Synthesizers

Paul Ward reintroduces an instrument now widely neglected on account of its 'digital' tag, and argues that it still has much to recommend it.

Prepare to shed a tear in another near-miss tale of a desirable analogue synth swept aside by the rise of digital technology.

The Minimoog rides again thanks to Welsh company Moog Music Limited. But how close does it sound to the original? We at SOS knew opinion would be split, so we got five of our regular synth reviewers, all previous or current Mini owners, to give us their views.

Simon Lowther introduces the clan of classic American analogue synths, the Oberheim OBs.

It's certainly borrowed (for the purposes of this review), and it's unquestionably blue, but is it old or new? Synth Guidance Counsellor and long‑time K2000 owner Paul Ward checks out Kurzweil's VP makeover of this legendary workstation.

Gordon Reid is bitten by the memory of a brilliant, but deeply flawed trio of Italian synthesizer designs that could have been the last word in affordable analogue.

A synth company that produced as many classic and well-loved instruments as did Moog Music is surely allowed the odd turkey! Gordon Reid waxes critical over one of them.

Paul Nagle concludes his look at Clavia's groundbreaking new Nord Modular.

It was 1973 and everyone was playing Minimoogs, and ARP Odysseys. So why did the Keio ORGan company produce a little synthesizer with the most unorthodox controls imaginable, call it the MiniKORG 700, and try to convince the keyboard cognoscenti that it was worth buying? Gordon Reid explains...

Clavia's latest product is something else; an affordable modular hardware synth whose selection of modules and signal routing is user-definable in software, offering the synthesist staggering scope for sound design. In the first of this two-part review, Paul Nagle cross-modulates his joy input with Rapture envelope and goes into self-oscillating ecstasy...

Roland's Jupiter family yielded one or two shining examples of what an analogue polysynth should be.

If you'd love a modular synth, but couldn't possibly afford a real one, it's possible that virtual salvation is at hand.

For the synth afictionado, the ARP Odyssey is up there with the Minimoog in terms of its power and sonic quality. Gordon Reid explains why he loves his Ody...

Michael Anthony takes us back to the mid-eighties, when MIDI was in pre-school playgroup, and manufacturers built synths that couldn't decide if they were analogue, digital, or both...

Two of Yamaha's most recent products, the MU50 synth module and the CBX-K1 mini keyboard, are designed to compliment each other as the nucleus of a budget, GM-compatible music-making setup.. Paul Nagle evaluates the pair, and considers the potentially confusing role of Yamaha's XG MIDI format...

Two months ago, Korg unveiled their OASYS high-end physical modelling synth, and already, a low-cost spin-off is just around the corner. SOS staff were amongst the first to hear it.

Waldorf's dream machine is finally off the drawing board and in the real world, and looks sure to set synth players' hearts beating a little faster.

Is 'physical modelling' set to become the buzz-phrase of '90s synthesis? Martin Russ exclusively tests out Yamaha's innovative new synth and reveals all...

Derek Johnson waxes lyrical about a synth he wouldn't part with but is the cheapest he owns — Roland's last monosynth, the 1982-vintage SH101.