Synth World Cup - Quarter Finals!

DAY 3 of the SYNTH WORLD CUP
QUARTER FINALS!

Day 4 - semi-finals are here: https://www.synthevolution.net/blog/2021/3/9/synth-world-cup-semi-finals

The last two days have seen the thirty-two starting synths whittled down to just eight over rounds one and two. They will now face each other in the four quarter-finals. Which will reach the semi-finals?!

Vote now: https://twitter.com/weare1of100

Quarter Final 1: Moog Minimoog Model D vs Roland Jupiter 8
Quarter Final 2: ARP Odyssey vs ARP 2600
Quarter Final 3: Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 vs Moog Modular
Quarter Final 4: Roland SH-101 vs Roland TB-303

Previous rounds and all synth info here:
https://www.synthevolution.net/blog/2021/3/3/vintage-synth-world-cup

THESE EIGHT SYNTHS TO NOW FEATURE ON A BRAND
NEW SPECIAL EDITION 1OF100 T-SHIRT!

QUARTER FINAL 1

Moog Minimoog Model D (1970)

• Analogue / Mono / 3 VCOs

• One of the most iconic synths ever made; offering the essence of Moog’s modular synths in a 'mini' hardwired form. Gary Numan cites hearing one at the Spaceward studio in the mid-1970s as being the moment that changed The Tubeway Army into a synthesizer focussed band. Another great example - Parliament, ‘Flashlight' (1978).

Roland Jupiter 8 (1981)

• Analogue / 8 note polyphony / 2 VCOs per voice

• One of the classic polysynths of the analogue era and still much sought after today for its rich analogue tones and playability. Queen, 'Radio Ga Ga' (bassline, pads)

QUARTER FINAL 2

ARP 2600 (1971)

• Analogue / Monophonic / 3 oscillators

• Contributing to ARP's dominence of the 1970s synth market, the Model 2600 was a powerful synthesizer that came with a built-in reverb and sequencer. Was the 'voice' of R2D2 as performed by sound designer Ben Burtt.

ARP Odyssey (1972)

• Analogue / Duophonic / 2 Oscillators

• A relative simple, but powerful monosynth that could be used in duophonic mode. Used by many musicians over the years including Peter Powell for the iconic Dr Who theme tune in 1980.

QUARTER FINAL 3

Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 (1978)

• Analogue / 5 note polyphony / 2 VCOs per voice

• The first polyphonic synth with full patch memory, an incredible sound, and relatively affordable for the time. It's great hard-sync sound can be heard on the The Cars, 'Let's Go' (1979).

Moog Modular (900 series) (1964 - 1970)

• Analogue / Modular / 3-7 Oscillators

• Between 1964 and 1970 Moog Instruments made a series of modular synthesizers using the 900 series of oscillators, filters, LFOs and more. These had a profound effect on the development of electronic music and the use of synthesizers in popular music, starting with Wendy Carlos' 'Switched on Bach' (1968).

QUARTER FINAL 4

Roland SH-101 (1982)

• Analogue / Mono / 2 VCOs + sub

• A relatively simple, but great sounding and influential monosynth of the 1980s. Put to great use on the track 'Voodoo Ray' by A Guy Called Gerald (1988).

Roland TB-303 (1982)

• Analogue / Mono / 1 VCO

• The machine that kick-started the acid house revolution in 1986 with Phuture's, 'Acid Tracks’, debuted by DJ Ron Hardy at The Music Box, Chicago. Not many one-oscillator monosynths with only two waveforms have single handedly formed the back-bone of dance music for over thirty years…

Vintage Synth World Cup

LIVE NOW! RUNS MONDAY TO FRIDAY THIS WEEK!

VOTE HERE: https://twitter.com/weare1of100

results from round 1 (monday)

Welcome to the first World Cup of Vintage Synthesizers!

In collaboration with the fantastic We Are 1 of 100, we are running the first ever World cup of Synths. The eight synths that make it through to the quarter finals will be used for a glorious We Are 1 of 100 T-shirt and anyone who casts a vote in the polling will be entered into a competition to win one!

Voting will take place on the Twitter feed of WeAre1of100: https://twitter.com/weare1of100

There are 32 synths grouped into eight groups of four. The first round of voting will see the top two of each group go through to the next round. Those sixteen will face each other in the quarter finals, then four go through to the the semi’s. The finals will crown the Official Best Synth of All Time!

Thirty-two glorious vintage synths between 1964 - 2000 have been selected:

Group A: ARP Odyssey, Minimoog Model D, Ensoniq ESQ-1, Elka Synthex (Poll Here)
Group B: Yamaha DX7, OSCar, Roland Juno 106, Yamaha CS-80 (Poll Here)
Group C: ARP 2600, Roland Jupiter 8, Oberheim OB-Xa, Casio CZ-1 (Poll Here)
Group D: NED Synclavier II, Korg MS-20, Access Virus, EDP Wasp (Poll Here)
Group E: Roland D-50, Korg Wavestation, Sequential Circuits Prophet 5, Octave The Cat (Poll Here)
Group F: Roland SH-101, Korg M1, Korg Mono/Poly, ARP Quadra (Poll Here)
Group G: Novation Supernova, EMS VCS-3, Oberheim SEM, Moog Modular (Poll Here)
Group H: Fairlight CMI, Crumar Bit One, Roland TB-303, Buchla Music Easel (Poll Here)

There will of course be endless arguments about which were/weren’t included! And that’s what the comment section and Twitter is for…

Read on below for more details about each synth in the competition

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GROUP A

ARP Odyssey (1972)

• Analogue / Duophonic / 2 Oscillators

• A relative simple, but powerful monosynth that could be used in duophonic mode. Used by many musicians over the years including Peter Powell for the iconic Dr Who theme tune in 1980.

Moog Minimoog Model D (1970)

• Analogue / Mono / 3 VCOs

• One of the most iconic synths ever made; offering the essence of Moog’s modular synths in a 'mini' hardwired form. Gary Numan cites hearing one at the Spaceward studio in the mid-1970s as being the moment that changed The Tubeway Army into a synthesizer focussed band. Another great example - Parliament, ‘Flashlight' (1978).

Ensoniq ESQ-1 (1986)

• Sample & Synthesis / 8 note polyphony / 3 digital oscillators per voice

• The ESQ-1 was the first fully-fledged workstation with a mutlitimbral sequencer and a choice of digital waveforms and samples which could then be processed with its analogue filters.

Elka Synthex (1981)

• Analogue / 8 note polyphony / 2 DCOs per voice

• One of the best polysynths of the early 1980s, the Synthex was a large and sophisticated synthesizer. It was used by Jean-Michel Jarre for the sound of his 'Laser Harp' (Third Rendez-Vous, 1986).

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GROUP B

Yamaha DX7 (1983)

• FM / 16 note polyphony / 6-operator

• The FM synthesizer that changed the soundscape of the 1980s with its fresh digital sounds. Famous for its electric piano - Whitney Houston, ‘Saving All My Love For You’ (1985). Brian Eno was also a champion of the DX7.

OSCar (1983)

• Analogue / Mono/Duo / 2 DCOs

• After leaving EDP in 1982 Chris Huggett formed the Oxford Synthesizer Company with Paul Wiffen and produced the OSCar synthesizer. It’s uniquely rugged appearance was courtesy of Anthony Harrison-Griffin and is considered something of a quirky British classic.

Roland Juno 106 (1984)

• Analogue / 6 note polyphony / 1 DCO per voice

• Widely used affordable polysynth with legions of users who valued it's warm tones and 128 patch memory.

Yamaha CS-80 (1977)

• Analogue / 8 note polyphony / 2 VCOs per voice

• The classic polyphonic synth with polyphonic aftertouch, gorgeous tones and smooth filters. It's synonymous now with Vangelis and his soundtrack for ‘Bladerunner' (1982). The only drawback was the cost - and the fact it weighed 100kg.

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GROUP C

ARP 2600 (1971)

• Analogue / Monophonic / 3 oscillators

• Contributing to ARP's dominence of the 1970s synth market, the Model 2600 was a powerful synthesizer that came with a built-in reverb and sequencer. Was the 'voice' of R2D2 as performed by sound designer Ben Burtt.

Roland Jupiter 8 (1981)

• Analogue / 8 note polyphony / 2 VCOs per voice

• One of the classic polysynths of the analogue era and still much sought after today for its rich analogue tones and playability. Queen, 'Radio Ga Ga' (bassline, pads)

Oberheim OB-Xa (1981)

• Analogue / 8 note polyphony / 2 VCOs per voice

• Oberheim's OB-series of synthesizers were famed for the quality of their brass style sounds and were typical of the 'American' sound of synthesizers at the time. Van Halen, ‘Jump' (1983) and Depeche Mode, Love In Itself' (1983) (chords). Prince was a fan of the first OB-X.

Casio CZ-1 (1986)

• Phase Distortion / 16 note polyphony / 2 DOs per voice

• The CZ-1 was the culmination of Casio's phase distortion synths. Phase distortion is similar to FM in that two or more audio signals are able to modulate themselves to create harmonic complexity. Whilst never quite matching the success of the DX7 or D-50, the CZ-1 was a very capable synth that had its adherents.

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GROUP D

NED Synclavier II (1982)

• 16-bit / sample rates up to 100kHz / 32Mb memory expandable to 768Mb

• The original Synclavier was an additive synthesizer, but the second version added the ability to sample, and ranks alongside the Fairlight CMI as one of the earliest, significant breakthroughs in sampling technology.

Korg MS-20 (1978)

• Analogue / Mono / 2 VCOs

• Korg's classic monosynth of the late 70's. Built in a semi-modular format which enabled a wide variety of patches, an audio-in and a very distinctive filter, it's best known for Daft Punk's 'Da Funk' lead sound and the bassline on Flat Eric's 'Flat Beat'.

Access Virus (1997)

• Virtual Analogue / 12 note polyphony / 2 oscillators + sub per voice

• One of the first wave of virtual modelling synths, it offered 12 note polyphony and a fresh range of sounds that could be authentically analogue or growlingly digital and distorted. Was taken up enthusiastically by the dance music fraternity of the time.

EDP Wasp (1978)

• Analogue / Mono / 2 DCOs

• A typically quirky British synth of the late 1970s. All of EDP's synths and sequencers were named after insects, and included the Gnat, Spider and Caterpillar. The original Wasp had membrane keys, but was famed for its ripping distorted filter sounds. It was designed by Chris Huggett who also designed the OSCar and the Novation Bass Station.

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GROUP E

Roland D-50 (1987)

• Linear Arithmetic (Sample & Synthesis) / 16 note polyphony / 4 partials per voice

• Roland nails the ROMpler. Heard everywhere in the late '80s. Used by such diverse artists as Enya, ‘Orinocho Flow’ ('pizzagogo') and Miles Davis, 'Cantembe' ('DigitalNativeDance').

Korg Wavestation

• Vector Synthesis and Wave Sequencing / 32 note polyphony / 4 DOs per voice

• Building on the innovation of wave sequencing first introduced by Dave Smith on the Sequential Circuit Prophet VS, the Wavestation brought a whole new approach to the sequencing and dynamic control of the digital waves that are the source of it's patches.

Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 (1978)

• Analogue / 5 note polyphony / 2 VCOs per voice

• The first polyphonic synth with full patch memory, an incredible sound, and relatively affordable for the time. It's great hard-sync sound can be heard on the The Cars, 'Let's Go' (1979).

Octave The Cat (1976)

• Analogue / Mono/Duo / 2 VCOs

• Octave were nearly sued by ARP for cloning their designs. ARP in their turn, were sued by Moog for cloning their filters. The Cat Series Revision Model (SRM) was designed to avoid further trouble. Nonetheless, The Cat found a niche for itself as a quirky, but versatile monosynth.

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GROUP F

Roland SH-101 (1982)

• Analogue / Mono / 2 VCOs + sub

• A relatively simple, but great sounding and influential monosynth of the 1980s. Put to great use on the track 'Voodoo Ray' by A Guy Called Gerald (1988).

Korg M1 (1988)

• Sample & Synthesis / 16 note polyphony / 2 DOs per voice

• One of the best selling synths of all time, building on the D-50's use of 'sample and synthesis' - high quality samples which could be combined for realistic acoustic instrument emulations or shimmering digital tones.. The famous organ sound can be heard prominently on dance tracks like Robin S, ‘Show Me Love’ (1993) and Crystal Waters, ‘Gypsy Woman’ (1991).

Korg Mono/Poly (1981)

• Analogue / Mono/Poly / 4 VCOs

• The Mono/Poly has latterly achieved classic status thanks to it's four VCOs which can be used for four note polyphony - or for one fat unison lead or bassline.

ARP Quadra (1978)

• Analogue / Bass Synth, Lead Synth, Poly Synth & String Synth

• A powerful and popular synth with four different sections giving a high degree of flexibility and a wide range of sounds, including full polyphony in the poly & string synth sections. Used by New Order.

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GROUP G

Novation Supernova (1998)

• Virtual Analogue / 16 note polyphony / 3 modelling oscillators per voice

• One of the first generation of analogue modelling synthesizers of the late 1990s; offering excellent polyphony with rich analogue tones and digital capabilities.

EMS VCS 3 (1969)

• Analogue / Mono / 3 VCOs

• Released a year before the Minimoog, it predates the miniturisation of modular synthesizers into a portable, but powerful unit. EMS' 'Voltage Controlled Studio, attempt #3’ was used widely, including in the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and by Brian Eno on Roxy Music's 'Virginia Plain'.

Oberheim SEM (1974)

• Analogue / Mono / 2 VCOs

• The first synthesizer from Oberheim featured a multi-mode filter than could be used in low/hi or notch modes to complement any existing synthesizer the user might have, which was likely to just have low pass filter.. Multiple SEMs were combined to make increasingly unwiedly and unreliable polysynths - the Two Voice, Four Voice and, amazingly, the dual manual Eight Voice.

Moog Modular (900 series) (1964 - 1970)

• Analogue / Modular / 3-7 Oscillators

• Between 1964 and 1970 Moog Instruments made a series of modular synthesizers using the 900 series of oscillators, filters, LFOs and more. These had a profound effect on the development of electronic music and the use of synthesizers in popular music, starting with Wendy Carlos' 'Switched on Bach' (1968).

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GROUP H

Fairlight CMI (1979)

• Sampler / 8-bit / 0.5s sample time at 24Khz / 8 note polyphony

• One of the earliest sampling systems, the Fairlight Computer Music Instrument (CMI) cost £12,000 at launch (~£60,000 in 2021). The brainchild of Peter Vogel and Kim Ryrie, it was championed by Peter Gabriel and used by many artists such as Kate Bush, Trevor Horn and Jean-Michel Jarre. Named for the Fairlight hydrofoil that ran in Sydney Harbour, Australia. Was one of the machines that helped kickstart the sampling revolution which would transform the musical landscape of the 1980s and beyond.

Crumar Bit One (1984)

• Analogue / 6 note polyphony / 2 DCOs per voice

• Crumar were an Italian brand who were most active in the 1970s and 1980s; the Bit brand targetted the more professional user. The Bit One was a polyphonic synth in the vein of the Roland Juno 106 but also had a velocity sensitive keyboard. 808 State owned a Bit One.

Roland TB-303 (1982)

• Analogue / Mono / 1 VCO

• The machine that kick-started the acid house revolution in 1986 with Phuture's, 'Acid Tracks’, debuted by DJ Ron Hardy at The Music Box, Chicago. Not many one-oscillator monosynths with only two waveforms have single handedly formed the back-bone of dance music for over thirty years…

Buchla Music Easel

• FM/Analogue/Additive / Duophonic / 2 Oscillators

• Unlike his contemporaries, Don Buchla believed that a piano style keyboard and simple subtractive analogue synthesis was a limiting approach to electronic music. He favoured oscillators and processes that favoured a wider range of harmonic complexity and encouraged users away from thinking in conventional harmonic and melodic terms. Very much the 'west coast' avant-garde approach to music philosophy.

VOTE NOW!

https://twitter.com/weare1of100

Sound On Sound review - March 2021

Sound On Sound is the bible of sound engineers, composers and electronic musicians everywhere, and so I was delighted to receive a really nice review for ‘Synthesizer Evolution: From Analogue to Digital (And Back)’ in the March 2021 issue (out now - digital or hard copy).

Check it out below!

Reproduced with permission.

Sound On Sound Website: https://www.soundonsound.com/

Interview with Velocity Press - round-up of the year

Despite clubs, cinemas and book shops being closed for long periods during what has been a grim year for all of us, the lockdown has provided an opportunity to read, watch and listen to both new and old material. To wrap up the year, we asked the Velocity Press authors how they have been keeping busy during lockdown and what they’re looking forward to in the New Year.

In the face of difficulties placed on publishing, we have still managed to publish five fantastic books this year: Martin James’ State of Bass, Junior Tomlin’s Flyer & Covert Art, Laurent Fintoni’s Bedroom Beats & B-sides, The Secret DJ’s Book Two and Oli Freke’s Synthesizer Evolution. There have also been other notable club-culture related books, such as Caspar Meville’s It’s a London Thing and Martin Russell’s Liberation Through Hearing.

Although the music industry has taken a monumental financial hit, a lot of great records have been released this year, as well as there being an unusual amount of free time to delve into old favourites again. From re-discovering mid-90s ambient techno, going down the rabbit hole of Aphex Twin’s synthesizer inspired titles, to listening to Moses Boyd’s 2020 Mercury Prize-nominated Dark Matter, our authors have been listening to a diverse collection of music.

OLI FREKE

It’s been a strange old year, what are your reflections on it?

Bit of a groundhog day situation – hardly leaving the house and all that. Luckily I can do my day job at home without too much trouble, but I should probably make more effort to get out! Studio tans and book tans are all very well, but…

What have you been reading this year?

Entangled Life by the fantastically named Merlin Sheldrake about fungi was amazing; loads of stuff about quantum mechanics, the history of it, and how Einstein never went with the Copenhagen Interpretation. The Jackson Lamb / Slough House spy novels are great fun. Also sci-fi, like the one about how spiders became intelligent through a genetic mishap and ended up using ants as calculating units in their ‘computers’ 🙂

What have you been watching?

….TO READ THE FULL INTERVIEW, AND MORE, VISIT:
https://velocitypress.uk/velocity-press-2020-roundup/

New poster - 'DANCE EVOLUTION'

Synth Evolution are proud to announce a new poster - ‘DANCE EVOLUTION’ at Synthfest|UK 2020!

Oli says:

When one has been living and breathing synthesizers and electronic music for long enough, and have participated in the music scenes they drive, it’s inevitable that one starts thinking about the history of the music - what were the preceeding genres, and how did we get to the diversity of dance music today (which is basically an electronic music scenee dependent on synths and digital sound technology) .

That certainly happened to me: I realised I didnt’t know enough about the origins of disco - I had a vague knowledge of David Mancuso, the Loft, the Paradise Garage, Saturday Night Fever and Studio 54, and so on. But where did it all come from exactly?

And even techno - sure, I know like most people, that it came from Detroit, had its roots in Chicago house, and that ‘May, Saunderson and Atkin's’ are credited as the originators, but the details were shamefully sketchy.

So I set out to answer these basic questions, and the thing soon ballooned into a survey of the main dance styles of the entire 20th century, and this is the result!

Now - it’s important to bear some important facts - possibly even caveats - when looking and thinking about this poster, and they are these:

• With a topic as broad as ‘the history of 20th century dance music’, it can never be compressed onto an A2 poster and be considered ‘complete’. There will be missing styles - perhaps your favourite ones - and the post-2000 years are somewhat compressed, with the years 1960-1999 being the most detailed.

• Similarly, this is one journey through the story. There are other linkages to make and other stories to tell. I think the main story of this particular version is that there are overarching styles - soul, disco, house - which comprise a number of sub-genres that are usually considered to be part of those higher level categories - eg, jump-up is a style of jungle, and Motown is a style of soul. Further, it generally possible to sequence these higher level styles chronologically - disco happened after the blues, trance happened after musique concrete, acid house happened after Chicago House. Of course, there is blurring, overlapping and genre straddling, but I think the overarching progression is ‘true enough’, and that is one story within this poster.

• The linkage between styles are intended to convey influence and a sense of the torch being carried forward, but again not every single link can be shown. Indeed, at the lowest level of a musician or band, it would be impossible to represent every influence and intention with regards the music they make, and how a scene coalesces around a sound, fashion, technology and dance style.

• Examples of a genre are given under each - I will have course missed off your favourite, or could have used a better example in your opinion. This is to be expected - music is personal and everyone carries their own personal ‘story of music’ with them, some of which may map onto this poster, and some not. I hope that the poster is taken with this in mind and that it’s a conversation starter, not the final word, and a celebration of some of the most dynamic music ever made, and not an attempt to freeze it in aspic.

As a final point, I think one of the most interesting aspects to consider is how - right from the start - the music on the poster is always a blending of culture, ideas and people - and to be specific dance music is generally a blending of African music and European music (and other indigeneous musics). From the blues to ska, to soul, disco and jungle, all these influences are ever-present in varying proportions and weights.

Despite the unforgivable brutality of slavery by which African music was introduced into the Americas and the Carribean Islands this poster can still transmit the postive message that human culture is at its very best when cultures share ideas and when people of all races, colours and ideas can mingle and are able generate new things that are greater than the sum of their parts.

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i’d love to hear your thoughts, comments and observations. I’m sure there will opinions!

FRAMES - RECOMMENDED FRAMING FOR SYNTH EVOLUTION POSTERS

A1 POSTERS (‘Greatest Hits’)

Dimensions: 549mm x 841 mm / 23.4” x 33.1”

UK

We love these wooden magnetic poster hangers from Thabto:

https://www.thabto.co.uk/products/magnetic-print-frames

(The A1 / 618mm size)

Slightly less expensive are these from Willow and Stone (I’ve not personally tried):

https://www.willowandstone.co.uk/made-in-the-uk/oak-poster-hanger.php

USA

Similar magnetic poster hangers are available in the US, if you’re based there, of course:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/793823932/thin-floating-magnetic-poster-hang

A0 POSTERS (‘Every synth’)

These are large scale posters and the best option is to have a local framer frame these for you.

500mm x 400mm Design Museum poster

Again, I’d recommend the wooden magnetic frame hangers. The poster is portrait so the A2 size (440mm) width is needed.

Follow up to the previous blog - exhibition is now open, poster now on sale!

Buy here:
https://designmuseumshop.com/products/synth-evolution

As noted in the previous blog post, the Design Museum’s exhibtion ‘Electronic - from Kraftwerk to The Chemical Brothers’ didn’t open on schedule on April 1st 2020 - but it now is!

https://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/electronic-from-kraftwerk-to-the-chemical-brothers

It’s had rave (!) reviews in the journals: Guardian 5 star review, MixMag review and more.

I can’t wait to go!

And, as noted below, I’ve had the honour of designing an exclusive and official Synth Evolution poster to accompany it. Synths, drum machines and samplers are of course the driving force of the house, techno, and rave revolutions of the 80s and 90s. And this poster celebrates that with a selection of some of the finest:

Printed on 150gsm Munken Kristall acid free paper

40 x 50cm

The featured synths are: Yamaha DX7s, Yamaha CS-80, Sequential Circuits Pro One, Roland TB-303, EDP Wasp, Roland Jupiter 8, PPG Realizer, Roland D-50, Moog System 35, Roland TR-808, E-mu Modular, Korg Prophecy, Korg MS-20, EMS VCS-3, Korg Mono/Poly, EML Polybox, ARP Odyssey, Moog Minimoog, Korg PS-3100, Con Brio ADS 200, Electro-Harmonix Mini, Buchla 100, ARP 2600, Yamaha CS-30, Sequential Circuits Prophet 10, Kinetic Sound Prism, Siel DK-70, PPG Modular, Roland SH-3a, Stinger, Akai S1000, Korg PS-3200, Oberheim OB-X, Wersi MK1, Roland Alpha-Juno 1, Yamaha CSX1, NED Synclavier, OSC Oscar

If you get to the exhibition before me - let me know your thoughts!

Synth Evolution collaboration with The Design Museum!

Good news and bad news…

Good News

Synth Evolution is amazingly proud to announce a collaboration with London’s iconic Design Museum for their upcoming ‘Electronic: From Kraftwerk to The Chemical Brothers’ exhibtion - a celebration of all things electronic music.

https://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/electronic-from-kraftwerk-to-the-chemical-brothers

As such an exclusive, collaborative poster has been created to accompany the exhbition. See below for a teaser of that!

Bad News

The bad news is that the exhibiton has been postponed due to the current coronavirus lockdown, which is obviously the completely right thing to do, as disappointing as this is. (I was definitely looking forward to visiting the exhibtion apart from anything else!)

Nevertheless, let’s hope the closure is relatively temporary and things can start returing to normal sooner rather than later.

Sneak preview

Here’s roughly what it looks like - you’ll have to wait till the exhbition opens to see the full design and to acquire one!



SynthfestUK 2019 review

It’s taken me a couple of weeks to recover from all the excitement, but here’s a few pics and notes from the event.

Here are some pics of the stand before show opening:

Nice Dreadbox modular machines to the right of me :-)

Mugs, T’s and posters!

Note the SynthSounds.net site on the iPad for visitors to play with

I was extremely honoured to have provided illustrations for the backdrop of the seminar room:

You can see my synth illustrations on the backdrop. A fun game of ‘guess that synth, sampler and drum machine’ while people waited for the seminar sessions and product demos to start. The Siel DK70 had ‘em all stumped :-)

Notes

I had a great time meeting customers and visitors alike, talking synth and poster. A big thanks to my friend Des for helping me man the stand. Eight hours can be tiring without back-up!

One highlight when I was off the stand was seeing the Fairlight seminar; lovely to see a real one in action and playing some of those famous sounds - ORCH5, and all. (Even more pleasing was the fact I’d included the Fairlight on the backdrop, so was nice to see that there as well!)

And there were loads of synths - too many mention; I’ll have to write another post..

SynthFest 2019! I'll be there!

Pleased to announce Synth Evolution will be hosting a stall at Synthfest this year. Last year was a blast! (Exhausting, but still a blast).

It’s October 6th 2019 at the Octagon Centre, Sheffield, UK.
All the details are here: www.synthfest.co.uk

I’ll have some exclusive Synth Evolution products this year - more mugs, t-shirts and mousemats with all the synths we know and love on them.

See you there!

ps: I notice in the Sound on Sound video from last year, you can just see the edge of my stand with Martin Ware (Human League, Heaven 17) standing somewhere in front of it. Success!

The Divine Comedy's Synth Song

I see the Divine Comedy have a written a silly song listing out a whole load of synthesizer names:

Not entirely sure what to make of it. My main thoughts are:

• All synths namechecked are on the Synth Poster except for some of the post-90’s workstations like the Korg Triton (cos they’re kinda boring)

• Musically it’s a bit of one-shot novelty song. All the silly kind of sounds that people used to think that the word ‘synthesizer’ represented and thus feels a bit dated. Perhaps that was the idea. Dunno. I don’t think it’s going on any of my Spotify playlists…

Let me know what you think of it!

SynthJam - Friday 12th April - I'll be there with Moog...

If you’re in the Telegraph Hill area of south east London tomorrow evening, pack up your modular synth and bring it to SynthJam - an evening of jamming on Synths..! I’ll be there to jam, hope you can make it too!

Peter, the organiser says “Grab your modular, drum machine or synth, plug in and jam! Be part of an evening dedicated to live improvised electronic music (of sorts) Places will be limited so message me if you want to be part of the performance. I'm keen to bring as many different electronic textures to the group as possible including acoustic instruments manipulated through pedals or laptops. Spectators are most welcome and we'll hopefully have time for some hands-on audience participation. Message me if you have any questions, Lets Jam!”

Online synth based on a Sequential Circuits SixTrak

I’ve been contacted by James who’s made an online synth based on a Sequential Circuits SixTrak. Partly made for fun and partly to flex his coding skills:

https://dreampipe.fun

Check it out, it’s a bit of fun! Note that it only works on the Chrome browser.

Jarre & the Eminent 310

This is a must listen - Jean-Michel Jarre demonstrates how to create his classic ‘Oxygene pad sound’ by setting up an Eminent 310 string machine sound from scratch and then strapping triple-chorus and a StoneBridge phaser across it – instant Oxygene!

This is from the Planet Jarre podcast, hosted by Matt Berry.: https://planetjarre.podigee.io/8-neue-episode

All the episodes are vital listening to any fan of electronic music, but this one is the best!

Synth Legends of the Week: Yamaha, Akai, Kawai, Dave Smith

Here’s the quartet of Synth Legends I published on Instagram recently:

Synth Legend of the week: Torakusu Yamaha established his eponymous company in 1887 as a piano and reed organ manufacturer. He originally copied a reed organ he repaired in a local church before moving into piano manufacturer and toured the USA to learn techniques in the early 20th century. My first real synth was a Yamaha B200 from 1989 - a nice 4-operator FM machine.

Synth Legend of the week: Dave Smith founded Sequential Circuits in 1974, designed the Prophet 5 in 1977 (the world’s first microprocessor based synth), and is known as the ‘Father of MIDI’, thanks to his role in the development of the MIDI spec in 1981. The Prophet 600 was also the first commercial synth to sport MIDI ports. Not only that, he designed the first software synth for a PC, and designed the Korg Wavestation whilst working for Korg R&D in the 80's. In 2015 he reclaimed the ‘Sequential Circuits’ name from Yamaha, after releasing several successful ‘Dave Smith Instruments’. Not bad going, eh?

Synth legend of the week: Koichi Kawai was a neighbour of Torakusu Yamaha, and was his apprentice in early 20th century. He founded the Kawai Musical Instrument Research Laboratory in 1927. And I still have my Kawai K4 from 1989 - still a good synth.

Synth Legend of the week: Akai was founded by Masukichi Akai (pictured) and his son, Saburo Akai in 1929. Akai also means 'red' in Japanese, hence their logo colour. Akai helped revolutionise modern music in the late 80’s with the S900, S950 and ultimately the S1000 samplers. Hip-hop, rave, jungle all have a lot to thank this guy for!

New deep house track from me: 'Train One'

Featuring Moog Prodigy and Roland SH-101. Hope y’all dig it.

Full length and downloadable versions available from SoundCloud:

https://soundcloud.com/olifreke/train-one-original-mix

https://soundcloud.com/olifreke/train-one-remix

Seventh Wave - Festival of Electronic Music (16th March 2019)

This looks like a great synth event in March - get the word out !

My Dr Who Cover Version..

I composed and performed a version of the Dr Who theme for the Design & Engineering department of the BBC at their end of year conference in Dec 2018, at the BBC Radio Theatre, Broadcasting House, London. Helping with the performance were Jim Simmons (keys) and Des Griffiths (bass).

Good fun to compose and perform.

Should note - for avoidance of any doubt - that I’m more than happy for the producers of Dr Who to approach me regarding the 2020 series of the programme. The door is always open, lads! ;-)

Salient synth related info is that the lead and bass were done by the Arturia Arp 2600 and the synth stabs are the Arturia Oberheim SEM. All lovely kit!

SynthFestUK - new poster & fun times

SynthFestUK was a blast! Held in Sheffield, UK in October 2018, our stand was up near the entrance of the upper level. Had a great view of the Novation stand and Erica Synth opposite, and was sandwiched between KMR Audio and Tubbutec.

This was how the stand was looking after set-up on Friday:

Synth Evolution stand at #SynthFestUK 2018

Picture doesn’t include the iPad I had with the SynthSounds.net website on so visitors could check out all the vintage synth sounds on that site.

The day was a great success - many happy visitors leaving the show with Synth Evolution posters, mugs and t-shirts. Would definitely love to do it again. The best thing was meeting people and ‘talking synth’ for eight hours! Tiring, but fun. Was great to find out about people’s set-ups and synths. And how far some people had come - Germany, Sweden, Belgium for some.

I walked past Will Gregory (Goldfrapp, WG’s Moog Orchestra) and Martyn Ware (Human League, Heaven 17). (Did I ever mention that I’ve supported the Human League with my band Cassette Eletrik in 2007? Probably.) It was also great meeting writers and editors of Sound on Sound and Electronic Sound, both magazines I’ve been a fan and reader (and occasional writter) for years.

The only thing I’d do differently next time is to bring a buddy to share shift duty on the stand. I literally only had 10 mins break all day and didn’t actually get to see any of the synths or talks. HIGHLY FRUSTRATING!!! :-)

New synth poster to be unveiled at Synthfest!

I hope you’ve all got your tickets to #synthfest2018? Synth Evolution are very proud to be hosting a stand with our posters, mugs and t-shirts. (Plus an interactive version of the SynthSounds website)

Not only that, but we’re launching a new poster - ‘Syntheseizer’s Greatest Hits’ which features all the most important and influential synthesizers of the last 80 years (yes, 80 - can you guess the earliest?' ;-) 10% discount to the first correct answer! info@synthevolution.net)

Here’s a sneak preview:

Synth Evolution - A1 poster - ‘Synthesizer’s greatest hits’

It will also available in white, and will be on sale on this website from October 7th 2018.