Syntron-X | Remix Magazine

Veteran producer Matt Buschbacher has set out to capture the stark essence of early '80s synth-pop-an era of music he fondly remembers for having a rigid electronic structure and cold synth sounds but with underlying pop sensibilities and a strong beat. Using retro-emulating virtual instruments as his source, you can hear sound-design influences of Kraftwerk, Soft Cell, Vince Clarke, Gary Numan, the Human League, Thomas Dolby and OMD, to name a few. Stylistically, though, Buschbacher has gone in his own direction.

the disc opens to a folder containing 23 construction kits ranging from 80 to 180 bpm, with most hovering around 120. I'm immediately impressed by the scope of what's offered: everything from dream-pop, robot music, techo-goth and early Ministry-like elctro industrial (minus the screaming guitars) to erotic '80s house and even a cool downtempo new-wave rap beat. Typically four bars in length, several permutations of drum parts are offered per kit, and individual hits are provided for beat tweaking. Additional folders contain simple, rather uninspiring octave arpeggiations; four drum kits offering 184 unique sounds, mostly typical of classic Roland, Linn and E-mu boxes; and 25 backing beats that have been heavily mangled by flanger and reverb/delay. Closing things out are nearly a hundred short male and female phrases, spieling such wondrous prose and alliterations as "silicon snowfalls" and "green geisha." Presented in vocoded and reso-voice forms, none of them are particularly interesting or useful in context. Perhaps through intent, Syntron-X doesn't hit the sonic signature of '80s synth-pop quite square on, but it should inspire producers enough to create a "neo-wave" subgenre.