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.
After a teaser video that left little in any doubt that Cherry Audio were working on a CS-80 emulation, they have surprised many by announcing GX-80.
The Sonicware LIVEN Lofi-12 features a retro sampling engine for that authentic low bit and sample rate sampling in a feature packed box
Sequential announced today their first new instrument since the passing of their founder, Dave Smith, the Trigon 6 Polyphonic Synthesizer.
Not content with reintroducing string synths to a 21st century audience, Waldorf now deliver the Streichfett String Synthesizer in plug in form.
Kodamo MASK1: The long-awaited synth from Kodamo, uses their innovative "bit masking synthesis" architecture. A new paradigm in digital synthesis?
GForce Software's Oddity 3 gets a big update. Two decades on, is it still as definitive as its predecessors? We take the latest version for a spin...