Further to the thread about why Keyboard would seem to have it in for idm,
due, supposedly, to techno musos not wanting S&S keyboards, it may be worth
noting that the three British music technology magazines (Sound On Sound,
Music Technology and Future Music) are all much more supportive of the idm
scene; interviews with the likes of Richard James, Orbital, Toby Middleton
(aka Banco de Gaia), Youth etc spring to mind, as do their acceptance that
a large proportion of their readership doesn't have the cash spare to go out
and buy vast racks of gear and hence appreciates reviews of older synths/
samplers/drum machines which can be picked up cheaply; in the last few issues
of SOS, there have been reviews of the Putney (had one anyway), the Pro1 (again
had one, but watch the s/h prices rise now! That's one of my secrets gone), the
JX10 . . . get the idea. The s/h scene is, however, big over here (lots of
shops which advertise in MT mags advertise their s/h stock and add "dealers for
Korg/Roland/Yamaha . . .); is this so in the States?
I must agree, however, with the observations made about the Wakemans of this
world; remember that the editor and staff of Keyboard probably got into synths
by listening to Yes and it's what they all aspire to :-) See what it's like in
twenty years time, when the synth users of our generation are at the helm!
Cheers
Jon
spbcajk@ucl.ac.uk