Digital?! Where? Tubes rock, dude. Eric Barbour, Metasonix owner and senior editor of Vacuum Tube Valley
writes us to tell us about Analogue Heaven, a Bay Area California
convergence of vintage synth lovers. Highlights for Barbour included
the Wiard modular, Gino Robair's custom system and "Demoing my new effect box to Josh from XLR8R magazine and [Electronic Musician's] Gino Robair. And annoying the crap out of some aging 70s space-rock nerds with it."
CDM talked to co-organizer Cary Roberts and learned retro Analogue
Heaven activities extend beyond California. Read on for an insane list
of links.
Roberts tell us:
"I helped stir up the bay area crowd for this as I realized we hadn't
had a gathering since 2002. I wasn't directly involved with
scheduling the last one in 2002, but I and Brandon Daniel did a good bit of getting
the word out for this year's, and Jason Proctor secured the venue for us."There are also Analogue Heaven and synth related events in other areas of the country including:
- Midwest – Andrew Schleider organizes this one
- Los Angeles – we normally get together at the winter NAMM show in
- Annaheim (the parties were much bigger when it was in LA)
- Florida/Southeast – Joseph Rivers normally hosts an event in the spring at the Audio Playground
- Pacific northwest – Synth DIY normally meets at least once a year in the Seattle area"
And his favorite moments at this most recent Bay Area event? "Probably the Roland TR606 ringmodded through a Korg 770, although the mystery bass drum module was also pretty darn killer!"
More links, including mailing lists where planning for these events happen (yes, UK-based stuff, too!):
http://www.ph.k12.in.us/~drew/ahmw/
http://www.modulus-music.com/synthdiyuk/
Pictures of past events (bay area, midwest, namm, and synth-diy PNW and UK) are below:
http://www.retrosynth.com/slideshow/baah02
http://www.retrosynth.com/slideshow/ahmw04/
http://www.retrosynth.com/slideshow/ahmw03/
http://www.retrosynth.com/slideshow/ahmw00/
http://www.retrosynth.com/slideshow/namm99/01.html
http://www.retrosynth.com/slideshow/namm00/01.html
http://www.retrosynth.com/slideshow/namm01-party/index.html
http://www.retrosynth.com/slideshow/njahaj99/01.html
http://www.fdiskc.com/usrsyn/AHBA2002/
http://www.sound-photo.com/
http://users.bentonrea.com/~sasquatch/pnw-synth2004/
http://www.analog-synth.de/sven/root.htm
It's not all analog: NAMM events often feature prototypes from big-name
makers like Korg, Roland, and Yamaha, says Roberts. But vintage analog
stuff, naturally, is the focus.
So, New Yorkers, when are we going to get around to doing this here?
(and with some fascinating DIY digital gear, to boot?) Email me if
you're NYC-based — or anywhere else — and I'll be happy to help
promote the event via CDM.