As part of our expanded coverage of the analog synth market (see May's "Inside the Analog Synth Resurgence"), we present a series of full interviews with key players in the synth market. Dave Smith is the founder of Dave Smith Instruments and Sequential Circuits.
In this Forbes article from last January, you described our time as a new Golden Age of analog synths. What do you think characterizes the current market, and how is it different from the first wave analog synths? Are buyers looking for different qualities? More dependability? More user-friendly features and price points?
The first time around, everything was new. The modulars, then the Mini-Moog, then the Prophet-5. Collectively, those products and others from that era are 40 years old, and while in demand they certainly lack reliability and features that musicians expect on a modern instrument. Of course they all have their own signature sounds, which is also why they are popular. Plus, they good in photos and interviews!
With the latest technology, we are able to provide the best of both worlds; I like to call it “vintage with a warranty.” Highly reliable, great price points compared to the old products, all the expected features, and, best of all, the analog sound, since it is real analog, not digital or software. There is certainly a backlash happening now; electronic musicians are remembering what it is like to interact with a real musical instrument as opposed to working on a computer. As they have found on the vintage instruments, when you turn a knob on a real synth, it will do the same thing now and in 20 years. Using a general-purpose controller with a softsynth is just not the same.
What is Dave Smith doing to adapt to that market?
I can’t say we really “adapt” to any particular market. We design and build instruments that we feel have the sound, personality, and features that musicians will want when then try them out. In that sense, we have been responsible in a large way for the emergence of this market. In 2002 when I introduced the Evolver synth, everything was digital and software. Moog was just re-introducing the Mini-Moog around then also. Of course it took some time as I introduced more instruments, building up to the Prophet ’08 release in 2007, and more instruments since. We try to lead the market with new instruments, not follow. Now, even software companies are making simple analog synthesizers! To me that is a very clear statement on the value of one versus the other.
What kind of increased success have you seen in the last few years, exactly? Can you speak in numbers, like percentage of increased revenue?
DSI is privately held, so we don’t normally publish our numbers. But, sales have been up every year for the last 5 years, last year 35% alone. And very profitable, even with all of our products built in and shipped from San Francisco. That’s another factor that our customers really appreciate; just about everything else is made in China.
The community of music makers is obviously more receptive to this type of instrument than ever, but why? Is it the popularity of EDM style music? The increase in synths in pop/hip-hop? The shift to bedroom recording workstations and instruments that work well in those environments? I'd love to hear your perspective on any of that.
All of the above contribute. Then again, it’s hard to say if synths are used more now simply because they became available again; which came first? But it’s really a lot more than that. To a certain degree the popularity of synthesis has grown a lot with the availability of cheap and free softsynths. It’s easy for kids to find something to play with, and with iphone and ipad apps, it’s even more accessible.
But, what we are seeing now is a phenomenon I went through personally after inventing the first professional softsynth, Reality, back in the mid-90s. I found that I was never playing with it much, and realized I just didn’t like typing on a keyboard, dragging a mouse, looking at a monitor, and only then being able to play something. At some point, most musicians realize that software does not feel like a musical instrument. And making music on a computer is just not the same as playing a real instrument. So, the kids who started on the apps are migrating to hardware.
How do you compare the quality of build and the technology involved in today's analog synths with that of more vintage machines?
The basic analog technology is virtually the same; we use Curtis filters that are the same design as those used in the Prophet-5. But, surface-mount technology produces much smaller circuit boards, at a lower cost, with higher reliability, and with better electronic performance. Plus we use microprocessors and DSP processors to control the analog circuitry that are much faster and simply were not available back then.
We still build our products out of metal and wood, in the USA as mentioned before. You get the look and feel of the vintage machines, with updated interiors.
Have you altered the way you approach retailers as the market grows for this type of product? Have they traditionally been tough sells outside of specialty dealers?
We do not have a big sales organization, and we do not have an army of reps out knocking on doors. Most of our dealers have come to us based on requests from their customers. We of course would love to expand (slowly) into more brick-and-mortar shops, and we have a great product line with synths from $400 to $3,000 (something for everyone!) Fortunately these days the availability of web-based dealers also helps to fill in the void when smaller dealers do not want to stock our products.
Have moves from bigger suppliers like Korg and Roland to re-enter the market (via the MS-20, the reintroduced ARP, the "Aira" products) changed how you think about your own products? Do you see them significantly impacting your business?
Well, re-building old products and making digital versions of old products does not interest us. I’m sure we would do very well with a Prophet-5 re-issue, but my feeling is “I already did that; why do it again?” We would rather innovate and develop new instruments. Those products will likely sell well, but I don’t think they directly compete.
The other companies certainly have much better distribution than we ever will, but so far no one else is building classic polyphonic analog synthesizers. If you want one, you need to get it from us. And, we have a great selection with 4 voices, 8 voices, and 12 voices. I have to say it’s easy to run a successful business when you have no competition for most of your products!
Finally – what does this trend mean about the keyboard market in general? Do you see the whole consumer base shifting toward a market that's more enamored of the past, or does the rise of analog simply present an entirely different segment of the market? In other words, does this trend come at the expense of soft-synths and digital hardware, or do you see the two thriving together?
I think it all has value. Digital synths sound good but different than analog. Softsynths are cheap and convenient if you want to “stay in the box.” Plus they can often do things that are not really possible in a hardware instrument. Musicians can use any or all of them. And they do!
But, note that there is no market for vintage digital synths, and old softsynths just don’t work unless you constantly upgrade year after year. I doubt anyone will ever want an old workstation. Other companies come out with new products to replace old products that are then discontinued, ie here’s this year’s workstation that replaces last year’s workstation. When we introduce a new instrument, it’s in addition to our other products, since it’s a different musical instrument, not a replacement. So, our analog (and hybrid) instruments definitely expand the market. Gigging musicians will always need workstations, but now they can also spice up their sound with a real analog synth!
