Studio Tour: Ham Plaza - synths a plenty
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ต.ค. 2024
- Ham Plaza is the name of the project that Ben works under. A lifelong self-confessed synth nut, he's what you call an enthusiastic hobbyist.
Fortunate enough to have a day job that supports his habit, Ben uses synth time to completely disconnect from the day to day pressures of work, he calls this "being in the flow", which is the place you can get to when time stands still and you are in the moment when creating.
I think we can all identify with that feeling.
Some really lovely pieces in Ben's home studio collection, some of you may recognise the Memory Moog from our recent FIVE MINUTES WITH series, there's also many other classic: Juputer 8 , Minimoog, Steiner Parker, 2600 and an OB-X to name a few.
For links to Ben's musical projects see below:
AH NAWEE - latest release:
open.spotify.c...
/ ham-plaza
Yo No One Records
/ yonoonerecords
www.instagram....
/ yonoonerecords
/ albums
Videos:
CARROTS • Ham Plaza - Carrots
CHICKEN • HAM Plaza - Chicken
Frozen Reverbs Racks for Live: bit.ly/freezema...
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I enjoyed this !! knowing there are people out there like me , just doing it cause they like it and don't really show-off their abilities or their equipment
Kudos for the Amiga kickstart T-shirt.
Lovely people, with lovely synthesizers
Talented people with lovely synths would be better.
Just added his album to my list, skimmed through it a bit but he is actually way more proficient at writing songs then a synth "hobbyist". Will listen to it on my commute today, what a nice suprise, great studio and awesome guy.
Right? I gave him a listen and he's a competent songwriter/composer.
I would love to be this guy when I’m older
I dig his humbleness
Some lovely hardware in that room. Great to see what people have tucked away.
A pleasure to watch this. The J8 was/is my dream...maybe one fine day. That MemoryMoog has also left a big impression. Thanks to Mr Ham Plaza for sharing his exquisitely-curated studio with us 👍
The J8 is fantastic, and I don't understand why they both (almost) hates on it.
10:17 the Memorymoog being a faulty nightmare thing is urban legend. That rumor has multiplied exponentially since the internet. I have one with zero issues. Many bands toured with them in the 80's from Erasure to Genesis and Prince. They have quirks but they aren't THAT problematic. You don't hear people complaining about the CS-80 and that thing was WAY worse. Yamaha told Steve Porcoro from Toto that they'd fix his one more time but then he was SOL.
Great video. I like that he enjoys the defects of synths too, that's where I find so much fun, in what things aren't supposed to do. And that's where analog has a large advantage over digital.
Nick Batt can spend 20 seconds turning 3 knobs and playing 3 notes and it sounds better than anything I've ever wrote.
Holy shit, that Steiner-Parker is awesome. Those gnarly broken noises are just the kind of sound I love.
The word hobby is just offensive. Building model cars is a hobby.
i still get excited when i hear memorymoog. it's simply my favorite synth, possibly of all time. that maestro phase shifter was designed by tom oberheim. great stuff nick and ben!
Loved this - Thank you both for it! Its wonderful to see two enthusiastic people discuss the stuff that drives their passion!
Yikes, a Steiner-Parker? Big hipster points there.
But yeah, when you have a synth collection that includes an OSC OSCar, and a tour pretty much just ignores it, then you have some interesting synths.
The joys of collecting vintage synths...large repair bills. Great studio tour Nick, looking forward to Yoad's.
What an ace video, and what a nice bloke!!!! Thoroughly enjoyable content as always Nick!
Wonderful video. 2 obsessed synth blokes getting all excited and nostalgic....more videos like this would be great.
What to tell the wife when you have a collection like that "Would you rather I come to bed smelling like keyboard polish, or would you rather I smell like perfume... Bonus: You don't have to call the pubs to know where I am"
20:47 - it's Elektronika's Flanger effect box. Filter, Depth, Speed, Brightness - labels over knobs from left to right. The last is "effect". Analog based flanger probably. USSR did produced own BBD chips with internal clocks BTW! So they were superior to Panasonic devices.
The silver box is "Stradin Flanger". Also a flanger obviously :) Frequency, Offset, Brightness - labels.
In "Polivox" there is no really hard things to understand :) Although I've never used it.
Great stuff! You should definitely do more of those - very interesting! But yeah that's the nature of the beast with those vintage synths and vintage electronics in general. Over time they will just deteriorate and stop working. I've had quite a few vintage pieces over the years but have sold most of them now. I just got sick of them breaking down and paying quite a but for repairs and shipping those heavy units around. Anyway that old stuff does sound and look amazing (when it works) :-) Cheers
Sorry , I get very nervous when people drink over expensive electronics.
One splash and .....thats an unusual timbre..
- ..emanating from his larynx ...
I would love to be friends with this fellow. Also could I buy that Juno 106 and hug it and love it and keep it forever?
Seriously thinking the same thing. Talk about fun people to be around. Such a shame that the few who have similar keyed hardcore interests are always so far away.
Should not have sold the Prophet-5.
Honestly this just makes me glad I DON'T buy vintage gear. Imagine paying thousands for that OB-X and it does that shit...ugh. It's not worth the tone. I understand why people love vintage gear, a lot of it sounds amazing, even "better" than current stuff, but the reliability is horrendous after 40 years since production.
@Nick: the Shure Level-Loc is what inspired the Soundtoys Devil-Loc plugin.
8:04 First 2 notes made me think Nick was going to play the classic Star Trek theme! 😄
That OB-X remake is the Shear Electronics Relic-6
I prefer the OB6.
Relic 6 was the OBX module you could not remember the name at the end of you video.
DOA
I think you should track down Paul Nagle up North of London. Crazy synth guy and he uses everything!!
I dig your album sir.
I just listened to it front to back without any thought of skipping a track.
6:30 - exactly like we've made early goa trance tunes on Amiga 1200! :) In OctaMED you have _the whole eight tracks!_ (or more, don't remember)
That was a really fun time with my friends and I miss it :( Sad that you can't return there to feel all that stuff again.
Feel, good word..
👍i LoVe !
💙⚪❤
I agree with the Jupiter 8 'functionality' point. And it is very 'playable' and musical/expressive.
34:25 The way that 2600 is set up makes me really nervous... wouldn't take much of a bump to knock it down.
Should have it's back up against a wall.
Oh, don't listen to Brian Eno, I know, some of his music sounds great, but you don't want to listen to what he says :)
Very overrated.
Great!
Dave Spears tour after Yoad's please.
Nice setup Ben!, We share some taste in gear. I just got a Roland System 100 101m which I am excited about. I also have the Dave Smith Prophet 6 and OB6 desktop, on the same stands :-), along with Focal Monitors. I have an Ensoniq ESQ-1 I bought new as well. I always wanted a Minimoog, but have started with the Behringer. I am using Elektron Rytm for drums and also love the Analog Four. Highly recommended if you can get over the quirky interface. Been very careful about Eurorack, but have been dabbling a bit.
I am more of a guitar player, but always was visiting the music stores in California oogling the gear they had. It is fun as an adult to finally own some of these legendary pieces! Have fun!
... and the phase shifter can be found here: www.kvraudio.com/interviews/an-interview-with-tom-oberheim---from-boom-to-bust-to-boom-part-1-34402
What a fabulous chap and some very groovy gear. The closest I got to an octave cat was their T-shirt back in the day, when I had a Korg 700s. 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼🌈💕
I now want a Tascam MM-1 XD Not any around here for 20 quid though =/
You can also support this chap @ hamplaza.bandcamp.com/releases Cheers to independent artists!
Dear Nick,
Quit whatever else you're doing and become the Robin Leach of synths. Call your new show, "Lifestyles of the synth and famous". Bring Gaz along.
Signed,
Everybody
The Oberheim clone module mentioned is by Shear Electronics.
I wonder if Nick is still stuck behind the Oberheim.
Appreciate his T-Shirt, Obviously Amiga Freak... Lovely Interview and interesting stuff, Thanks!
i want to start doing this,but have no synth knowledge what so ever..were do i start..
Gooogle
In the mid 80's I paid £450 for my AKS. It turned out to be one of the first 10 or 15 to be made & I've had it highly modified, plus I got a digitana modular interface for it, so it could be worth between £15000 and £20000 now! I never really wanted a JP8 (I own a now defunct JP4) as I always wanted a super Jupiter. Now they're hard to find & usually too expensive, so seriously thinking of trying to get 2 X JP08's if or while I can. I sadly have lots of jobs for Kent Spong to tackle one day if I get a job again! And no I refuse to sell my EMS!
Really curious to hear a second take when/if he has kids 😄
Nice! All the synths sound like classic Doctor Who! ☺
jacob brashears is the name you are looking for
Great collection thanks gentlemen! I like to work fast, make or pick a sound, beat etc. record it and move on. Each thing you commit to leads you somewhere and I think getting out of the way and just let it be what it wants to be is good.
Nice bloke & what a collection- ( we have exactly one synth in common -kiwi 106 :). The Steiner-Parker and cat were very interesting, would have liked to have heard the Oscar as well. Given the enthusiasm for the Jupiter 4 makes me hissy why Roland won’t release even a boutique version. Very interesting thanks Nick!
Music of Life Hustlers Convention album behind the Jupiter 8.
system 100!
My first sampler: Ensoniq Mirage DSK-1. If you can learn to sample on that Hex LCD, there's not a sampler in the world you can't master.
22:30 - Dude's such a synth addict he has a spare MKS-80 Super Jupiter just sitting around in a heap on the floor...!
Great video, truly expresses the love of synths. Very enjoyable!
I have owned a J4 for more than 25 years and it's rock solid. Always in tune.
I've been raving about the Tascam MM-1 for a while now because they're so useful and cheap (and small), so hopefully this features don't drive the price stupidly. I have also a Jupiter-4 revision A like the one Ben has here and it's been really solid so far. Looking forward to grab that certain Russian phaser too one of these days (but let's keep it a secret, ok?).
His Collection is made up by some "Mouth-Watering Goodness", (as i wipe the dripping saliva off my face).
I like this guy's attitude. If it's broken it must be a feature. Otherwise your standard guy with money gets into vintage synth collecting selection. The effect boxes are really unusual. Nick is my favourite syth guy ever!
Just listen and watch carefully..so you might capture..what electronic music is ready to offer..! Goosebumps are just the beginning..
This is Brilliant.
Never known about the memorymoog but the sounds that are coming out of there are great.
Around 11:15 and after .... really inspiring.
Just saw that Moog released the Moog One.
Would he buy a Behringer Odyssey?
Did you forget to mention the OSCar - or did I just blink during that part?
You must visit the Synth museum in Fribourg, Switzerland!!
Fantastic studio tour, I've owned a JUPITER-8 & 6 & I think the JUPITER-8 IS outstanding! I guess you just have to know one to love one lolol A++++++++++++++++++++++++
Knob encrusted.....nice one Nick. Are you competing with Robin Vincent with that shirt?
This is quite the setup.
You guys are correct, the Jupiter 8 is extremely overrated. Of the 30+ synths I own I sold my last Jupiter 8 about 12 years ago. The Jupiter 4 is the one (not a fan of Jupiter 6 at all either). The JP-8 is my least favorite of all the 80's polysynths. It's best feature is dual mode w/ dual outputs (panning them). People like it because it looks cool.
Totally agree. Matrix 12, Memorymoog, OBXa are way less expensive and sounds 10 times better . A juno 6 or 106 is as good as a jp8
Absolutely smashing socks
Was just about to comment on them... :-)
And Amiga workbench T-shirt!
Yep, I spotted the mandatory synthesising socks too! What a nice video, felt like you could go there for a brew and tweak a few knobs. No pretence, just pure interest. Nice work guys, thanks for sharing.
Another great synth tour ...fantastic 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 thanks
A very charming video that reminds me to stick with Eurorack :)
Brilliant! Just ordered the Ham Plaza cassette! 😎
Putt the mug down before you spill something on your gear :-o
All Your Mind, Your World.
I love that crazy guitar part...
Nice studio! I also listened to the music and the synths sound fantastic love it!
Great t-shirt Ben, Amiga computer was the best!
This man is me ..work and then this.. I started with the AMIGA 500 ..soundtracker yeh
ProTracker2,3 Amiga 600 here:)
Put your cup down mate.
Sweet studio and what an great taste of fashion.
Both russian boxes say they are Flanger effects.
This is why I have my studio!
I subscribed to your channel, last week or so, wanna see it all , but have some problems with the (too) fast camera-movements. Am I allowed to have a little say in this??? ;-}
fair comment, sometimes we have to move around when only using a single camera and its a walk and talk thing.
I know from experience, that, in so much enthousiasm, the camera moves around in synchronicity with every eye-movement...when zoomed out, usually no problem for the viewer...but 'they' don't always understand this ways of filming and the whole recording becomes some chaotic...which, ofcourse, wasn't intented at all! Thanks and loads of succes.
Tip for Russian labeled gear: Use the camera feature on the Google translate app on your phone for live translation. According to that it's an " Electronics FL-01 Flanger"
Woah! Does that really work?!
Eanna Butler Yes, works perfectly. Just pause the video on the Russian pedal they show and try it out. Alternatively you can take a screenshot if watching your phone and import it into the app.
Knob encrusted
I hope you visit Vince’s studio one day
Great interview! Hope to see more of these ❤️🙏
Nice shirt! Amiga rulez!
Lovely chap. Fair play
love this guy, thank you for the tour
nice little relic-6 callback
when will we see nick's synth cave?
Everyone in London named BEN! lol
Great video!
Excellent collection.
i loved the CAT
lovely place
I'm just sitting here going AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!! I want these synths!! I'm just gonna save up for a JP-8
@Xtra Spice Mikey Yea, But it's always more fun to play an actual keyboard than to just play with the midi-keyboard. Also it may sound the same but it wouldn't look as good in the studio.
@Xtra Spice Mikey Haha not really, I would use it for productions! But the JP-8 is a collectors piece at this point. Might as well start up the Roland or Arturia plugin (which I do) if sound is everything! ^^
2 boys in a candy store
AMIGA!