Interactive Synth Exhibit ‘Music from the Sound Up: The Creative Tools of Synthesis’ Now Open at NAMM’s Museum of Making Music

CARLSBAD, Calif. – October 18, 2019 – Today marks the official open of Music from the Sound Up: The Creative Tools of Synthesis, a first-of-its-kind exhibit presented by NAMM’s Museum of Making Music (MoMM). The special exhibit runs through April of 2020 and highlights the creativity and flexibility of synthesizers by using tactile-based stations offering interactive experiences designed to inspire music-making.

The exhibit is co-developed creatively by MoMM’s Manager of Artifacts and Exhibitions, Dr. Jonathan Piper, and sound artist and San Diego State professor Dr. Chris Warren and gives synthesis a humanistic spin by inviting visitors to walk through seven stations that illustrate the connection between the concepts of synthesis and the music we create using synthesizers.

“MoMM wanted to create an experience that not only speaks to the popularity of the instrument, but also makes synthesis less mysterious,” said Piper. “In order to accomplish this, we took abstract ideas and turned them into metaphorical concepts that you can hear, see and touch, in a way that makes synthesizers both definable and more relatable. This exhibit will also encourage creativity as visitors to the museum join in to make music from the sound up!”

Synth stations at The MoMM have been designed to encourage visitors to make their own on-the-spot original musical sounds. Blocks with memory functions can be used to record and store the sounds each person creates as they move through six synthesis stations representing soundwaves, reverb, low-frequency oscillators and more. Once participants arrive at the seventh station, they can play their sound on a guitar, keyboard, Theremin, or Ableton Push.

While synths have enjoyed a long history in popular music, the recent rise of global EDM artists, growing use among emerging creators and hobbyists, as well as the overall affordability of keyboards and synths, have all resulted in a robust demand for these instruments. In 2018, the keyboard synth category advanced to sales of $150.9 million, an increase of 5.55% over 2017.*

Synthplex™ cofounder Michael Lehmann Boddicker says: “From the first time I saw a synthesizer I knew this is where I wanted to spend the rest of my musical life. In the last half century synths have changed all genres of music forever.”

Become a member and attend an Exhibition Preview event with Lehmann Boddicker at 6p.m. on opening night. Boddicker is regarded as one of today’s top electronic composer/synthesist studio musicians.

For over 20 years, the Museum of Making Music has presented some of the rarest and most historically-significant exhibitions including Expanding Voices in the USA: The Resurgence of the Accordion; Low: The Power & Beauty of Bass; The Ukulele and You: America’s Enduring Love of the Jumping Flea; The Magic & Mystery of Slide Guitar, and more.

Learn more by about the exhibition by visiting https://www.museumofmakingmusic.org/exhibits/synth

Visit MuseumofMakingMusic.org to learn more about MoMM’s education programs, exhibit and gallery news, and upcoming live performances.

*Source: 2019 NAMM® Global Report

Media Contacts: Chalise Zolezzi / chalisez@namm.org / 760-438-8001; Jeanne O’Keefe for MoMM: jokeefe@lippingroup.com / 323-965-1990