Synth Geekery 345

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In episode 345 we talked about synths, eurorack, sequencers, drum machines, samplers, effects and software! Plus all the usual segments! Funny Side, News from the Geekery, Price Watch, Name that Synth …

Show contents:

About the Synth Geekery Show

Synth Geekery is a weekly podcast/live stream (YouTube) show about everything synthesizers, drum machines, samplers, sequencers, eurorack and music technology. We take the “one of the masses” viewpoint, where we are also users of gear just like you (read: we’re not influenced by commercial product placement).

The show relies on the generous contributions of the synth community. You can contribute in many ways including supporting us via our YouTube Channel Membership or Patreon. We also have regular and special video guests: if you would like to take part in future shows – please contact me via email on the about page here.

Your Host

Ranzee (Ranz Adamson) is your show host. He’s based in Perth, Western Australia and has been a hobbyist musician and technologist for most of his life. More information can be found about him here.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ranzee

BandCamp: https://ranzee.bandcamp.com

Guests

This week’s video guests are:

Daren T. Housse

Bandcamp Link: https://darenthousse.bandcamp.com/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLPHxpZgFKKE1wkG9ndto3A

Daren resides in the UK and is one of the first video guests on the show since 2019. He has a large amount of tracks on his youtube channel plus a great album collection over on BandCamp.

SynthAddict

Andy is a musician and technologist from the bay area in California. He has an amazing collection of music tech gadgets and a large knowledge of synthesizers.

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUtABvP7q29uvLKi73zIjFQ

Ian J. Cole

Ian is a musician, composer, sound designer and producer currently producing solo ambient electronic music. He also runs Sinners Music which is a Record Company and Online Music Retailer in East Yorkshire, England

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/IanJCole

Chris – Maikshifter

Chris is a musician and technologist from Perth, Western Australia. He’s always had a love for creating and tinkering with music electronics and has recently embarked on a new journey creating eurorack modules.

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Maikshifter

Video replay

Funny Side

The funny side segment is a collection of memes that are somewhat relevant to the synth geekery community. Some of these images are taken from Facebook, Instagram and other social media sources. Please respect the creators. Hope you enjoy this week’s selection:

News

Recovery Effects – Larking

Larking is a 4 voice ambient drone synthesizer that redefines what a playable synth can be. Pitch is quantized, with each voice locking to a selectable key and one of eight musical modes for consistent harmonic control.

A standalone instrument for immediate tactile performance and tonal exploration, Larking functions as a sound design tool, performance instrument, or central voice in effects based setups. It integrates easily into pedalboard systems and complex signal chains.

Without traditional keys, it shifts focus from fixed patterns to guided harmonic discovery. Voices can be triggered via onboard controls, gate inputs, or MIDI, supporting hands on playing, modular systems, and sequencing.

Each voice features independent pitch control that snaps to scale degrees, enabling open ended melodic movement within a stable musical framework.

At its core is a morphing tonal engine. The Shape control moves each voice from a warm sine like foundation into harmonic saturation with analog style overtones, grit, and complexity, delivering a deep resonant low end with strong weight and bass response. Attack and Decay shape voice response from percussive rhythmic strikes to slow evolving swells that dissolve into space.

A global LFO modulates pitch across all voices, from subtle drift to extreme instability. Onboard reverb expands everything into a deep spatial field and atmospheric wash. The result is an instrument between a melodic synth, drone machine, and experimental performance tool, grounded in musical structure and open to pitch based exploration.

Price: ?

Link: https://recoveryeffects.com/

Splines

Splines is a visual vector curve generator in Eurorack format, with a wide frequency range and a built in quantizer, cv scope and cv processing capability.

It can be used in ways similar to a wavetable VCO, LFO, step sequencer or envelope generator.

Onboard quantizer scales, backups and firmware updates are managed as you would use an external USB drive.

It’s a small, shallow, multifaceted addition to any setup, and for touring rigs it can fill many roles in exchange for little space and weight.

in depth.
In the technical sense “splines” are most commonly used in 3d modelling, animation and vector graphics. It’s essentially just a way of creating a curved path from one point to another.

In this module, you have up to sixteen user configurable points or nodes which function much like a step sequencer, where the X axis represents time and the Y axis represents voltage.

When the phase(time) reaches the X position of a node, the 1v/oct output changes to the Y position value of that node.

Each of the sixteen nodes also has a configurable trigger setting, determining if the gate output goes high when the phase crosses the X position of the node.

The nodes are connected by a spline and the shape of this spline is determined by three parameters; Tension, Continuity and Bias. The spline output gives you a voltage following this curve.

Tension changes how extreme the curve between the nodes is.

Continuity sets the angle of the spline at the node.

Price: 359 EURO

Link: https://thorn.audio/splines Modular Grid: https://modulargrid.net/e/thorn-audio-splines

User news …

Price Watch

Find below images and links to the items we showed for the price watch segment.

Yamaha Keyringhttps://ebay.us/8Gebgc
Moog Liberation Keytarhttps://ebay.us/4rlQgu
EMU Mk6 Mo Phatt Keyshttps://ebay.us/OXHjxn
Yamaha CX5Mhttps://ebay.us/YFqPLe

* As an eBay Partner Network Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Name That Synth

No name that synth this week – send one in!

If you are after more information about Name that Synth – please check out this page here.

Saturday Sonority

This week’s Saturday Sonority we might talking about …..