Synth-pop solo artists: 15 names
From Giorgio Moroder and Gary Numan to Anne Clark, Sandra and Philip Oakey: fifteen individual catalogues that reveal different forms of synth-pop, from minimalism to club pop.
Sixth track already - save favourites and download without limits
Sign upSynth-pop
British and European synth-pop - relatives and neighbours of Italo Disco.
61 articles newest first
PPG Wave 2.3: a wavetable synthesizer
PPG Wave 2.3 - Wolfgang Palm's hybrid wavetable synthesizer: digital oscillators + analogue filters, 8-part multitimbrality, Waveterm. How Depeche Mode, Tangerine Dream and Alphaville used it, and why it matters for modern synthesis.
Synth and drum machine: working together
MIDI, Roland TR-808/909, Yamaha DX7, Roland Juno: how synthesizers and drum machines became a single orchestra and defined the sound of Italo Disco, synth-pop, house and techno.
French synth-pop: history and traits
French synth-pop is not a copy of Depeche Mode or OMD but a parallel branch: chanson, cinematic atmosphere and electronics from Étienne Daho, Indochine and Les Rita Mitsouko to Air, Daft Punk and Kavinsky. How it differs from British synth-pop.
1 view
Sampler vs drum machine: the difference
1980: the Linn LM-1 - the first drum machine with samples. That same year the Roland TR-808 - analog drum synthesis. Fairlight CMI, Emulator II, Akai S900 and MPC - four instruments, four relationships between sound and rhythm. A difference table and practice in Italo Disco, hip-hop and synth-pop.
1 view
Soviet synth-pop: 15 recordings
1986: “Bioconstructor” plays at the Moscow Rock Laboratory. Zodiac from Riga, Alyans with “Na zare”, Electroclub with Tukhmanov - fifteen Soviet synth-pop recordings from 1980 to 1992. Polivoks, Aelita, tape albums and the Melodiya label.
3 views
E-mu Emulator II: an iconic sampler
1984: E-mu Systems releases the Emulator II at $7,995 - an 8-bit sampler with SSM2045 analog filters. Peter Gabriel, Pet Shop Boys and Depeche Mode preferred it over the $30,000 Fairlight CMI. A breakdown: architecture, sound library, 15 recordings and comparison with the Fairlight.
2 views
International synth-pop: 7 scenes
1981: the Human League take №1 in the UK, Kraftwerk finish Computer World, and in Montreal Men Without Hats assemble a demo of “The Safety Dance”. International synth-pop bands do not form a single front - each city dictates its own timbre. A guide to seven national scenes from the British hit-factory method to Soviet techno-romanticism.
12 German synth-pop bands of the 80s
1984. Alphaville release 'Big in Japan', Propaganda record 'Dr. Mabuse'. Germany in the 80s - an independent synth-pop scene with cities, studios, and sound. 12 groups, a map of Germany.
10 views
Roland CR-78: a 1978 rhythm box
How a home-organ rhythm box with waltz and bossa nova reached Blondie and Phil Collins sessions: CR-78 programming, WS-1, combined presets and a careful TR-808 comparison.
3 views
20 tracks that explain synth-pop
1979, London. Gary Numan tops the chart with "Are Friends Electric?" The synthesizer replaces the guitar, the drum machine replaces the drummer, the sequencer replaces the bassist. From Kraftwerk to The Weeknd - forty-four years. 20 tracks: precursors, birth, golden era, revival. A map of the genre.
From new wave to synth-pop
September 1979: Tubeway Army Are Friends Electric - the first synth hit #1 in the UK. From Kraftwerk The Man-Machine (1978) to Human League Dare (1981) - a chronology of the transition and a map of transitional albums where the synthesiser went from supplementary to main instrument.
1 view
Dark synth-pop vs darkwave
1983. Clan of Xymox, Wolfsheim, Deine Lakaien - three genres born in the same post-punk environment but diverging by rhythm, vocals and synthesiser. Fifteen verifiable examples.
3 views
Synth-pop and new wave: the difference
1979-1984. Five years in which synth-pop and new wave travelled from a common root to two distinct genres. Comparison table, ten borderline tracks, a listener's test.
5 views
What is synth-pop: 12 key signs
How to distinguish synth-pop from any song with keyboards: twelve signs across arrangement, rhythm, voice and form, a 1977-1986 timeline and a test for borderline tracks.
4 views
“A View to a Kill” Duran Duran, 1985
6 May 1985: Duran Duran write the theme for the 14th Bond film with John Barry at Abbey Road. The only Bond single to hit Billboard #1 - two weeks there. £200,000 fee, Eiffel Tower video.
11 views
“Bizarre Love Triangle” New Order, 1986
20 October 1986: UK #56 and US #98 on release - a flop. Bass cut on Emulator II from a sampled Moog Source, Hook never plays. Shep Pettibone's remix became club canon; Marie Antoinette 2006 brought it back.
2 views