Growing up in the 80s, Lance Hill listened to Duran Duran, A Flock of Seagulls and Depeche Mode — artists who used the bright and soaring synthesizers dominant in New Wave. When he got his first chance to play on a synthesizer himself — a Moog Prodigy — it was a revelatory experience. Life-changing, even.
“That definitely cemented the idea in my mind that I needed a synth like that,” says Hill. “Because up to that point, it was pretty much old Casio keyboards and effects pedals, and I wanted something more fluid, like the Moog.”
That itch to get analog gear lingered, but being a synth nerd isn’t cheap.
It took a few years for Hill to pull together the money to buy his first synthesizer, a Yamaha CS-20m. He could afford it because it didn’t actually work, but he took it to a repair person less than a mile away from his Bay Area home, and got it fixed for a good deal.
He was hooked.
The relationship with a synth fixer and Hill’s passion for vintage synthesizers laid the building blocks for the Vintage Synthesizer Museum, which opened in Oakland in 2013 (now closed), then moved to Highland Park in 2021.
The collection at the Vintage Synthesizer Museum in Highland Park has rare analog machines, modern synths and dozens of effects. Photo by PJ Shahamat.
To grow his collection, he acquired dozens more synthesizers, drum machines, electric pianos, and effects. Synths were cheap, expensive, and really expensive — including the same types used by big acts such as Van Halen, The Beatles, and Radiohead.
Museum attendees could play on any of the synthesizers starting at $60 an hour.
The access to that wide variety attracted other synth nerds. Juliette Davis and Joachim Polack from the band Pearl and the Oysters traveled to Oakland from Los Angeles to record for their 2023 album Coast 2 Coast.
“It was really impressive just to see all those machines lit up — because I'm so used to seeing old synths that need repair,” recalls Davis. “Walking in and the little LEDs are on every one of the synths he owns, and all plugged in and ready to be used, and mostly in perfect condition.”
The museum was in its Oakland location for eight years. While artists came from far away, locals weren’t coming much at all. Angelenos who went there tried luring Hill to their city with promise of more local business.
When the building the museum rented went up for sale, Hill decided it was time to move.
In October 2021, the VSM opened its doors in Highland Park and the gamble paid off.
“At least 50% of the people who come through here are like, ‘I live down the street, or like 10 blocks away,’” Hill says now. “So much neighborhood support is really encouraging, and it makes you happy that you ended up at the spot.”
Hill hopes to make the museum a bigger part of the community through his synthesizer workshop, live local music he calls the Synthetarium, and regular sound baths.
Hill and a friend chill with keyboards on a patio behind the Vintage Synthesizer Museum. Photo by PJ Shahamat.
“There's a real sense of community that I think Lance is trying to bring around the Vintage Synth Museum,” says Juliette Davis of Pearl and the Oyster. “He's trying to let people know that synths are expensive instruments, but there's a way to share them and use them collectively, and I think that's really special.”
The Vintage Synthesizer Museum hosts sound baths, synthetariums, and workshops every month. Reservations are available daily between 10 a.m. and 11 p.m. starting at $60 an hour.