Description :

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

Saturday tickets for sale here.

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.

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 will be even bigger, even better, even noisier and will have more wonderful synthesisers for everyone to see and use. We hope to post an exhibitor list soon - if you would be interested in exhibiting, please contact send a message to tony@computinghistory.org.uk

EXHIBITORS

Pro Synth Network

Rob Puricelli

Under the banner of his Pro Synth Network YouTube channel, music technology journalist Rob Puricelli will be bringing another eclectic mix of synthesizer hardware for your delectation and delight!

This year, Robbie will be showing off the Yamaha Y-CAMS system - a dealer only demonstration package for the Yamaha QX1, TX816 and RX11 - using a selection of gems from his extensive Yamaha collection.

Peter James-Stephen

Class of 84! Peter will be bringing his Atari 1040 ST with original monitor, running various software from that year such as Hybrid Arts and Midi Trax.

Synthesisers will include - Sequential Six Track, KORG Poly 800, KORG DDD1, Chroma Polaris

Pro Synth Network: https://www.youtube.com/@ProSynthNetwork

Facebook/Instagram/Threads: @ProSynthNetwork

Eduardo (Eddie) Garcia-Nava. AKA: FRose.

Representing the "6 Oscillator" community, this year "FRose" will show us all the ways you can play synthesizer sounds from your guitar.

Synth-diy is an email list that started way back in 1995. In the early days it was purely online, with hundreds of synthesizer designers and builders chatting about life, the universe, and making beep sounds. Then in 1999 the very first in-person meet-up took place at Paula Maddox's house. It moved to a weekend event at Robinson College in 2003, sadly ending after 21 years due to rising costs.

Now at The Centre for Computing History, we bring a mix of hands-on DIY - from bare boards and solder, to kits and mods, and detailed analysis. Each year we bring a different collection of show-and-tell items: some old, some new, some borrowed, some blue. We also bring ourselves, rekindling old friendships, and starting new ones. Iron on, oscillators out, DIY!!!!!!!!!

More info, archives, and subscribe here: https://synth-diy.org/mailman/listinfo/synth-diy/

Stuart will be bringing his homemade Minisonic 2 analogue synthesiser.  The design was published in Practical Electronics magazine in 1974 and Stuart built this synth from scratch as a 17 year old teenager back in 1977.  

The synthesiser is in original condition (apart from some mods to meet current safety standards) and has all the features of the original design, including drifting VCOs and challenging keyboard tuning!

Matt will bring a mid-1990s MIDI setup, sequencing Roland synths and Akai sampler from a Mac

Soulsby Synthesizers - Manufacturer of 8-bit synths such as the Atmegatron. They will be bringing some of their products and a selection of other synthesizers new and old, all sequenced and mixed on vintage kit.

Jonathan “theJPster” Pallant

JP returns with his “History of PC Sound” exhibit, covering the story of PC audio from the PC Speaker, to the MP3. A MIDI keyboard and a section of games will show off the sounds of an original Soundblaster AWE64 as well as modern recreations of the legendary Roland MT-32 and Gravis Ultrasound.

Alasdair Hayden-Wright

Alasdair will be bringing his home-brewed “ShedSynth” modular synthesizer: mostly analog circuits, a few Arduinos, a lot of soldering, and a lot of mistakes and rethinks.

www.shedsynth.wordpress.com

Alex Peverett

Alex will be showing a BBC Master Microcomputer running AMPLE alongside a Music 500/5000 synthesizer. Designed in 1984, the Music 500 is a hybrid hardware and software computer music system for synthesis and sequencing. It was controlled via its own music programming language, AMPLE (Advanced Music Programming LanguagE), offering comparatively affordable access to surprisingly powerful features like FM, ring modulation, and the ability to run multiple musical parts at once, even at multiple tempos.

This was first shown at Synthesized in 2024 and presented at the Doing Experimental Media Archaeology conference in Luxembourg in 2022. Come and hear what this strange and brilliant 80s system sounded like and find out why it deserves a second look.

Alex is a Senior Lecturer in Electronic Music and Sound Production at Norwich University of the Arts, and an Electronic & Computer Music composer and multi-disciplinary artist, whose practice unites historical computer music methods with contemporary tools and DIY electronics.

Pete Catley

Pete is a long-time sufferer of chronic GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome), a common condition in the synthesiser world.

He has a particular penchant for drum machines and electronic drums, and hopes to demonstrate how they have evolved from simple non-programmable "boom-chick" organ accompaniment to full on sampled "better than real drums" creative machines that defined the music of the 80's right up to the present day. Serviceability permitting he will bring his Korg Minipops, KR-55B, Roland CR-78, Linn LM-1, LinnDrum, Linn 9000 (a rare opportunity to see all three of the original Roger Linn machines together), Oberheim DX and EMU Drumulator, (possibly some others too).

Dan Marlow

SUNDAY ONLY

Dan is a young music producer who will be demonstrating a modern approach to live synth sequencing with his Ableton Live software and hardware control interfaces. Feel free to have a play and make some sounds at his setup!

More to come, please keep checking back!

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And to get you all in the mood - here's some pictures from the previous events.

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.

Annual Pass holders can enjoy 50% off an Adult ticket price. Please add your Annual Pass number in the additional information field of your booking. 

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.

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.