Happy New Year From MATRIXSYNTH! - A Look Back at 2015

Happy New Year everyone!  I want to thank you all for a great 2015 and I wish you all the best in 2016!

The following is my yearly round up for the year.  Feel free to dig into this post as much you like, or skip it and leave a comment at the bottom of the post. I'd be curious to hear what stood out for you in 2015. Do you like the direction the synthesizer world is headed in, or would you rather see more or less of any type of product?

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First, a small look at those we unfortunately lost this year:

RIP Dr. John Eaton
RIP Dennis Colin, Co-Designer of the ARP 2600 & the Aries Modular
RIP DIETER MOEBIUS
RIP Charanjit Singh
In memoriam richard waters
RIP Tod Dockstader
RIP Leonard Nimoy
RIP Edgar Froese of Tangerine Dream

All legends of the synth world, with the exception of Leonard Nimoy, but he did get a synth tribute. All are inspirations who will be missed.

Second, the major new gear of the year.

After last year's marathon of a post, I decided to streamline things a bit by creating new gear channel labels.  You'll find them further below and in the New Gear! link on the top right section of the site.

In summary, we had a whopping total of 977 new gear posts (including some synth bling) for the year! We had 88 new makers this year compared to 131 last year, and we had 21 vintage synths never before featured on the site! Just when you think you've seen it all, something from the annals of synth history pops up (see the "new old" channel for them). BTW, if I ever miss any new gear, be sure to send it in! All manufactures are welcome to send in posts for their new products. This site is about capturing a bit of synth history in the making, so make sure your latest products are included!

So what stood out for you this year?  Feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this post.

Before we get to the list I did want to call some of the major releases. If I missed any, leave a comment!

1. Roland re-entered the analog synthesizer world this year by officially announcing the JD-Xi digital analog hybrid synthesizer (and a limited white edition later in the year), followed by the flagship JD-XA. They announced the new Boutique line of mini synths including the JU-06 (Juno-106), JX-03 (JX-3P), and JU-08 (Jupiter-8). On the AIRA front, Roland released the SYSTEM-100 and Promars Plug-Out synthesizers. On the modular front, Roland introduced the new digital Demora, Scooper, Torcido, and Bitrazer along with a patchable System-1m - all can be used standalone or racked into your modular. They also officially announced the all analog System 500 modules produced in partnership with Malekko Heavy Industry. They also surprisingly partner with REON and came out with a Roland version of the Driftbox-R. They announced the JUNO-DS61/JUNO-DS88 Synthesizers, and finally on the "we didn't see this coming," Roland created a sound engine for electric sport cars!

2. Dave Smith Instruments got the Sequential Name back from Yamaha and released the all analog Prophet-6. I have to say, owning an original Prophet-5 Rev 3, I am impressed by the sound of the new Prophet-6. So much so in fact, if I were in the market for a Prophet-5, I'd be highly tempted to go with a Prophet-6 for the additional features. On a side note, note the dash is back! What do I mean? Well if you look at the DSI product names to date, Prophet '08, Prophet 12, Pro 2, they all omit the dash re-introduced with the Prophet-6. I have no idea if Dave Smith decided to bring it back for the Sequential line only, but there you have it. The stuff I think about. To dash or not to dash, that is the question! :) DSI also released the desktop Prophet-6 later in the year, and they added Linear FM to the Prophet 12. On the modular front, DSI introduced their second eurorack module, the DSM02 Character Module. Finally, we reached the end of an era with Dave Smith's first synth under DSI, the Evolver, being discontinued.

3. Moog brought back the original Moog Modular systems, and they introduced the Mother-32 Semi-Modular Analog Synthesizer. The Sub 37 introduced last year continues to receive praise in the synth community along with their current line-up.

4. Novation introduced the Moroder Nova, and the Circuit Stand Alone Grid-Based Groove Box.

5. Yamaha released the mini Reface line of synths including the Reface YC organ, Reface CP electric piano, Reface CS mono synth, and the Reface DX FM synthesizer.

6. Korg announced a new ARP ODYSSEY and the New KRONOS, they introduced the MS-20m Monophonic Synthesizer Kit and SQ-1 Step Sequencer, a new KORG electribe Sampler, the Kaossilator 2S with sampling capability, the Volca Sample OK GO Edition and the Liverpool Professional Arranger.

7. Clavia / Nord Keyboards introduced the Nord Stage 2 EX, and Nord Electro 5.

8. Akai introduced the MPC Touch, Timbre Wolf and Tom Cat.

9. Ableton introduced Push 2.

10. On the boutique manufacturer front, Synthesizers.com introduced the Moog Expansion Systems. Modal Electronics announced the 001 Synth, 002R Rack & 008 Black Analog Synth. A new Elka Synthex faithful to the original was announced and then cancelled, however, a Elka Synthex 2 Digital Desktop Synth from Synthex creator Mario Maggi was announced. Modor announced the NF-1 desktop synth. Futuresonus announced the Parva polyphonic analog synthesizer. Abstrakt Instruments announced the Avalon Bassline. Social Entropy announced the Engine hardware sequencer. Vermona introduced the Vermona '14 - Analog Keyboard Synthesizer. Mellotron announced the 4000D Mini Mellotron. Teenage Engineering introduced The Pocket Operators. Metasonix introduced the D-2000 Drum Machine. Dreadbox introduced the Hades Analog Bass Synthesizer. Axel Hartmann announced the 20 Electronics ECHT. MAM re-introduced the MB33 as a desktop module. Alex Pleninger introduced a new Polivoks desktop clone. Mode Machines introduced the WASP Suitcase Synthesizer. Tangible Instruments introduced the Arpeggio. luh2112 introduced the BitRumble 8-Bit Polyphonic Hardware Synthesizer & Sequencer. Twisted Electrons introduced the Acid8. Critter and Guitari introduced the Guitari Septavox for Third Man Records. Soulsby introduced the ODYTRON "8-bit ARP Odyssey". DSP Synthesizers and and Ninstrument introduced a number of interesting DIY and eurorack modules. And finally we saw the Pitiloves MBX One from Thailand.

The above was only a handful of what came in this year. I tried to focus on new synths only and not updates. As for new modules, at 347!, there was just too much to weed through individually. See the channels listed below for more. If any stood out in particular for you, please let us know via the comments at the bottom of this post.

And the counts for new gear in 2015 by category:
(The links for the following will take you to the posts for each in reverse chronological order)

All New Gear - 977 posts total.

Sub categories:
New Cases - 12
New Controllers - 47
New DIY - 91
New Makers - 88
New Mobile Apps - 112
New Mods - 12
New Modules - 347
New Old - 21
New Soft Synths - 136
New Sound Machines - 59
New Sound Packs - 32
New Synth Effects - 27
New Synth Bling - 6
New Synths - 131
New Tools - 78

Third, the Top 25 Posts of 2015 By Traffic!

Remember, you can always find a list of the 10 most popular posts on the site by week, month, and all time here. Unfortunately that widget does not include by year, so I had to dig the following up via Google Analytics' web stats.

The following are the top 25 posts by traffic for the year (the number of pageviews according to Google Analytics is noted at the beginning of each item). These are always interesting to look at. Some will be obvious while others not so much. I have no control over the list. I post, and people share, so you never know what is going to take off.

I'd be curious as to what your thoughts are. Do any on the list surprise you? What were your favorite items/announcements in 2015?

1. 3,566: New Manufacturer SEARCH SOUND Fatcore Semi-Modular & Cyclone Sequencer - from 2013!
2. 3,275: The New Roland Boutique Synths - JP-08, JU-06, JX-03, K-25M - Pics & Full Details
3. 3,213: New Avalon Bassline Synth & Sequencer From Abstrakt Instruments - Details & Price
4. 3,001: New Roland Demora, Scooper, Torcido & Bitrazer Eurorack / Desktop Modules Leaked
5. 2,917: Details on Social Entropy's New Engine Multitrack Sequencer
6. 2,609: New Mini Roland JP-08 Image Leaked
7. 2,569: And the First NAMM Rumor for 2016 is...
8. 2,365: New Soviet Polivoks Desktop Synth from Alex Pleninger in the Works
9. 2,229: 1976 GODWIN GUITORGAN VINTAGE SYNTH GUITAR - a 2010 post!
10. 2,206: New York School of Synthesis T-Shirts Now Available! - a 2013 post. I'm guessing traffic came in from YouTube for this one.
11. 2,035: KOMA Elektronik Introduces the KOMPLEX Sequencer
12. 2,013: Yamaha Reface Synths Leaked
13. 1,842: New York School of Synthesis - Intro to Synthesis - from 2012
14. 1,821 - BOSS KM-60 – 6-channel vintage mixer SN 985423 - from 2011
15. 1,794 - The Elka Synthex is Back - New Release of the Legendary Synthesizer Expected this Year
16. 1,790 - The Collidoscope Prototype Double Granular Synthesiser
17. 1,732 - Vintage Casio Casiotone 701 (CT-701), 1981
18. 1,638 - Custom Korg Volca Synth Enclosure & Midi Controller
19. 1,597 - M1000X Oberheim Matrix-6/6R and Matrix-1000 Software Editor Now Available for Mac OSX
20. 1,515 - Buchla Music Easel Clone by Roman Filippov
21. 1,441 - New ALM Akemies Castle 4 Op FM Dual VCO Featuring Yamaha ICs in the Works
22. 1,437 - New Elka Synthex 2 Digital Desktop Synth From Mario Maggi in the Works
23. 1,396 - Yamaha Reface Is Coming - New CS/SY Series Influenced Synth in the Works?
24. 1,247 - New Roland JD-Xi Pics Leaked
25. 1,244 - 20 Electronics ECHT - New Hardware Keyboard Synthesizer Design from Axel Hartmann

Fourth, some of the super rare and interesting items for the year.

Those of you who follow the site along with me daily, have likely become very familiar with the majority of gear featured on the site. After having run the site for over 10 years, very few items come in that truly surprise me and grab my attention. As I said last year, "these are the posts that stood out for me in the sense that they essentially made me completely pause and think, wow that's something you never see. They are not exactly my favorite posts of the year, but rather those that stood out after putting up post after post, day after day. Some are oddities, some are brilliant, all are exceptional bits of synth history. These go out to my fellow synth diehards out there." This year there were a total of 90 posts that made the cut. You can find them here in reverse order. Twenty posts come up per page so click through the bottom of each page to get to the next, or if you prefer here are direct links to each page: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (1st 10 posts).  If there was anything that made the list for you or if you have any comments on this years' posts, feel free to leave a comment.

And that's it. I swore I would make this post shorter this year. I did, but it's still a bit long. Oh well, it is a whole year in review, so be it! :)

Happy New Year everyone!  I want to thank you all for a great 2015 and I wish you all the best in 2016!