‘You can try weirder and weirder things’: once-mocked synthesisers enjoy new golden era
Q ueen refused to use them. The Musicians’ Union tried to ban them. Then computers overtook them. Synthesisers have been mocked, despised and discarded throughout their history, yet somehow they are entering a new golden era.
A new wave of synth makers has emerged, creating machines that are more ambitious and often quirkier than their bleep-making predecessors, feeding the appetites of an expanding pool of enthusiasts.
Thousands of them, including Portishead’s Adrian Utley, gathered this weekend in Bristol at Machina Bristronica, a festival “of knobs, buttons and discussions”, to play and even make devices that their designers believe sometimes cross the line from musical instruments to conceptual art.
Less than a decade ago, anyone hoping to discover the latest in electronic music-making had to make a pilgrimage to Berlin’s annual Superbooth fair, but now there are several in the UK. Last week saw SynthFest UK in Sheffield, and Synth East in Norwich opened its doors for the first time last year.
“Loads of people came into making electronic music via the computer,” said Ben Chilton, co-founder of Machina Bristronica. For the last 20 years, software such as Cubase, Reason and Ableton Live has made it easy for anyone to make music with a computer or even on their phones. Software synthesisers are heard in nightclubs everwhere.
