Analog Synth Record Collection

Check out this auction list while it's up. There is a slew of old analog synth records. I saved off the album covers, titles and any details given for each; title link takes you to one monster htm file. I listed the albums below as well for anyone that wants to search for them in the future.



-Moog Synthesizer, The Essential, Perrey & Kingsley
-Moog Synthesizer, Moog Indigo by Jean Jacques Perrey
-Amazing New Sound of Jean Jacques Perrey
-Spotlight on the Moog; Kaleido-scopic vibrations
-The in sound from way out, Perrey - Kingsley
-First Moog Quartet by Gershon Kingsley
-Yankee Transdoodle; ARP 2600 + Obenheim equipt.
-Giorgio; 1977, exclusively electronic keyboards
-It's about time, Tonto
-White Noise / An Electric Storm
-Plugged in Joplin, Minimoog and EMS Synthi AKS, 1974
-Firebird by Isao Tomita
-Ragnarok; Electronic funk by Paul Beaver and Bernard L. Krause
-Skylab; Electronic butterflies play instrumental hits
-Electronic Music for Jean Dubuffet's Coucou Bazar by Ilhan Mimaroglu
-All Good Men by Beaver and Krause
-Beyond the sun, the planets Patrick Gleason and the Eu Polyphonic Synth
-Electric Love Moog synthesizer and strings
-Good morning Starshine with Moog synth by Tartaglia
-Mother Mallards Portable Masterpiece Co recorded at R.A. Moog !
-Short Circuits by Ruth White / Moog Synthesizer
-Moog synthesizer album, Everything you always wanted to hear on the Moog but were afraid to ask
-Music to Moog by Gershon and Kingsley
-Quadradisc Highlights - quadraphonic record album
-Electronic Hair Pieces Mort Garson with Moog synthesizer
-Copper Plated Integrated Circuit - 1969
-Switched On Gershwin - Moog synthesizer
-White Noise 2 David Vorhaus, 1975, Concerto for synth
-Popcorn Gershon Kingsley's First Moog Quartet
-Apollo 100 Masterpieces includes Popcorn
-Hot Butter with Stan Free at the Moog synthesizer
-Realistic Life Mechanical Sound Effects record album
-Flowers Of Evil

MOOGFEST REVEALS MUSIC LINEUP AND PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

Details are in. Via MOOGFEST:

"Over 150 participating artists including Flying Lotus, Animal Collective, Gotye, Suzanne Ciani, Derrick May, 808 State, Jessy Lanza, Simian Mobile Disco, Moor Mother, Syrinx, Visible Cloaks, Princess Nokia, and Function added to growing list of Moogfest 2017 participants

Gotye Presenting a Tribute to Jean-Jacques Perrey, The Center for Deep Listening Honoring Pauline Oliveros, and Peanut Butter Wolf Honoring Bernie Worrell and Other Musicians We’ve Lost

Over forty performing artists also leading workshops and sessions in four-day conference program

The independent, annual, four-day festival will take place in
Durham, North Carolina from May 18-21, 2017. This year marks its 11th iteration honoring the spirit of inventor Bob Moog.

$249 for 3-Day General Admission and $499 for 3-Day VIP

All prices exclusive of applicable fees.

Durham, NC (March 7, 2017): Today, Moogfest reveals its lineup of musical performers, led by Flying Lotus, Animal Collective, Gotye, Suzanne Ciani, Derrick May, 808 State, Simian Mobile Disco, Syrinx, Jessy Lanza, and Function. Building on the experimental format of previous years, Moogfest continues to integrate Future Sound (performances) and Future Thought (conference) programming, with many of these artists also leading sessions during the daytime conference program.

Moogfest’s trademark mix of intimate venues and masterful collaborations creates an unforgettable experience festival-goers will not find anywhere else. Experimental electronic and avant-garde dance music is complemented by thematic programming like Black Quantum Futurism, Protest, and Techno-Shamanism that span day-into-night. This year returns with adventurous formats such as live film scores, an overnight live music sleep concert, prelude to sleep listening parties, long-form durational performances, and presentations by leading Instrument Designers.

Moogfest has also invited artists including Gotye and Peanut Butter Wolf to help honor some of the innovative musicians we lost in 2016, including Jean-Jacques Perrey, Pauline Oliveros, Bernie Worrell and Keith Emerson. This 2017 lineup reinforces Moogfest’s commitment to bold experimentation, with some of the most important musicians and thinkers of our day helping to blur the lines between audience and artist, conversation and collaboration, technology and creativity.

CLICK FOR MORE »

"March of the Robots" on Ed Sullivan show - music by Jean-Jacques Perrey

YouTube via happymoogman

"Here is a rare clip of Sesame Street' Big Bird, together with the June Taylor Dancers on the Ed Sullivan Show, from 1969. The music is "March of the Robots", by Jean-Jacques Perrey. The clip uses Perrey's original Vanguard Records' recording, but interestingly, later in the song, the CBS Studio Orchestra joins in!
Hope you enjoy this!"

Moog_Tastic Offer from Dana Countryman

"The future of electronic music is now, and the legacy of Bob Moog's musical genius is alive. -- Dana Countryman

Bob Moog's inspiration spans generations of people who love music, technology and making a difference! That is why Dana Countryman—musician, composer and Jean-Jacques Perry musical partner and biographer—is offering something truly special for people who support Bob Moog's legacy with a donation to the Bob Moog Foundation

The Dana Countryman/ Jean-Jacques Perrey Holiday Moog Inspiration Gift Package

Dana's 2010 release of Moog-tastic: Electronic Melodies from the 24th Century

plus

Dana and Jean-Jacques Perrey's second collaboration, Destination Space, “a Moog-fueled trip dripping with Space Age Spy Pop and Funky Science Fiction”

plus

A handsome autographed photograph of Moog synth music legend, Jean-Jacques Perrey and Dana Countryman in the studio.

All for your donation of $75 to the Bob Moog Foundation..."

Full details here. Also, don't forget to vote for the Bob Moog Foundation today and every day in December.

Jean Jacques Perrey Interview on Astronauta Pinguim

"Jean Jacques Perrey was born on January 20, 1929 in a small village in the north of France. When he was 4 years old, Santa Claus brought him his first accordion (on Christmas Eve, 1933) and, after that, he was possessed by a "little demon of music", as he says. In 1952 while attending medical school in Paris he met George Jenny, inventor of an innovative musical instrument called Ondioline. This contact with Georges Jenny was only the first of a series of meetings with personalities who passed through the life of Jean Jacques Perrey and that somehow have marked his whole career. Because of his enormous talent to play the "ondioline", he was invited by the famous singer Edith Piaf to take part in her shows - as a musician, playing the Ondioline..."

Read the full post on Astronauta Pinguim here. via Fabricio Carvalho on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge

Football Commercial, using Jean-Jacques Perrey tune!

YouTube via ElvaLives | September 01, 2010

"Here's a 2010 Football commercial, using Jean-Jacques Perrey's tune, "Brazilian Flower"!
What a combination!"


This one spotted and sent in via Dana Countryman. "It’s all “Moog” -- done in 1968. From JJ’s 1968 Vanguard LP, 'The Amazing New Electronic Sound of Jean-Jacques Perrey.'"

on Amazon.

Added to the synth CDs post.

You might also recognize the track from What you see when you die, previously posted here.

CLICK FOR MORE »

1972 Ideal "Bing Bang Boing" Commercial

YouTube via daftmahatma

"I believe the Moog synthesized music to this Bing Bang Boing commercial to be "Chicken On The Rocks" from Jean-Jacques Perrey."

Chicken On The Rocks

YouTube via doctorpopular.

Jean Jacques Perrey is actually playing the Ondioline.
"Footage from Jean Jacques Perrey's August 27th show at Recombinant Labs in San Francisco. JJP is on the left, Dana Countryman is on the right. More info on my blog www.DrownRadio.com"
http://www.jeanjacquesperrey.com/

Ondioline

Click here for shots pulled via this auction.

via Dave.

More on the Ondioline on 120 Years.

Via wikipedia: "The Ondioline was a vacuum tube-powered keyboard instrument, invented by Georges Jenny, which was a forerunner of today's synthesizers.

The Ondioline was capable of creating a wide variety of sounds. Its keyboard had a unique feature: it was suspended on special springs which made it possible to introduce a natural vibrato if the player moved the keyboard from side to side with their playing hand. The result was an almost human-like vibrato that lent a wide range of expression to the Ondioline. The keyboard was also pressure-sensitive, and the instrument had a knee volume lever.

Jean-Jacques Perrey first acquired an Ondioline in the mid-1950s [1], and used it on all his older albums from the late 1960's."

You might recognize the name Jean-Jacques Perrey from these posts (you can see him playing it in the first post). I saw him play live with Dana Countryman and he had the Ondioline with him. It sounded just like a theremin. Jean-Jacques Perrey stated that the Ondioline was his favorite instrument.

Jean Jacques Perrey and Dana Countryman Live - Seattle

Remember this post? Well, I managed to make it to the kick off show in Seattle tonight, or rather last night. It was a very FUN show. Filled with quirky bits of music and musings by Jean-Jacques Perrey. Definitely recommend seeing them if you get a chance. Title link takes you to a ton of shots and some short video/audio clips I took with my old digital camera. Apologies for the poor quality.

One of the coolest things about the show was Jean-Jacques' antics during the performances, from pretending to ride a horse to air guitar. Classic, funny stuff. He said his goal was to make others happy and to bring a smile to our faces - to have FUN. I'd say he more than succeeded. What was also fascinating was the stories he'd tell before each piece. I don't want to ruin it for anyone that might make the upcoming shows, so let's just say there was a fascinating story about Salvadore Dali and one about Disneyland. As for gear, Jean played the Ondioline (that brown box in front of him), what looked like a Moog dual manual organ, a couple of synths and a few Moogerfoogers. Dana primarily played a Yamaha DX7 and every now and then he broke out with the Synthesizers.com modular. Oh, and his little elephant mascot joined the show as well. : )

You can read more about Jean Jacques Perrey here, and Dana Countryman here.

P.S. I also had the pleasure of meeting and sharing a table with Blake of Hotels. They use a Casio CZ-3000 and JP8000 in their set up. I just checked out their site and MySpace page. Good stuff.

Update:
OK - SPOILER (do not read this if you are going to the show and want the effect of hearing this story for the first time - this is the story about Salvidore Dali):
Jean talked about how Salvadore Dali asked him what he was working on next. Jean said he was working on 'Flight of the Bumble Bee.' Dali said, hmm.. that's not that special. Jean said, well I'm doing it with live bees! Dali said, oh I must hear this. Jean recorded the buzz of live bees and other bugs. He then sliced the tapes and mapped it to the full range of a keyboard. It took him 46 hours to set this up. He then played it for Dali. Dali was blown away and said he must play it for him again. He said Dali said Mignificent! It was a fascinating intimate story and I really am not doing it justice. You just picture them sitting together and Jean playing this for Dali. Amazing. You can read more on the tape process in this excerpt of his biography.

"South Park" meets Perrey & Countryman!

via Dana Countryman on Facebook

"Our song "Chicken on the Rocks" is used on an episode of "South Park"!
What is the world coming to???

Hey all,
The Comedy Central TV show "South Park" may be pretty crass and tasteless to some (including me), but they did have the good taste to use about 30 seconds from my 2006 track, "Chicken on the Rocks," recorded with my pal, Jean-Jacques Perrey.

The episode was officially first aired on March 31st, 2010, and is now archived here:

http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/267110

Our song is behind dialogue between 13:35 and 13:58.

WARNING! The subject matter is not for kids, or my dad - the retired Baptist minister!

The show has never been one of my personal favorites, but I seem to like it a whole lot better when they're paying a nice chunk of cash to use a song of ours!

That's a combo of my my synthesizer playing and Jean-Jacques' Ondioline on the track, recorded here in my studio in 2006!

For reference:
http://wap.mxr.cc/ringtone:2585147/"

http://danacountryman.com/
http://www.jeanjacquesperrey.com/

And of course posts here on MATRIXSYNTH

Jean Jacques Perrey and Dana Countryman SF 2006

YouTube via doctorpopular | August 30, 2006

"Footage from Jean Jacques Perrey's August 27th show at Recombinant Labs in San Francisco. JJP is on the left, Dana Countryman is on the right.

More info on my blog www.DrownRadio.com" [this post]

Playlist:
Opening Song - Corn on the Cob
JJ on Edith
Chicken On The Rocks
Mickey
Atomic Twist
Pizzicato Samba"

http://www.jeanjacquesperrey.com/
http://danacountryman.com/

Space Nutz!

YouTube via rastro2

"Created by Bob Kathman and Joe McGinty, The Space Nutz are an outer space rock band from the planet Blorp. Music: "Space Age Road Song", by Joe McGinty"

via Joe: "Just wanted to let you know about some recordings I did in the early 90s, for a cartoon project--Space Nutz! The cartoon series never came to fruition, but the tracks are now available online. The recordings were inspired by Perrey & Kingsley, and other fun "Switched On" records. There are some wacky covers ("Smoke On The Water", "Blitzkrieg Bop", "I Think I Love You") and some originals as well.

On-topic content:
Analog synths used were Minimoog and Oberheim Matrix-12, sequenced with one of those Akai ASQ-10 Sequencers. Recorded into a Tascam Porta One.

Other synths: Roland S-550 sampler, Yamaha TX-802, Alesis HR-16B, Kurzweil K1000. Also, some cheap toys bough on Canal Street.

You can listen to some examples here
And here

While you're at the blog, you can check out my combo's cover of Jean-Jacques Perrey's "Moog Indigo", performed at his concert in NYC last October (and JJP's new video!):

that's all for now!"

Disclaimer: I have a hard rule only posting stuff that showcases a specific synth, meaning you have to be able to ID it in the track, video or imagers. I'm making the rare exception on this one so do not flood me with requests unless you can showcase the synth.

Jean-Jacques Perrey "Good Moog"

flickr by E_sus

"Jean-Jacques Perrey disc, "Good Moog". Kosinus Music Library 1998."

http://www.jeanjacquesperrey.com/

CLICK FOR MORE »

The Tale of The Ondioline: Music's Oldest Synthesizer?

video upload by The Lemon Master

0:00 Intro
1:21 Design
5:50 History
7:46 Rise
10:39 Downfall
12:47 Revival?
14:24 Outro

Note the first "synth" is debatable. The Telharmonium (1897), Ondes-Martenot (1928), Mixturtrautonium (1936), Novachord (1939), amongst others predated it. The Theremin, although not a keyboard instrument, but the inspiration if not the basis for Bob Moog's creations arrived in 1921. For a timeline of electronic instruments see https://120years.net, and for more synth centric, as we know them, see The First Synth to.....

For reverything Ondioline see https://ondioline.com

And related posts:

Jean Jacques Perrey & Dana Countryman - The Good Old Days

New Website Dedicated to the Ondioline

Jean-Jacques Perrey et son Ondioline (pics of my copy here)

And of course, see the Ondioline label for additional posts.

JEAN JACQUES PERREY Indicatif Spatial Space-Age Fashion

YouTube via cosmocorps2000.

via Eva von Silky in the comments of this post.
"Jean Jacques Perrey

Indicatif Spatial from Moog Sensations, 1971.

The clip features a fashion report from a german tv-show of the 1960's."

click here and scroll for more vids from cosmocorps2000.

Gershon Kingsley Has Passed Away

Gershon Kingsley- Music to Moog by, full LP (1969) Published on Feb 8, 2015 Gershon Kingsley


Gershon Kingsley - Popcorn

Published on Jun 16, 2007 sometest353

"The Original Popcorn Video cuz i didn't found it on youtube."

This one was sent my way via Joshua Shroyer.

Via user Peake on Muffs

https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/obituary/8546355/gershon-kingsley-dead

Bettmann/Getty Images
Gershon Kingsley demonstrates a Moog Synthesizer on Aug. 25, 1969.

via Billboard where you'll find the full article:

"Composer, conductor and electronic music pioneer Gershon Kingsley, who wrote the top 10 hit “Popcorn” and played a pivotal role in popularizing the synthesizer sound, died Dec. 10 in New York. He was 97.

The Emmy Award-winning composer recorded 'Popcorn' in 1969, but it was a remake by Hot Butter that reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972, and No. 1 in at least six other countries. In 2005, Crazy Frog released its version, with the song again going to No. 1 in a number of countries. In 2018, Kingsley released a yellow vinyl 12” of his trademark song for Record Store Day.

Kingsley, who also composed 'Baroque Hoedown,' the theme song for Disney parks’ Main Street Electrical Parade, was born in Germany in 1922. He came to New York in 1946 and then attended the LA Conservatory of Music..."

You can find previous posts featuring Gershon Kingsley here. One of my favorites growing up in Los Angeles and going to Disneyland as a kid (as well as an adult during NAMM :), was Baroque Hoedown with Jean-Jacques Perrey.

Thank you for the memories Gershon Kingsley, they literally lasted a lifetime. You made the world a better place for so many.

Baroque Hoedown 1967-2015

Published on Mar 8, 2017 Macro Magic

"The original Baroque Hoedown plus all variations used in the American Disney theme parks. Tracks used:

Baroque Howdown- Jean-Jacques Perrey and Gershon Kingsley (1967)

The Main Street Electrical Parade Soundtrack: Disneyland (1977-1996) Magic Kingdom (1977-1991) (1999-2001) Tokyo Disneyland (1985-1995) Disneyland Paris (1992-2003) Disney's California Adventure (2001-2010)

Disney's Electrical Parade/Dreamlights: Tokyo Disneyland (2001- present) Magic Kingdom (2010-2016) Disneyland (2017)

Paint the Night Parade: Hong Kong Disneyland (2014-present) Disneyland (2015-2016)

No audio owned by me. All rights go to their respective owners.
Enjoy!"

SY MANN - SWITCHED ON SANTA - Tijuana Christmas (1970)

YouTube via cosmocorps2000.

Don't miss the kawazy vid below. "SY MANN showed his earliest musical talent at age 6 when he began to correct mistakes, made by his older sister who was then a cello student, by reaching up to the keyboard of the family player-piano and striking the "right notes". His parents took him to a piano instructor when he was 7 and in a short time it was discovered that he possessed absolute pitch. During public school assemblies he gave demonstrations of this phenomenon to the applause and wonder of his classmates and teachers. He continued his music education at NYU. Excelling in his music studies, Sy was elected to membership in the National Honorary music fraternity, PHI MU ALPHA SINFONIA and, later, held the post of student president of the music department of NYU School of Education. Back in civilian life after almost 4 years of service, Sy returned to NYU for his B.S. degree in Music Education, now a married man and father of a baby boy. Not particularly desirous of entering the teaching field, Sy continued with performing engagements, playing for most of show business' top acts as well as stints with the bands of Alvino Ray and Benny Goodman. In 1949 he entered the radio field as staff pianist and arranger for New York's top independent station WNEW. He then established himself in the recording, jingle and film music fields. In 1954 he joined the CBS music staff and currently is pianist-arranger on the Arthur Godfrey Show where he doubles on trumpet, vibraphone, clavietta, electric harpsichord and other assorted keyboard instruments. He has contributed his talents to numerous stars like Barbra Streisand, Tiny Tim, Sammy Davis, Connie Francis. Anybody who plays piano can play The Moog Synthesizer. It is a computer like instrument with a piano keyboard. Since only one note sounds at a time to make music one needs a multi-track tape recorder to record each line of music separately. An electronic engineer is needed not only for the circuitry but also to program the millions of different sound combinations available — also each time the sound is changed The Moog has to be tuned! It takes about one hour of recording time to produce 30 seconds of listenable music. In this album Sy takes the Moog Synthesizer and creates today's electronic Christmas tree out of this new musical wonder. The Moog, a strange machine of lights, cords, inputs and outputs enters the festive world of the merriest season of all. It's a wonderful gift for today's caroleers. Sy Mann giftwraps all your Christmas favorites in the most exciting musical sound, and puts them under your glittering tree. Gift tagged to read 'Merry Christmas from The Moog!'"

SY MANN - SWITCHED ON SANTA - My Favorite Things (1970)



"MUSIC: Sy Mann - My Favorite Things from the album SWITCHED ON SANTA! (1970) One of this numerous Moog records from the past. Now the Moog plays popular xmas songs VIDEO: Scenes from Tales From The Crypt (GB 1972) Episode: All Through The House Starring Joan Collins After Joanne Clayton (Joan Collins) kills her husband on Christmas Eve, she prepares to hide his body but hears a radio announcement stating that a homicidal maniac (Oliver MacGreevy) is on the loose. She sees the maniac outside her house but can't call the police because of her husband's body. The segment ends with the maniac, dressed as Santa Claus, being let into the house by Joanne's little daughter. He strangles Joanne to death. (from Wikipedia)."

Update via Mal in the comments: "This was recorded in Jean-Jacques Perrey's Recording studio in Manhattan using his (and Gershon Kingsley's) moog modular. Jean-jacques engineered the album (uncredited) and I also believe that manny of the tracks were actually arranged and recorded by him. Also... Santa on the front cover is in fact Jean-Jacques Perrey!!!"

Jean-Jacques Perrey and Dana Countryman Live in Norway

Sept 7, 2007.

Title link takes you to more info.

Previous posts on Jean-Jacques Perrey

Jean-Jacques Perrey Biography by Dana Countryman

via Dana Countryman

"My biography, "Passport To The Future: The Amazing Life and Music of Electronic Pop Music Pioneer Jean-Jacques Perrey", is out NOW!
312 pages, and over 250 photographs. Interviews with Angelo Badalamenti, Robert Moog, Gershon Kingsley and many more...
Available online, and in select bookstores.

Order online here:
https://www.createspace.com/3489660

More info here:
http://passport-to-the-future.com/

- Dana Countryman
http://www.danacountryman.com"

Also on Amazon.

Added to the Synth Books section.

Happy New Year From MATRIXSYNTH! - A Quick Look Back at 2016

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!

---

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:

1. Korg Minilogue - January 8
2. Yamaha Montage AWM2 & FM-X - January 11
3. Clavia Nord Piano 3 - January 18 & January 21
4. Roland A-01 - January 19
5. Korg Limited Edition Kronos Platinum
6. Make Noise 0-Coast - January 20
7. Artuia MatrixBrute - January 21
8. Dave Smith Instruments OB-6 - January 21
9. Teenage Engineering Pocket Operators - January 21
10. MFB Tanzamus & Tanzbar Lite - January 22
11. Mellotron Micro - January 22
12. Modal 008 Rack - January 25
13. Anyware Instruments Modulator - March 23
14. Nord Drum 3/3P - April 4
15. New Minimoog Model D - May 18
16. Moog Brother From Another Mother - May 18
17. Audiothingies Micromonster - May 27
18. Mini GRP A2 - May 28
19. DSI OB-6 Desktop - June 22 & June 23
20. Mode Machines ADX1 - June 28
21. New Black Oberheim TVS - June 28
22. Ninstrument SynthBoy+ July 2
23. Behringer Deepmind 12 - July 7
24. New Red & Blue Korg Electribes v2 - July 20
25. Yamaha FM Synth for iOS - July 21
26. Jomox Alpha Base - July 23
27. Korg Desktop Odysseys - August 28
28. Percussa Remote - August 29
29. KORG MicroKORG-S - August 31
30. Korg Volca Kick - August 31
31. KORG Odyssey Desktop Modules - August 31
32. Roland System-8 - September 3 and September 9
33. Roland TR-09 & TB-03 - September 3
34. Roland VP-03 - September 3
35. Synthstrom Audio Deluge - September 8
36. CMS 2607 - September 23
37. Dreadbox Murmox V2 - September 25
38. Arturia Drumbrute - October 7
39. Bastl Instruments Kastle - October 7
40. Korg Monologue - November 1
41. Full Size Korg Arp Odyssey Keboards - November 4
42. Cyclone Analogic TR-606 Clone - November 16
43. Tangible Waves AE Modular - November 16
44. Modal Electronics CRAFTSynth - November 18
45. Cyclone Analogic TT-78 - November 23
46. The White Schmidt Synthesizer - November 25
47. Plankton Electronics Ants! - December 9
48. Dreadbox NYX - December 15
49. 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!