808 Day is the perfect day to confirm that the foreword to my forthcoming book, BEAT GEMS, is to be written by none other than techno legend and Underground Resistance founder, Jeff Mills . A real honour, needless to say. He’s written a lovely piece about his relationship to music, rhythm, drum machines, and - of course - the 909! BEAT GEMS is to launch very soon, in autumn 2026, but you can…
I had a great chat with Ian Dixon of #thedigitallifestyle last week. We chatted about loads of exciting drum machine related stuff, and I give a little demo of the legendary Oberheim DX. Pop over to YouTube , or just watch below! Enjoy! #oberheimdx #drummachines #iandixon #thedigitallifestyle #electronicmusic
I’m super proud to announce my new book, BEAT GEMS, due to be published in October has gone live on Kickstarter! It’s to be published by Bjooks, who specialise in beautiful books about electronic music instruments. (The earlier Synth Gems Vol. 1 could be considered the ‘partner’ book for Beat Gems!) https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bjooks/beat-gems-drum-machines-in-modern-music It was…
I had a very enjoyable conversation this week with Ian Dixon of The Digital Lifestyle. As I’m currently researching and writing a book about vintage drum machines, it was a great opportunity to discuss and demo them. They are all quite different, and whilst not the big-name classics like the 808 or 909, still illustrate the fascinating evolution of these important devices. Units covered are the:…
Had a splendid time at Superbooth 2025 - inexplicably my first time, but glad to have made it there now to enjoy the vibes - and the synths. As ever, the best bit is talking with people, catching up with friends and finding out more about the synths, modules and audio machines of all types direct from the makers/designers/manufacturers themselves. But having access to so many keyboards in one…
This is a great video showing the breadth and depth of the SynthEast 2025 show - and includes a brief chat with me & Paulee discussing Synth Evolution and the two new volumes of Synth Evolution I debuted at the show. (at around 12mins).
I was very proud to launch the two new volumes of the Synth Evolution A6 ‘Zine’ series at this year’s SynthEast 2025 event, organised by Robin Vincent of Molten Media and Electronic Sound magazine! NEW: Synth Evolution A6 Zine Volume 3: Modern Classics Modern Classics showcases a selection of the most interesting, impactful, and—arguably—best synthesizers of the past two decades. The synths in…
I need to write more regular blog posts, that’s for sure! In the meantime, here’s a record of my semi-regular articles for Sound On Sound - the world’s best recording magazine! Enter the world of alternative tuning systems maybe reinvent music! A great sounding and innovative dynamic saturation plugin. Live 12's synth is pretty awesome. The perfect man-machine symbiosis! Ableton's granular synth…
I’m proud to share with you all my first podcast episode for Sound On Sound on the history of the drum machine: https://www.soundonsound.com/sound-advice/drum-machine-history-podcast 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…
I was lucky enough to visit the Musée de la musique in Paris recently and of course lapped up the electronic music instrument collection. In addition, they have five floors of wonderful instruments from the earliest spinnets and harpischords to early woodwind, brass and world instruments of every type. Anyone who’s interested in music would get something from a visit! An Épinette - from 1522 -…
My book launch took place on 23rd November, to celebrate the launch of my two new zines - ‘Vintage Synths’ and ‘Drum Machines & Samplers’. Check Velocity Press for online ordering details - or your local book / record shop! DJ Tom F DJ Tom F kicked the evening off with a selection of cool electronic synth vibes covering synth based tracks from 90s classics of Underworld and Hardfloor to … modern…
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?)
Review: Matthew Herbert at the Barbican, Sat 14th Oct. This concert divided opinion with my gig going companions! I enjoyed it - I thought the dramatic climax of the piece where a re-animated horse emerged from the maelstrom of noise and light accompanied by a possessed and/or demonic dancer was genuinely thrilling. Put me in mind of Stravinski’s Rite of Spring (in a very good way!) Some of my…
A quick humble brag from me to say that I was on BBC 5Live Drive Time last week, as part of their ‘Synthpop September’ celebrations (Synthtember?). I was asked to give a brief history of the synth o Click the image below to listen! It’s a very brief interview of only a couple of minutes, but was great to be asked - I do know a thing or two about the synth, after all! And yes, it was a classic case…
I wondered if my Synth Evolution project would be under threat if OpenAI & the Dall-E service could generate the beautiful hand-illustrated synth images I make. (Laboriously, and by human hand!). Luckily it turns out - no, no it can’t. I used the phrase ‘an outline illustration of a Moog Minimoog synthesizer in black and white’ and this is what we got: I mean, they’re quite pretty, but if you…
Well, of course I had to ask Chat GPT to tell me the history of synthesizers from the early hardware machines to the latest digital instruments to see how good and/or accurate it would be.. This is what it said: “ The history of the synthesizer dates back to the early 20th century, when inventors such as Thaddeus Cahill and Leon Theremin developed early electronic instruments. However, it was not…
A slightly belated round-up of Synth Evolution activities from 2022. (Had a bit of flu at the end of last year which somewhat knocked me for six, hence the delay.) Sill, last year was quite productive, now I look back at it - so a big thanks to all Synth Evolution customers whose support, interest and purchases keep me motivated to make and sell the best synth related products I possibly can. I…
'The results are in! The synth community have spoken and pronounced the ARP 2600 as their favourite oscillator! Second and third place were extremely close - The Roland SH-101 and Moog Minimoog only differing by two votes, but the SH-101 just nudges it. Order your favourite(s) now from WeAre1of100 T-Shirts: Buy Now! Thanks to everyone who took part, debated the options and their merits - it was a…
One lucky entrant will win one of the latest range of t-shirts to be created in Synth Evolution’s latest collaboration with 1of100 T-shirts ! But first we have to decide which designs we’re going to make! Introducing the Champion of Oscillators t-shirt competition! Go here >> https://twitter.com/weare1of100/status/1569398470389243905 << After last year's World Cup of Synth which named the Roland…
i was contacted recently by Rich Aucoin about his new project to break the world record for the most synths on any record to date - which will be well over 100 and could be approaching 500 if I’ve understood things correctly! I’m happy to be involved too - contributing a synth line or two when required. Not only has Rich got the privilege of my synth work, he’s also using some small, tiny…