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!
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!
I have an EP coming out soon - will be available on the usual Beatport, iTunes type places.
Ahead of that, here’s a continuous mix of it for you to enjoy right now:
1. Up From The Sea
2. AnnaMorphic
3. Pitch Loop Acid
4. Friday (Practice)
This was all done in the box on Ableton 11; I tend to use samples of a SH-101 waveform in Live’s sampler and have fun from there! Not much actual vintage synth action to be honest in these tracks, anyway. Oh, and 909 samples of course - this is techno after all! And some tasty horn blasts and samba samples on the first track too, to keep things interesting.
Enjoy!
Following on from Chapter 1, here are the tracks mentioned in Chapter 2 of Matthew Collins' excellent 'Rave On' book. As noted before, there's no point just reading about the music of a scene - it kinda helps to hear it as well!
The Berlin chapter focuses on the import of techno to Berlin, the free parties of Love Parade and the sex parties of Berghain, Snax and others.
As a result the playlist is early 90's techno and artists like Westbam, Jam & Spoon, Spiral Tribe, etc.
Enjoy!
Worth a watch - Free Tekno documentary about the current incarnation of the free party scene, a la Spiral Tribe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7MUlimHYx4
