Once I’d heard ‘Are Friends’ Electric?” by Tubeway Army, I knew synthesizers would be a huge part of my life. Despite drums becoming my main instrument for many years, I dabbled and lusted after countless pieces of gear and started using computers to help me make my own music with a Commodore 64 and a copy of Electrosound.
Over the years, I eventually progressed to more professional tools and began to truly indulge my love of electronic music making, slowly building a collection of gear that covered most synthesis methods, from sampling to physical modelling and beyond. However, my love of the gear that soundtracked my formative years was strong and I was fortunate enough to be asked to work with the inventor of the Fairlight CMI on their more recent projects. This then led to me restoring Fairlight CMI’s, something I still do to this day.
My home studio is now filled with classic vintage gear of the 80s and 90s, as well as modern classics. In recent years, I have been producing podcasts for Sound On Sound, as well as writing articles for them and I also present a weekly live stream for the Pro Synth Network. I still drum, albeit now on e-Drum kits, which are far easier to move around and a lot quieter when practising! You can often find me delivering seminars & lectures and at various synth shows around the world, talking about and demonstrating iconic synths.
We kick off with a companion bank for Crumar DS-2, Cherry Audio's latest synth, plus we look at new sounds for Modal's COBALT8, Live Suite 12 and the KORG modwave.
Swayed takes us back to the 90s, where digital synthesis and sampling collided and showed us what both methods could do when used creatively!
TAL brings us another chapter in Roland's analogue synth swan song from the mid-80s, before everything went digital for a while. Does TAL-J8X do the JX-8P justice?
The Crumar DS-2 by Cherry Audio continues their collaboration with the legendary Italian brand, bringing back an often overlooked analogue rarity.
UPDATE
The Supercritical Redshift 6 continues to expand and improve, with this already impressive synth getting new features and bug fixes. The highlight this time is a new Arp and Sequencer Engine!
The Roland JP-8000 has seen a bit of a reemergence in recent months, mainly because of clones and recreations. Now, Altitude 5 breathes more life into this vintage VA, as well as its imitators.
It's all kicking off this week in synth land as the Tembo Kickstarter hits $2M of advanced funding, whilst discoDSP have caused a furore with their dip into the open-source world of The Usual Suspects.
This week, we have Cinematica for your PolyBrute, be it a 6 or 12, plus one of our favourite sound designers, Jexus, delivers a bumper pack for Oberheim's TEO-5!
This week, we see the release of Drumopolis, a new SDX for Superior Drummer 3 created by Tony Visconti, plus new sounds for the MiniFreak, multi/poly and Omnisphere 3.
Where I try to choose my favourite hardware synths by their synthesis type, and realise it isn't as easy as I first thought!
Well, we didn’t have to wait long for the Iridium Mk.2 to break cover after its leak a few days ago! It’s here, and it’s packing quite a punch! Let’s dig in…
Waldorf releases their first official sound bank for the fantastic Protein tabletop synth, bringing Harry van Mierloo's acclaimed Perfect Pads from the Quantum/Iridium to the small but mighty wavetable synth.
Synth East, the first proper synth show in the U.K. and Europe held its fourth annual show, heralding in a bumper year of synth community gatherings, with SynthFest U.K. returning after a year's hiatus!
The KeyStep 37 Mk.2 expands on one of Arturia's most loved performance controllers with new features and improved workflows.
This week sees FM Core for Multiphonics CV-3, plus a free bank for Audiomodern's Soundbox, plus the sounds of Armageddon!
Some lovely acoustic sample-based instruments this week, including a nearly 100-year-old xylophone, plus SEQTRAK packs and more sounds for Pigments 7!
A quarter of a century has passed since Waldorf first dropped Attack. Now it is back, but does Attack 3 still hold up, all these years on?
Alesis releases another kit option in their Nitro range, the Nitro Ultimate XL, but does it muddy the waters?
Maximum Overdrive expands your Cherry Audio SH-MAX experience, and we have two more free banks for Arturia's Pigments 7 and JUP-8000 V!
Cherry Audio's SH-MAX celebrates the often-overlooked SH range of synths with not one, not two, but three 'clasSHics' represented in one instrument!
Available now!
The CZ-1 Mini pocket synth finally makes it into stores, taking 80's Phase Distortion and squeezing it into a box the size of a paperback!
Love it or hate it, the annual celebration of Record Store Day can often deliver some gems for lovers of electronic music. What has 2026 got in store for us?
NAMM
Another Behringer prototype breaks cover and appears at NAMM 2026. This time it's the long-awaited Behringer BMX drum machine.
In the latest Bob Moog Foundation raffle, you can win a very special Moog Voyager XL signed by electronic music luminary Thomas Dolby!