Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!!!  I hope 2012 treated you well and I wish you the best in 2013!

As I do each year, I thought I'd reflect a little on the past year.  These posts are always difficult to write, and I always wing them, so bear with me.  It's impossible to justify a whole year's worth of synth coverage in a single post.  The following is just a small bit of what comes to mind when looking back.  You'll find a top ten list of posts with the most page views followed by my picks for the year further below.  Apologies if I miss anything, and of course, if you have anything to add, feel free to leave a comment below.  I'm curious what you, the readers of the site, felt stood out in the world of synths this past year.

First, I want to begin this post with a HUGE THANK YOU!!!  If you are reading this it obviously means you have come to this site and some of you have been coming here for years! Thank you for sticking with me. This site is a journey I hope to continue for years to come. Thank you to everyone that has taken the time to showcase their synths, and thank you to those that share what they find! Thank you to those that link to the site and help spread the word on MATRIXSYNTH via Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and your own websites! And of course, THANK YOU to all the sponsors on the right who believe in the site enough to support it!

A nod to previous New Years posts, pictured to the left is the MATRIXSYNTH world domination map. :)  I always think it's worth taking a look at who's watching the site.  Synths are global and you are looking at a map of the readers of MATRIXSYNTH.  Everything you see in green represents a visit from that country.  The darker the green, the higher the number of visits.  This is just for the year, but for the life of the site, we still haven't gotten a single hit from North Korea!   I don't know what they have against synths!  ;)   You'll find the top 10 visits by country further below.

This is the eighth New Year the site has gone through!  The focus for the site this year has been the same as previous years, and I plan to keep it that way.  This site is about showcasing specific synths, not just synths in general, and not just news and press releases.  The focus is on the individual synths that have existed throughout history, the technology behind them, and the lives they lead with their odd owners, myself included.  :)  Yes it is about the gear, their makers, and their players.  It has always been my opinion that synths in general have a tendency to be undervalued. Compared to say collectible guitars, they are often discarded and devalued in favor of next year's model, next year's technology.  It has always been my opinion that every synth has something of value to offer,  something specific and something unique that gives it its character. I built this site to showcase that.  This site is about the history of synths as their history unfolds - videos and images of synths being played and used, by both those that make them and those that play them.  Vintage synths being offered in the second hand market, being exchanged from one sonic explorer to the next. It really is a wondrous thing. Think of the magic synthesizers bring into your world. That is what this site is ultimately about.  Some posts may not seem to make sense now, but they will in time, because they will be a look back in time. A day in the life of a particular synthesizer.  I love analog and I love digital. I love all synths and this site celebrates that.

And now for a little reflection on the year. This year we had a total of 16678 posts including this one.  That comes out to roughly 45.69 posts a day.  Not a single day of the year went without a post.  So what dominated the synth year?  Mobile, modulars and a few dedicated hardware synths.

Mobile and particularly iOS isn't too surprising considering the low cost of entry.  Android has potential, but currently, due to latency issues, it hasn't yet taken off in the synth world.   Windows 8 Surface RT came out late this year, but unfortunately does not support MIDI.  Windows 8 Pro, however, will support MIDI, and Windows 8 in general will offer much larger touch surfaces to play with compared to iOS.  The interesting thing about Windows in general is that it is ubiquitous.  It's just a matter of time before Windows 8 replaces previous versions of Windows and is everywhere.  With that, it's only a matter of time before current VST developers take advantage of the touch interface it offers.  I think Windows will initially have a slow start when it comes to mobile, but when you think about the number of existing VSTs already available for Windows, the ability to run apps on the desktop and mobile, it will become a major player in time without even trying. iOS should continue to grow as major manufacturers like Moog, KORG, Novation, Roland, Akai and others have embraced the platform. This year we also saw Wolfgang Palm return to synthesis with PPG WaveGenerator for the iPad. Think about that for a bit. Wolfgang Palm, the father of Wavetable synthesis, and before that, manufacturer of analog modular and keyboard synthesizers, has returned to the world of synthesis with iOS. An interesting full 360 is he is the man behind the PPG Realizer, the first virtual synth. It consisted of a monitor with knobs on its edges. A graphic representation of the synth would appear with the knobs mapped to them. This was back in 1986 and it was hardware. The iPad is in effect, the modern day PPG Realizer. On a side note, this year we saw a PPG Realizer actually come up for sale here.

On the other side of the spectrum, the modular market, specifically eurorack,  continued to dominate the year.  When I first started the site back in 2005, posts featuring modulars were few and far between.  There were only a handful of manufacturers and eurorack was dominated by Doepfer, Analogue Systems and Analogue Solutions.  Along with equal footing you had Synthesizers.com, MOTM,  Frac and Modcan formats (click here for a post on modular synth formats). The new Buchla 200e was just beginning and people dismissed them as being overpriced and only capable of playing bongo and banjo sounds.  I remember it seemed like every Buchla post had a banjo comment in it.   This is no longer the case.  Last year a new Buchla was forged under the name Buchla Electronic Musical Instruments (see this post for a video and this post for the initial rumors).  One rumor was that we might see a keyboard Buchla someday.  Serge has also gained in popularity.   An interesting side effect on the surge in eurorack modulars is that it brought exposure to the modular world in general and people started exploring other formats.  Along with the Mattson Mini Modular format introduced in 2007, this year we have a new format from Kilpatrick.  The appeal to modulars are two fold.  One, they appeal to both the physical and sound tinkerers in us - they are the tinker toys and erector sets of the synth world, synth legos.  Two, although they are somewhat expensive, they are open systems allowing even different physical formats to coexist, and the cost of extending them is perceptibly cheaper than buying individual self contained synths.

That said, although I do miss the years of anticipating new self contained, dedicated hardware synthesizers we did have a few this year.  Moog released the Minitaur, Elektron released the Analog Four, Tom Oberheim announced the Son of Four Voice, Dave Smith Instruments released the Mopho X4, and Novation released the Mininova.   Access, Clavia, Waldorf, Radikal Technologies, Studio Electronics, and of course the three mainstays, Roland,  Yamaha and KORG are still keeping all-in-one hardware synths alive.  Despite some discontent with the Jupiter-80 being completely digital, it along with the Jupiter-50 and Integra-7 are powerful and dream worthy synths.  This year KORG released their Krome synthesizer and they are still offering their vintage analog technology revamped into modern gear - rumors are we might see something new next year.   Worth mentioning of course is Arturia's Minibrute which was announced at this year's NAMM.  A fully analog synthesizer by a company known for their software emulations of vintage analog.  The synth was also significant in that it bridged the relatively unknown world of DIY boutique synth makers and more popular software synth makers.  The man behind the Minibrute of course was Yves Usson who's DIY modules under the yusynth moniker are frequently featured here on MATRIXSYNTH (see this post for his work on the Minibrute).   One last mention in the boutique world of hardware synthesizers, we also had Ken MacBeth introduce his absolutely fantastic touch keyboard.

So, what were the top individual ten posts of the year as far as page views?  Here's the list with page view counts.  Note most posts get seen on the front page or subsequent page views. I like to think of this list as the top ten people shared on Facebook and Twitter. To put these into perspective, according to Google Analytics the site had 2,963,360 visits and 6,744,088 pageviews this year.

1. New York School of Synthesis - Intro to Synthesis 4,829 - Thanks to traction on YouTube.

2. NAMM: New Gear from Clavia / Nord Keyboards Revealed 4,751

3. NAMM: Our First NAMM Teaser of the Year Comes from Casio - 4,208

4. WS-101 Online Virtual Synth - 3,969

5. Cyclone Analogic Bass Bot TT-303 Hardware TB-303 Clone Released - 2,617

6. NAMM: Studiologic Sledge Synthesizer - 2,539

7. NAMM: Arturia NAMM 2012 Teaser - The MiniBrute? - 2,488

8. NAMM: New Moog MINITAUR Coming to NAMM? - 2,314

9. New Schmidt Analog Synth Debuts at the Musikmesse - 2,281

10. The most expressive music instrument music in the whole world - 2,175

What were my picks for the most interesting posts of the year? The following. I have a very special label on the site that I reserve for items I've never seen before, significant moments in synthesizer history and of course the rare review or interview performed here on site.

One of One Modular Electro-Acoustic Masterwork by ARIUS BLAZE of FOLKTEK (& FOLKTEK ARTS One Million Dollar Synth The Impossible Box Update)
Original Rev1 Prophet-10 in Prophet-5 Case
Mystery Rhythm Machine - Barns & Mullins Percussionet 20
I Dream of Wires: Chris Carter Extended Interview
Electrohome Rhythm King Drum Machine with Tubes
Rare Vintage MUSICO 'RESYNATOR' Synthesizer Flyer
Exclusive Moog Minitaur Review - All the Bass & More for Less
Buchla Promo 1Oct12
The Jeremy Lord Skywave Synthesiser
Protototype Polymoog Polypreset Surfaces
Moog Prototype "Thingamajig"?
Pete Cannon in Synth City (UK's Largest Collection of Synths)
Gershon Kingsley's Sabbath for Today with the Moog Synthesizer 1971
PSI Correlator
Cort CRM-260 Super Sound Drummer Made in Korea
Meat Beat Manifesto Synthesizer Test
Tony Luisi and his Putney VCS 3 - Demo 1973
Gershon Kingsley's Moog Modular System Up for Auction
An Interview with Denis Cazajeux of OTO Machines
E&MM Spectrum Synthesiser Video Demo
Key Frame Animation & Synthesis from 1971
The PPG 1003 "Sonic Carrier" - World's First Programmable Synth?
EMS Synthi Sequencer 256 in original crate with paperwork
The Paradiso Synthesizer
John Chowning "Origins of FM Synthesis" (Web 85)
Rachel Flowers on the Modular Moog - intro by Keith Emerson
64 Oscillators and 475 Knobs
Legendary Moog OSCar Up for Auction
I Dream of Wires, Extended Interview Series: Allen Ravenstine and Robert Wheeler of Pere Ubu
The Scanimate
1996 MARS (Musical Audio Research Station) Synthesizer
New York School of Synthesis - Intro to Synthesis
PPG Realizer for $25K at Big City Music
Update 3/12/13: Added New York School of Synthesis for 2012.

Finally!  The top countries by visit count!!!  :)

1. United States 1,018,411
2. United Kingdom 269,898
3. Germany 184,853
4. France 171,854
5. Canada 147,788
6. Italy 116,566
7. Japan 92,074
8. Sweden 79,375
9. Australia 78,733
10. Netherlands 73,842

And that is my summary for the year.  What stood out for you?  Feel free to share it along with New Years wishes in general in the comments below.  Apologies for the length of this post.  Now you know why I do my best to stay out of commenting in posts. :)

Happy New Year everyone!  Thank you for a great year!!!

Update: The new year is here! Unknown left this in the comments. I thought it was interesting - the ratio of people into synths per country.

"If you divide the visit count by the population of each country the top 10 list looks different ;)

1. Sweden 0.0083
2. Netherlands 0.0044
3. United Kingdom 0.0043
4. Canada 0.0042
5. Australia 0.0034
6. United States 0.0032
7. France 0.0026
8. Germany 0.0023
9. Italy 0.0019
10 Japan 0.0007"

And the people we lost last in 2012:

RIP Pete Namlook
RIP Joseph Provede
dazed...magnificent - A Tribute to Neil Armstrong
RIP Hans R. Camenzind - Creator of the 555 Timer IC
Airwolf Theme - In memory of Ernest Borgnine
RIP Donna Summer
RIP Ryan Faubion (Actual Memories - Compilation Tribute In Memory of Ryan Faubion)
RIP Adam Yauch MCA
RIP Mrs. Raymond Scott
RIP Thereminist Barbara Buchholz
RIP Jack Tramiel - Founder of Commodore & Atari Corporation
RIP Mike Fulk - Novachord Hammond Guru
RIP Mike Brown of Livewire Electronics
RIP Davy Jones