Something wicked this way comes
Ken McBeth is a man so passionate about analogue synthesizers, he not only enjoys to play them, but builds his dream synths himself in his Edinburgh lab. These instruments are hand-built in small quantities with meticulous care for detail and feature almost brutally simplistic user interfaces and an uncompromising sound.
Bits and Bugs
While current virtuality-mania has undeniably expanded the possibilities of music production, it has also led to the relentless struggle for sonic perfection and a plethora of features that most musicians will never understand, let alone need.
While my notebook gently bleeps
"I am the operator with my pocket calculator. By pressing down a special key it plays a little melody". Kraftwerk, German pioneers of electronic Pop, have predicted more than twenty years ago that one day people would be able to create music on small computing devices in real time.
EDP
Wasp
Buzzed away
Wasp is an obscure little synthesizer, built in the late 1970ies by British
company Electronic Dream Plant. Though it is of really cheap appearance
and rather poor workmanship, a small but devoted cult following still
rave about its distinctive sound and style.
Mind in the machine
The Neuron aims to bring a "human" touch to synthesized sound creation. The sounds are produced by means of a neural network engine. Synthesizer-designer Axel Hartmann used the technology to build what he calls "a breakthrough" in the history of the synthesizer.
The sound of the ether
Electronic sounds, seemingly formed by the hands - the thereminvox is one of the weirdest instruments and the ancestor of today's synthesizers. At first sight the thereminvox looks not very impressive: a small box resting on a wooden-legged frame or a microphone stand, like a lectern sporting two shiny antennas.
Modular to go (update)
The compact and bright red housing makes the Nord Modular look like a toy instrument. Mind you, it's a mighty tool for synthesized sound design, currently being reborn in the shape of the G2 model. The G2 is not simply a successor, it is in fact a whole new instrument.
Music for the Low Tech society
The Nanoloop software is a strange thing. Its purpose is to turn a silly video game console designed to host Super Mario and the Pokemons into a musical instrument. The development of the software had started some years ago as a students experiment at Hamburg's art school.