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Artist
EMS Synthi 100
12+ albums
BelgiumambientelectronicexperimentalUnited Kingdom
about
David & Stephen Dewaele (aka Soulwax/2manydjs) have always been fascinated by collecting instruments and recording gear. Their passion hasn’t been born by completism: simply every new item inspires a world of possibilities. The one item that always eluded them was the EMS Synthi 100—a huge and rare analogue synthesizer, of which there were only 31 ever produced, that can create a near infinite array of sounds. Shortly after opening the DEEWEE HQ in Ghent, Belgium, David & Stephen, discovered that IPEM (the research institute for systematic musicology based in the city’s university) not only had a Synthi 100, but were looking for a temporary home for it while they moved buildings. And so, after a lot of begging a deal was struck with IPEM. The Synthi 100 would spend almost a year at DEEWEE, during which time EMS repair guru Constantin Papageorgiadis would sporadically continue the restoration started at IPEM, while the brothers would make an album of music entirely produced on it. “It was our belief that there were tons of melodies and rhythms hidden within the machine,” commented David & Stephen Dewaele. “We just had to make it sing. Every sound you hear on this record, however hard to believe, originates from the mighty EMS Synthi 100. Some were easy to make, some took days to get right. A few of the compositions were written beforehand, with the Synthi 100 in mind, then translated onto it. A couple were created by just messing around for hours, and some of it is the machi
