The Scottish Player

Schneider's Buero, Berlin (and probably Europe's) best analogue synth related shop, are currently doing weekly workshops on Thursdays where they have a manufacturer, expert or inventor come in and talk about their latest product, give a demonstration and let you play with it. There's also a few free beers floating around! I dropped in last Thursday to see Ken MacBeth demonstrate his new 3U X-series modular synth and filter, and also the prototype of his X-Factor (not to be confused with the TV show, I doubt Simon Cowell will be buying one of these) keyboard. Ken gave a great technical talk without being too technical, and regaled us with lots of amusing stories from his past mostly involving analogue synthesis of some kind! Then we all went to the bar located conveniently beside the shop for more booze!

This Thursday's workshop features the Haken Continuum controller which will be demostrated by "happy user" Jan-Hinnerk Helms and the Thursday after will feature the Spectralis 2 hybrid synth and will be given by the synths maker Jorg Schaaf. (Sorry Jorg if you're reading this but I can't figure out how to make my Mac keyboard to the German umlaut over the o!)

If you're around in Berlin (and let's face it, pretty much everybody has moved over here now so you're pretty much definitely here) you should drop down as it's really fun and interesting. Niamh "Totally Wired" recorded Ken Macbeth's talk and it should be up on the interweb soon, check back here for a link!