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EMS Synthi 100 Restoration Project
Supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund
The Leicester Synthi 100 was acquired in 2018 by Krafthaus Arts CIC in Leicester through a grant awarded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Although not fully functional and in need of internal restoration, it is largely complete and in surprisingly good physical condition.
Our primary goal for this project is to return The Leicester Synthi 100 to an operational state and use it as the centrepiece of our R10 Electronic Media Studio in Leicester. It will be a unique resource for education and music creation, and, to the best of our knowledge, will be the only Synthi 100 available for regular use by musicians and the general public.
In February 2025, Krafthaus Arts CIC was successful in obtaining further funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to undertake a comprehensive condition survey of The Leicester Synthi 100 in order to produce a detailed restoration plan. This took place in April 2025, and we are happy to report that the survey was generally positive. The next step will be to obtain additional support to undertake the repairs and bring the synthesiser back to life.
Photograph Gallery
A selection of photographs of the Leicester Synthi 100 by Jacob Driver. Our Synthi is available for commercial photoshoots - please get in touch if you are interested.
Marcus West (left) with R10 Studios' Paul Mazzitelli.
Photographs by Jacob Driver
EMS Synthi 100 - R10 Studios Leicester
Dual-layer five octave Keyboard
Sequencer panel and VU meters
Synthi 100 labelling
Mixer panel and joysticks
EMS SoundBeam, distance to voltage MIDI converter
Nixie sequence event timer
Telequipment oscilloscope - Type D43 R
Research Interviews
We have been conducting research into Electronic Media Studios (EMS), their products and, in particular, the Synthi 100. An important part of this research is a series of interviews with EMS experts, restorers, researchers and users of the Synthi 100. Interview questions we focussed on gaining insights into the history of EMS and the importance of the Synthi 100 and the value of our restoration project. So far, we have interviewed:
Professor Simon Emmerson - Composer and academic
James Gardner - Musician and composer
Christopher King -
Dr Frances Morgan - Researcher and author of Electronic Music Studios London Ltd (EMS), the Synthi 100 Synthesizer and the Construction of Electronic Music Histories (PhD thesis)
Nicola Sutcliffe - Widow of Alan Sutcliffe, Synthi 100 software programmer
Marcus West - Artist and Synthi 100 user in Cardiff in the 1970s
This work is ongoing, and we will be adding more people to the list as our community expands. There will be a draft research report when the next phase of interviews has taken place.
As well as conducting research interviews, we have been collecting resources related to the EMS Synthi 100 and the people who have worked with it. This will be transferred to our forthcoming Wiki shortly to allow other people to contribute.
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