Wow. I mean, Berlin is a killer city and I had a feeling I was going to have a great time there, but this was next level! The Synthesizer Museum. Maxine went off to check out a flea market and we agreed to meet up 2 hours later for lunch. Two hours was bound to be enough time, right? Right????
Getting there via google maps, where smartly (somehow) the Museum folks managed to put a good description of the door and how to get in, otherwise I would have missed it entirely. Which definitely added to the magic.
And then, I mean the synths! All these amazing machines, vintage, analog, digital. And they let you play them all to your heart’s content.
This Buchla (above) is a synth I’ve always wanted to play. Developed on the West Coast as Moog is doing his East Coast thing, Buchla had this sense of like “Why are we attaching these to a keyboard??? It’s a brand new instrument!” But he couldn’t really get people on board with that idea so he had to attach something that looked like a keyboard to it eventually. Even though it’s all touch sensitive and weird. When I messed with it, I stayed away from the keyboard section (what a purist) and fell into a rabbit hole of how unbelievable it sounded. Glorious.
These Korg boxes (above) were once owned by Florian of Kraftwerk! RIP Florian. They got them from an auction. So epic. And then the next thing I knew Maxine was texting saying it was time to meet for lunch. The two hours had just melted away. It was a staggering time and I can’t wait to go back. With more than two hours.