The path to finally owning the synth of my dreams is one paved with many mishaps and many losses, and lots of melodrama as well. I got into gear after living in Orlando for a year, being exposed to the last dance of the Rave scene in 96-97 just before the plug got pulled and it stopped being fun. So I had become, by the end of the summer of 96, a complete and total E head. I was there on a scholarship to UCF, a full ride, for Computer Engineering. I my first semester, straight A's, was offered a apprenticeship with one the defense companies that works with UCF. I took the opportunity, and the first weekend of my second semester I took my first "real" pills. Old school groovers, no press, just big ole wafers that tasted like crap. I figured one probably would not suffice, as I had been taking alot of acid in my offtime. So I sadled up with a ten-pack in my pocket and went to Firestone. As luck would have it, there was a special guest DJ playing that night, a new talent from overseas named Paul Van Dyke. Like I was saying earlier, this was the end of the era of the scene still being "underground", at least in Florida, and of course the club stayed open till like 9 or 10 am the following morning. Long story made short, I found I was better suited for social climbing and designer drug intake than I was for computer engineering. My second semester I only passed two classes, and was put on academic probation for my scholarship. Having met a host of people that had some clout in the scene, I found myself going out four or five nights a week, and eatting rolls five or six nights a week. This continued until I completely flunked out of school and was forced to move back in with my parents, about 100lbs lighter. Decided I should take a lil brake from school, I got a job serving at the Ritz Carlton and started bringing rolls in from Orlando to the sleepy little coastal town I had to move back to. Within a year I had the local police eyeballing me and all that, but I was so blissed out all the time I had no clue. Finally I was betrayed by one of my supposed friends who OD'ed on some dope, and of course blamed me for his lack of responsibility in being able to be a responsible drug user (GREAT LOGIC I KNOW). So basically some NARC informant set me up and got me arrested for sale/distribution/manufacture plus some possession because by this time I was also inhaling Oxy's. I ended up copping a plea deal as I was a first time offender, and had previously been an upstanding citizen, and an Episcopal youth group leader. Two years of house arrest was my plea deal. So I went from being a drug addict to being a total drunk. Lost my very good job at the Ritz, and ended up bouncing from restaurant to restaurant, gaining a rather bad reputation for being completely fucked out of my skull during shifts.
Somehow though I managed to get through my house arrest without violating, and was again set free on the public. I had developed a few good attributes while under house arrest, I had started buying synths, a Roland XP-80, the first Electribe Drum Machine, an Alpha Juno, an MKS-50, an Ensoniq ESQ-1, and a set of tables and a good mixer. Being that through all of this I was still a computer geek, I had a nice machine too. So I started learning the craft of sequencing, MIDI, the world of synths and of sound. I had also finally quit drinking and was only smoking herbs. I was coming along really well, putting together a respectable studio, getting gigs playing parties and doing weddings as well as doing various collaborations making music. For five years I worked towards bettering my craft and getting more and more gigs, gaining some sort of reputation as a good DJ and a good producer. Five years of sobriety from booze had turned me into a bit of a pothead and of course I started dabbling in amphetimines and cocaine. After a few years of that, inevitably I started drinking again and things went south rather quickly. I totalled two cars, lost any clout I had attained as a DJ, and started selling gear here and there to finance my growing coke habit. Before I knew it, all I had left was my computer which of course decided to crap out on me. So again back at the bottom no car, no job, no gear, no computer, and hope was dwindling fast. The final hit was when I wrecked my mom's dream car, which of course I was forbidden from driving. I was given an ultimatum, get into rehab or get out, which essentially would mean I would be an indigent person. I bit the perverbial bullet and started a very intense at home "in patient" program. After I had made it through a solid year with no relapses, my godmother started to come back into my life. She had heard about my repeated falls from grace and had also heard that I finally was doing the right things for me and my family. She took me out to lunch one day and asked me about what my intentions were, my intentions about life, and about my future endeavours. I told her that through all of my dark times, the only positive thing that I had was music. We spoke extensively about how music had kept some level of hope in me through the past year, the past year that been the hardest year of my life. I had completely distanced myself from all my prior associations, and was going to school again online, and was actually making good grades. It was really great to have someone other than my immediate family who showed a genuine interest in me and my hopes and dreams. About a month later she called me on the phone and said she was coming to pick me up. She shows up and announces we are making a trip into the city for lunch. I was stoked to get out of the house and to have a good lunch, what happened next was very unexpected. I was flipping through a Future Music magazine while we were waiting for our lunches and she was curious as to what I was reading. I told her I was lusting after a synth box from Sweden called a Monomachine, she nodded and smiled and then lunch came. About a week later I get an email from Elektron informing me that a SFX-60 MKII monomachine had been shipped and was on its way courtesy of my godmother. I was floored, I called her so excited and elated, as well curious as to why she decided to buy this rather pricey piece of kit. She replied that she saw a spark in my eyes that she had not seen in me since I was a small child and that it just inspired her to get it for me. A month later she called to check up on me, we spoke alot about everything that was going on, my mom had been hospitalized a week earlier, and about how I was coping. I told her of course I was full of worry, but also that I had began to find solace in the fact that I could still put on headphones and work away learning how to be creative again, sober. About a month later she called me again to talk and about family affairs and how my sobriety was coming along, and asked me about what my dream synth would be. I chuckled and told her I been lusting rather obssessivly about the latest Access Virus synth, the TI 2. We talked a bit longer and then said our goodbyes. About a month later she called me and told my to check my email, I logged in and asked her what I should be looking for, she replied that I should be seeing a correspondence from her in just a second.
"You got mail" chimed, and I repopened my inbox to see a email that she had forwarded me from Musican's Friend. My hands were shaking like mad, and I opened it, there it was an invoice for an Access Virus TI v.2 61 key. I started crying tears of joy over the phone and again asked her why, she simply replied, I really believe you again, and I also believe in you. I know you will do great things, and I want you to know that people still care a great deal about you. I was speechless. That was a first, I had absolutely nothing to say. She told me she found one where the price was right, it was a "scratch and dent" item but was guaranteed to be in full working order. We chatted a bit more and said our goodbyes. Then on Thursday, July 2nd it arrived. My dream synth, a piece of gear I thought, if I ever got, would be years from now after completing my recovery program and maybe getting a job and saving for it. Here it is though, and let me just tell you the high from having this synth, OWNING this synth is better than any other high. Its real, and it won't be used up in a night, and it definitely will never be sold so I can score some coke or a bag of pot. This synth fills a void in me that all those drugs never could. It provides me with genuine joy, something I thought I might not ever feel again.
So what life lesson did I learn, good things happen to people who are trying to do good.
That and the fact that yes Access Virus does make some of the best synths in the universe
Cheers Nobl1v1on