Teenage Engineering has earned accolades for their product line featuring great sound and innovative features. Their Pocket Operators, originally introduced last year, included three devices covering the Holy Trinity of Beatmaking — synth, bass, and drum machine — with each looking more like a handheld calculator than a musical instrument. The PO-12 drum machine’s LCD […]
Review: The Waldorf Streichfett: the Modern String Synth of Creamy Dreams
July 9, 2015 by
Two-thirds of the way through recording my new Church of Hed album, I thought some tracks needed a bit of icing. I previously noted Waldorf’s new Streichfett string synthesizer; digested some online sound samples, and felt confident it would serve nicely in this role. After discovering its street price was under $400, I decided to […]
NAMM 2015 and the Analog Synthesizer Renaissance
February 13, 2015 by
Sorry for the relative lapse in new content here at TabMuse. I’ve been working hard on the new Church of Hed album, Electric Sepulcher, so my time for TabMuse is more fleeting. We’ll work on fixing that in the future. As usual, gear lust ruled the day at this year’s NAMM show in Los Angeles. […]
The Moog Minifooger MF Delay paired with a Sub 37
October 27, 2014 by
Within a day after working with the Moog Sub 37 analog synthesizer in my studio I needed some delay. I had purchased an Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Boy a few months ago to pair with the Sub 37, but it ended up being used in another part of the studio. I wanted a dedicated delay pedal […]
Five Great Improvements for the Moog Sub 37
October 21, 2014 by
Don’t get me wrong, the Moog Sub 37 is a stunning piece of analog synthesizer gear. The thing sounds wonderful and expressive, with a panel full of knobs and switches sure to delight any synth head. It’s my best musical device purchase in years — maybe ever?! Having said all that, there are still some […]
First Impressions of the Moog Sub 37
October 10, 2014 by
Well, after a long wait — a bit too long methinks — Moog’s hot new analog synth, the Sub 37, arrived at my door yesterday. Our cats were quite intrigued with the box, but unfortunately for them it wasn’t to become their plaything du jour. The box contents are all mine. The Sub 37’s packaging […]
Composing a Space Rock Album on the iPad 2: the Story of Kev Ellis — Space Cadet
July 21, 2014 by
(Editor’s note: Kev Ellis cohabitates the same worldwide Space Rock scene as myself. He’s played with Bubbledubble, Kev and Trev, and Spirits Burning among others. In fact, I think we are on the same Spirits Burning track from their Alien Injection album. SB being an Internet-based music outfit, we’ve never met in person. I knew […]
Moog Releases Werkstatt-01 Synth Kit to the Public
June 10, 2014 by
One of the more intriguing happenings at this year’s Moogfest in Asheville, NC featured a workshop where all the attendees got to build their own Moog analog synthesizer. Nary two months later, and Moog has released the Werkstatt-01 synth kit — used in the workshop — to the public. Anyone interested in building their own […]
Korg Volca Keys — the Analog Synth Reviewed
June 6, 2014 by
While Korg’s Volca series of portable analog synth boxes intrigued me, I wasn’t really in the market for one. But with a Moog Sub 37 on seemingly perpetual pre-order (its ship date recently moved from mid-May to late-Summer) and two albums from Church of Hed and Quarkspace needing overdubs I began to reconsider. I hoped […]
Moogfest 2014 Intrigues and Inspires
April 29, 2014 by
Observing the news from this year’s Moogfest, held once again in Asheville, NC, headquarters of Moog Music, it is obvious that the modular synthesizer revival is coming full circle. At the festival, Moog announced they are reintroducing Keith Emerson’s classic modular unit, used in pretty much every ELP tour since the early 70s. I Dream […]
