Synth East Highlights

Synth East – Show report

News

This fabulous show was held in Norwich on March 4th, 2023. We had 26 tables overflowing with manufacturers of synthesizers, modules, kits, cases, t-shirts, and all sorts of bits and pieces. Over 150 people flowed through the event during the day, sampling the best bits of music technology, poking at keyboards, plugging in patch cables, and talking endlessly to the manufacturers who were there on hand to happily answer absolutely any question you could possibly come up with.

Synth East
Synth East

The venue, Norwich Arts Centre, served as a superb setting for all of these shenanigans. We had a large hall that held most of the manufacturers, and then over in a bar area, we had some enthusiasts who brought gear and synthesizers to show. We also had the Norwich Synth Club and the Norwich Wing of Electronic Music Open Mic (EMOM).

Throughout the day, we had some fantastic performances starting off with Mark Reuter, also known as Abominable Music, who represented the flavour and vibe of the Norwich scene. Following that, representing the Synth Club, we had Bob Percy, a local modular musician who took us to school with his Buchla.

Synth East
Synth East

And then, we had what will undoubtedly become the legendary Steve Davis All-Star Patch-Off. This was a brilliant idea – get together a bunch of modular musicians, put their names in a hat, draw your names out, and those two people have to then play improvised and unpracticed and unrehearsed. It’s the first time these people have ever met each other. The results were stunning.

At 5 pm we broke everything down, moved it all out of the way, and were able to party the night away with the likes of Finlay Shakespeare and Nick Colk Void, who were just superb – life-changing, I would say.

Synth East
Synth East

All in all, it was just a regular day in Norwich, where we got to explore all sorts of wonderful electronic sounds, meet fantastic people, and spend some time amongst the music, the community, and the technology that we love. A huge thank-you goes out to Norwich Arts Centre for hosting the event and being such a superb venue, and to Electronic Sound, who supported us right from the off and enabled us to get together with Norwich Arts Centre to make this the day that it absolutely was. Thanks, of course, to all the manufacturers who came along and brought stuff to show and brought such a friendly and welcoming vibe to the place. And finally, thanks to you for coming along and supporting it. It was a truly awesome day. I couldn’t imagine how it could possibly have gone better.

So 2024, what do we think? It seems pretty likely. In the meantime, go and make some tunes!