BENCH NOTES

Welcome back to Bench Notes!

We’re cutting straight to the chase this month - we’ve had a lot of major partnerships come to life in the past 30 days, and it’s time you know about it!

• We’re now the official, authorized Canadian warranty repair centre for all things Sequential and Oberheim.

• We’re now running point on most Roland Canada warranty repairs for the next few months while they move their service centre to a new location.

We could not be prouder to be recognized as a trusted partner by these mammoths of synth history and manufacturing. Read on for more details and a fun story about a submerged space echo we took care of last month.

FORGING NEW RELATIONSHIPS

Drum roll please… 🥁 we’re proud to announce that we are now the official, authorized Canadian warranty repair centre for Sequential and Oberheim! 

We’ve been a big fan of these instruments for years. Through our vintage work, we’ve tuned up and sorted out our share of Prophet-5’s, Pro-One’s, and any other machine Dave Smith had his hands in. In fact, our head tech Jay once applied to be a repair tech at Sequential over a decade ago. 

You know you’re doing the right work when opportunities like this come full circle.

Our owners, Jay and Lori, took a quick trip out to San Francisco to meet the repair team at Sequential headquarters. Thanks for making us feel so welcome, Andy, Gus, Mark, and David!

We’re so excited to help out any and all Canadian customers, for warranty and non-warranty alike! We’ve got you covered. 

THE SUNKEN SPACE ECHO

Earlier this year, a customer brought in a Roland RE-201 Space Echo that had drowned in a basement flood, submerged underwater for hours. It was in pretty bad shape. The tape, felts, and pinch roller were totally ruined, the motor's bearing had seized, and just about every surface of the unit was caked in water residue and rust. 

However, each electronic component we tested was fine, save for a single blown fuse. After restoring the motor, cleaning out all the gunk, and installing fresh tape, this thing filled our shop with triumphantly warm echoes and clangorous spring reverb.

Water has claimed a lot of electronic victims, but we're proud to say this is not one of them!

LOCAL EVENTS

Synth and synth-adjacent happenings in the GTA.

Monday, June 9th | Toronto Electronic Music Open Mic

On the second Monday of each month, our friends at TEMOM hold an electronic music open mic night at Handlebar. 15 minute sets. All live. All musical styles. Drop by at 8pm and enjoy!

Friday, June 13 | The Interior @ the Lakeshore Legion 344

On spooky Friday the 13th you can catch our fearless leader Jay Lemak playing with his band The Interior at the Lakeshore Legion 344. No cover. Doors at 7pm. 1395 Lake Shore Blvd W.

Saturday, June 21st | Frequency Freaks

Frequency Freaks Synthesizer Workshops are free educational synth events that encourage sharing gear info and sound-design techniques in the Toronto synth community. They’re held in association with Arraymusic at 155 Walnut Avenue.

Wednesday, June 11th + 25th | Render File

You can often catch our talented tech Sam playing keys at Render File every other Wednesday. This casual event stars a different video game playthrough at each show, with a live band improvising a score to the gameplay. Check it out at Wenona Craft Beer Lodge at 8pm!

If you made it this far, thanks so much for reading Bench Notes! Feel free to let us know what you think, share it with a friend, or suggest new topics you’re curious about.

—The Team at Synths When