User:Synthetrix

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Los Angeles born Vic Stapf, (aka Synthetrix) grew up listening to a broad range of musics, but was drawn to electronic sounds after hearing classics like "Switched On Bach" by Wendy Carlos and Kraftwerk's "Autobahn". Victory studied guitar for two years as a boy, but really wanted to play the drums and spent all his middle and high school years in the school band's percussion section. "I never took piano lessons, but there were always organs or a piano in my parent's home and I would just noodle on them. After MIDI was announced I knew that music and computers would be married forever and bought my first synthesizer, the Casio CZ-101 and also my first computer which was the Commodore 64C with a mighty 64K of memory and a 5.25' floppy drive and I was off! The drums are really my thing and I now have a Yamaha digital drum pad kit, but I rarely use it in the recording of my own music" On the origins of the name Synthetrix Vic says "This was originally a handle I used on BBS systems in the late 80s, long before the internet was a household word. I would later use the name for all my freelance work in graphic design as well as a musical alias." Synthetrix recorded with L.A. DJ Eli Star in the 90s under the name PROTOSOUND. He released his first solo album in December of 2001 and followed up with Synthetrix 2 in 2003. His third album, GRAFTED was released in October 2004 and took a more experimental approach in an hour long piece that combined elements of sound collage with several "mini songs" woven throughout it's length. The fourth full-length album "THE BLUE MOON ROOM" was released in February of 2006 and is a return to the melodic style of the first two albums. He is currently working on his 5th Synthetrix album.

In addition to music production, Vic also maintains the Synthetrix Photos of the Forgotten website which focuses on Googie and Mid-Century Modern architecture and preservation.