How have synthesizers influenced your musical journey?
As a young musician in the 1980’s with ambitions to become a rock star millionaire, I toured with a Minimoog Model D, Logan String Synth, and Fender Rhodes Stage 73 piano. The millionaire bit didn’t happen (I earned a total of around £50 from my musical career), but I was imbued with an enduring love for the “three oscillators slightly detuned” sound that made my playing come alive. I had next to no musical theory, and this was balanced by having no fear of failure.
My love of slightly detuned oscillators has diminished having been fortunate enough to take ownership of a Steinway and Sons Model B, but the fatness of that Moog sound lingers.
How have synths affected your journey?
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During the same time frame I was living downtown in Manhattan, where a thriving live music scene (that's since pretty much disappeared) created a proliferation of great pop/new-wave bands. I gigged a lot with a band called The Mundanes, which had started in Providence with people from Brown and RISD. When they all moved to NYC in 1981 to be in a better environment for drawing record label attention (which was the goal in those pre-Internet days - people bought vinyl then...a lot of it), the keyboard player broke off to create They Might Be Giants and I replaced him. In New England they had a great run, opening for Blondie, The Ramones, Joe Jackson, Mink DeVille and others. NYC was a much more cutthroat environment.
I was using a Sequential Circuits Pro One (a monophonic Prophet 5, basically) and a Korg CX3 organ (had drawbars and was a fantastic Hammond simulator, including vibrato that actually sounded like a rotating "speed up/slow down" Leslie speaker). Eventually replaced the Pro One with a Korg Mono-Poly, which had four oscillators but didn't really produce a fat-enough polyphonc sound,
We played at Trax, CBGB (numerous times), Xenon, Peppermint Lounge, Kenny's Castaways and elsewhere in Manhattan. Recorded/mixed an updated 24-track demo with Mick Ronson producing and Joe Lopes mixing at RCA studios. Gigged at vacation spots - Block Island, Cape Cod, Hamptons - and returned to Providence several times to play at Brown, Lupo's and the Living Room, Very busy live music agenda!
We were arrogantly pre-fame and were convinced we'd get signed (unwlsely turned down an offer from Electra Records at one point), Like so many other bands at the time, we aged and eventually broke up (I didn't want to keep doing this when i turned 30). The MIDI-ready inexpensive polyphonic synthesizers that exist now make matters easier and afford more choice but I still really like the sound of those early instruments, especially Sequential Circuits, Later into the '80s it just sounded like everybody was using the same settings on Yamaha DX7s!
Thanks for the opportunity to nerd out on this topic!