Where were you when the first Synthplex happened? I was in myself doing my best to explore my bucket of impostor syndrome. There are those moments you just know that nobody is looking at you, as with one glance they know you can’t be a serious human being because they don’t recognize you; so you must be nobody. I’d heard that Martin Gore had visited on Friday and a gaggle of fans followed him around hoping for selfies with the Depeche Mode star. Others who were recognizable were also given the red carpet welcome. When someone like myself walks up there is the obligatory name tag check and as soon as it is clear that there is no name recognition the person at the booth can start acting fidgety with you in order to let you know your time is limited and that you are likely wasting theirs. Now step back and wait for someone that impresses them. The smiles grow, they move in closer and start putting on the charm. There are no time limits as the momentary celebrity can indulge their every curiosity with answers extending into detailed nuances I could never even pay for.

I am not endeared to these vendors. Matter of fact, I’d now like to sell the gear I bought from them over the previous years. This type of elitism is a punch at my enthusiasm and the fire that stokes my sense of owning the aforementioned impostor syndrome. Some vendors are extraordinary in their lack of bias and embrace anyone regardless of status who approaches them. This weekend I was able to experience and witness the gracious attitudes of a number of makers such as the authors of Patch and Tweak – Kim Bjørn and Chris Meyer. Bert Schiettecatte and Celine Van Damme of Percussa were incredibly welcoming and willing to share a ton of information that made me a fan of their Percussa SSP. Dave Rossum has the enthusiasm of 10 people, Danjel van Tijn founder of Intellijel didn’t hesitate to pay attention as we spoke. Scott Jaeger of Industrial Music Electronics will give anyone who asks him about his modules a brilliant hands-on demo and answer all questions, often in exquisite detail with a dose of history thrown in.

Speaking of the Percussa SSP: Once I was finally able to catch Bert free of giving other demos he jumped right in sharing with me the salient points that I was most curious about. First up were the granular capabilities of this expensive power-hungry module. When I say expensive I’m talking $2,000 pricey, and regarding power, this thing needs nearly 1 amp of electricity from your rack. Beyond those requirements, this thing is a beast. Do you need to record up to 16 inputs of either audio or control voltage? This is your machine. Do you want to record and edit samples directly in your Eurorack and then drill into them with polyphonic multi-channel playback only to record those outs right back to the device for later use? The SSP can do that.

I’ll admit I was skeptical a couple of years ago when Percussa ran their Kickstarter about this ambitious project, but after seeing it first hand I’m intrigued. With software and firmware updates occurring approximately twice monthly and upon learning that their forum is a great place for feedback and making requests for improvements, I inch even closer to trying to figure out what to sell in order to bring this work of art into my repertoire.

How cool is this? Not only do I run into fellow Phoenician Chris Randall here in California, but here is Ed Kennedy who runs the Phoenix Synthesizers Group (organizing a DIY program in Phoenix soon) and the maniacal A.m. Filipkowski of Data Cult Audio who is also based in Arizona (FYI: he’s not really maniacal, he just looks that way – yes that’s him on the right).

Danjel van Tijn seriously impressed me, not with the sexy new case so much as with the device I failed to get a name for that is mounted left of the Tetrapad. That shiny white module is brand new and unreleased as of today. It is a CV recorder for the Tetrapad. I wish I’d thought to ask while I had his attention if the voltages could be morphed across the various channels.

On the left is the affable and relatively famous Roger Linn who invented the first drum machine to use samples and the MPC that profoundly changed modern music. On his right is my old friend Daniel Billotte who was getting a demo of Roger’s newest creation; the Linnstrument. Most recently Roger played a crucial role in helping change the MIDI format to incorporate polyphonic elements that radically extended the play-ability of MIDI instruments.

This was one of the main draws for me showing up at Synthplex; the Bionic Lester MK3. Scott Jaeger of Industrial Music Electronics made two of these filters last week and one of them was for me. Sure he could have mailed it to me, but then I would have missed out on all of these terrific experiences and more than a few wonderful people I was able to meet and learn from.

Ran into Ross Fish of Møffenzeef Mødular here at Synthplex in Burbank, California, this morning which was a great way to step into the absurd and hopefully setting a tone for the rest of my encounters here. Turned out that this guy (also known as Czar Dean, Anne Chovie, and Matt Zerella) is a unique one-of-a-kind brand of his own peculiarity. Ross was well on his way to disturbing attendees in ways he wasn’t prepared to share, though he assured me they would feel the effects of his mayhem well into the future. Not that the people who visit a Eurorack conference could easily be described as your run-of-the-mill ordinary everyday kind of people, but Ross is certainly one of those cherry-on-top types of personality. I’d like to say it was a pleasure meeting him for the first time, but then again how can anyone ever know what side of the Fish they are getting?

Chris Randall of Audio Damage (left) was on hand, demonstrating his line of software instruments and VSTs too. I met Chris who also lives in Phoenix a little more than a year ago and enjoyed being able to catch up with things before he and I went looking for Scott Jaeger of Industrial Music Electronics who was nowhere to be found. While getting some air and taking a break from the noise in the main halls I saw a guy approaching I’d not seen in nearly 30 years, Bon Harris of Nitzer Ebb (right). Unfortunately, they won’t be playing in Phoenix so we’ll have to head into Los Angeles come October if we’d like to flirt with nostalgia and catch them.

I had the good fortune of meeting Quincas Moreira from Mexico City as well. I’ve chatted with Quincas on social media many a time. Not only is he a composer but also a terrific DIY guy which was how I first learned of him. He’s up here in the Los Angeles area representing Vinicius Electrik who makes their own line of Eurorack modules. Quincas gave me a demo of their newest module, the Lizard, which is certainly a very unique module competing in the ever-growing and increasingly crowded market for synthesizers.

Outside contemplating something to eat I see a logo approaching. The man’s face doesn’t trigger any memories, but I’m wondering just how many people might be wearing a JLR logo on their shirt. I must ask if this is the man behind John L. Rice – it is indeed (he’s on the right). He’s walking along with Blake Griffith (left) from NoiseBug in Pomona that I first visited almost exactly two years ago on April 1st, 2017.

“Wow!” was my reaction to the Panharmonium from Rossum Electro. I feel like this is the granular synthesizer I’ve always been looking for. Technically this is considered a Mutating Spectral Resynthesizer that makes magic choral sounds out of Ronald Reagan speeches (that is what Dave Rossum used to demo the unit to my ears). Sadly the module won’t be out until approximately late spring or early summer but the good news is that it is only going to cost $499.

By now I’ve run into Scott a few times and during that first encounter, I was handed a brand new prototype Bionic Lester MK3 filter module that I’ll be testing over the next month or so. Hopefully, we can make quick work of the beta period as he and I have upcoming travels that will put a pause on that work.

I also had a great visit with Brandon Fessler of Mordax who made my DATA Multi-Function tool. Matter of fact he also repaired my unit when the Arizona dry air created a situation where an adhesive bond failed. The DATA is a godsend module that I use in two primary ways: as an oscilloscope and a tuner. Being able to see what a signal looks like or what key you are tuning to is essential when working with synthesizer voices. If we get lucky this will be the year the Eurorack industry sees a proliferation of granular synthesis devices. Not only is Rossum Electro entering the field, but Émilie Gillet over at Mutable Instruments has hinted at the replacement for Clouds and Mordax has shown a very early prototype of the GXN Granular Synthesis System last year at Superbooth in Berlin.

We had to take a pass on the many musical performances that were being held in a couple of locations as it was time to go meet our friends Rotem and Itay who were only a couple of days away from welcoming their first child. It was great to catch up and they were thrilled to be gifted a handwoven baby blanket by Caroline. Matter of fact, we were so involved in our conversation that I forgot to take a photo. We left with huge smiles on our faces and ended up getting a late dinner at the World Famous Oki Dog on the way back to the motel.