Synth Shop Hieber-Lindberg, Munich, Germany

via cheater cheater:

"I thought your readers could be interested that there's
such a nice place in Munich for synths.. it's not exactly Five G but
then they don't have to fly to Japan for it.. :)

Hi guys,
Last Saturday I have visited the music shop Musikhaus Hieber-Lindberg
in Munich, Germany. I was tipped off by Florian, who said it could be
interesting. You can find their website at
http://www.hieber-lindberg.de (unfortunately only in German, but it's
easy to find your way around, and Google Translate works well)

The Shop

is located right in the center of Munich, very near to the
"Touristenmeile" (so called Tourist Mile, a pedestrian zone between
Stachus and Frauenkirche). It's very easy to get there, there are a
couple U-Bahn stations near, and of course easy to get to with a car.
Nice big store front, easy to recognize by showroom dummies wearing
black turtlenecks. You can immediately say they're musos. The shop has
multiple floors. The lowest floor is just "popular" keyboards, pianos,
ROMplers, workstations, and very interestingly some nice, big,
expensive, organs. Any keyboard player is sure to turn their head.
There's even a nice vintage Wersi there, I guess just to play. The
second floor contains percussion (also some very nice synth perc and
african percussion), synths, and I think guitars, the third floor
contains brass and blown instruments (also didgeridoos) as well as
string instruments. They have a very nice display with a row of lined
up violins starting with a tiny thing, maybe 20cm big, to what's
almost a viola, in small increments (looks fun!). The third floor also
has a selection of music books and notes, and even an antiquary with
notes.

Even though the place was somewhat busy there always seemed to be
someone around to ask. One big bonus point is that it's open on
Saturdays, unlike Schneider's in Berlin, which means that people like
me with a job, who might actually have money to spend, are able to
visit and do that exactly :^)

The Synth Area

is generally inhabited by analog synths, but there was a share of
digitals, too, from what I remember. It's easy to find because you're
welcomed by a huge GRP A8, no mistaking that. There is a vintage synth
area (someone brought their vintage synths for everyone to try out -
very nice!!!) and a not-so-vintage synth area with the newest toys.
For example they had the Vermona Lancet synths which are fairly new.
Both the vintage synths and new synths are described in a nice
color-printed booklet that'll help you get started if you're new to
synths. You can also get it here in electronic form:

http://www.hieber-lindberg.de/media/content/HieberLindberg-SynthesizerGuide1_Internet.pdf

The Vintage Synths

There are some really, really nice synths there, and you wonder why
whoever owns them doesn't have them in their studio... well, their
loss, my gain ;) You can get some headphones at the desk if you don't
have your own, and every synth has an easily available headphone jack.
There are patch cords available if you want to play around with those.
Most synths are in excellent shape (except for the Yamaha SY-2, those
things break real easy I guess, but then there's a reason they're so
cheap). The Minimoog over there has had a complete do-over from the
Memorymoog/Lamm fame Rudi Linhard. There's a couple System 100's with
one expander, a Sonic Six, the mentioned GRP A8, some sort of small
PPG prototype analog (of a model I've seen used by Tangerine Dream I
think), a JP8000, a Juno 60, a Roland SH5, a small frac rack (I think
it had a Doepfer sequencer) and some other stuff I forgot about. The
PPG is the only one you can't touch, but that's reasonable, given that
there are only two in the world.

The New Synths

come in a huge selection. It's similar to the Wall of Modular in
Schneider's Laden, except there's a counter with lots of standalone
toys thrown around on it as well. Just some things I've remembered off
the top of my head, in no particular order:
- Vermona Kick Lancet and Mono Lancet
- Doepfer Dark Energy
- Macbeth M5
- OTO Biscuit
- huge frac rack with dedicated keyboard
- Cwejman S1MK2
- mooger foogers
- Sherman Rodec Restyler
- the new Moog Taurus 3
- Analogue Solutions Leipzig
- Studio Electronics ATC1-X
- some small mixers, very useful when trying out a few synths at a
time like I was doing, I could set up a nice basic song
- 2-3x more stuff than that that I simply forgot about because there's
so much to play with..

Hieber-Lindberg must be taking their synth area seriously because they
had the newest bits there.

I included at the end of this email a list of all the synths they
mention in their booklet, except for leaving out prices. The prices
are probably at least a bit off since then and they probably have more
gear than they mention in the booklet. The prices I've seen in the
shop were fairly good too. But if you're more curious than that you
can just check for yourself (here's a link for the German-impaired
readers: http://www.hieber-lindberg.de/index.php/cat/c28_Synthesizer.html
)

Also, lots upon lots of sequencers. I've never seen so many sequencers
at once, which is very nice, because everyone visiting can get a
sequence going. No listening to random ploinking while you're tweaking
a patch, it'll be a nice sequence. They had some Doepfer stuff, the
Surfin' sequencer, and uh... well, just too much to remember :) They
even had that nemo.. nautilus.. whatever it's called midi sequencer
with silver buttons in a blue, oval case. GenoQs.

I have really liked the Kick Lancet. I'll have to try it again and
then maybe buy it once I'm settled here in Munich :)

One very good thing was about the headphones. Since everyone gets
headphones, it's usually silent there. So if you want to explore in
peace you aren't going to be disturbed by some random people creating
the most boring sequence ever, or a pack of russian tourists showing
up and having to bang on EVERY keyboard in the shop (happened while I
was there, I was SOOO thankful none of the synths were connected to
loudspeakers... :^) )

The People

VERY FRIENDLY! Very well informed about synths, they'll help you
figure out what you want. They even bear my bad humor ;) If you want
to use a modular they'll quickly set it up for you so you can get
going, they'll jump around and get you started even if you want to try
out a synth that's not for sale :) Martin Machwitz (I got his name
from a photo in the booklet, I didn't catch it when we were talking in
the shop) even showed me some patches he made on a couple of the
synths, which was cool, because it's good to know they're not there
only to sit out and get paid :) They didn't even get toooo pissed off
when I overstayed the closing ;) and still offered help at that point,
which was very cool. I was also given help with finding vintage synths
(even though they don't sell 'em themselves), which was very nice. For
example I didn't know the Lamm dude sold modified Minis, or that he
also did sound quality mods to the Minimoog Voyager. And I didn't know
he worked on the Minimoog Voyager OS, which is a good bit of synth
history to know :)

The Food

When you've had too much synthing without interruption (is there such
a thing??) you can get some food -- literally EVERYWHERE just like I
was told by one of the clerks :-). If you're really nice to the shop
people they'll tell you how to reach the elusive Perfect Currywurst
(you gotta try it, that's what fuels german synth players). There's
also a sushi bar around, umpteens of different fast food joints, and
if you go out of the shop and turn left you can find a nice small
restaurant/bar in a courtyard where you can find some exotic food like
e.g. palm cabbage salad (which was excellent). And you can get
directed by the Hieber-Lindberg people, so you not only get set up
with synths, treated friendly, and get a comfy area to be homeless in,
but they even help you get fed :^)

The Area

Once you're done (or get kicked out, like me ;-) ) you can just go and
explore Munich. The evening is when a lot of life starts happening on
the streets, and you can go walk the "tourist mile" and see a lot of
buskers (I've even seen a string quartet with a Grand there!), street
artists (there was a man with no head the last time I was there),
beautiful architecture, and interesting sights.

I came in to Hieber-Lindberg not much after they opened and have left
long after 6 PM when they close on Saturday, with just a small
currywurst/salad bar break. All in all I must say that wasn't nearly
enough to check out 10% of what I can see there :) I'm sure to be
coming back...

Cheers,
D.


Some synths and stuff they seem to be selling..

Alesis
- Andromeda A6
Access
- Virus TI2 Keyboard (virtuell-analoger Synthesizer)
- Virus TI2 Desktop (virtuell-analoger Synthesizer)
- Virus TI2 Polar (virtuell-analoger Synthesizer)
Analogue Solutions
- Leipzig Keyboard (monophoner Synthesizer)
- Leipzig Rack Version (monophoner Synthesizer)
- Semblance (monophoner Synthesizer)
- Telemark (monophoner Synthesizer)
- Vostok (monophoner Synthesizer)
- sonstige Analogue Solutions-Module: Verfügbarkeit u. Preise a. A.
bzw. in unserem Internetshop
Analogue Systems
- RS Integrator (Modulsysteme od. einzelne Module)
Arturia
- Origin (virtuell-analoger Synthesizer)
Clavia
- Nord Lead 2X (virtuell-analoger Synthesizer)
- Nord Rack 2X (virtuell-analoger Synthesizer)
- Nord Wave (virtuell-analoger Synthesizer)
Curetronic
- Modularsysteme, Verfügbarkeit
Cwejman
- S1 MK-2 (Semi-Modular-Synthesizer)
- VM-1 (Voice-Module)
- VCO-2RM (3HE-Modul)
- VCA-2P (3HE-Modul)
- sonstige Cwejman-Module: Verfügbarkeit und Preise a. A. bzw. in
unserem Internetshop
Dave Smith Instruments
- Mopho (monophoner Synthesizer)
- Prophet 08 Keyboard
- Prophet 08 Rack
- Mono Evolver Keyboard (MEK)
- Mono Evolver Rack
Doepfer
- Dark Energy (monophoner Synthesizer)
- Dark Energy A-111-5 (Modulversion für A-100)
- A-100 Basissystem 1
- A-100 Basissystem 2
- A-100 System Mini
- A-155 (Analog/Trigger Sequencer)
- A-129-1/2 Vocoder Analysis+Synthesis
- MAQ 16-3 (Midi und CV/Gate Step Sequencer)
- MCV4 (Midi-to-CV/Gate Interface)
- sonstige Doepfer-Module: Verfügbarkeit und Preise a. A. bzw. in
unserem Internetshop
Future Retro
- XS (monophoner Synthesizer)
- Orb (Stepsequencer)
GenoQs machines
- Nemo (Stepsequencer)
- Octopus (Stepsequencer)
GRP
- A8 (duophoner Synthesizer/Stepsequ./CV + MIDI)
Jomox
- Mbase11 (Bassdrum Modul)
- Xbase888 (Drum Synthesizer)
- Xbase999 (Drum Synthesizer)
Korg
- Microkorg (virtuell-analoger Synthesizer)
- Microkorg XL (virtuell-analoger Synthesizer)
Kenton
- Pro-Solo (Midi-CV-Converter)
- Pro-2000 (Midi-CV-Converter)
LL Electronics
- Rozzbox (Hybridsynthesizer)
Livewire
- Audio Frequency Generator (3HE-Modul)
- FrequenSteiner (3HE-Modul)
- Vulcan Modulator und weiter Module
Macbeth
- M5 (Semi-Modular Synthesizer), Verfügbarkeit a. A
- X-Series (Module), Verfügbarkeit a. A
MFB
- Kraftzwerg (Semi-Modular-Synthesizer)
- 522 (Drumcomputer/808-Clone)
- 503 (Drumcomputer/Sequencer)
- Schlagzwerg (DrumSynthesizer/Sequencer)
- Module im Eurorack-Format
- Moogerfooger, alle Modelle MF101-107
Radikal Technologies
- Spectralis 2 (Hybrid Synthesizer)
Roland
- V-Synthesizer GT
- V-Synthesizer XT (Rack)
Sherman
- Restyler (Filterbank)
- Filterbank II Classic (Filterbank)
SND
- SAM-16 (Stepsequencer)
Spectral Audio
- Neptune 2 (monophoner Synthesizer)
Moog
- Minimoog Voyager (monophoner Synthesizer)
- Minimoog RME (monophoner Synthesizer, Rack)
- Minimoog Voyager Old School
- Little Patty Stage II (monophoner Synthesizer)
- New Taurus Bass Pedal (monophoner Synthesizer)
Surfin Kangaroo Studio
- Surfin Step Sequencer
Studio Electronics
- ATC-Xi (monophoner Synthesizer)
- SE1X (monophoner Synthesizer)
- SE1X nova rede eye (monophoner Synthesizer)
TipTop Audio
- Z-3000 Smart VCO (3HE-Modul)
- Z-2040 Prophet 5 Filter (3HE-Modul)
Vermona
- Perfourmer (monophoner Synthesizer)
- DRM 1 MK III (DrumSynthesizer)
Waldorf
- Blofeld Keyboard (virtuell-analoger Synthesizer)
- Blofeld Desktop (virtuell-analoger Synthesizer)"