Synth Makers in the Bay Area
Synth Makers in the Bay Area
May 23, 2020
Well, it's that time of year again. Another rotation around the sun has brought us back to International Synth Day - the day to appreciate the instruments we love and the people who make them.
In the past, we've conducted exclusive interviews with pioneers in synth design and performance and this year we even spoke to the legendary Suzanne Ciani, but we wanted to try and provide some added community benefit this time around.
To that end we've compiled a list of the Bay Area's best and most interesting synth makers and lovers. Browsing through our list, you will find surprising bits of synthesizer history, new custom manufacturers, and possibly your new favorite synthesizer. Are you an analog synth lover? Well we heard a new Buchla synth is in the works. Prefer digital synths you can download and plug immediately in your sessions? Don't worry we've got you covered!
Happy International Synth Day!
Humble Audio
Humble Audio is the maker of the Quad Operator for eurorack modular format. The Quad Operator is an expression of FM synthesis distilled into its most essential form. Every individual parameter is available directly on the panel in its one-knob-per-function interface, offering the most immediate & hands-on FM synthesis experience available anywhere.
Percussa
Percussa is a music tech company based in California, USA, and is a brand of Noisetron LLC. Percussa makes hardware and software for professional musicians, placing new hardware interfaces at the center of its products, empowering musicians to make new music and sounds through new ways of interaction.
Percussa’s first product, launched in 2007 at the NAMM show, was the AudioCubes, an audiovisual computer interface for live electronic music performance. AudioCubes are used by professional musicians around the world for live performance, installations, composition, sound design, etc. Since then, AudioCubes have gone through several revisions, with the latest version, the Wireless AudioCubes PRO, featuring full wireless communication and high-end materials and components.
Dimitri Builds Synths
Local DJ & producer and 1/2 half of Slope 114, Dimitri started to build synths after his whole studio got stolen in 2006. Because he couldn't afford to buy new gear, and while his beloved Juno 106 went missing, he started to look for cheap alternatives online. after looking into some pictures of Casio keyboards that were modified with different switches and knobs, he became intrigued by modifying junk. A long search online led him to explore the schematics in order to produce house beats with grimey sounds. After finding new sounds through circuit bending, he ultimately was inspired by building his own musical equipment. These days he provides guides and inspiration to every DIY music enthusiastic who dream to build their own synths.
Rossum Electro-Music
Rossum Electro-Music creates uniquely powerful tools for electronic music production. Driven by the creative and technological vision of electronic music pioneer Dave Rossum, Rossum Electro-Music is the culmination of Dave’s 50 years of designing industry-defining instruments and transformative technologies. Starting with his co-founding of E-mu Systems, Dave provided the technological leadership that resulted in what many consider the premier professional modular synthesizer system. The E-mu Modular System combined superlative analog design, innovative use of digital technology, and unparalleled physical construction and reliability.
Sequential
Sequential is led by legendary instrument designer and Grammy-winner Dave Smith, the founder of Sequential Circuits in 1974. In 1977 Dave designed the Prophet-5, the world’s first fully-programmable polyphonic synth, and the first musical instrument with an embedded microprocessor. Sequential released many innovative instruments and drum machines over the next 10 years. Dave is known as the driving force behind the MIDI specification in 1981. It was Dave, in fact, who coined the acronym.
Check out our conversation with Dave Smith from his San Francisco office.
Keith McMillen
Keith McMillen Instruments develops innovative hardware and software technologies that allow musicians to interface with computers in exciting new ways. Based in Berkeley, California, KMI’s products provide today’s musicians with the tools needed to bring new dimensions of expression and control to their performance. Keith McMillen believes when a computer is played as a musical instrument it should feel and respond like one, with all the nuance and sensitivity that makes an instrument musical.
Robotspeak
ROBOTSPEAk is San Francisco’s premier location for synthesizers and music production equipment. Since 2002, ROBOTSPEAk has been providing musicians with modular synthesizers, analog and digital synths, drum machines, effects, insane gadgets, boutique controllers, music software, and all kinds of electronic music-related gear. The store’s location in the Lower Haight at 589 1/2 Haight Street is next door to Vinyl Dreams, one of our favorite record shops, which sounds like the perfect afternoon outing for music heads.
Buchla
Buchla U.S.A. was founded on the work of synthesis pioneer and master instrument designer Donald Buchla, whose 50-year body of intellectual property was acquired by the company. Don Buchla was an American pioneer in the field of sound synthesis. He was co-inventor of the voltage-controlled modular synthesizer along with Robert Moog, the two working independently in the early 1960s. He created the 100 series Modular Electronic Music System in 1963 and a few years later, the 200 series Electric Music Box. These days the company has been moving forward with production on the 208C and Easel Command.
Zetaohm
Zetaohm is Tenkai Kariya, maker of the FLXS1. FLXS1 provides features previously unavailable in modular sequencers. Complex per-step configurable parameters provide capabilities to effortlessly create intricate sequenced arpeggios as well as tempo-synced modulation outputs that can change instantly on any step. Zetaohm is currently working on updates to FLXS1, as well as new products for the not too distant future.
Erik Needham Woodworks
This company is combining their love for modular synths with woodworking. They mill their boards in-house from rough lumber and use power tools only when it’s not practical to do it by hand. They don't use software to design their pieces and a CNC machine does not come near anything they make. There’s no sweat-fueled moral high ground here, rather a firm belief that taking the time to learn the grain and quirks of a piece of wood always yields a better-finished product.
