Synthesized Day 2 - Sunday 26th June 2022

Synthesized Day 2 - Sunday 26th June 2022
Item Qty To Buy Price
Adult (Sunday 26th June) £10.00
Child (Sunday 26th June) £7.00
Concession (Sunday 26th June) £8.00
Family (Sunday 26th June) £28.00
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Description :

Synthesized is a two day festival celebrating the computer and synthesiser - and how the two technologies grew up together.

The two technologies have crossed paths many times since the CSIRAC mainframe played the "Colonel Bogey March” in 1951. The mighty Fairlight CMI, the PPG and the humble Dragon 32 both share the same processor - as do the Moog Source, Prophet-5 and the ZX Spectrum.

By 1990, the Atari ST found its way into almost every recording studio. Technologies from the flagship Yamaha DX7 and Roland D-50 found their way into almost every PC sound card of the 1990s. Today, modern computers can emulate almost any classic synthesiser with near perfect accuracy.

Without computers we wouldn’t have FM, wavetable, additive and phase distortion synthesis - or even be able to save the sounds on our analog synthesiser.

This year it's a special celebration - MIDI, the protocol that allows our synthesisers and computers to talk to each other, is 40 years old this year. We'll be demonstrating the power of this little five-pin cable that all electronic musicians know and love by showing a range of MIDI equipped computers.

It's with much sadness with note that Dave Smith, a key player in the development of MIDI and founder of Sequential Circuits and designer of the groundbreaking Prophet-5, has recently died at the age of 72.

Over the years we've were lucky enough to have a Fairlight CMI, a PPG Waveterm and a Greengate DS4 together in the same room. We even had Colin Holgate from Greengate and John Molloy from 80s band Mainframe to demonstrate it to us!

This year we hope the event will be even bigger, even better, even noisier and will have more wonderful synthesisers for everyone to see and use! While we're waiting to confirm exhibitors for this year - and to get you all in the mood - here's some pictures from the last event.

As ever, we’ll have the our collection of synthesiser out for everyone to play on - bring your own headphones! We’ll also have demonstrations of the iconic synthesisers and computer music systems of the 80s and 90s, plus some examples of the very latest technologies too. Keep checking back to see what’s happening! 

We'd love you to bring your own synthesisers, music computers, drum machines or anything else you'd think would be of interest. Send a message to tony@computinghistory.org.uk if you'd like to be involved.

Exhibitors for Day Two

Click here for Exhibitors for Day One

Clarissa Vincent - girl in a gale

girl in a gale - Dub Techno - Build a cave in an asteroid, build a spaceship, navigate the spaceship through the cave. girl in a gale will be performing in the main hall on Sunday afternoon.

Rob Puricelli, Fairlight Enthusiast & Restorer and Music Technology Blogger

Rob Puricelli is a Music Technologist and Instructional Designer who has a healthy obsession with classic synthesizers and their history. 

In conjunction with former Fairlight Studio Manager, Peter Wielk, he fixes and restores Fairlight CMI’s so that they can enjoy prolonged and productive lives with new owners. 

Rob writes reviews and articles for Sound On Sound, his website Failed Muso, and other music-related publications, as well as hosting a weekly livestream on YouTube for the Pro Synth Network and guesting on numerous music technology podcasts and shows. He also works alongside a number of manufacturers, demonstrating their products and lecturing at various educational and vocational establishments about music technology.

https://www.failedmuso.com

Pro Synth Network; https://www.youtube.com/c/prosynthnetwork

Twitter/Instagram/Facebook: @failedmuso

 

Liam Fretwell

Liam produces music under the moniker ‘equinoxe’, named after his favourite album. His music, heavily inspired by Jean-Michel Jarre, started many years ago written using tracker software on the Commodore 64 and Amiga computers. A lifelong Cubase user, Liam mostly produces music using his expansive hardware synth collection.

Liam will be bringing a number of classic and modern synthesisers such as the Korg MS-20 mini, Novation MiniNova, Waldorf Pulse 2 and Roland’s last ‘true’ analog polysynth - the JX-10 Super JX - as well more unusual equipment such as the Theremin and a Mssiah equipped Commodore 64 with can be played over MIDI. All the synths will be playable and Liam is more than happy to explain the sound programming aspects of each machine.

Liam will be entertaining us on Saturday with a session of synth classics, original music and chipmusic. His synths are (nearly) all connected via MIDI to Ableton Live and shows that 40 year old tech is just as usable in music today as it has always been. Watch this space for more details and times closer to the day!

 

The Greengate DS:4

Martin Ley (of Twilight Passion) and Colin Holgate (co-founder of Greengate) donated to the museum a Greengate DS:4, probably the only working example in the world. Greengate built this budget British Fairlight, based around an Apple IIe, from 1982 to 1987. It was used by bands such as Mainframe, The JAMs (aka The KLF), New Order and even appears on "I want your sex" by George Michael. We were very lucky to be joined by John Molloy of 80s band Mainframe, who were closely involved in its development, to demonstrate it to us.

In memory of John who has since very sadly passed away, we will get the DS:4 running again to demonstrate it and hopefully premier a new piece of music written for it.

The DS:4 will be demonstrated by Tony Jewell (@herebedragons3), alongside two other icons of 80s computer music - the Atari ST and the Yamaha CX5M.

 

Chris Strellis

Synth modifier, DIYer, repairer and customer drum sounds maker. Since his first dabbling with synths back in 1985, he has amassed a broad collection of synths, rack synths, samplers and drum machines and is mostly stuck in the 80s. Chris will be showing his Roland Juno 106, modified Korg DW-8000, modified Yamaha CS-10 and Emu Drumulator with custom sounds. https://www.youtube.com/user/Synthasy2000/videos

 

Paula Maddox

Paula will be bringing the Unix based Modal 002 and a selection of her wavetable based modules for modular synthesisers.

 

Darren Blaxcell - Rakits

Darren will be showing off a selection of noisy electronic kits he develops for Rakit. As an electronic engineer with a keen interest in all things stuck to a PCB he looks foward to chatting about synths, electronics, DIY kits and soldering.

https://www.rakits.co.uk/ - fun, noisy electronic kit projects at affordable prices for a range of ages and skill levels.

 

Soulsby Synthesizers

Come and take a look at the awesome Atmegatron Synth - a mini 8-bit synth based around an Arduino! They'll also be bringing along some fantastic retro gear including a Mac Plus running Trax, Fostex R8 8-track, Emu Drumulator, Sequential Pro One, Yamaha DX7 IIFD, Roland Juno 60, Ensoniq ESQ1.

Checkout the Atmegatron and other Soulsby synths here : http://soulsbysynths.com/

 

Other Equipment on Display

Come and experience some classic machines of the 80s and 90s including as well as some modern gear :

  • Roland D-50
  • Roland S-750 Sampler
  • Roland MC-202
  • Roland TB-303 (THE Acid Box)
  • Roland TR-505 Drum Machine
  • Roland SH-101
  • Roland Alpha Juno-1 with PG-300 Programmer
  • Yamaha SY-85
  • Yamaha CS5
  • Yamaha TX7 (Module version of the classic DX7)
  • Akai S1000 Sampler
  • Akai S5000 Sampler
  • Akai MPC Touch
  • Casio FZ-1
  • Casio CZ-101
  • Casio VZ-1
  • Korg T3ex (Studio version of the classic Korg M1)
  • Korg Prophecy
  • Korg SQ1
  • Korg Volca Beats
  • Ensoniq EMU-32 Sampler
  • Kawai K4R
  • DR-550
  • Yamaha RX
  • Casio RZ-1
  • Casio DD-5
  • Yamaha CX5M MSX Computer with Keyboard
  • Commodore 64 Computer with Keyboard
  • PC with Gravis Ultrasound Card (Running Demoscene Software)
  • Simmons Kit with Alesis D5

Opening Times : 10am - 5pm

* Concessions include Students, OAPs, Disabled and Carers.
* Family entry is for 2 Adults and 2 Children.

Spaces for these exciting hands-on events are limited, so booking is required to ensure your place.

Payment is taken by PayPal immediately. Please print a copy of the receipt that is displayed at the end of the payment process and bring it with you as your e-ticket.

Cancellations: Due to the limited number of places available for this event, we are unable to refund tickets when cancelled less than 7 days before the event. 

We are still maintaining some Covid precautions to protect our staff & visitors.
Hand sanitisers are available throughout the museum. Please wash
your hands regularly when using the machines.

 

Remember - All proceeds go to support our Computing Museum!

 
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