{"id":4401,"date":"2026-07-25T15:22:31","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T15:22:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=4401"},"modified":"2026-07-25T15:22:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T15:22:31","slug":"oli-freke-bjooks-beat-gems-drum-machine-book-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=4401","title":{"rendered":"Synth historian Oli Freke will spend big on a good bicycle"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Oli Freke is a musician and journalist whose works have appeared in Sound on Sound<\/em>, The Quietus<\/em>, and Mixmag<\/em>. This has included using math to explore the melodic potential<\/a> of the Western 12-tone scale and deep dives on effects plug-ins<\/a>. He\u2019s even written a book tracing the evolution of the synthesizer<\/a> from 1963 through 1995, charting the change from analog to digital and back.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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His new project is Beat Gems<\/em><\/a>, a coffee-table visual history of drum machines from publisher Bjooks<\/a>. Like other Bjooks titles, Beat Gems<\/em> is loaded with gorgeous photos, fascinating historical tidbits, and practical advice for making the most of your gear, whether it\u2019s a vintage Roland TR-808<\/a> or a modern oddity like Erica Synths\u2019 P\u0113rkons<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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What is the first app you install on a new phone or computer?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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If I\u2019m buying a new computer, it\u2019ll almost certainly be my music computer, so I\u2019ll be installing Ableton Live straight away. It\u2019s a remarkable piece of music software, with a feature set that still feels staggering compared to when I started making electronic music with an Atari ST 520 that could just about manage MIDI, with no audio at all.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Which social media platform do you use the most (if any)?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Probably YouTube, if we\u2019re counting it as social media. It\u2019s brilliant having experts in almost any subject area explain ideas, concepts, and methods. I watch a lot of science, maths, chess, and, inevitably, electronic music. I could do with fewer algorithmic clickbait temptations, which is one reason I\u2019m not a heavy user of other social media platforms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Which is the most disappointing gadget you\u2019ve ever owned?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Vegetable choppers and cubers seem like a great idea, but they never work properly and never actually save any time or effort.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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What game do you have the fondest memories of?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Elite<\/em> on the Atari ST was incredible. It\u2019s world-building on a (memory) shoestring when severe technical constraints existed, and the results were truly creative.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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What is one thing you wish you had created?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As a musician, I wish I\u2019d written a song that the whole world knew and loved, and that fans would demand I play at every opportunity \u2014 until I got so heartily sick of it that, in the end, I wished I\u2019d never written it. Perhaps this has happened, and all these wishes have come true!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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What\u2019s the best piece of advice you\u2019ve ever received?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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From my father (I\u2019m appropriately writing this on Father\u2019s Day in the UK): \u201cSay yes to any opportunity that comes your way \u2014 worry about whether you can do it or not later!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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What is your current obsession?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Drum machines! Researching for the Beat Gems<\/em><\/a> book has reminded me of the primacy of rhythm to the human musical experience; how drum machines have tapped into this need, and in doing so have transformed musical culture over the last sixty years. It\u2019s utterly fascinating.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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What do you do when you need to focus?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I put on www.rinse.fm\/kool<\/a>, choose a set of banging drum\u2019n\u2019bass rollers, and then I\u2019m very happy (and focused).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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What do you do when you\u2019re feeling stuck?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Remind myself of the infinite number of combinations of ideas. I once wrote an article that demonstrated there were 82 quintillion (82^18) 10-note melodies that can be written with the eight notes of the octave.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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What\u2019s the last piece of physical media you bought?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The soundtrack on vinyl to a beautiful film called Resynator<\/em>. It\u2019s about an obscure synth from the early \u201980s and a daughter\u2019s quest to learn about her father, who invented it but sadly died while she was a baby. Can\u2019t recommend it enough.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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What do you think is worth splurging on?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A high-quality road bicycle. Compared with cars, bikes are cheap, and you can buy machines not far off the quality professionals use for relatively reasonable sums. The difference between a good bike and a run-of-the-mill one is vast. Cycling in the countryside on a good bike brings me a great deal of joy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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What would the tagline for your biopic be?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Watch a man type words into a computer. For ages. Then watch him make music on a computer. Also for ages. Then watch him do some normal things involving a house, family, and car. Occasionally he is turned away from boarding a plane to Berlin to go to the launch of his Kickstarter because they changed the rules without him realizing it! Disappointingly, this doesn\u2019t transform the biopic into a Falling Down-<\/em>type scenario.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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What\u2019s the last GIF or meme you used?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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