After a sensational launch concert the night before, the exhibition section of the inaugural Melbourne Synth Festival was open for attendees to see, try and buy the latest in synth, electronic music and DJ product. (Check out our gear rundown HERE.) Not only did punters get to view and play with the gear but they could also witness some performances by some wonderful local electronic music acts.
Sadiva begun the mornings proceedings with an energetic set of sweet beats, playing material from her latest recording ‘Minutes’. Returning to the stage after her Friday night performance, Emah Fox followed with her fabulous brand of high intensity synth pop.
Meanwhile over in the stables area, the folks from MESS (Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio) were impressing everyone with their collection of vintage synths. Inside Workshop room 1 Simon Moro of ninety Nine 100 studios was keeping his audience captive with an informative session on the fundamentals of Signal flow and other DAW must-dos. next door in workshop 2, Melbourne synth stalwart Christopher Steller was presenting a talk on Waldorf new Quantam unit.
After lunch ACM aka Andy Muscat was treating his audience to a solid set of techno beats. Sergio Selim, who had just flown in from LA, where he is now based, presented an energetic show, utilising his array of toys including the Roland AX-Edge keytar and is talk box. The Oddness, also known as Smash bang Records head honcho Fergus, delighted everyone with his progressive house beats.
The stables area was busy all afternoon including another session from Chris, this time a guide to synthesis types. Byron Scullen from MESS gave a talk on the history of electronic music in Melbourne. David Haberfeld aka Honeysmack dissected performance of electronic dance music with synths and drum machines. Roland’s Dave Whitehead was surrounded by his group of enthusiastic attendees as he discussed hybrid DJ sets. Ross Healy was up next for Sound and Music with a great session on the amazing BUCHLA synths. Sessions on Steinberg products and Moog synths finished up an intriguing day one at Melbourne Synth Festival, leaving folks to head back to the exhibition area to look at the gear with new knowledge onboard.
