Inspired in part by Sonicstate’s top 20 greatest synths and Matrixsynth’s The Most Underrated Synths, here is my alternative. This is my top ten list of synths. Not the greatest by any margin, though there are some classics in there. Not the most historically interesting, though one or two certainly have their place in...
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I came across a Yahoo group yesterday that I thought might be of interest (Novelty Music), and this morning heard back from founder member Paul Moore. Paul has a one-man-band and plays the ‘Zob Stick’ which, upon further investigation, turns out the be one of many names for what we know as the Yobstick....
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At last, I finally got around to finishing the new yobstick. It’s quite a departure from previous efforts – lots of natural wood and more emphasis on playability instead of durability. I’ve only played it for a short time tonight, but it feels great and sounds lovely (far better than a stick with a...
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Since the days of the Green Shed Studios and the big Farfisa organ we had there, I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for the sound of the organ. Nothing else sounds like a proper pipe organ being played well in a cathedral and echoing round the space, filling the audio spectrum...
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For some reason, perhaps Google have recently updated their index, there has been a large jump in visits to the blog here, 90% of which are from a Google Images search on Farfisa. The post from April this year Makkie’s Rhythm included a picture of a Farfisa organ, which is now appearing as 4th...
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Being a bit of a skinflint, almost all of my musical gear is either second-hand or end-of-line stock, but I’ve got a deep hunger for the new Moog synth. It’s the last project from the legendary Dr Bob, and what a send-off it is. It definitely looks like a Minimoog for the neext century....
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I thought I’d put a little bit of blurb up here about my progress with the theremin. After a couple of months with no progress, mainly due to not being able to find somewhere suitable for it to live, I’ve now got into a good routine of having a practice at least once a...
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I don’t want to get into the habit of posting items of weird-but-true instruments and other musical items – I’ll leave that to the experts at (the very entertaining) MusicThing and others. I have to make an exception for this, I’m afraid. The Fluorescent Green Clarinet Why? I was trawling around the shark-infested treasure...
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Track of the Week Fire Engine Disco Remix (part 2) Week 6 of the grand mp3 download extravaganza. Time for a little light relief. This one goes way back to 1985 and our first album. It features the whole band playing a minimalistic theme repeatedly on the range of instruments we were playing at...
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My theremin has arrived. It’s quite wonderful. It’s incredibly difficult to play, but that was expected. It looks fantastic – well-finished wood with 2 big wooden knobs and lots of shiny chrome dials. It sounds out of this world – with plenty of scope for altering tone colour and a wide picth range. It’s...
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