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.
Joyeux Noël et bonne année from those lovely folks in Grenoble! A rather lovely free instrument can be yours right now in the shape of Augmented Mallets Play, compliments of Arturia!
This week, I take a look back through my Sounds and Presets column to pick out the best presets that we featured in 2024
UPDATE
Arturia update their brilliant MiniFreak hybrid synthesizer to version 3.0 and give us regular and granular sampling in both the hardware and software versions.
UPDATE
Moog Music update the Muse firmware to v1.3! This brings system-wide latency reductions and improvements to velocity response, Diffusion Delay fidelity and Mod map behaviour.
IconDrum is GForce Software's second dedicated drum machine plugin that recreates what many consider to be the greatest drum machine of all time. Have they hit that perfect beat?
The Redshift 6 from Supercritical sees them branch out into desktop synthesis by making use of their existing technology, multiplied by six!
Behringer's Pro VS Mini receives a v2.0 firmware update that brings a collection of useful updates, including an extra voice of polyphony!
For my last entry into this year's Synth Journal, I thought I'd take a retrospective look at some of the things that caught my eye in the synth world of 2024.
KORG's microKORG2 takes the legendary microKORG to new heights, much like the opsix did for FM synthesis. Check out these new KORG presets and more in this week's Sound and Presets.
Scott McAuley Sounds delivers one of the first Arturia Polybrute 12 specific sound banks, and Expressive E releases the Legend HZ Expressive Suite.
A guide to the best, smallest and quietest e-Drums for Christmas that you can gift the budding drummer in your family, we look at five small footprint kits that won't annoy your neighbours.
Initially produced as a limited run of units under Dr. Yu Endo's 'Personal Projects' banner, the SONICWARE ELZ_1 play gets a useful firmware update and officially joins the SONICWARE roster in full production!
Week after week, I deliver some amazing presets and samples to stuff into your instruments but why not learn to make your own with Anthony Marinelli's new "Think Like a Synth" course!
Not ones to rest on their laurels, Cherry Audio bring us the P-10, recreating one of the giants of analogue synthesis minus the weight and heat issues!
This week's sumptuous helping of the smaller stories in the world of synths contains some interesting DIY Synth projects and a compelling new take on hardware strumming synths.
The KORG nanoKEY Fold takes portable keyboard technology to the extreme with a fold-up control surface that slips right inside your jacket pocket for when inspiration strikes on the move!
Appalachia from Indiginus brings the magical sound of a Mountain Dulcimer to your Kontakt library with all the performance scripting you need to sound like a master.
Yamaha's CS6x often gets overlooked. A synth tech from the Midlands, U.K. reckons we need to re-evaluate our perceptions and treat it as a classic.
Studio refits to make more room, or at least better use of it, come to us all, sooner or later. And who else has had enough of paying for upgrades so soon after the last?
The classic E-MU and Ensoniq sample libraries were, and still are, highly regarded for their variety and quality. You can still enjoy these sounds in the form of Kontakt/NKS libraries from Digital Sound ...
In this week's Synth Journal, we look at one of the biggest online auctions of vintage gear and I fall back in love with a Yamaha CS1x!
As well as some amazing free sounds for two modern French classics, there's a Time Capsule for your Martinic AX73 and a shedload of wavetables.
Alesis releases the Nitro Pro XL and the Nitro Amp, a bigger e-drum kit and a drum amp at very reasonable prices.
KORG continues its line of Raspberry Pi-based synths by resurrecting a familiar name from the past with a twist. Let's say hello to the new KORG multi/poly.