About Us

Who are we?
AMSynths is a small synthesizer manufacturing company owned and design led by Rob Keeble. It is a small operation based in West Susex in the UK. I am an electronics engineer (trained at University of Essex) and an IT professional.

Our Mission AMSynths design and deliver high quality analog synthesizer modules which sound fantastic, are flexible and packed with features. Our modules have an Atheistic Design that inspires the musician to create music from electronic hardware, using design cues from the past and future. We hope you enjoy them.

Sussex Forest WInter 2010

Background
I built my first analog syntheszier in 1975 - a Practical Electronics Minisonic 2. It had the tuning capability of an EMS VCS3, so it was not going to compete with a MiniMoog or even an SH-3, and its inabaility to play music notes meant it was constrained to providing sound FX thanks to its diode ladder filter. I sold it in 1979 before emigrating to the USA. I have been intrigued and involved in analog synthesziers ever since.I studied Electronics Engineering & Computing at the University of Essex in 1976 but chose an IT career in the UK, including systems programming and leading Java software development teams. By the mid 1980's I was collecting and playing analog synths, thanks to the low prices. However as fantastic as they sounded they were let down by the worn out pots and keyboards. In the 1990's I was able to afford secondhand Emulator samplers, such as the EII and EIII. This led to setting up the Emulator Archive web site in 1999 and meeting up with Dave Rossum and Scott Wedge the founders of E-mu Systems in 2002.

West Grinstead Autumn 2011

Inspiration
Whilst at Scotts Valley I met Dana Massie, Ed Rudnick and Riley Smith, some of the team behind the development of the Emulator II. Riley passed on some schematics of the E-mu Systems Modular and I started a project to build a clone in 2002, dusting off my electronic engineering skills for the first time in 25 years. This first modular system was completed in 2005.

Over the next few years I designed over 50 different modules for my own studio in FracRac format and sold over 100 PCB's to customers across the world, with an increasing demand for completed modules. Modules ranged from VCO, LVO, to VCA and ADSR but by far the largest number were VCF modules, as I have a soft spot for them!

In 2006 Bananalogue in the USA manufactured a set of Analog Metropolis branded 4075 PCB's and built and sold a number of completed FracRac modules under license from me. The module was called the LPFA and it is a replica of the ARP 4075 VCF, there is a picture of one on the right. PCB's are still for sale on eBay as at Winter 2011.

Bananalogue LPF Module

Foundation of AMSynths
At the end of 2010 I founded AMSynths and started manufacturing and selling EuroRack analog modules. These modules are manufactured in low volume and I only get to build about 100 a year. Customer demand has been fantastic and production runs sell out very fast with many reserved ahead of launch. I have PCB's and special parts manufactured in China, along with machined aluminium panels from Germany. My objective is to provide the high quality modules in terms of sound and aesthics, at a reasonable price