New M-Audio Venom Blog & Alternate Designs of the Venom

Taiho Yamada, Product Manager for the M-Audio Venom.

"My dad is cool.

One day when we were getting out of the car to visit my grandparents, my dad and I heard the sound of someone playing a synthesizer from an open window of a nearby apartment building. The sound twisted and morphed and made music in ways I’d never heard before. My dad asked me if I liked it and I said, 'Yes.' That one word changed the course of my life.

A short time later, I had my first analog synthesizer. My dad bought it for me, but I’m pretty sure that he secretly played with it after I’d gone to bed. It was a budget synth, but designed by the master himself, Bob Moog. On this instrument, I learned about Oscillators, Filters, LFOs, Envelopes, Pitch Wheels, Mod Wheels, Portamento, and Sync. I was nine years old."

Taiho Yamada, M-Audio's Venom Project Lead, has started a new blog on the Venom. Currently there are two posts up. One with an interview of Taiho and one with alternate designs of the Venom, pictured. Did you know the original color was going to be purple? According to the post it was a color not often used in the synth world and would have made the Venom stand out. "The problem with this purple was that the iridescence in the paint caused it to turn pink under certain lighting conditions, which we felt would not really help us reach our target audience."

See the direct links above for further details in each post. You can find the main feed for Venom posts on M-Audio's main blog here.

Finally, don't miss MATRIXSYNTH's exclusive review and interview with Taiho Yamada which includes a tips and tricks section as well as a custom iPad editor.