Boy Meets Synth

Even the most casual reader of this page will have realized that my tastes skew towards the analog. However, I’m not an analog purist. Like a chef, I prefer to have a variety of spices at hand with which to season my music. (Can you tell I just ate lunch?) So to that end I have a Yamaha TX81Z and Korg DW-8000 in my kitchen. Erm, studio. Add to that now a Kawai K1r. Actually this is the second K1r I’ve owned in my lifetime. The first one made a brief stop in my studio in the early 2000’s when I was searching for a new sound. I eventually settled on breaks made in the box but before jettisoning all my studio gear (yes, I do regret it) I remember managing to get not very much useful out of the K1r except some weird digital pitch-bent gurgles. So why did I buy another one? A couple of reasons. First, I want all the synths. Not very realistic but it’s true. Second, I used to own one and I’d like to get the old studio back together. Third, I had a Yamaha TG33 for awhile and I really li...

Eagle-eyed readers of this blog may remember that I had a Roland HS-80 SynthPlus 80 , the home version of the Alpha Juno 2. I took the speakers out. But I also really liked the look of the original Juno 2. With its slim body and membrane buttons, it just exudes mid-80s cool. I had been wanting a new master keyboard to replace my Roland A-49, so after seeing YouTube star Espen Kraft using one I decided to sell off the HS-80 and get an Alpha. It arrived clean and in good shape, and even came with a plastic hard case. Nice. However, I sometimes noticed a faint, high-pitched whine coming from inside the machine. It wasn’t present in the audio but was definitely audible when I put my ear near the casing. But then it went away and I forgot about it. The Alpha Juno 2 was originally released in 1985. The younger brother (in age, not size) to the Alpha Juno, the 2 added an extra octave and touch sensitivity, something that makes it a great master controller even to this day. Unlike the ...

Although I listened to industrial music all through high school, and loved groups like Front 242 and Skinny Puppy, my interest in electronic music really exploded when I discovered techno and rave in 1991. I loved the energy of it but mostly I loved the sounds. It was unabashedly synthy, and each song was seemingly built around one or two incredible sounds that just repeated. It was glorious. I loved all the hoovers, but especially the Dominator, so if you had put money down with a bookie in 1991 that I’d someday be the proud owner of an Alpha Juno synth then you’d be a winner today. Well, almost. Instead of buying a reasonably sized Alpha Juno or Alpha Juno 2, I had to go and get the HS-80 SynthPlus 80, the rather unwieldy and, it has to be said, ugly home version. Introduced in 1987, a year later than the original Alphas, this behemoth widened the case to include an amp and two speakers. Gone are the fetching membrane buttons, replaced with D-50-style black push-button jobbi...