NOTE: This podcast is presented as a collaboration with Synthtopia.com for the presentation of people designing synthesizers. You can listen to the podcast here, on the synthtopia website (in an embedded player) or on iTunes. But you can also read the article as well as search for information by viewing the transcription available here:

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2017/06/19/axel-hartmann-on-the-art-of-synth-design/

Axel Hartmann runs a design firm - designbox - that is pretty sneaky-influential to us synth folks. This is the company that does designs of hardware synthesizer for companies like Waldorf, Arturia and Moog. They also do user interface design for software and plug-ins for Antares and Universal Audio. Their designs are everywhere, and adds a lot to making our music lives a lot better than the dull black boxes and drab interfaces we'd otherwise see.

Axel has a great history, though, including the design of some of the most significant synthesizers to come out of Waldorf (including the Microwave and the big boy, the Wave), helping Dr. Moog with some initial designs for the Voyager and even running his own synthesizer company (Hartmann, the developer of the Hartmann Neuron). We talk about all of these - as well as his current work - in this wide-ranging chat.

I've loved what Axel has done to make our favorite synthesizers look the way they do. And I also appreciate what he is doing to make software interfaces both more intuitive as well as more appealing. Enjoy!