What got you into synths?

[Scories]

Synths: Casio SK-1 at 9, PSS-795 at 14 and more seriously Minikorg 700s at 19 (closely followed by a Juno6).
Music: Oxygène + Friends Mr. Cairo - at around 4 years old.

[pizzamon]

I started out with radio....late seventies and early 80's. I was always surrounded by bands and music makers since I was old enough to appreciate it. Went through several "phases" in musical education...including jazz and punk. I got into punk through my skateboarding crew. My girlfriend took me to a front 242 show in 1989 or something. Then I went to a meatbeat manifesto show latter. I watched all the machines they were using closely and noticed the drum machines and synths. I dropped out and moved out on my own at a very early age...due to my dad dieing as a Vietnam Marine mostly. I surrounded myself with music makers at that time. I moved to Columbus, Ohio as the rave scene was blowing up and knew a lot of the guys promoting/playing etc... Techno was music then. I loved watching, listening and learning about how the machines worked and got into d.j.ing. The music I liked was more machine music at that point. I moved around a lot taking odd jobs at that time. I moved ALL over the place. from interior Alaska to south Mexico and from coast to coast (reinforcing my acoustical education). Then I got married (to the girl that took me to the front 242 show!). suddenly I could afford some kit besides a laptop. I got into buying hardware synths around 2000, after decades of dreaming of owning my own kit. I fell for the sound of analog and preached analog hardware to anyone that would care to listen. Then I had a kid. Now I am seriously contemplating going small and possibly even soft synth. In desktop form if nothing else. I'm more concerned with being able to play than being overly excessive about timbres now. Guess that was more of a pizzamon bio...sorry.

[pizzamon]

^^^Gave me something to think about while drinking the morning brew...hehehe.

"Well... How did I get here?"...

[Em Pe Ge]

playing drums,
which led to scratching, and beat making,
which led me to virtual instruments,
which led me to synths.

never looking back... haha.

[TrondC]

I came from a rock background, but after watching pink floyd live in pompeii, the infamous making of on the run etc. total "WHAT...WAS...THAT!!" moment that changed things. learned that the instrument used was a VSC 3 (or is it VCS?) which led me to this very site, the pictures and texts blew my mind. then the forum and you guys pulled me from a microkorg and er-1 to the elektron pair

hm, kraftwerk too, at first I listened to it as a joke, but it quickly grew on me, led me to new order and depeche mode, which led me to techno remixer, which led me to modern techno music. all good

[Yatmandu]

The first time I remember thinking "what the heck was that sound?" was with the Lucky Man lead by ELP - soooooo typical, I know , but it defined what a synthesizer sounds like for me back then. That led to buying a lot of their early stuff: Tarkus, Brain Salad Surgery, as well as Topographical Oceans by Yes, and early Genesis albums and Pink Floyd DSotM. I remember as kid biking down to where ELP was practicing for their '77 tour in Montreal and listening to Emerson wail on his Moog. I ended up going to that show as well as the Pink Floyd Animals show.

Around the same time I got into Kraftwerk and Bowie's Station to Station and Low albums (Low is still freaking amazing)!

Although I kept some interest in synths in the 80's, I was way more into punk and ska, than I was into the synth-oriented bands. I did enjoy New Order, Cabaret Voltaire, OMD, mostly brit synth bands.

Late 80's I got into the whole technotronic era and acid house. Then in 90 I heard The Orb and early house/trance in Goa and Thailand, and that was it....this completely turned me onto the techno, house, and eventually d&b scenes, which I've enjoyed in one form or another since then.

Edit: the weird thing is that I only started getting into creating my own music around 2003 for a little bit when a friend of mine showed me Reason (I think it was 2.0) and then in the spring of 2008, when I bought a Kaossilator.

[balma]

DEPECHE MODE

[Yatmandu]

DEPECHE MODE

Yeah, these guys too....I think I spent the summer of 83 playing Depeche Mode tapes in my car. I took a trip down the east coast of the states with my cousin, and he hated that band by the end of our trip!

[rhino]

this was a thread some time back.

for me:
the movie "Forbidden Planet", and the Hammond SoloVox

yeah, I'm THAT old ! (lol)

[nvbrkr]

Thanks for the movie recommendation. Awesome, it's on youtube!

[computron]

this was a thread some time back.

for me:
the movie "Forbidden Planet",

excellent .Its the same for me with this one and influence into synths
the intro and the vrrrroooommm vrrroooommm totaly took my young mind away when I first saw it .I am 31 so the movie came out well before I was born.I saw it on tv when I was 5 or 6 and it never left me.vroooom vrrrrroooom

[machinea]

DEPECHE MODE

Get the balance right sealed the deal. But before that was the Disneyland Electric Street Parade. Couldn't see the synths I could just hear the moog and then there was all the pretty lights. It was mesmerizing. Shortly thereafter Close Encounters was released in the theater that fall. When the ARP starts the sound of calling out to the Mothership (modular synth) in the sky I about fell over with joy. I was 8 years old.

3 years went by and then gary numan's cars was released and got airplay in the states. I got that same feeling I had from years previous. I remember coming home from school in the 5th grade and sitting in front of the radio for hours waiting for that song to come on.

Sadly I didn't get a synth for 25 more years. But now I have many better late than never.

[cram1960]

The big three: Giorgio Moroder, Kraftwerk and Space.

"I Feel Love" by Donna Summer is really ground zero. Then Giorgio's "From Here To Eternity", Kraftwerk's "Trans Europe Express" and Space's "Magic Fly" set me on go about synth music...Like a kid watching a magic show. When synth-pop hit in the eighties, I jumped in and saved up $175 for a CZ-101! I still have that synth.

lesser gods: Yaz, Depeche Mode, The System

the rest : all synth pop, and 80's dance music (club music, House music, Paradise Garage music, Hip-Hop)
the now: D&B, Trip-Hop, Dubstep, Ambient, glitch, Minimal House Tech <grin> and many other smaller sub-genres.

I am really taken by Trentmoeller, and Telefon Tel Aviv at the moment.

[ronP]

oo


For me 'twas this absolutely iconic PBS TV logo . . .





. . . A multi-tracked MOOG or ARP modular sequence, I'll assume; it made a distinct impression on me that Star Trek and Carl Sagan's Cosmos series (soundtrack by Vangelis!) further inspired. And then new wave arrived just as I reached puberty and suddenly I was seeing my first concert -- The Fixx and A Flock of Seagulls -- and a KORG Polysix followed shortly thereafter . . .




oo

[drawtippy]

My older brother was in a band when he was in high school and they used to practice in our basement. His guitar player's Dad owned the local Mom and Pop music store. Since my bro played keys he "borrowed" a lot of different synths from the music store including a Moog Liberation and a Korg Trident. This is 1983 and I was fascinated. Then my bro got a POLY61 for Christmas and I loved that I could play the songs on the radio with it like Jump and Separate Ways. Finally, my piano lessons were paying off!

BTW, that Poly61 is still in my parent's basement!