BENCH NOTES

Welcome back to Bench Notes!

The transition from summer to autumn often feels like what it says on the tin: a transition. For us, that means transitioning out of vacation mode (blearily), transitioning into milder weather (thankfully), and transitioning into the last third of 2025 (already, somehow). Whether we’re in the shop or out of town, the world keeps spinning regardless.

SYNTH REPAIR DOESN’T SLEEP

Thought it would be fun to give y'all a little taste of the variety of requests we see!

Each of these ailing synths was submitted while we were out on holidays last week. We can take a week off, but synth repair doesn’t sleep.

We're getting back in the groove now - if you haven’t heard from us yet, you will! 

SYNTHESIZED INTELLIGENCE

Unless you’ve been living under a very large rock (in which case, good on you!), artificial intelligence has entered your life in some way in the last couple years or so. Whether you’re excited about it or not, just about every major company has found some way to incorporate and invest in this rapidly growing technology, and in some ways it is certainly very impressive stuff.

However, large language models still (and may always) hallucinate, particularly when attempting to explain specific details about niche topics like synthesizers. A couple weeks ago, we caught Google’s AI Overview wrongly tell us that the Oberheim OB-Xa can load presets over a MIDI instead of cassette (for those that don’t know, a stock OB-Xa doesn’t have any MIDI capabilities at all!).

We’re not saying this world of automated information won’t improve (as of today, Google’s AI changes its mind on the OB-Xa depending on your wording), but we encourage folks to take things with a grain of salt. Last thing we want is for it to tell people that bike grease is a viable fader lubricant! It is not.

LOCAL EVENTS

Synth and synth-adjacent happenings in the GTA.

Monday, September 8th | 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!

Wednesday, September 10th + 24th | Render File

You can often catch our talented tech Sam making noise at Render File on Wednesdays. This casual event stars a different video game playthrough with an improvised score by a live band. Check it out at Wenona Craft Beer Lodge every other Wednesday at 8pm.

Saturday, September 20th | 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.

Got any suggestions for local events we can add here? We’d love to hear about them! Just reach out and let us know.

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