it there now to enjoy the vibes - and the synths.
As ever, the best bit is talking with people, catching up with friends and finding out more about the synths, modules and audio machines of all types direct from the makers/designers/manufacturers themselves. But having access to so many keyboards in one place is also a rare occurrence, so obviously one needs to try and play as many different synths as possible! I also tried to take a pic of everything I played on - which was made ‘a little' harder by my phone dying about an hour in on the first day I was there...
Regardless - here are all the pictures I did take!
Moog MiniMoog Red Edition!
Minimoog innit..always a pleasure to play :-)
Non-Linear Labs C15
One of the classiest instruments there. Lovely keyboard to play and great sounds.
Yamaha Montage M7
Amazing retro modular-styled control panels for all parameters. Didn’t get a chance to find out if this actually makes it easier to sound design with (looks like rather a lot of reaching for things quite far away), but if you’re gonna map out all controls for a digital synth, you may as well do it properly!
Auto-fader hackday project
Someone at Yamaha clearly had fun hooking up some sliders to Actuators and software to made a perpetually evolving sonic artefact!
Berlin University Modular synthesizer (1980s)
Created by the university in the 1980s.
The Subharchord
An extraordinary valve based machine from 1962, made in the GDR. Apparently banned by the authorities who clearly saw it as threat to the stability of Communism. (Accurately, as it turned out, this thing’s bass frequencies brought about the collapse of the Soviet Union a mere 25 years later!).
More seriously though, it uses the principles of sub-harmonics to create tonal frequencies. Something I need actually understand in a bit more detail. Moog’s recent SubHarmonicon uses similar principles. Apparently the red knobs and dials were originally white, but have gracefully all turned the same shade of red over the years.
What does it sound like? Oh terrible! :-) Or at least, it’s a very raw organ-like tone, that lacks any modern sense of fidelity or smoothness. But that’s not a bad thing. Open your ears to its quite unqiue tone and you’ll be fine!
The four knobs in the bottom row on the left control harmonics, and actually, you can get reasonable tones. The bottom row of switches directly above the keyboard are notch filters from low to high; so quite radical harmonic interventions can be made. It is quite a remarkable thing!
Publison DHM-88 & KB-2000
In the same room as the SubHarchord (Berlin Synthesizer Museum), there was also the very rare Digital Delay Line / Sampler system made by Publison in the early 1980s. Like other DDLs, the captured ’sample’ can be manipulated in a sampler-like way. However the Publison goes quite a lot further with the ability to trigger loops in different places, to change pitch of repeats, with total feedback, and many other interesting and novel controls. Check out Robert Henke’s Pitchloop-88 for a Max-For-Live recreation.
Oberheim DMX - software version
This was the closest I got to vintage drum machine. There’s reason I’m very interested in vintage drum machines. All will be revealed in due course!
Erica Synths Hex Drums
The long awaited Erica Synths re-relased of Hex Investors drum box.
Sounds bloody great! (And an effects box that was hooked up to it)
Melborne DELIA
The one with the motorised parameter pots, so with each patch load, all the knobs automatically rotate to the correct setting. Despite that seeming to be a bit of gimmick, I don’t mind as it actually sounds fantastic (and the morphing between two sounds pot is great)
Alesis Andromeda 6
Great to play on one of these at last. Sounds as fat and lush as it looks it should.
Sequential Circuits Prophet 10
The new Prophet 10 innit.
Korg Wavestate
I am really drawn to the sound of wavetable synths, and I love the sound of Korg’s Wavestate.
Janko Project (Hooked up to an Arturia Polybrute)
Like an exploding hallucination of a bad generative AI keyboard, the Janko is a valiant attempt to re-imagine the piano keyboard. Attempting to solve for the ‘problem’ that on a piano some white notes are a tone apart and others a semi-tone. (Not something I’ve ever had a particular issue with). An upselling point is that chord shapes remain the same in every key. Again, not something I’ve thought to be a huge issue before.
It was easier to play than I thought though, and the different levels of each key are usefully placed. But, they are quite narrow and if I tried to play fast, my fingers just slipped off the keys all the time. So…like other valiant attempts to redesign the piano keyboard (or the querty keyboard, come to that), the current system is simply too ingrained in our fingers to change now, imo.
Waldorf Iridium
A nice sounding modern box; didn’t play for long enough to get a real sense of its personality..
Schmidt 8-Voice
Now we’re talking. Sounds as extraordinary as it looks. Huge sound, every modulation option imaginable is possible; so much to learn, yet laid out in a reasonably straightforward way so I reckon you could find your way round without too much bother, and a bit of concentrated effort.
Yamaha Reface
I liked the idea of a knob-based control system for FM, but unfortunately the system didn’t seem to be working properly today.
PPG Synthesizer 1002
I did have a go on this, but it’s unconventional and I didn’t manage to figure it out before the next guy’s turn. It’s not not your standard VCO > VCF > ADSR set-up, that’s for sure! But I’d need a bit more convincing before parting with £10k!
Walforf Quantum - Big sounding synth; I’m afraid I didn’t do much more than step through presets, and of course they all sounded great.
Don’t know enough about their corporate strategy to explain their absence. (Do they usually come to Superbooth?
Korg Mini-700s - A fun and quirky monosynth (hi Rafael!)
Korg Kronos - perfect for the jobbing composer who just needs the range of a modern M1. This wasn’t in headphones so I had to deploy my best Bach, Beethoven, Chameleon and Golden Brown renditions for public consumption. A good way to address my recurring dream of performing in public, but forgetting all the notes! (I remembered most of them).
Novation Bass Station II - perfectible serviceable mono-synth
Sequential Prophet-6 - lush and sophisticated, as you know.
Instruo Seashell Module - Wild little unit! Lots of FM / Ring mod / Hard-sync sounds at the drop of a hat (or knob)
Modal Systems Cobalt 8 / Argon 8 / Carbon 8 - I really like the sound of these; the sound world aligns really well with my taste for interesting harmonic content in sound
Moog Messenger - NICE. Particularly liked the ‘bass compensation’ knob for hi-resonant filter settings. Clever.
Moog Muse - LUSH.
Cong Burn Strokes (with Plaits inside). I already own this so was nice to meet the developer behind it.
Clank - Won ’Star of the Show’. A very innovative interface and approach to sound design. Intriguing and would need much more time to understand its possibilities.
UDO Super 6. Bloody love this. Sounds amazing. UK brand too!
WMD - new module Skorpion. Super-powerful wave folder. Nice tricks like LFO control of wave-fold parameters to keep the sound active and alive.
BASTL - tiny units sample thingy. Couldn’t really get the hang of it. It’s difficult to grasp Modular sometimes in this kind of environment I think.
Groove Synthesis 3rd Wave. The one that got away - I would have liked to have tried this one. Pretty sure I would have loved it.
Audio.Computer Beat.Compute - Interesting semi-preset CR-78 based drum machine. Start with a preset and each instrument has a control to add more notes independently (generated by algorythm). Also a swing control knob (labelled ‘jazz’) and an ‘enthusiasm’ knob. Also three onboard effects like bit-crush and delay, which also interact in interesting way. Would be great for quick backing beats playing live that could be evolved relatively quickly to provide often-much needed variation in ‘live DAWless jam’ situations!
Korg Physical box thing - set of piezo-connected tines, which can be physically altered with rocks and things put onto them. Charles & I couldn’t quite get the hang of this. But got to see novelty and newness.
Torso Sample ‘Player’
Very nice way of interacting with samples that is more intuitive and immediate that old-school sample editing. It’s cool and fun.
Bjooks - I spent a lot of time with Kim and co on the Bjooks stand admiring their splendid books.
Surgeon Live - Great to see the techno legend live at last!
All in all - I had a fantastic time at my first Superbooth - and fully intend to return next year!
Top tip for next time: Don’t put ‘Superbooth’ into Google Maps without double checking the address. I spent 45 mins getting to a public toilet in east Berlin’s equivalent of Deptford…
This is a great video showing the breadth and depth of the SynthEast 2025 show - and includes a brief chat with me & Paulee discussing Synth Evolution and the two new volumes of Synth Evolution I debuted at the show. (at around 12mins).
I was very proud to launch the two new volumes of the Synth Evolution A6 ‘Zine’ series at this year’s SynthEast 2025 event, organised by Robin Vincent of Molten Media and Electronic Sound magazine!
NEW: Synth Evolution A6 Zine Volume 3: Modern Classics
Modern Classics showcases a selection of the most interesting, impactful, and—arguably—best synthesizers of the past two decades. The synths in this book celebrate the vast range of sonic possibilities now available to musicians and producers. From analogue wonders to extraordinary digital creations, from tightly designed monosynths to open-ended polyphonic beasts, each one is more marvellous than the last!
BUY NOW: velocitypress.uk/product/modern-classics-synths/
NEW Synth Evolution A6 Zine Volume 4: Modular Greats
The modular resurgence of the past 25 years has been a wonder to behold. Where musicians were once chained to their DAWs, we are now liberated once again to wire, patch, and modulate in the real world, choosing from a mind-boggling array of options.
Modular Greats celebrates the fusion of art, logic, science, and serendipity in modular synthesis, highlighting ome of the best-selling, most creative, and most impactful modules of the 21st century. Featured manufacturers include Make Noise, Mutable Instruments, TipTop Audio, Intellijel, Rossum Electro-Music, Doepfer—and many more!
A ‘Desert Island Modular’ section features module choices from scene favourites Robin Vincent, Steve Davis, Panic Girl and more.
Highlights of the show were:
Friday night - a brillant film about Berlin in the 1980s (B Movie) and a fascinatingly fun chat between John Foxx and Adam Buxton about John’s childhood, early art-school experiences and career with Ultravox and beyond. (With a nice shout-out for the Roland CR-78, drum machine fans!)
Saturday - exhibition day. Always a blast; met loads of great people and really enjoyed the hourly sets performed by the likes of Gaz Williams, Steve Davis and Paulee Bow.
Saturday - evening gigs. Lovely comeback set from SeeFeel (Warp 1990s key band), and support from the lovely modular music of Loula Sharpe.
Sunday - Although there is a modular workshop, I didn’t attend that, but it’s great for those wanting to explore and learn more about the world of Eurorack and modular.
A few random snaps below (featuring John Foxx, Rob Puricelli’s beautiful DX1, and my stand with the new ‘merch’, SeeFeel Live, the front garden - and a sexy ReVox PR99 Mk3!
I need to write more regular blog posts, that’s for sure!
In the meantime, here’s a record of my semi-regular articles for Sound On Sound - the world’s best recording magazine!
Enter the world of alternative tuning systems maybe reinvent music!
A great sounding and innovative dynamic saturation plugin.
Live 12's synth is pretty awesome.
The perfect man-machine symbiosis!
Ableton's granular synth is great - thanks again Mr Henke for this creative tool!
An article on harmonic generation through saturation, distortion and related techniques.
How to bring variety and interest to your music by getting hands on.
I’m proud to share with you all my first podcast episode for Sound On Sound on the history of the drum machine:
https://www.soundonsound.com/sound-advice/drum-machine-history-podcast
From the earliest pre-transistor efforts to replicate a drum kit to the latest developments, this is a fascinating story of how this electronic instrument category has influenced musical culture and reflected the technological developments of each era.
I cover early analague drum machines, sampling drum mahines, of course the 808 and 909 - and much (much) else.
Best thing is that there are about 50 audio clips inllustrating the sound of key instruments and songs that used them!
Enjoy!
I was lucky enough to visit the Musée de la musique in Paris recently and of course lapped up the electronic music instrument collection.
In addition, they have five floors of wonderful instruments from the earliest spinnets and harpischords to early woodwind, brass and world instruments of every type. Anyone who’s interested in music would get something from a visit!
An Épinette - from 1522 - very early harpishcord style instrument. The decoration on these early instruments (of which the museum has several, is breathtaking). As we know, the look of our hardware lends an ineffable quality to how we approach the art of music!
A wonderful example of an Ondes Martenot from 1930. Note the mock keyboard - the notes are triggered using the touch-strip above it. Sound is produced using the heterodyne effect - the difference in frequency between two very high frequency vacuum tubes resulting in a tone in the audio range.
Hammond B3 Model A (1935). Laurens Hammond cracked the secret of making a musical insturment from tonewheel technology - rotating disks in a magnetic field to generate waveforms. The technique dates from the late 19th century (in a 200 tonne instrument, the ‘Telharmonium’), but Hammond made the first commercially successful range. Still sounds great to this day!
Moog Modular - 900 series modules (1964) One of Robert Moog’s earliest modular synths based on the 900 series of oscillators, filters and more. A beautiful looking instrument and along with Don Buchla was the earliest to commercialise the new transistor technology in service of music making.
The Syn-Ket (1963). A less well known transistor and valve based synthesizer designed by Paul Ketoff. As early as the earliest Moogs and Buchlas, but wasn’t a commercially available instrument. It might well qualify as the earliest portable synth! This was built for composer John Eaton (who also worked with Robert Moog over a period of several decades on other novel synth control methods).
Moog Percussion Synthesizer (1971). An intriguing drum synth made by Moog, but never released.
EMS VCS3 (1969). British firm Electronic Music Studios (EMS) made the powerful and successful Voltage Controlled Studio No.3 to fund their ground-breaking digital studios in Putney, London. The VCS3 is nick-named ‘The Putney’.
The Gmebaphone (1973). Extraordinary space-age looking ‘spatial processing’ unit from Italy.
Electroacoustic Studio (1950). Pierre Henry’s equipment from the GRM studios, Paris. Worth noting the rivalry between GRM’s tape based ‘musique concrete’ approach and the Cologne studios’ ‘electronic oscillator’ approach. To the extent that Pierre Henry eventually did allow a synth oscillator to be used in his studios, he directed that it should not be used to make music with directly - you were only allowed to record the tones to tape, and then manipulate them…
New England Digital Synclavier I (1979). This is the first series Synclavier - when it was ‘merely’ a digital additive synth, not a sampler. I was surprised at how ‘modular’ the units are - screwed in blocks of electronics. The Synclavier II looked much less ‘garage project’!
There are plenty of other lovely instruments - claviolines, ondiolines, theremins, electric violins and other delights. I highly recommend it. There’s nothing like being in the presence of these wonderful instruments. The only shame is that you can’t actually play them…the only downside of these literal ‘museum pieces’!
https://philharmoniedeparis.fr/en/activity/exposition/26625-collection-permanente
My book launch took place on 23rd November, to celebrate the launch of my two new zines - ‘Vintage Synths’ and ‘Drum Machines & Samplers’. Check Velocity Press for online ordering details - or your local book / record shop!
DJ Tom F
DJ Tom F kicked the evening off with a selection of cool electronic synth vibes covering synth based tracks from 90s classics of Underworld and Hardfloor to … modern stuff I didn’t recognise, but liked a great deal!
Oli Freke - Synth Talk
Then I gave a great talk* covering the entire history of synthesizers, samplers and drum machines, with over 70 audio samples in only 40 minutes. *this could come under the category of ‘in my opinion! :-)
Quite a challenge to cover everything I wanted to, and in reality couldn’t cover it all. But was pleased with the reception it got and was great to highlight some of the key moments in synth evolution with the corresponding audio. This is something you can’t do on posters or even in a book!
DJ Rob Vanden
Rob played great sets in between my bits and later in the evening covering some great tunes in the Autonomic and Drum’n’Bass genres.
Next time he promises us a Live Modular set! :-)
Unfortunately I didn’t get any photos or live footage from my actual gig that I played later that evening. I really must remember to ask someone to do that for me next time! But not to worry - the above video is that live performance, one take, with live SH-101 and Moog Prodigy, and plenty of live Ableton loop manipulations.
Is always nice to get the rig out there and playing live, doesn’t happen often enough. (Book me now!)
The visuals I’d prepared, but completely forgot to show on the night; few too many other things to organise and worry about!
It was a great evening and I’d like to say a huge thanks to everyone who came down that night and bought books, talked synth and generally hung out with me and fellow synth fans!
A quick humble brag from me to say that I was on BBC 5Live Drive Time last week, as part of their ‘Synthpop September’ celebrations (Synthtember?). I was asked to give a brief history of the synth o
Click the image below to listen!
It’s a very brief interview of only a couple of minutes, but was great to be asked - I do know a thing or two about the synth, after all!
And yes, it was a classic case of I needed to be somewhere that night, so it was done from the back of a cab en route. So very glamorous! (Except I made us late for our destination as we had to pull over for the duration of the interview and a good few minutes beforehand, so both travelling companion and cab driver were pretty cross with me! All worth it in the name of Synth Fact Dissemination!
Me on da radio!
Click to hear me covering synth history in brief!
I wondered if my Synth Evolution project would be under threat if OpenAI & the Dall-E service could generate the beautiful hand-illustrated synth images I make. (Laboriously, and by human hand!).
Luckily it turns out - no, no it can’t.
I used the phrase ‘an outline illustration of a Moog Minimoog synthesizer in black and white’ and this is what we got:
I mean, they’re quite pretty, but if you actually wanted an illustration of a Minimoog, it’s completely useless!
So, think I’m safe for a while!
Well, of course I had to ask Chat GPT to tell me the history of synthesizers from the early hardware machines to the latest digital instruments to see how good and/or accurate it would be.. This is what it said:
“The history of the synthesizer dates back to the early 20th century, when inventors such as Thaddeus Cahill and Leon Theremin developed early electronic instruments. However, it was not until the 1960s that the modern synthesizer began to take shape.
The first true synthesizer was the RCA Mark II Sound Synthesizer, which was built in 1957. It was a massive, room-sized machine that used vacuum tubes to generate sound. However, it was not until the development of the first modular synthesizers in the 1960s that the technology became widely available.
The first modular synthesizers were built by pioneers such as Robert Moog, Don Buchla, and Serge Tcherepnin. These early systems consisted of separate modules that could be connected together to create a custom sound synthesis system. They were typically controlled with patch cords, which were used to route signals between the various modules.
The 1970s saw the rise of polyphonic synthesizers, which were capable of producing multiple notes at once. These instruments used digital technology to store and recall patches, making them much easier to use than the early modular systems. The most famous example of a polyphonic synthesizer from this era is probably the Prophet-5, which was introduced by Sequential Circuits in 1978.
The 1980s saw the introduction of digital synthesizers, which used digital signal processing (DSP) to generate sounds. These instruments were capable of producing a wider range of sounds than their analog counterparts, and they were often more affordable as well. The most famous example of a digital synthesizer from this era is probably the Yamaha DX7, which was introduced in 1983.
In the 1990s and 2000s, synthesizers became increasingly integrated with computer technology. Software synthesizers became popular, allowing musicians to create and manipulate sounds entirely within their computer. However, hardware synthesizers have remained popular as well, with companies such as Roland, Korg, and Mo”
And there it ended, mid-’Moog’. The thing seemed to have crashed or frozen, so I’m not sure how much further it would have got.
But, you know, it’s pretty amazing. Nothing there is ‘wrong’ as such. It is indeed a reasonable overview of the history of the synthesizer. If you were a non-expert and wanted a quick ‘Wiki’ style summary, I think you’d have got the gist.
Of course, as synthesizer enthusiasts, we could note that some people consider the Hammond Novachord (1948) the first true synthesizer (but it’s also true the RCA gave us the word synthesizer). And we could point out the synopsis misses the the analogue monosynths of the early 70s, how they were so much more compact and affordable than the great modular beasts of the 1960s.
And very possibly it would have gone on to note the rise of the Eurorack modular scene of the last twenty years as well.
For the full and detailed story I tell in my book, (‘Synthesizer Evolution’, (Velocity Press, 2021)), I’m not so sure it would be possible; or you’d have to ask it so many prompt questions (and fact checking) you may as well write it yourself in the first place.
But as a brief dabble - I’m suitably impressed!
A slightly belated round-up of Synth Evolution activities from 2022. (Had a bit of flu at the end of last year which somewhat knocked me for six, hence the delay.)
Sill, last year was quite productive, now I look back at it - so a big thanks to all Synth Evolution customers whose support, interest and purchases keep me motivated to make and sell the best synth related products I possibly can. I love you all!
POSTERS
A refreshed set of colours to my best-selling core product - the Greatest Hits of Synth poster - now in blueprint blue, racing green, alongside re-prints of the black and white versions. I do love the green version! :-)
Exactly 99 of the most iconic, important and interesting synthesizers, drum machines and samplers of the 20th century, individually illustrated and brought together in one highly detailed A1 poster.
From the Minimoog, ARP 2600 and Yamaha CS-80 to the Roland TR-808 and TR-909, LinnDrum, Fairlight CMI and Akai S1000, the poster charts some of the machines that shaped electronic music — alongside plenty of more unusual and lesser-known instruments.
Each machine is accompanied by a short description explaining its significance, including stories such as the ARP 2600 being used to create the voice of R2-D2, or the Eminent 310 providing the celebrated string sound used by Jean-Michel Jarre.
There is plenty of technical information too. Each entry shows the instrument's synthesis type, maximum polyphony and number of oscillators per voice where applicable, making the poster as much a reference guide as a piece of wall art.
The result is a densely packed celebration of synthesizer history, designed to reward close inspection and keep synth enthusiasts, electronic musicians and producers occupied for hours.
This edition has a blue background; other colour versions are available in separate listings.
Size: A1 — approximately 59 × 84cm
Features: 99 illustrated synthesizers, drum machines and samplers
Includes: Historical facts, synthesis types, polyphony and oscillator information
Shipping: Worldwide
Featured instruments include:
Ace Tone FR-1, Access Virus, Akai AX80, Akai S1000, Akai S612, ARP 2600, ARP Odyssey, Buchla 100 (The Buchla Box), Buchla Music Easel, Casio VL-1, Casio CZ-101, Casio CT-401, Casio CZ-1, Casio Cosmo ZZ-1, Elka Synthex, E-mu Modular, E-mu Audity, E-mu Emulator, Eko EKOsynth P15, Electronic Dream Plant Wasp, Electronic Dream Plant Gnat, Eminent 310, EML Electrocomp 100, EMS VCS 3 (The Putney), EMS Synthi AKS, Ensoniq ESQ-1, Ensoniq Mirage, Fairlight CMI, Hammond Novachord, Hillwood Blue Comets, Kawai K5, Kawai K1, Korg Mini-Korg 700, Korg PS-3100, Korg MS-20, Korg Mono/Poly, Korg Poly-61, Korg M1, Korg Wavestation, Korg Prophecy, Korg Mini-Pops, Kurzweil K1000, Linn LinnDrum, Moog Modular, Moog Synthesizer 3C, Moog Minimoog, Moog System 35, Moog Polymoog, Moog Prodigy, Moog Memorymoog, Multivox MX-75, NED Synclavier, Clavia Nord Lead, Novation Bass Station, Novation Supernova, Oberheim SEM, Oberheim Two Voice, Oberheim Eight Voice, Oberheim OB-X, Oberheim OB-8, Octave The Cat, Octave The Kitten, Oxford Synthesizer Company OSCar, PPG 1003, PPG Wave 2.0, RMI Harmonic Synthesizer, Roland SH-1000, Roland SH-3A, Roland System 100, Roland System 100M, Roland Jupiter-8, Roland SH-101, Roland TB-303, Roland Juno-106, Roland Alpha Juno 1, Roland D-50, Roland JD-800, Roland TR-909, Roland TR-808, Roland CR-78, Sequential Circuits Prophet-5, Sequential Circuits Pro-One, Sequential Circuits Prophet-600, Serge Tcherepnin Modular Synthesizer, Steiner-Parker Synthasystem, Teisco 100F, Waldorf Microwave, Yamaha GX-1, Yamaha CS-80, Yamaha DX1, Yamaha DX7, Yamaha GS1, Yamaha SY77, Yamaha VL1
I was hugely honoured to be asked by the Alan R Pearlman Foundation to design the 50th Anniversary poster for the beyond-legendary ARP Odyssey. I was only too happy to oblige, basing this design on a vintage advert, but updating it with some great quotes from selected artists, musicians and producers declaring their love this instrument. A lovely project to work on and resulting in a splendid celebration of this classic synth:
North American and Canadian customers can pay less shipping costs by visitng the Alan R.Pearlman website and ordering there:
alanrpearlmanfoundation.org/product/arp-odyssey-freke-poster/
UK & European customers will pay less shipping ordering here on the Synth Evolution website.
Commissioned by the Alan R. Pearlman Foundation, this 18x24” poster celebrates 50 years of the ARP Odyssey (1972). Following their semi-modular synth in the previous year, 1971 (the Model 2600), the Odyssey was a fully integrated monosynth and won a huge following of artists too long to list - but iconic players included Herbie Hancock, Gary Numan, Kraftwerk and many, many more.
This poster is a twist on the marketing materials of the original, but instead of featuring a list of features, each link quotes the most famous artists in their praise for the synth.
I branched out into posters featuring a single synth for the fans of any one particular synth. Available in A4/A3 sizes or as digital downloads, I can produce these to order to feature any of the 500 or so synths I have illustrations for!
Following 2021’s highly successful and enjoyable ‘World Cup of Synths’ collaboration with ‘We Are 1 of 100 T-shirts’, I approached them with a new idea focussing on synth oscillators. I think we came up with super-cool designs celebrating both the synths themselves in a novel and - splendidly nerdish way!
Did I mention we got a cease and desist from Moog Music by not thinking through the implications of using the Moog logo? Whoops! Luckily we got permission from the ARP Foundation to use the logo on this glorious artifact below:
https://weare1of100.co.uk/clothing/all-t-shirts/t-shirts/oscillator-champion-2022-oli-freke/
We also made a splendid ARP Odyssey t-shirt to accompany the poster:
https://alanrpearlmanfoundation.org/product/50-year-odyssey-tee-shirt/
Following of from the collaboration with the Alan R Pearlman Foundation with the Odyssey’s 50th Anniversary poster, it was great to see the illustration used in their 2023 Calendar - available to purcahse right now for the year ahead…
The first in-person SynthFestUK since lockdown took place in October 2022 and it was wonderful to catch up with old friends and make new ones after a two year hiatus. As ever Synth Evolution hosted a stand and sold plenty of books, posters, mugs and t-shirts. Thanks to all those customers and it was great to chat with everyone there, customer or not. I was able to slip away to see Paul Wiffen’s splendid talk featuring the Elka Synthex (Jarre’s laser harp) and the E-Mu 50th anniversary talk by Tony Wride of Exclusively Analogue.
Synth Evolution stand at SynthFestUK 2022
I created a Wiki site to log all the verifiable uses of synths in every track ever made. Yes, that was a bit crazy ambitious, but it’s up and running and I had some enjoyable research sessions fleshing out the Moog Minimoog, ARP 2600, Roland Jupiter 8, and many more. Check it out, and help out - it’s an open Wiki and I would welcome any dedicated collaborators :-)
As well as all the Synth Evolution products and activities, I also produce electronic music with synths (unsurprisingly!) In 2022 I released three techno EPs which I think get the balance right between hardness, funk, groove, melody, arrangement and is in-keeping with the genre’s heritage. Well, I would say that of course, wouldn’t I?
So, what about 2023 then? Well, all things being equal, it’d be great to create a new poster or two. I haven’t really thought what that could be yet, but I’m sure it will be some combination of hand-illustrated vintage synthesizers combined with a view of their place in musical and tech history.! I’d also love to follow up 2020’s Synth Evolution book, and I have some ideas that could similarly grab the imagination of synth fans everywhere. And of course, bang out some more banging techno! Hopefully get to do some PAs too…watch all these spaces, and more!
'The results are in! The synth community have spoken and pronounced the ARP 2600 as their favourite oscillator! Second and third place were extremely close - The Roland SH-101 and Moog Minimoog only differing by two votes, but the SH-101 just nudges it.
Thanks to everyone who took part, debated the options and their merits - it was a lot of fun to watch the vote unfold. And because it was so close... we're offering the top three to pre-order!
Completing the vote ranking, the Roland Jupiter 8 was in fourth place, and Yamaha DX7 closed it out in fifth. A commentary on the enduring popularity of vintage analogue compared with still-hard-to-program digital FM synthesis, perhaps?
So, the screen-printing presses will roar into action after pre-orders close in around 7 days for these triumphant designs.
One lucky entrant will win one of the latest range of t-shirts to be created in Synth Evolution’s latest collaboration with 1of100 T-shirts! But first we have to decide which designs we’re going to make!
Go here >> https://twitter.com/weare1of100/status/1569398470389243905 <<
After last year's World Cup of Synth which named the Roland TB-303 the greatest synth of all time comes weare1of100 T-shirts latest collaboration with Synth Evolution: Champion Oscillators Competition.
This time we take a deep dive into the beating heart of any synthesizer - the oscillator.
What is a synth but a sound-generating tool, and what exists in each and every single synth that makes that sound? The oscillator! Over the years there have been analogue oscillators, digital oscillators, FM oscillators and more. Not only are they the sound source, but to enable their control they have been represented in many ways on the front panel, and each of those case designs are miniature works of art in our opinion!
Synth Evolution and 1of100 T-shirts have selected five of the finest synths and created t-shirt designs from the control panels. It's fascinating to see how the design and evolution of synth is reflected by the type of waveforms available and the era of graphic design from which it dates.
There is definite truth to the idea that beauty of form comes from clarity of purpose!
The synths chosen are:
ARP 2600: the earliest synth on the list (1971). The Model 2600 was ARP's breakthrough synth following the limited production run Model 2500. Being a semi-modular synthesizer, each of the three oscillators can be patched to output one of two waveforms - sawtooth and pulse. These can be modulated by four sources, as shown by the four arrows (for Pitch, S/H, Envelope, Oscillator 2). The design is a classic of 1960s’ functional screen-print design, and is replicated three times on the synth itself for each of the three oscillators.
Moog Minimoog: The next classic on the list is the first and greatest monosynth of the 1970s, the Minimoog. Unlike the ARP, it's a fully wired beast (no patch cables here!), so the oscillator selector is a simple rotary dial to enable the choice of waveform. There are six to choose from - which is several more than the usual two or three - and are: Triangle, Tri/saw, Sawtooth, Square, Pulse 1, Pulse 2. Worth noting is that at the heart of each of the Minimoog's three oscillators is a basic sawtooth generator with waveshaping circuits for the different waveforms. it’s also noted for overdriving the filter input giving it its legendary sound. Again the design itself is a simple functional affair, enabling the user to easily select the desired sound.
Roland SH-101: A 1980s take on the monosynth. By now components had miniaturised and were more power efficient -to the extent that the SH-101 could be run from batteries. The SH-101's oscillator design feature Roland's standard graduated faders and this portion of the oscillator features the octave selector (still measured in 'organ pipe’ foot-lengths), the pulse-width selector and pulse-width modulation sources.
Roland Jupiter 8: the first polysynth on the list, the Jupiter 8's oscillators strip things back to the classic selection of triangle, sawtooth, variable pulse and square wave. Cross-modulation from VCO2 can be added, again through use of one of Roland's distinctive faders with the detailed graduations. Each of the eight voices of the Jupiter 8 had the benefit of two oscillators making for a ground-breakingly rich sound that's still sought after today.
Yamaha DX7: Unlike the previous four synths, the DX7 featured the breakthrough digital technology of frequency modulation. The DX7's oscillators don't generate 'analogues' of waveforms, they calculate interactions between multiple of them and are known as 'operators'. As such, each DX7 voice can be made of up to six of these 'operators' and each can modulate the other in various configurations of 'carriers' and 'modulators'. This design shows just one of the 32 configurations (algorithms) that these six operators can be arranged in.
We think any of these designs would make for a great t-shirt, but we can't make all five of them (sadly!). Therefore we invite you to vote for your favourite(s) on Twitter. The top two will then be made into T-shirts for purchase. We can't wait to see which will top the the Oscillators challenge!
It’s impossible to try and cover this incredible musician’s life and works in one inconsequential blog in one random corner of the internet, but as an electronic musician, synth obsessive and electronic music fan, I can’t let the passing of this uniquely gifted individual go unmentioned.
For me - Vangelis was one of my main portals into both the joys of electronic music and of music itself. His albums were on constant repeat in my formative years (along with Jarre and Kraftwerk), and his ability to create warmth, emotion and depth from (mainly) electronic instruments inspired me to follow in that musical direction. And I’ve also enjoyed playing his music on the piano and synths, as much as listening to the recorded work, and will always do so.
To have touched so many people with one’s music must be the goal of any musician, and Vangelis has touched more millions that I can imagine. He may be gone, but his music lives on.
Vangelis
So, I’ve kicked off a new project; one which can never be completed and is crazy to even contemplate - a database logging all verfied examples of specific synths in famous tracks (or not so famous). Here it is:
There will be a page for each synth, with a brief description of that synth, and then a list of notable artists who’ve used it on particuarly notable songs - eg, everyone knows that Herbie Hancock used the ARP Odyssey on his classic track ‘Chameleon’ - so that’s at the top of the page under ‘Archetypal use’ of the synth.
Then there’s embedded YouTube vids linking to the exact place where the synth can be heard. Eg - here’s Chick Corea solo’ing on his Odyssey:
Chick Corea trading licks with Bill Connolly
Below that is a short table of songs with YouTube links.
But the true madness of this idea lies in the database itself - an ever expanding log of ‘everything’. And here that is:
The key point about all this is that it is not yet another cheap listacle of ‘famous songs that use X’. In my experience - and this is true even of Wikipedia - most of these citations are completely unverified; there’s no link to the source or verifiable reference. So we’re just left with a load of recycled ‘internet common knowledge’, which is unreliable, could be wrong, and doesn’t add much to our pool of knowledge.
The SynthTrax database will be different. Every entry must be accompanied by a verifiable reference so that we can be as sure as possible that the synth was used on that track. The references I’m currently considering acceptable are:
Sleeve notes
Quotes from interviews in reputable journals
Videos or photographs
Advertisements (up to a point – paid promotion doesn’t guarantee usage on a song/album)
Of course, even these can be wrong on occasion, but it’s better than blindly repeating a random claim off some music forum!
Why do this at all, eh? Well, good point. I guess it’s because I love synths and the sounds they make; but even the best synthesizer is only really meaningful in terms of the music that musicians make with them. And I personally find it fascinating to see how the various synths influenced the music scene of the time, and this project will reflect and highlight that. (And even a short time into this process, I’ve already discovered some great music that I’d previously overlooked. ‘George Duke, where have you been all my life??!’ (Notable Minimoog virtuoso!)
For example - I’ve started with the Moog Minimoog and ARP Odyssey, the best selling monosynths of the 1970s. So, unsurprisingly the best example songs feature funky (funky) basslines and searing lead solos usually in a rock or funk band context. But when I come to do the Yamaha DX7, things will have morphed into mainstream pop and soul and heavy use of that electric piano sound!
So I hope to share that process of discovery of great music, and a deeper understanding of how synths shaped and influenced music history.
One last note - this is a bonkers project, and one that should probably be made an open-source project, just as ‘Who Sampled Who’ is; ideally I need someone who knows how to manage databases properly too! The Notion one I ‘m using is fine, but it would be better to have the grid behind the scene and have nicer web front end to it. Enquire within if you’re interested!
Now go and check it out!
https://velocitypress.uk/events/tape-leaders-x-synth-evolution/
Come to The Social on Monday 8th November to hear author Ian Helliwell discuss his new book with me. ‘Tape Leaders’ is an exciting compendium of British tape and synthesizer composers, and the night will kick off with a documentary film on the subject by Ian - and close with a live techno set from me! (Expect some vintage synths to be doing the business!)
“Celebrating the launch of Tape Leaders and the first anniversary of Synth Evolution, we present an evening of books, films, talks and live music at The Social.
Doors open at 7 pm and for the first hour you can hear the Tape Leaders compilation that features 15 tracks of mainly unreleased early British tape and synthesizer works.
Tape Leaders author Ian Helliwell has a back catalogue of over 150 short films, and at 8pm he’ll show a selection of them that highlight his use of electronic music. The content of his films includes abstraction, direct animation, found footage, collage and documentary – all of which will be seen in this programme.
At 9 pm Ian Helliwell will be in conversation with Synthesizer Evolution author Oli Freke.
Oli Freke will then close the night by performing a live techno set blending his collection of vintage synths with modern modular equipment to create an evolving mix of electronic beats, bleeps and melodies. With a nod to early Detroit and modern styles, it should get any floor moving.”
