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.
Mention the maestro Vangelis and the Yamaha CS-80 will surely be referenced sooner rather than later. This week we check out a library that manages to evade that connection.
Following the release of their updated Keylab Essentials, the flagship gets its long-awaited update in the form of the Arturia Keylab 61 Mk.3. Can this venerable controller still deliver?
The Minimoog Book from Danish indie book publisher Bjooks pays tribute to the synthesizer that changed music forever. And it's now available!
Sounds and Presets covers new sounds from Jamie Morden at GEOSynths with his Flux Vol. 1 for the Waldorf Quantum and Iridium. There are also new sounds for KORG's opsix!
The snare pad is the beating heart of your drum kit so why not consider upgrading it to something new and save yourself some cash in the process?
The mad genius that is Tom Carpenter delivers the Maximus 4V for those of us with less spare space in our studios!
Trevor Horn is one of the most influential producers of the last 40 years. Now you can access some of his most prized sounds for less!
One of the most revered virtual analog synths of the 90s is being revived as a freeware emulation. Meet the Nodal Red 2x.
Love Hulten designs a synth for Sean Ono Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl, whilst Roland looks to an analog ghost-free future.
Seeing as Teenage Engineering want to take us back to our primitive past with their new sampler, I thought I'd dig out some medieval samples that we can all use.
In a world of uncertainty, do not for one single moment ever expect Teenage Engineering to do anything predictable. The Teenage Engineering EP-1320 medieval is an absolute testament to that!
Want to make sure your new drum kit is ready to play right out of the box? Then a bundle deal is what you need. Check out these great deals with added benefits!
Following on from the hugely successful and brilliantly named, 'Alicia's Keys', we get Alicia's Electric Keys. We also check out some Peak and MiniFreak Patches.
With Anyma V, Aodyo Instruments bring polyphonic physical modelling to the masses with MPE and a fantastic launch price.
Another week, another selection of synthy ephemera, including the JunoMac 106, a record that's also a synthesizer and a BBC blast from the past.
This week we're indulging in some lovely new binaural patches for the splendid Oberheim OB-X8, exploiting its new v2.0 firmware.
This week's Synth Deals features three classic analog synths with significant discounts so you might just be able to afford one after all!
One of the 80's most loved and sought-after drum machines returns in the 21st century via the GForce Software Oberheim DMX.
There has never been a better time to buy a Roland V-Drum Acoustic Design kit! We look at four different VAD kits for varying budgets.
Mopping up the cool synth stories you may have missed, this week's Synth Journal considers Behringer's proposed Direct-to-Customer Sales Channel.
This week's guide to amazing patches for your synths includes a free bank for Hydrasynth, a wealth of sounds for KORG's modwave and a new bank of sounds for XILS-Labs Kaox.
This week we have some excellent sounds packs for Ableton Live, new libraries for the KORG NAUTILUS and KRONOS and yet more PolyBrute patches!
Considered the very best electric piano that Wurlitzer ever made, the Cherry Audio Wurlybird 140B lets us judge for ourselves!
As Tom Oberheim celebrates his 88th birthday, GForce Software continues its officially endorsed software recreations with the classic and much revered Oberheim OB-1.