Synth Lovers Attend AHNE2007

Dave Lovelace, cartoonist extraordinare (he did Weird Al’s Virus Alert video) and a mean keyboardist and collector himself, threw a camera in his with a couple of synths and recorded some footage from the event.

Sections include, a Jupiter 6 demo, Studio Electronics OMEGA, Hot Hands - demonstrated by creator Bob Chidlaw, Mini and Voyager compared, a Moog 3 modular and Bleeplabs Thingamagoop.

In Dave's Own Words
I loaded up a Honda Element with my Oberheim OBSX, Sequential Circuits Pro One, prototype Metasonix Wretch Machine and TM-7 Scrotum Smasher, plus a couple of digital keyboards (Korg 01/W and Roland JD-800), for MIDI controllers and to basically "cleanse the pallette." That, my mixing rack, speakers, a 50 pound bag of cables, a stool, and my trusty video camera were what I decided I needed for a fun time at Analog Heaven Northeast (AHNE) 2007, in Bolton, Massachusetts, USA.

It was May 5th, 2007, a day I called "Syntho de Mayo." The phrase stuck for the dozen or so people in attendance. A few conflicting schedules kept a lot of the regulars away this year, but while we might have been light on humans, the machines were out in full force.

Eric Crawley, the event coordinator, brought an incredible assortment this time around. He supplied a Model-D Minimoog and a Minimoog Voyager for a side-by-side comparison. There were a couple of Oberheim SEMs hooked up to a French Connection controller. His Buchla 200e was there too, with a vintage Music Easel standing by (albeit not fully functioning this day, sadly).

Bob Chidlaw, ex-lead scientist of 20 years for Kurzweil, had a Yamaha CS-30, a production model of the Metasonix Wretch (two Wretches in one room? madness!) and his latest invention, called "Hot Hands," which I like to think of as the Wii of analog synth controllers.

Other notable objects of electro-sexiness included an amazingly quirky and inconic Moog Model 12 modular, a PPG 2.2, a Studio Electronics Omega 8, and a very colorful Cynthia/Modcan modular.

These gatherings are for anybody with gear to show off, and a desire to see in person the sorts of gear you might have never seen otherwise. Further, you get a chance to actually play with this stuff... to stink it up with your ignorant fingers and try to make sense of all of it. Sometimes you'll sell something, sometimes you'll buy something, but it's not at all a swap meet. Usually you'll just get a few business cards, email buddies, and burned fingers if you're not careful around a Metasonix product.

For my part, I enjoyed bringing my CDs to hand out (I actually sold one too, to the janitor!), and also bringing my "Packrat" cartoons to autograph. It was my only hope for self-worth in a room full of truly ingenious scientists & engineers. I was Marty in a room full of Doc Browns that day...

• AHNE 2007
• Bleeplabs
• Dave Lovelace WWW - cartoons, music, videos

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