For a long time I was ambivalent about the ELKA Synthex. Strong, powerful and brilliant on the one hand, too brilliant (perhaps), too clean and maybe even too digital on the… Read More
ELKA Synthex – analog Classic and “vintage Workstation”
Category: Featured
Yamaha CS-50 / CS-60 / CS-80 – the GREAT Japanese IMPACT
Completely superflous: Praising the (vintage) polyphonic Yamaha CS series to the skies. The legendary CS sound has long since been written in gold in the logbooks of electronic music. That… Read More
Sequential Pro 3 – a new benchmark for raw sonic power
Confession number 1: Being bold and ruthless, we have adopted the above headline “Pro 3 – a new benchmark for raw sonic power and unrivaled versatility” directly from Sequential. We… Read More
Roland Jupiter-X / Jupiter-Xm – the last stand?
Let’s be clear about this: “The last stand” has no militant connotations. It is meant positively (well, at least neutrally). Jupiter-X is Roland’s latest and most superior synthesizer flagship, but… Read More
Modal Argon8 – a polyphonic Wavetable synthesizer
Modal Electronics has already made an excellent name for itself on the electronics music scene. The 00-series, consisting of the 8-voice Modal 008 / 008R, 002 / 002R and the… Read More
Kawai S-100F / Teisco S-100F – “Terra Incognita”?
Hardly believable: A few of those “little giants” (monophonic synthesizers from the late 70s) seem to have disappeared completely from our memory. Take, for instance, the Kawai/Teisco Synthesizer-100F. Like reminiscences… Read More
Korg Trident – a classic 8-voice string synthesizer
For many years the Korg Trident, albeit impressive to look at, struck me as an uninspiring synthesizer. Chunky hardware, annoyingly chorused strings, very limited synthesizer possibilities. A synth for the… Read More
Novation SUMMIT – an OSCar synthesizer with 16 voices?
Novation is a fascinating company. Its Bass Station II – that top mono-synth that appeared a few years ago – has set a new standard in the modern analog world.… Read More
Arturia MiniBrute 2 and the “Synth-Flation” phenomenon
The Arturia MiniBrute 2 could easily be chosen “People’s-Analog-Synthesizer Number ONE of the decade”. It certainly has all the refinements that a modern versatile analog synth should have. But in… Read More
GRP Eurorack – a surprising variety of musical expression
Those working in the field of music electronics generally follow trends – in music production, for example, or in instrumental development. Many synthesizer manufacturers have jumped on to the popular… Read More