Short reviews and idiosyncratic thoughts and ruminations on synthesizers by someone who just wants to "try 'em all"
OB-X8: The best Oberheim ever?
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There's been a little gap since my last entry, but that's partly because my last post--the title of this one--was simply so profound that it ended up becoming an article for Greatsynthesizers.com. Check it out here.
It's 2023... the synthesizer market is SATURATED with analog monophonic synths offering "warmth" and "fatness" and "character". It's arguable that there's never been so many cheap and cheerful new analog synths to pick from and that's not even considering the offerings in Euro land. With so many new options, how does one choose? Don't. Instead buy the thing that kicked this all off (new analog monosynths that is, not reissues, a la MS-20) and get on with your life. What is that thing? It's the humble Arturia Minibrute. When it was released a lifetime ago, a lot of people weren't impressed. It was too gnarly, too aggressive, and not the Moog clone that (apparently) people only ever want. But hindsight has worked out in its favour and I can't think of any other modern analog monosynth that can still hold its own both in terms of sound but also connectivity. No specs review here, simply a Top 8 list of reasons why the MB is ...
In pursuit of analog poly greatness, it's easy to overlook a LOT of other synths, particularly VAs. I'm not an analog purist by any means, but VAs have usually just been something I ended up trying because of easy access or latent curiosity; not because of any great need for 20 voice pads or complex multitimbrality. And that means a lot of them have simply gone under my radar for a loooong time. So in an effort to be a little more au courant , I made an educated decision last year to buy a NEW VA. A few things didn't really click with me with that one and so rather than return or sell, I thought about checking out something I'd actually been curious about for a long time, the Nord Wave 1. In a case of wonderful serendipity, someone wanted the Gaia and had a Wave to offer and ta da, I had a Wave. I am no stranger to Nords. I had a NL2R when they were still somewhat fresh (so fresh actually that I kind of forgot what I even thought about it, "dry" is my only li...
Happy new year folks! New year, new me? Nope. In fact, for my first post of 2025, I thought I would dredge up a 5-year-old thread I made on a forum that I no longer frequent. The contents of the post are still accurate, the only real (a very real) difference is that not long afterward vintage synth prices went skyhigh during the COVID pandemic thanks to homebound investors with nowhere else to put their money. Prices have come down somewhat since and there's still plenty of good vintage synths to get for decent prices but forget about every buying some things for less than multiple 10s of Ks. Anyway, on with the post: Decoding vintage synth seller lingo: a user guide Given how increasingly difficult it is to navigate the vintage synth market these days, particularly for first time buyers, I thought it would be helpful to provide an extensive, if not exhaustive, list of terms used by sellers that one might run across in places like eBay or Reverb, and their actual...
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