A Reading music charity is opening a studio housing some of the most iconic synthesisers and drum machines in electronic music history – with visitors encouraged to switch them on and play them.
Readipop’s new XOX Studio will launch on Wednesday 9 September, also known as 909 Day, in celebration of the Roland TR-909 drum machine.
The collection includes around £40,000 worth of vintage equipment, including the Roland TB-303, TR-808 and TR-909 – machines closely associated with the development of acid house, techno and hip-hop.
Unlike a traditional museum collection, the equipment will be available for young people working with the charity, emerging producers and members of the public to use.
Readipop creative director Gavin Lombos said the charity wanted to make the instruments accessible rather than keeping them “behind glass”.
“These machines usually end up behind glass, or in studios most people will never set foot in.
“We wanted the opposite: a collection that anyone – especially the young people we work with – can access and actually play.”
The collection was assembled as part of Readipop’s XOX project, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Mr Lombos spent close to a year tracking down equipment from across the UK, with some sellers reportedly keen for their prized machines to be used by a music charity.
“People were genuinely pleased the gear was going to a music charity, where others would get to play it,” he said.
The studio, in Trafford Road, is close to the Reading Festival site and will be open five days a week for young people supported by Readipop, as well as those booking sessions.
Tom Dalziel, 18, from central Reading, who discovered Readipop through its electronic music open mic nights, said getting access to the equipment was “life-changing”.
“I don’t have the budget to buy 30 synths, let alone find the space to house them at home, so it’s life-changing to see this stuff for real,” he said.
The launch will take place on 909 Day, when electronic music fans around the world celebrate the Roland TR-909.
Rod Brakes, a contributing writer for Roland’s editorial platform, said the collection was particularly unusual because visitors would be able to use the instruments.
“Individual examples of these units are increasingly rare, but to see so many of them in the same room – and, crucially, to be able to switch them on and play them – is something rarer still,” he said.
The project is also set to explore Reading’s role in the development of rave, jungle and drum and bass during the 1990s.
The town was home to the Record Basement shop and Basement Records label, which played a part in the growth of the dance music scene.
The XOX Studio will officially open to the public on 9 September, with further free open days planned for 11 October and 8 November.
