UDO

There was a palpable surge of excitement upon the initial revealing of the Super 6 at this year’s synth extravaganza (and annual highlight) Superbooth. Firstly, there was the design – with the tactility of the pots, switches and faders harking back to the glory days of Roland, Korg and Yamaha. Once we were drawn in by the aesthetic, though, our interest was then taken to a whole new level by the depth of the thick, binaural sound that the Super 6 is capable of generating. We were, in a word, amazed, particularly considering that UDO is a first-time manufacturer.

However, George Hearn, the creator of the Super 6, has had a long and prolific history in the world of synth design. He invited us to UDO’s Bristol-based headquarters for an inside look at the building process of the machine that has got the industry salivating.

MusicTech When did the idea first strike you to start the company?

George Hearn I’ve been a hobbyist in electronics since I was a teenager and I’ve been building synthesisers since I was 18. Ever since then, I’ve been kind of building up to starting UDO, so it’s been a long time in the making. I’d gone on to have a career in electronics manufacturing, and worked on the design of quite a few synths – I was behind the 008 with Modal Electronics. But I’d also been making non-musical things for different industries and I wanted to ultimately just join together the things that I’m passionate about. I thought, ‘It’s now or never.’

It’s a good time to do it – hardware synthesisers are back and there’s a definite resurgence. We did actually