When Ben Stamas started building his own synth company, he wanted to build new instruments that could last a lifetime. As an experienced synth repairperson, he appreciates the technical artistry and longevity of vintage machines' hardware.

Stamas wanted to honor that tradition—with some updates for a new generation of musicians—in his forthcoming Space Bee synth, which he's raising funds for on Kickstarter. He's designing it for contemporary needs like portability and rechargeability, but hearkening back to the expressive controls and durable hardware of earlier electronic instruments.

"[These vintage instruments] were designed to last, and their designers intended for someone to be able to repair them. They had these beautiful service manuals– I started going under the hood, fixing up stuff, getting more into the theory and construction. And it was a form of empowerment, knowing how your stuff works. It makes it more than just an object– it's part of your creative journey."

Today, he sees an industry-wide trend of music hardware that is indirect in interface and increasingly opaque to repair. Obscuring complexity behind software might widen the market potential for a business, he says, but "music isn't about immediate outcomes- you have to take risks and learn from the process. If you pick up a violin, you might need a long period of practice– instruments take time to grow with.

Stamas initially found that the venture-oriented startup scene of Cambridge was a challenging environment to gain traction in for an analog and traditional craft. However, when he got enthusiastic support from Suzanne Ciani, the '70s synth legend with five Grammy nominations and scores of movie and commercial credits, he started feeling like he was reaching the right audience. When he began building custom modules for her live performance synth, she started giving him feedback on the built-from scratch model he's prototyped now.

"Electronic music can be about live performance and taking risks," Stamas says. Some of the older designs have more free-form interactions—without a grid and presets to constrain you, you have to learn what you're doing." Ciani's work is an example of that virtuosity. "The things she was doing in 1975 felt more alive than the modular electronic music I've heard today," he says, "and that goes back to the performance interface of the instrument itself. Those machines have a learning curve, but afford deep control that leads to mastery and improvisation, and everything is tactile. Your hands have a direct coupling to the underlying sound, and you can develop muscle memory."

Adding contemporary considerations to a vintage-style instrument

Stamas's Space Bee will reintroduce some of the analog depth and live control he admires in earlier synths, while incorporating updates for modern musicians like MIDI and USB charging. He wanted to honor the iconic keyboard design of the Roland SH-101, a model he believes is a great introduction to analog synthesizers. "The inspiration was a self-powered, compact, and versatile classic," he says, "with a timeless analog sound and ability to act as a controller and sequencer– like a Swiss Army knife for the studio".

He has also seen the enthusiasm around the "right to repair" movement—and the frustration around hardware becoming useless when a company ties product operation to an app—as an indication that durable, repairable setups will best serve musicians' needs. "You'll own the instrument, but also what's inside– you're empowered in that way. I plan to offer user replaceable parts and to eventually open the schematic, so if the company might end, the instrument keeps going."

Space Bee is live on Kickstarter through November 21, 2019.