Roland TB-303 "The Beast"

Two shots sent my way via an anonymous reader. Click the images for larger shots.

Acid in my house

YouTube via darenager.
"A short acid house clip from my studio, a quick look around reveals that none of my synths are running, so what else could be producing it?

2 Clues - it's not pre recorded and it's not from my Mac or PC

Have a guess in the comments, the answer will be revealed soon so watch this space! You might be surprised!"

Update: The Answer

New Stylophone With MP3 Support?

Saw this one on Shepitology where you can find a little more detail. Note the mp3 feature. Anyone know more about this? I took a look at the official Stylophone.com and didn't see anything off the bat.

Roland SH-101

Title link takes you to shots via this auction. Interesting detail from the auction is there's an SH-101 page on Wikipedia. Didn't know that...

The COMPUTRON

via this auction

Details:
"BEHOLD A POWERFUL "NOISE" INSTURMENT.
THE COMPUTRON HAS BEEN MODIFYIED (I SAY MODIFYIED INSTEAD OF "CIRCUIT BENT" BECAUSE MUCH ADDITIONAL CIRCUITRY WAS ADDED, INSTEAD OF SIMPLY MESSING AROUND WITH EXSISTING CIRCUITRY.) IT COMES COMPLETE WITH A POWERFUL/ VERY SENSITIVE THEREMIN ANTENNA, AS WELL AS MANY OSCILLATOR/ VOLTAGE CONTROLS.

PLEASE GO HERE FOR MORE PICTURES/ SOUND SAMPLES

I have used this for many shows/ recordings with my experimental sound project TORSO. It was used most recently on my split CD with Bastard Noise's BILL NELSON (Unicorn). I will miss the thing. It's DRONE sweeps are unmatched by any other machine I have used (check out the POWER DRONE track on the myspace for proof). TOTAL NOISE BRUTALITY, NOT JUST ANOTHER CIRCUIT BENT TRINKET."

The Jaminator

via this auction.
Details:
"This is for a Jaminator Guitar this is a 80's instrument,this guitar is very hard to find ,this item is in very good shape,few scratches,remember it is a 1980 guitar,all works great,it will also come with extra 5 sond cartridges,plus it has 5 songs on board,this guitar is cool!,it adds the lead and rifs to the song when you want to,lots of fun all you need is timing,you don't have to know how too play guitar,but if you did,just makes it better!you will get classic rock 1,2,southern rock,classic rock2 different songs,each have 5 songs on them,you can also play lead with out the song cartridges,you will like this item,it is rare!!!,they say this item is going for $225.00 in the uk,with out songs"

E-MU Emulator II+ HD Model 6075

Click here for shots via this auction.

Details:
"Here's an E-MU Emulator II+ HD Model 6075 Sampler Synthsizer EMU for auction. According to information I was able to locate, the II+ HD version was the top-of-the line model about 1985. Double the memory and a 20MB hard drive. Although this HD has since been replaced by a 3.5" FDD, the upgrade cost alone was about $3,000, putting this unit at probably well over $10,000."

CLICK FOR MORE »

circuit bent casio sk-1 antithesizer synth white lights

via this auction.

"antithesizer -6.11 circuit bent by spunky toofers. .. finished in many thin layers of white and black paint to form a durable finish and sheen. coloured in my classic antithesizer style.. sound files of current sk-1 model can be found under live at francisco house, light of god, nebulagirl and autonomous sk-1 composition at sk-1 samples at soundclick and samples at myspace the tracks called music of the spheres, happy sadcore feature only the live single track sounds of my circuit bent sk-1. search for spunky toofers for videos on youtube.com ... circuit bent sk-1 .. . a patchbay has been install in lieu of the speaker. this provides for endless possibilities for new sounds and experimentation. however for the performer in mind i have installed switches which are very stable and is a very nice alchemist's blend which interplays with one another quite well. 18 switches, one soft reset button, one super bright white LED and vintage pilot lens, two body contacts, one pitch dial. .. it is important to know how this instrument works as far as sequencing, recording, sample looping, and normal playing modes. i have bent the instrument in the best way possible to effect all modes of instrument as they can vary drastically in results. i wanted to redesign the control interface and switches to produce a good solid range of options that effect all sound banks without many lock ups and very consistent bends that will solidly perform live. i also wanted to have self composition to be a strong element to this machine as i have found it to be an excellent way to set an instrument to be layered and mixed in live situations. the arrays of switches have been grouped into different categories depending on row and situation of switches. these group banks include : filter banks, repeat echo banks, odd synthesis bank, ambient drones, a switch for auto melody composition.. and a tactile bank of switches for removing all four levels of polyphony. as in SATB it will remove the bass, tenor and alto and soprano harmonies..this comes in handy when you want to extract voices to create subtle compositions which removes bass lines, higher voices etc on the fly...also this is very helpful when the lofi loveliness gets too thick to discern what is going on and when pitches become muddied by low frequencies. there is also a switch for removing drum sounds completely.. afforementioned switches are are located on far right of instrument.. there is two body contacts that act as a pressure sensitive distortion effect on any sound at hand.. also available is a knob which will control pitch by one octave and a half.. or 19 half steps in all.. very very useful.. questionable bends have been fine tuned with capacitors and resistors to make sure that bends are much more stable.. i have made many of these over the years and have been fine tuning each model to date. this ensures you are getting the best instrument possible...with switches this takes the guess work out for you and avoids the redundant bends.. i picked bends that were flexible across all sound banks (they will completely change for each sound bank, just the nature of this instrument when bent). i implemented the bends in a manner that would effect other switches in new ways! a very tactile instrument whether for studio or stage.. ... comes with vintage blue glass lens and aluminum rimmed pilot lens with bright white LED light power indicator mounted underneath..has a soft reset button that works like a charm!"

circuit bent casio sk-1 spunky toofers


lemp arts 4-11-07

YouTubes via spunkytoofers.

Pearl Syncussion SY-1

Click here for shots via this auction.

Details:
"circa 1979
The Pearl Syncussion SY-1 comprises of of two drum triggers that connect to the analog brain via standard patch leads, the synth has two identical channels.
Each channel includes one knob and the rest sliders for controling OSC MODE, TUNE, DECAY,WIDTH SWEEP, LFO, S/H, OUTPUT

The synth powers up fine, and lights flash relative to LFO speed and depth on both channels, however one channel has no output signal."

Yamaha TG33

Title link takes you to shots via this auction.

korg radias moog prodigy dsi polyevolver

flickr by Yotsuba&!.

Another great shot from xpander who brought us the inside shots of the Jupiter-6.

MemPot, potentiometer with a memory

Remember this MemPot video?

"MemPot is a small controller circuit where potentiometer (or any variable resisor) is read and recorded with PIC (16F819) microcontroller. PIC stores a sequence of values from the user turning the knob and plays the same sequence back via serially controlled digital potentiometer (DS1267) chip. The playback speed and recording buffer can be controlled. This is a handy tool for performing gestures with electronic instruments with variable resistors as controllers."

Title link takes you to more info including links to:
* picture of the schematic (version 1.0, not tested!)
* schematic and board file in Eagle format (version 1.0, not tested!)
* PIC code (V1.0)

flickr by Misuser. via brian comnes.

f_x0x_rcorner

flickr by ladyada, the creator of the x0xb0x. Title link takes you to more. via brian comnes

Update via Limor in the comments:
"this pix actually just a backup of my gallery at [link] the monstrosity you see before you is controlvoltages you can here the accompanying demo track this was used on here: [link] click here for more deets and lots more lovely pictures :)"

KORG R3 Review on Synthwire

Title link takes you there.

acid test

YouTube via kromosom21.
"diy modular synth + tr909 +x0xb0x in action"

analogliveset

YouTube via kromosom21.
"analog machines test@home x0xb0x+tr606+tr909"

Another 303 Clone Shoot Out

Title link takes you to more samples of TB-303 clones, this time on the x0xb0x site. There are also some vids there. BTW, do check out the rest of the site while there.

via brian comnes

Tom Wiltshire's Electric Druid Synth DIY Site

"I've finally got around to something that has been a dream for a long while - building my own synthesizer. My initial plan is to build a monophonic synthesizer. I intend to eventually give it memories to store sounds, but have designed it so that it works without memories if I never get that far.

I thought the easiest way to build such a synth would be using the old CEM or SSM synth chips, but unfortunately they are unobtainable for any reasonable price. However, since the late 70's/early 80's heyday of such chips, modern microprocessor technology has come so far that you can now buy a cheap microcontroller that can do a reasonable simulation of at least some of these chips. I thought this might be a worthwhile approach. So far, I've managed to write firmware for two devices, a voltage-controlled LFO and a voltage-controlled ADSR envelope generator, modelled on the CEM 3312 and SSM2056. These are presented below."

Inside the Roland Jupiter-6

flickr by Yotsuba&! aka xpander via VSE.

Title link takes you to the full set.

Baroque Variations - Roland MC-202 and Fairlight CVI Video

YouTube via itisnick.

"Early set of video variations set to the music of J. S. Bach. Avoid food or beverages."

via ニコラス・ケント on AH:
"The Roland MC-202 originally came with a data cassette containing some Bach and Debussy 2-part demo sequences. I guess you could practice you own cut rate Carlos and Tomita interpretations with them.

Anyway way back when I wanted to test out the tape sync and layered the Roland MC-202's onboard synth a couple times to fill out the sound by recording the two parts a couple times each with different MC-202 synth patches. So thatr's where the music came from.

All 3, but especially the second piece has audio distortion (unintentional) but hey, it's real analog distortion ;-).

Then as a separate project I wanted to run a Fairlight CVI (Computer Video Instrument) through it's paces. So that's where the video comes from. Blame 1980s Aussie technology ;-) The chroma keying by the way is done by an analog Grass Valley switcher. You can't get keys like that out of a CVI."

Nude Stylophone

flickr by Collin Mel.

Fractal Oscillator with Magnetic Patch Bay

"Long coming, here's a finalized version of my Magnetic Patch Bay on the Fractal Oscillator prototype that I published last spring/winter (2007). Click on this photo and the rest, in order, to get the story..."

"Here's a Yamaha PSS-6, circuit-bent, and with my magnetic patch bay added on the rear panel. The idea goes back to when I used magnets to hold a wire in place, bridging the 2 body contacts on my first bent synth (the Odor Box, c. 1967) so I could adjust the other controls (freeing my hands from the contacts). This patch system opens up lots of great alternatives for signal routing and mixing..."

Title link takes you to the flickr set by moonbear3325 aka Reed Ghazala, the Father of Circuit Bending.

via CDM

Happy 4th!

Moog SSB - Star Spangled Banner

Update: This is a propaganda bit from the 80s with military footage. If you find that offensive, you might want to skip this one.

YouTube via TerryT1976. Wish the quality was better, but there you go. Happy 4th of July America!
"This National Anthem montage was used in several TV stations when they signed off/on. I remember seeing this on my local stations KCOP and KABC in the early-mid 80s. Note that the Star Spangled Banner is performed on a Moog Synthesizer with brass horns. Please forgive the poor quality of this! I will re-post this clip once I find a better version."

BTW, I realize many readers of the site are not from the US. I'd love to put up posts celebrating your holidays as well. That said, feel free to send me something commemorating your holiday and relating to synths. A simple thing would be a picture of your synth with your country's flag or whatever else synth related would be appropriate. My email is matrixsynth at hotmail dot com. What's interesting about the US? We are ultimately all from somewhere else!!! My roots? South America and Europe, Chile and Switzerland to be specific! It really is a melting pot here and that's what I love about this country.

Instant Rock Machine (Electribe A + Slayer)

YouTube via Denkitribe.
"reFX Slayer 2 (virtual guitar & amp)
KORG Electribe A (sequencing)
Ableton Impulse (drums)
Smash the buttons, and let's rock."

The hardware chiptune project

YouTube via lftkryo.
"Hardware, software & music by kryo. Fifth place in the wild compo at Birdie 17. (more)"

Update via the comments:
"Hi!
Glad you like it.
Here's the project home page.
Best regards, lft/kryo"

Yamaha CS-40M part 2

YouTube via analoguecrazy4. Part 1 here.

Dave's Customsynth.uk Roland JX-3P

Click here for more shots of Dave's Customsynth.uk white Roland JX-3P. There are some really good shots in this set, so do check them out.

A little Red, White, and Blue for the day. And of course you can't forget the Green. : )

CustomSynth

Rick Wakeman Solo Moogfest 70's

YouTube via loonytunes1234. Another great vid via Loonytunes.
"Rick Wakemans Famous Solo Spot From The Early 70's Lovely Moogs"

Circuit bent Sk-1 in progress...

YouTube via salamanderanagram. Via the Matrixsynth Forum.
"My first SK-1! Not finished wiring the whole thing up yet but i couldn't resist playing with it a little in it's present state."

Update via salamanderanagram: "the thing on top purports to be a "C.R. Bridge and Signal Tracer", superior instruments model 76. i have no idea what it was for but i got it free and broken at a yard sale."

K.R. Jackson live, pt. 1

YouTube via krjackson204. "Live at Goodvibes, Kutztown, PA. 9/12/06. Part 1 of 3." Title link takes you to more including Parts 2 and 3. Note: synths come in focus about 1 minute in. Although part of me was annoyed at the background talking, it became kind of interesting as part of the experience as a whole. Kind of like a real world take of John Cage's 4'33". Interestingly people stopped talking at around 4'33" Do watch this one through. It's pretty cool.

via Ken:
"The show at GoodVibes involves a Minimoog(through a Boss looper at times/Memory Man), and Yamaha SK-20, and everything goes through a Space Echo at the last step :) The Test Pattern show features a Korg MS-20 doing horrible(in a good way!) filter oscillations, and it goes through an Echoplex to build up the ambient cloud...the Minimoog provides the 3 VCO lead and audio-range filter mod at the end. Enjoy! Feel free to check out other examples of my material on my page.

Later!
-Ken

TB-303 Clone Contest

Via Ben of mus-ok.

"I read the post about the Acidlab Bassline Impressions and remembered this site which has audio and spec comparisons of:

Roland 303
Syntecno TeeBee Mark III
Future Retro Revolution
MAM MB 33 mkII
Acidlab Bassline
Future Retro 777
ML-303 v3.0 Acidcode
AS TB-X TB-303
Oakley TM3030

All the synths are playing the same line. Its pretty amazing how different they all sound. Not sure if thats a bad thing though..."

Title link takes you there. Thanks Ben!

Side note: the xoxbox is also listed as the Adafruit xoxbox. I know lady ada makes it, but I think this is the first time I heard of it with an Adafrut brand.

Old Tech - Hammond Novachord Site

Remember the Novachord?

Title link takes you to the Old Tech Novachord site where you will find everything you wanted to know about how this amazing instrument works.

Colin Fraser's Synth Site

Title link takes you to Colin Fraser's excellent Synth Site. I remember Colin from various lists and oddly I realize I haven't put up a post on his site yet. I've posted on his TR-909 Mod Page and his MidiBass 303 page, but not directly on his site. So... Here it is. BTW, the image in this post is of an early Minimoog VCO board from his site. There was some discussion on AH regarding where to draw the line with discrete. This is definitely discrete.

TD in Bordeaux

Have fun guessing the synths. : )

Image via this link.

Gordon Brown - Acid House King

YouTube via sharkinthepark.
"Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of Great Britain and TB-303 ninja shows the nation what he can do on the little silver box."

Tony Blair was sent tons of guitars while in office, maybe Gordon Brown will be sent a ton of synths!

MMV Cut-out - The Virtual Virtual Analog

Build your own Arturia MMV. Title link takes you to the pdf, also mirrored here.
More cut-outs on SDIYCUT.

Keytar Love

As the image says, "You're Doing it Wrong". BTW this is a Lync LN1000 and it's up for auction along with a ton of other keytars.
via Suit & Tie Guy

Phatty Oscillators

flickr by gattobus.

And...

Have a safe and happy 4th!

Acidlab Bassline Impressions

Ryan Lunenfeld sent the following to AH. With some of the comments coming in on this post, I thought it would be interesting to post his first impressions of the synth. I asked him if I could post it here and he gave me the thumbs up. Thanks Ryan!

"hey i just recieved an acidlab bassline, and having not really seen any reviews on here of it i thought i'd let my brain leak a little...

the construction of the unit is great, all metal, and very light. i was suprised how light. i think maybe the exact size of a tb303 ;] nice feeling knobs, no real resistance, which i like usually, but with the tweaking on this, no real need;]

on the sound, i think its the first 303ish type synth that actually has the square wave down the best. it's not 100 percent perfect, but the closest i've heard. and having the square wave my personal favorite, i'm happy with that ;]

the filter is great, and can really squeel.

the bass on this thing is great;] i haven't heard this much bass out of a synth in a while, amazing...

the sequencer is gerat too, i think it is rather hard to get to like a real 303, and this leads to very interesting sequences. due to thek nob to change notes, i make more around the same note sequences, cuz i get lazy, and i forget hwat i do, so it gets randomish heh;-]

also having everything just with switches makes things lots easier; ]

great synth, i dont know what else really to say about it, cept i wish there was a filter on it, and the outputs were quarter inch doh and that it could run on batteries...

but apart from that a great synth; ] it really seems like klaus makes these synths out of love and cares about them ; ]"

Alpha Juno-2

flickr by gattobus.

One last shot. Be sure to check out the rest. There are some really nice ones in the set.

Roland Juno-106

Title link takes you to shots via this auction.

NE566

via this auction.

Details:
"Want to know more about the NE566?
Actually, the NE566 can be made to sweep a continuous 1000:1 frequency span with just one fixed timing capacitor. Imagine, continuous linear tuning 20 Hz - 20 KHz or 1 KHz - 1 MHz without switching. A simple op-amp circuit provides the precise voltage control necessary. You set the range with the selection of the timing capacitor.

In our lab tests, we used a 0.047µF timing capacitor to achieve a sweep from 23 Hz to 49.5 KHz. That's an amazing 2150:1 ratio! Waveform symmetry does degrade at the very low end however, so if that is critical, a 500:1 or a 100:1 ratio may be more acceptable.

Even at a 500:1 ratio, only two timing capacitors (one hardwired, one switched) will allow you to sweep across the range of the NE566 from 4 Hz - 2000 Hz and then 2 KHz to the 1000 KHz, FMAX. Frequency is inversely proportional to the capacitance. Use the 0.047µF as a reference. Double it to halve the frequency, halve it to double the frequency, etc. Voltage, tolerances and circuit layout affect results so you cannot predict exactly what capacitor values to use for your desired range. We can only get you started with the schematic. After that, you'll just have to experiment. Not hard at all.

E-Mail us for the schematic.

The NE566 is also found in many of the vintage pinball machines such as Asteroids to make those familiar warbling "UFO" sounds.

Another use for this chip is as a transmitter for a high quality, low distortion Remote FM Speaker System described in AN-146 (132K PDF).

Finally, for you musicians, an excellent book, "Making Music with the 566" by synth guru Thomas Henry shows how to do tricks with the NE566 that even the manufacturer didn't know it could do. We highly recommend it. Google the title to find it.

Typical Applications:
General uses: Communications, Test, Music.
# VCO - Linear / Exponential
# FM Modulation
# FSK Generator
# PLL (Phase Lock Loop)
# Pinball Machine "UFO" Sound
# Clock Generator
# Pulse Width Modulation
# Triangle / Square Wave Function Gen
# Tunable Noise Generator (music)
# 455 KHz IF Sweep Oscillator

If you recognize the utility of '555 timer, you'll be WOW-ed by the versatility of this scarce, Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO) / Function Generator.

Only 3 external parts are needed to create a linear voltage-controlled oscillator with both triangle and square wave outputs. [Example below shows Pin 5 with a reference voltage supplied by a resistive divider, but the source can come from anywhere, provided it is within the specification limits.] Add the simple Sinewave Shaper #1 or #2 (Click here) for a complete generator on a budget.

Operating V+ is 10 to 24 VDC. Single or dual supplies. Positive or negative ground.

Apply a variable DC voltage to the '566 control pin (5), and you can easily sweep a full linear 10:1* decade, frequency tuning range with a single timing Resistor / Capacitor pair. Switch in other R1 / C1 combinations to make a very simple, multiple decade function generator up to 1 MHz. That's twice the FMAX of the NE555!

Related application links for the NE566 by Thomas Henry:
ADV-Bass
Tunable Noise Generator (131K PDF)
Sinewave Shaper #3
UD-1 Drum Voice"

Electro Harmonix Space Drum

via this auction.

You can find an online version with samples here.

SIMMONS SDS9

via this auction

Details:
"Simmons then made the SDS-7. It now featured digital sounds, rubber pads, and a sophisocated module. Simmons then made the SDS-8, a cheaper model with no digital sounds. Their next big leap was the SDS-9. This had real-sounding drums, changeable shells, and a new pad surface. The surface had more rebound. It also allowed the use of E-PROMS for the snare, rimshot, and crossstick sounds. It even had a built-in delay effect. The SDS-9 was popular due to its acoustically sampled snare sound which made it virtually indistinguishable from an acoustic kit.


The official description:
The SDS9 is a 5-drum kit, comprising bass, snare and 3 tom-toms, triggering up to 40 complete “drum kits” (20 factory and 20 programmable presets).

Hitting a specific pad triggers the corresponding channel on the ‘electronics’. A microprocessor controls the dynamic (or volume) of each individual ‘hit’ giving a sensitivity to playing previously unheard of in electronic drums: a ‘real’ drum feel, in fact!

The Simmons SDS9 gives you the sounds, feel and control of acoustic drums plus all the sounds and advantages of electronic drums.

To add to all this ‘reality’, the small pads (snare and toms) have a floating head, the snare also has a rim shot/cross stick facility and the bass pad is piston loaded – giving you the feel and playability of acoustic drums.

The SDS9 electronically synthesises the sounds of each drum. The bass, snare and toms use different methods of synthesis – each the most appropriate for the sound and control you require. The bass is software generated directly by the computer. The snare/rim are digital samples of acoustic drums. The tom-toms are synthesised using analogue circuitry. The tom also have unique ‘second skin’ switch to match the sound and response of a double headed acoustic tom.

The program/store memory facility allows you to build up your own drum sounds. These programmed sounds can be saved to tape, giving you almost limitless capacity to store new sounds, or recall previously stored sounds.

There is also a sophisticated automatic trigger that allows sounds to be reviewed without hitting the pads, and a mode where the drums can be triggered by button tapping.

The SDS9 is the first drum kit that has a built in MIDI interface. This is completely assignable in terms of voice changes and note values. By using the MIDI interface you can directly interface with many available keyboard synthesisers and play their voices from the pads. You can also use MIDI real time recorders/sequencers to record your playing and then playback the SDS9 exactly as you played it.

Another interesting feature of the SDS9 is its built in programmable echo. This programmable effect can be used for single slap-back echo or for long repeating echoes to produce stunningly unique rhythmic-ic-ic patterns and eff-eff-ects-ects.

We have done a lot of work using the latest high technology and computer aided design tools to develop the SDS9 – a new instrument, using new voicing techniques and new materials to give you everything any acoustic kit has to offer and much more besides – the kit that’s destined to add a whole new dimension to your art."

Rare Stockhausen Interview - Electronic Music?

Title link takes you to a post on Audio Lemon featuring a rare Stockhausen interview. It is well worth watching. In the beginning of the video there is what looks like a keyboard (pictured here - note the time it comes in when you check it out). It doesn't appear again in the video. Does anyone know what it is? Also, this is probably blasphemy to even throw this out there, but I find it fascinating how he and other composers who primarily used traditional instruments are considered to be the pioneers of electronic music. I understand the music composed is very akin to music composed on electronic instruments, and of course many of these composers use electronic instruments, but is the music truly electronic in essence, and did they compose their music specifically as electronic pieces? The same goes for many electronic music events that oddly rarely feature the synthesizer. What do you all think? : )

The Augmented Sculpture Project

YouTube via Chebwa. Hopefully this will redeem the last post. A little... Not directly synth related, but I want one of these for my synths. I wonder what was used for the audio in this.

"Created by Pablo Valbuena, it mixes a "volumetric base that serves as support for a second level, a virtual projected layer that allows controlling the transformation and sequentiality of space-time."

More info and a higher quality video here.

Finger Drums

yep...

Tangerine Dream - Ricochet live

YouTube via schafael. Interesting caption for the vid: "excerpt from live 1975 (famous fake)" Anyone know what the "famous fake" is in regards to? If you liked this vid also check out this.

Post Updates

In case you missed it, be sure to check out the following updates:

New Dry Samples of the Formant Kit Modular and links to scanned books with all the circuits

Navs' Modular Lab - The Clash of the VCOs! - New 24bit AIFFs (clicks removed)

Scroll when you get to each and look for Update in red. Don't miss these.

music to play in the dark

flickr by cray5656.

Click here for the full sized shot.

Another synth in the dark, this one via ghostdog in the comments of this post.

Guess the synths.