Maestros – The NOVATION Story

A short, but informative video (17 minutes). The following synthesizer documentation was of course created as advertising for Novation. Its journey starts in 1992 with the cute MM10 Keyboard (for Yamahas QY10 Pocket Workstation) and ends up in the present with Launchpad and Mininova. With the help of many musicians and synth designers, among them Ian Jannaway (Co-Founder of Novation) …

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… and veteran Chris Huggett. The latter is best known for his EDP Wasp and OSCar synthesizer way back in the early 80s – today he’s a sterling member of the Novation team. Many features of the Bass Station, Bass Station II, Peak and Summit carry Chris Huggett’s signature (take, for instance, the innovative multi-functional use of synth keys, or the dual filter combinations, …).

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Aside from synths, software (V-Station, sadly cracked short after release) and the phenomenal Launch Pad also play a central role in that British company. All in all: Well-made and informative PR-material on an important piece of European synth-history.

Here’s the video:

Website:
https://us.novationmusic.com

Filed under 2017, Videos

“Es genügt, einen Ton schön zu spielen” sagte der Komponist Arvo Pärt im Jahre 2005. Diese Aussage ist ebenso einfach wie ich auch exzellent: Es braucht kein Meer an Tönen, denn entscheidend ist der Klang. Dass so mancher Vintage-Synthesizer der 70er und 80er Jahre teils unerreicht hochwertige Klänge liefert, steht außer Frage. Doch tatsächlich leben wir “heute” in einer nahezu perfekten Zeit. Einerseits hat man – mehr oder weniger – noch Zugriff auf die Vintage Analogen, andererseits wird auch bei Neugeräten die wichtige Komponente des hochwertigen Klanges wieder zunehmend berücksichtigt. Doepfer, Cwejman, Synthesizers.com, MacBeth, Moog, GRP, Studio Electronics, COTK, John Bowen und andere Hersteller bauen hervorragende Synthesizer, die den “Klassikern” in nichts nachstehen. All diesen (alten wie neuen) “großartigen” Instrumenten ist Great Synthesizers gewidmet. _________________________________________________________ In 2005 composer Arvo Pärt said: “Playing one tone really well is enough”. In other words, it is sufficient to play one tone 'beautifully'. I agree with that. All musical efforts are focused on the sound itself. Although I studied classical music (piano and drums), it’s the electronic sound that inspires me. Synthesizers are the epitome of new sounds and exciting tonal spheres. Today, many companies produce high-quality - excellent! - synthesizers: Doepfer, Cwejman, MacBeth, Moog, GRP, Synthesizers.com, COTK, Studio Electronics, John Bowen and others. It's their products I'm really interested in ... apart from Vintage Synthesizers, which I have been collecting for 20 years. Subsequent to our former websites Bluesynths and Blogasys, Peter Mahr and I have now created GreatSynthesizers. We hope you like it.