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I was chatting with a couple of musician friends the other day--one a guitar player and the other plays keys.

The keyboard player is in his 30's so I expected him to have some remembrance of classic synths of the past. However, the mention of a Yamaha DX-7 went over his head. I've also used the words "Rhodes" and "Wurly" in past conversations--only to receive a curious expression.

I guess many keyboard players don't keep up with current technology, or have much interest in what has come before. Seems sad to me.

Oh well....comments?

I was talking with a young keyboard player a few month ago and he told me something like: "hey I wanna go analog this time, I'll buy a RADIAS!"
I spent 1 hour explaining him that knobs and sliders doesn't make a synth analog in every case....

Lorenzo wrote:I was talking with a young keyboard player a few month ago and he told me something like: "hey I wanna go analog this time, I'll buy a RADIAS!"

It's common for many newbies to confuse Virtual Analog with Real Analog.

I'm just surprised how many keyboard players have limited knowledge of synth/keyboard history.....especially with all that's available out there on the Internet. When I started playing synths back in 1984, we obviously didn't have the Internet as a resource, but I subscribed to Keyboard magazine and tried to keep up with most of the technology.

... and there is another terrible practice here in Italy: people just buy the latest beast... and sell it after a few month after having realized they're not able to use it. Manual forums and internet are totaly unusefull from them... or at least this is my thought.
Regards, Lorenzo

Oh that's common everywhere! I've read many posts that start with, "I sold my Motif XS to buy a Kurzweil," or "I only kept my Fantom X for 3 months," etc....

Most aspiring young (and old) musicians just don't want to take the time to learn how to actually play and program their keyboards. Heaven forbid they could read the manual.

I've been playing keyboards since 1990. My favorite musicians are all keyboard players. I love synthesizers. I love synth-bands. And yet, until December of last year, about the only classic synth I could have named is Moog. I had heard of the DX-7, but didn't know what the fuss was about. I didn't know an LFO from an Oscillator.

I received a Korg R3 for Christmas, and I decided I would finally take it upon myself to actually learn about synthesizers and their history. I've been learning not just about synthesis, but the history of synthesizers, the people and companies who made them, and the specific artists who used them. I've started visiting sites like this and networking with other musicians.

In other words, I'm doing my best to finally understand the medium I've been playing in for years. So please forgive me and my recent past ignorance. I was one of those, but I'm trying to be better.

GWGumby wrote:In other words, I'm doing my best to finally understand the medium I've been playing in for years.

Congrats! I appreciate anyone willing to forge their way into synth history! Here are a few really obscure ones to check out:


The Kinetic Sound PRISM:

http://www.kineticjim.com/prismSynthesizer/prism.htm

The Con Brio ADS 200:

http://www.synthmuseum.com/conbrio/conads20001.html

The TONTO:

http://www.synthmuseum.com/tonto/index.html