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...

As I’ve said before , I’m not the biggest fan of FM synthesis. It’s not that I dislike it. I believe it has its uses, and there are some sounds it does better than anything else. But I never went through an FM phase like a lot of other people seem to have. I grew up in the ‘70s and ‘80s so I love analog synthesis. I consider a two-oscillator monosynth solo with plenty of portamento to be one of the finer things in life. Recently, I have come to appreciate what FM synthesis can do. And while I’m still not a huge fan of six-operator synths like the DX7, take me down to four and watch me come alive. My TX81Z can do things no analog synth can do, and while I didn’t have it for very long, the DX100 was more than capable when it came to bass. Solid, even. If four operators are better than six, imagine how good two operators must be. Sadly, this is not the case but two-op machines are capable of some pretty incredible sounds. From bells to falling cooking pan-like noise, it’s hard to b...

I’m not an FM guy. Some people love FM. It tickles their fancy. Not me. To me, it sounds sterile and sharp, like a scalpel. A highly polished scalpel dipped in antiseptic. Me, I prefer analog. It’s fuzzy and woolly and warm, like a forest animal. Or like a blanket. Or a hug. Of course, I’m exaggerating but you get the idea. We all have our preferences and mine tend towards analog. I like the smeary softness of analog. It reminds me of my childhood in the ‘70s and growing up in the ‘80s. That would be the early ‘80s, before our lives were blackened by the coming of the dreaded DX7. Of course, I’m exaggerating again. I may prefer analog but I’m also a fan of synthesizers in general, and there’s something to be said for having a variety of sounds at your disposal. The song needs what it needs. Also, digital sounds can be surprisingly easy to slot into a full mix. Surgical. Precise. FM. My first brush with frequency modulation came a few years ago when a friend offered me an old DX...