From the earliest pre-transistor efforts to replicate a drum kit to the latest developments, this is a fascinating story of how this electronic instrument category has influenced musical culture and reflected the technological developments of each era.
I cover early analague drum machines, sampling drum mahines, of course the 808 and 909 - and much (much) else.
Best thing is that there are about 50 audio clips inllustrating the sound of key instruments and songs that used them!
Was delighted to join Ruichi of Love Will Save The Day Radio to chat synth as she spun some splendid electronic music on her Signal show (which is the whole point of synths, innit?)
I have an EP coming out soon - will be available on the usual Beatport, iTunes type places.
Ahead of that, here’s a continuous mix of it for you to enjoy right now:
1. Up From The Sea 2. AnnaMorphic 3. Pitch Loop Acid 4. Friday (Practice)
This was all done in the box on Ableton 11; I tend to use samples of a SH-101 waveform in Live’s sampler and have fun from there! Not much actual vintage synth action to be honest in these tracks, anyway. Oh, and 909 samples of course - this is techno after all! And some tasty horn blasts and samba samples on the first track too, to keep things interesting.
This is a must listen - Jean-Michel Jarre demonstrates how to create his classic ‘Oxygene pad sound’ by setting up an Eminent 310 string machine sound from scratch and then strapping triple-chorus and a StoneBridge phaser across it – instant Oxygene!
This is from the Planet Jarre podcast, hosted by Matt Berry.: https://planetjarre.podigee.io/8-neue-episode
All the episodes are vital listening to any fan of electronic music, but this one is the best!
Following on from Chapter 1, here are the tracks mentioned in Chapter 2 of Matthew Collins' excellent 'Rave On' book. As noted before, there's no point just reading about the music of a scene - it kinda helps to hear it as well!
The Berlin chapter focuses on the import of techno to Berlin, the free parties of Love Parade and the sex parties of Berghain, Snax and others.
As a result the playlist is early 90's techno and artists like Westbam, Jam & Spoon, Spiral Tribe, etc.
Enjoy!
Worth a watch - Free Tekno documentary about the current incarnation of the free party scene, a la Spiral Tribe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7MUlimHYx4
Peter Zinovieff of EMS talking about the VSC3: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05m93vw
Hannah Peel talks about EDP Wasp: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05m93sx
Article about women and synths: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2GfqNLhxxrsQf67K36sVg8F/is-the-synth-the-ultimate-feminist-instrument?
(not sure about the clickbait title - the article doesn't make any actual references to feminism. It's just an article about female synth players. Why would a synth be a feminist instrument? Doesn't really make any sense. Anyway, the link to Eliane Radigue is well worth a listen)
