18 March 2015

Another glimpse into the past


This was over a year ago, and I only got to use that Elektronika EM-14 Venta once. It feels like I hardly knew anything about synthesizers at the time. This one was bought by a friend for me to use, and as it was an early Soviet synth it was all labelled in Russian and I had to translate what it said on it. We had a good laugh doing that, especially as I had no idea what some of the controls actually meant (I guess early synths are often like that). The attraction was not only in the sound, but also in the enigma of the way it was created - the controls weren't buttons or knobs or dials, but pull-out sliders/registers, (see here for better pictures) which I'd never come across before. I'm sure a person who's in-the-know about these things could tell me that there are a hundred flaws with the Venta, but at the time my naivety was such that I was in complete awe-struck wonder of it. Unfortunately, it was declared too heavy and impractical for gigs, and at the time practicality was a priority for us, so it was sold. I still miss it a lot. My facial expression and the Microkorg (?!) were too shameful so had to be blurred out.

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