Synths you've been gone: Vintage tech rules at Musikmesse 2015

All very well and good

But no money for any of that. And no space to put it anywhere anyway.

I've got Korg, Novation, Akai, M-Audio and Native Instruments (Maschine and Kore) controllers. So I feel pretty covered. I still haven't set up and started using what I've already got, to any great potential. It's already overkill if you've got a nice 61 key keyboard (which I do in the form of an ensoniq which has a beautiful Fatar keyboard in it). I'm big on programming drums and any one of my Korg (padKONTROL), Akai (MPD) or NI Maschine, would be the icing on the cake. Plus the Korg has a nice x/y touchpad.

A lot of that stuff seemed very boutique, which is fine. I encourage it. I hope one day to be able to afford it. But a lot of people these days in the mass market just want integration. Native Instruments are providing that now with the news that they will support the VST plugin standard, so that opens up a whole new world. Quite a bold claim, but if anyone can pull it off they can. There will probably be a few manufacturers that it doesn't work with, but even if they get 70-80 percent compatibility it will make it very useful to a lot of people.

They have form in this field in the guise of Kore, but a lot of people didn't get that technology and they pulled it before most people realised its power (it hosts third party VST plugins as well). They haven't really integrated that tech into Maschine and in the process they have extremely pissed off a significant percentage of their user base. They are still supporting Kore for now, but it remains to be seen how far they will take it.

If I got anything it would probably be one of the new KONTROL keyboards (with the new VST integration). They have to run with this tech for a while, because even if they are the biggest company of its kind in this field, if they pulled the plug on Maschine or KONTROL, it might actually really hurt them commercially. They might have just about got away with the Kore debacle, but still a lot of people who got burned will never trust them again.

I have designs for an all in one workstation keyboard/controller on paper(3D) and in my head. The tech is there now, it needn't be expensive. It could be built to go out the door for a couple/few grand. It wouldn't need to be massive in size, and it wouldn't need loads of weird gizmos (though I have those too), just a basic synth/sampler/drum/recorder setup with the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. But it's just a pipe dream. It does look incredible though and until I see something as good as that, I'm not going to bother with anything else.

I'm not alone, very few happy people in controller land. Maybe in a few years something striking will come out and some kind of standard will be set. For now it's just loads of different manufacturers pulling in different directions, but maybe it needs to be that way. I must do those 3D renders of my design some time.

Ho hum, I'm off to download the new FLStudio 12 with the new vector interface. I don't even have a controller hooked up. I'll probably just use my mouse like 90 percent of the time.

Excellent!

That was an ace article and it reminds me just how far keyboards have come...

I recall being mesmerised by the likes of Richard Wright of Pink Floyd, Rick Wakeman of Yes, Tangerine Dream, Jean Michelle Jarre and all those stalwarts of the analogue and very early digital keyboard era

Then the keyboards started changing, advancing and with that along came the wizzkids like Thomas Dolby, Vangelis and the synth era bands like Depeche Mode, the Human League, OMD and the brilliant productions of the Art of Noise with their extensive use of the Fairlight CMI (Something I endeavour to own one fine day)

In this era of Logic Pro and Midi compatibility, where instrument sounds can be sampled, purchased and reproduced by any Mac, PC or Midi compatible keyboard it's nice to see that some companies are still developing synths that stand out from the norm, the Seaboard is a prime example of that.

Some of the kit is simply quite amazing, but what was really great to see and hear was the old school synths in the "Analogue Ghetto" video. Those old school oscillator driven devices that look like old telephone exchanges (or badly cabled data cabinets) kick out that absolutely unique sound, man it sent shivers down my spine..

El Reg, you've outdone yourselves with this 5 pager, absofuckinglutely amazing!