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.
This week sees WrongTools do fantastic things with a Marxophone in Marxos, plus a new SDX for Superior Drummer 3, patches for Leviasynth and more!
The Usual Suspects continue their winning streak of recreating the digital legends of the 90s/00s with Blue Giant, a recreation of the classic Novation SuperNova II.
This week, we have a spectacular new synth, Traveler, from an industry stalwart, new CS-80 chips to keep those old beasts going and a clone of the Moog Prodigy.
Nothing borrowed or blue here, but a cracking collection of sounds for synths old and new from some of the best sound designers out there!
Full-size eDrum kits are increasingly common these days, eschewing the small rubber pads of yesteryear, but such things come at a price. The Millenium MPS-1500 Hybrid-X kit has other ideas!
Your browser might just be your new musical best friend with more and more clever tools appearing every week!
Native Instruments Massive X gets some big love from Ocean Swift with two new banks, plus sounds for Dune 3 and Hive 2, too!
This week features presets for one of the smallest synths on the market, the Nanobox Fireball, as well as patches for The Messenger, ESQ-1, and Proxima!
Steinberg Classics is a new collection of their original VST plugins, released to celebrate 30 years of the VST plugin format!
This week has new sounds for the Matrix-6 plus free sounds for the Mk.II DX7 and Cherry Audio's ESQ-1.
We look at how French synth designers and manufacturers have increasingly dominated the synth market in recent years.
1010 Music's Bento just received a new firmware update (v1.5) with some very interesting new features!
NAMM
ASM's Leviasynth continues to grow and flourish as it receives a significant update that brings some cool functionality to its sequencer!
Chase Bliss admits defeat with Chompi, but might it live on? Also, we mourn the loss of Roger Bolton, and Isla Electronics teases a new plugin!
Handcrafted Mallets flies in the face of all you ever thought chromatic percussion was capable of, plus resonant metallic textures and K2000 sounds!
Available now!
The Behringer JT-2 is now in stock and shipping immediately, so grab yours today as this one is certain to be popular!
The Arturia AstroLab 61 gets a slick, silver paint job and it feels like we’re in the 90s again!
Some freebies for Erica Synth's Steampipe and a free piano for Kontakt, plus sounds for Dune 3 and UVI Falcon!
Use your PHARA-O MINI within your DAW via Momo's latest editor!
The venerable Access Virus A gets some love from Nick Klimenko, and there are new patches for Pigments 7, Hydrasynth and the Nord Lead 2/2X.
Arturia's KeyLab 61 and 49 Mk.3 controllers go Ultra in these bright, new orange editions that really catch the eye!
Available now!
Full CC control, MIDI over USB, multiple velocity & aftertouch curves get added to Magnolia, an instrument that has already become one of the year's most innovative synthesizers.
filament is a dream come true for musicians who score orchestras using plugins, but its power and capabilities can be used for much more.
Ripples is a new bank for Pigments from Tom Wolfe, plus sounds for the KORG modwave, Polyend Synth, Omnisphere 3 and even the good old Yamaha SY85!