Explore this online museum of rare Russian synths

You can now get acquainted with the many types of synthesiser designed in Russia throughout the last century.

Considering the huge part Russia has played in the development of electronic music over the years, it’s unsurprising that the country was also instrumental in the development of synthesisers.

Over the course of the 20th Century, Soviet Russia developed a multitude of synthesisers, drum machines and other mechanisms that sounded completely different to what the Western market was producing at the time. Some of these instruments, for example the Ekvodin and the Polivoks, sounded incredibly strange to Western ears.

If you want to delve further into this topic, the ‘Museum of Soviet Synths’ website has everything you need to further examine these sounds - cataloguing over 100 different types of machines and gadgets, it’s easy to lose an hour or two.

Synth afficionados may also want to be aware of Musical Instrument Museums Online, which archives over 60,000 instruments including rare synths. 

The Museum of Soviet Synths can be found here