XoX Vintage Synth Showcase

On Thursday night I attended a really fun music event at Reading's South Street venue, a new one for me, as we are gradually discovering the arts scene in the town and I am pleased to say that it's really vibrant around here.

The event was organised by Readipop, a local charity whose goal is to change lives through music and they've been running for a number of years.

I've grabbed the following text from the XoX page, which is worth taking a look at, as there is a podcast episode on there along with some video content that tells the story behind the project.

XOX is an electronic music heritage project led by Readipop built around a collection of classic beatboxes, synths, FX and more.

‘XOX’ refers to a series of instruments made by Roland in the 1980s including the SH-101 synthesiser, MC-202 micro-composer, TB-303 Bass Line and TR-505, TR-606, TR-707 and TR-808 drum machines. These instruments had a significant impact on the development of electronic music in the 80s and directly influenced the birth and development of a number of popular/dance music genres including – Hip Hop, Electro, Electro-Pop, House, US Garage, Techno, Acid House, UK Garage. The instruments have become famous, rare and collectible, placing them out of reach of most musicians, especially young musicians.

With the support of the National Lottery Heritage fund, the XOX Project purchased a collection of all the XOX instruments and a selection of other relevant studio technology in order to create an accessible studio where musicians, producers and students can experience playing, performing, programming and recording with these original, rare and expensive vintage items. The XOX project aims to help musicians develop a practical understanding of how the sound, design and limitations of the technology led musicians to use and abuse them to create new styles of music that did not yet exist – but became defined by the sonic palette of the instruments.

The evening comprised of two EMOM (Electronic Music open-mic) performances by John Christian (pictured below) and Minor Joy aka Simon. It was through these two guys, I heard about the event as they're regulars at Aldershot's ModCaf, so was great to see some familiar faces, as I went in there on my own and always find that a bit awkward!

As it turned out there were a few people there, who had gone on their own and had never been to the venue nor knew anybody either, so this helped break the ice.

There were a number of newer synths to have a play with that are based on the vintage models, which weren't available to play with but on display only. Only the live band and the core Readipop members were allowed to play those.

The original TR-909 drum machine was released by Roland in 1983, when I would have been 11 years old and no way in a million years would I have been able to buy one with my pocket money back then! They cost around $1200 at the time and now due to their rarity would cost possibly 4 times that now but maybe not as much as the more famous 808 machine?

In the top corner is a Korg MS-10 which dates back to 1978 and you can buy one second-hand for over £2000 nowadays. The MS-10 was the most compact model of the MS series; a monophonic synthesizer with a single set of VCO, VCF, VCA, and EG controls. Although simple, it also provided a patch panel that supported a diverse range of sound-creating methods. While the MS-20 had 37 keys, the MS-10 had 32. In spite of its single VCO, it could generate distinctively fat and robust sounds. On top of this, its price tag matched its diminutive size. At 53,500 yen (about $300 U.S. at the time), it was incredibly accessible; helping to popularize the synthesizers in general. Many young players of that time chose MS-10 as their first synth. It has since been a favorite of The Orb, Chemical Brothers, Juan Atkins, Underworld and numerous others.

There were some newer devices on the stage including a Behringer TD-3 (drum machine) and a Roland SP-404 (sampler, the orignal model, I own a Mk2 here in my own studio).

A number of synths were setup on another table with headphones for the audience to have a play with, all of which are from the modern range of Roland gear and are based on their grandparent machines!

To round off the evening, the XoX Live Band took to the stage to play a set. They played a dozen classics from "Axel F" to Eurythmics "Sweet Dreams" on a range of actual 80's analogue synths. Great to see a whole range of ages in the band too and I look forward to more in the future.

I am going to another one of their meetups on Wednesday, so will write more about that later in the week.

Thanks everyone, have a lovely week!

Last of all, one of my own compositions from a few weeks ago....