Articles by: Scot Solida

The greatest synth presets ever (and the tracks that use them)

By Scot Solida published 28 May 22

Who doesn't love a great preset? It seems that even some of the biggest tracks can't resist leaning on something somebody else supplied

12 synths that should have been classics, but weren’t

By Scot Solida last updated 29 June 22

Inventive and inspiring, but doomed to fail. These are the often-innovative electronic instruments never received the love they deserved

The 10 most important synths and drum machines of the '80s

By Scot Solida last updated 29 June 22

Meet the machines that defined a decade

The 10 greatest synthesizers of all time

By Scot Solida last updated 26 May 22

Especially for Synth Week 2022. We make our pick of the 10 most influential electronic instruments in history

The 12 greatest synth solos of all time

By Scot Solida published 22 May 22

Just what are the greatest players' most amazing moments? We dive in to select 12 of the best

10 annoying things we don't miss about old recording studios

By Scot Solida published 17 March 22

Tangled cables, unwanted noise, tuning problems and more

10 things we miss about old-school music production

By Scot Solida published 8 March 22

Some things were better back in the day...

15 'groundbreaking' music technology products that could have been classics but weren’t

By Scot Solida published 25 December 20

Best of 2020: The innovative MIDI controllers, synths, samplers and audio interfaces that time forgot

The 30 greatest synth players of all time: keyboard wizards, programming gurus and sound design legends

By Scot Solida last updated 30 October 20

Your votes have been counted, so who came out on top?

The 21 most important products and innovations in music technology history

By Scot Solida published 26 June 20

From the mic to the MP3, we countdown the biggest tech breakthroughs of all time

Korg ARP 2600 FS review

By Scot Solida last updated 10 January 20

$3899

Korg has, at last, tackled the venerable ARP 2600. Let’s see if it can live up to the legend!

Roland TR-08 vs TR-09: Tr-08 and TR-09 grouped

TR-08 vs TR-09: how do Roland’s new breed of digital drum machines stack up?

By Scot Solida published 8 August 19

Plus, the history and impact of the original analogue TR-808 and 909 beatboxes

Blast from the past: Roland JV-1080

By Scot Solida published 10 October 18

The familiar Roland ROMpler refined to near-perfection, the JV-1080 was top o' the line in 1994, and still packs a powerful punch

Moog Grandmother review

By Scot Solida last updated 27 July 21

£879.00
$899.00

Moog delivers a relatively cheap 'n' cheerful semi-modular analogue synthesizer with something for everyone

Blast from the past: Roland TR-909

By Scot Solida published 17 July 18

Roland's follow-up to the mighty TR-808 would end up being a genre-defining icon, but it was under-appreciated until it was long gone

20 hardware samplers that changed music production forever

By Scot Solida published 17 July 17

From the Fairlight to the Octatrack, the machines that opened, blew and melted our minds

Moog Model 15 App review

By Scot Solida published 17 June 16

£22.99

Moog redefines modular synth with a powerful app

20 great free and open source music making programs

By Scot Solida published 26 December 15

Updated for 2015, we go beyond freeware with these great open applications

Synth icons: Linn Electronics Inc LM-1 Drum Computer

By Scot Solida published 25 April 14

Featuring The Human League, Hall & Oates, Genesis and more

Synth icons: Oberheim OB series

By Scot Solida last updated 3 December 19

Not one, but three closely-related synths helped to shape the Oberheim legend

Cakewalk Sonar X3: 10 reasons to upgrade

By Scot Solida published 18 October 13

Here's why you should consider the latest version of Cakewalk's DAW

HANDS-ON: Steinberg Cubase 7

By Scot Solida published 12 December 12

Has the classic DAW still got a cutting edge? Find out in our first-look review

FIRST LOOK: Korg iPolysix for iPad

By Scot Solida published 28 November 12

Does this synth emulation/music production environment deliver?

Jon Lord: now that's a stack of keyboards.

10 classic Jon Lord keyboard performances

By Scot Solida published 19 July 12

This is why he's revered

Moog Animoog: a no-brainer purchase for iPad owners.

Moog Animoog review: is this iPad synth worthy of the Moog name?

By Scot Solida published 18 October 11