Happy New Year Everyone!
This post is a little late going up, but better late than never! :)
I'm going to keep this one a little shorter than usual as I am aware I have a tendency to get a little too wordy at times.
First of all, I want to thank you all for taking a little bit of your day out to visit the site. I want to thank those that contribute to the synthesizer scene and actually give me something to post! Finally, I want to give a HUGE THANK YOU to all the
individual supporters of the site, and the sponsors you see on the right and above! Your support literally makes the site as it is possible!
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And a look back at 2016...
Update: I forgot to mention, we had a total of 13,679 posts in 2016!
Update2: also, as always take a look back at the
exclusive label for the most interesting bits of synth history.
First a look back at some of the people (and companions) we lost last in 2016.
2016 was rough. On the maker front we lost Don Buchla, who along with Bob Moog, was undoubtably the creator of the synthesizer as we know it today. We lost Ray Wilson of Music From Outer Space, arguably one of the greatest, if not the greatest, influencers in synth DIY. Many makers out there started with his projects.
On the musician front we lost some of synths' greats including Keith Emerson, Isao Tomita, Bernie Worrell and Jean-Jacques Perrey. We lost a couple of pioneers of electronic music as well, namely Jean-Claude Risset and Pauline Oliveros.
The following is the list:
David Bowie - January 10, 2016
Else Marie Pade - January 18, 2016
Stanley Lunetta - March 3, 2016
Keith Emerson - March 11, 2016
Isao Tomita - May 5, 2016
Bernie Worrell - June 24, 2016
Ray Wilson - July 21, 2016
Don Buchla - September 14, 2016
DJ Spank-Spank - September 21, 2016
Jean-Jacques Perrey - November 4, 2016
Jean-Claude Risset - November 21, 2016
Pauline Oliveros - November 24, 2016
And never to be excluded, a couple of the companions we lost:
nonlinear circuit's Bill - March, 2016
CatSynth's Luna - October 31, 2016
Note the above are only those I could tie in with synths. Two artists you might notice missing are Prince and George Michael. Both deserve a mention. Prince I could have tied in with an Oberheim connection. I still remember lusting after an OB-8 after seeing his videos in the 80s.
RIP posts are the hardest to write. Not only because you are mourning the loss of someone great, but because you know your post will never be good enough.
As for new gear in 2016, you might have noticed all of the "New in 2016" labels that have gone up in posts throughout the year. I created the labels back in 2015 as a means to keep track of all the new gear coming in. I also thought it would be a quick, easy, and interesting way to get total counts of everything at the end of the year. Here are the numbers (links will take you to posts for each):
New in 2016 (753)
New Cases in 2016 (18)
New Controllers in 2016 (38)
New DIY in 2016 (108)
New Makers in 2016 (101)
New Mobile Apps in 2016 (65)
New Modules in 2016 (299)
New Old in 2016 (21)
New Soft Synths in 2016 (55)
New Sound Machines in 2016 (34)
New Sound Packs in 2016 (24)
New Synth Effects in 2016 (9)
New Synths in 2016 (112)
New Tools in 2016 (51)
Note, as with anything, labels can be a little tricky. Sometimes there will be overlap, sometimes items will be announced one year, but released in another if at all, and of course, if I'm not made aware of an item it gets missed. You'll likely see a few items from 2015 in the 2016 list for that reason. I also found it can be difficult to categorize certain items. Drum machines for example get bucketed under synths, but I think for 2017 I will create a new label for them and just use both.
All that said, if you look at the numbers above we had 753 new products/items appear on the site last year. Always of notable interest were the items from vintage synth history that were never featured on the site before. Last year
there were 21. An interesting side note is that matches the 21 we had the year prior in 2015. I won't go into any in detail as you can take a look at the label yourself and as I mentioned above I'm going to try and keep this post short. You can check out any of the categories above. Also worth noting is there were 101 new makers to the site in 2016! Check them out via the link above.
I was never one for top 10 lists, as although they can be fun, I'm a firm believer that all gear has something to offer. It's up to us to use the gear and find out. That said I do think it's worth mentioning some of the major synth releases this year. Not only does it gives us a quick look at what the major players released but it also lets us see when they were released in the year. The following is a quick list:
- Korg Minilogue - January 8
- Yamaha Montage AWM2 & FM-X - January 11
- Clavia Nord Piano 3 - January 18 & January 21
- Roland A-01 - January 19
- Korg Limited Edition Kronos Platinum
- Make Noise 0-Coast - January 20
- Artuia MatrixBrute - January 21
- Dave Smith Instruments OB-6 - January 21
- Teenage Engineering Pocket Operators - January 21
- MFB Tanzamus & Tanzbar Lite - January 22
- Mellotron Micro - January 22
- Modal 008 Rack - January 25
- Anyware Instruments Modulator - March 23
- Nord Drum 3/3P - April 4
- New Minimoog Model D - May 18
- Moog Brother From Another Mother - May 18
- Audiothingies Micromonster - May 27
- Mini GRP A2 - May 28
- DSI OB-6 Desktop - June 22 & June 23
- Mode Machines ADX1 - June 28
- New Black Oberheim TVS - June 28
- Ninstrument SynthBoy+ July 2
- Behringer Deepmind 12 - July 7
- New Red & Blue Korg Electribes v2 - July 20
- Yamaha FM Synth for iOS - July 21
- Jomox Alpha Base - July 23
- Korg Desktop Odysseys - August 28
- Percussa Remote - August 29
- KORG MicroKORG-S - August 31
- Korg Volca Kick - August 31
- KORG Odyssey Desktop Modules - August 31
- Roland System-8 - September 3 and September 9
- Roland TR-09 & TB-03 - September 3
- Roland VP-03 - September 3
- Synthstrom Audio Deluge - September 8
- CMS 2607 - September 23
- Dreadbox Murmox V2 - September 25
- Arturia Drumbrute - October 7
- Bastl Instruments Kastle - October 7
- Korg Monologue - November 1
- Full Size Korg Arp Odyssey Keboards - November 4
- Cyclone Analogic TR-606 Clone - November 16
- Tangible Waves AE Modular - November 16
- Modal Electronics CRAFTSynth - November 18
- Cyclone Analogic TT-78 - November 23
- The White Schmidt Synthesizer - November 25
- Plankton Electronics Ants! - December 9
- Dreadbox NYX - December 15
- Cyclone Analogic TT-303 MK2 - December 15
Note this is only 49 of the 112 items in the
new synths in 2016 category. I'd recommend checking them all out.
What stood out for you in 2016? What are you looking forward to in 2017? Leave a comment or two below.
I want to end this with a humble thank you to everyone that makes this site what it is!
Thank you and Happy New Year!!! On to 2017!