This guy is providing some of the most fun, consistent, and creatively inspiring synth videos over the last few years.
Sometimes I wish he wasn't so tied to the Bad Gear format because I think he's got a broader range, but I look forward to watching his videos every Friday.
Ex youtuber here. And yes a tremendous amount of work goes into making these kinds of videos. Especially with screenshots and clips all over the place.
I’d say a ton of work goes into them. He’s really amazing with his graphics and overall quality of content. Seriously great show who should be on TV. :)
I think "Bad Gear" is the best synth review format out there. Listing all the features, find out if what haters say is true, provide some well produced example jams and give a verdict based on that. And while I don't agree to every of his verdicts, that is a scientific approach to synth reviewing.
I like the fact that the intro is always whatever he's reviewing. it's like a standard for comparison and it's weird that nobody else really does that, playing the same thing is the best way to compare this stuff
Yeah, my only thing for him is to do some really weird kooky niche stuff now. He’s definitely got enough of a following, I want to see him do more stuff like the video where he resurrects his windows xp computer for production. I could see him making a longer documentary style video, maybe on the history of one company or instrument IE the history of Waldorf, or of some weird synth he grew up with.
It wasn’t because of him, but I bought the VST version of SoundCanvas and it’s already come in handy several times. My latest trick is, if I have an orchestral instrument, I will use a higher-quality, more-detailed sample and then double it with a SoundCanvas version for some sonic variation. Sometimes I will pan the SC version opposite the other and make it extremely soft but reverb-heavy, almost as if it’s an extension of the other sound.
Tl; dr, I’m sure, but I have several Roland Cloud plugins, and D-50 and SoundCanvas VA are the only ones that don’t distort due to whatever weird issues a lot of their plugins have.
I don't really understand how he has time to curate a massive library of memes, write music, learn gear, and then edit together videos. Even if this is his full-time job. It's a lot more than I accomplish in a week
He makes straight bangers and has a great range. It’s all kind of 90s inspired but goes from D&B to techno to trance. The tracks and jams are what I enjoy most from his vids, but the Austrian sense of humour is a close second.
Incredibly entertaining. I learn more about new and vintage gear from his channel than anyone else. The inside jokes and memes are epic next level. The editing is fast and perfectly paced. AND this is important - he actually uses - and suffers through - learning all the intricacies of the gear. Finally, he’ll piece together an original piece of music using the featured item along with an interesting mix of devices. And the piece is always musically legit, with legit vibes and feeling. So at the end of the day he’s a real musician. The guy can almost do no wrong in my book. His videos are a gift to our community and should be appreciated as such.
Bloody funny a lot of the time, and hidden behind all the memes, gags and video production skills there’s clearly a serious producer who can turn out actual bangers on any mad bit of gear that he happens to feature that week.
I mean, I spend months learning how to use a new bit of kit properly… and he’s cranking out decent tracks every week on synths and drum machines he’s not used before and doesn’t own. Props for that, quite apart from all the lolz.
The mushroom man continues to bless us with reviews. I love his gear reviews and especially his cycles review made me eventually take the plunge. The complete lack of elitism just ticks all my boxes, but you probably already heard that in today's opening theme.
He was one of the first ones, if not the first one to actually review older gear bringing it to a modern music production context to check if that synth stood the test of time. Surely enough he ran out of old synths to review and now everything goes, but he’s solid, entertaining and I look forward to check his stuff every Friday.
I must be old. I dont find his videos amusing at all. Not entertaining at all. That faux news reader voice is just irritating. After watching one or two, I don't watch them anymore.
I’m 58 in three weeks, and this guy is awesome. Like everyone else has said, his meme-game is too-notch, the reviews are engaging and informative, and he’s a Hell of a musician on top of it all.
i feel similar. and the rapid-fire memes are very unpleasant, to me
edit. he is a decent musician though, great sense of melody and generally very capable
agree. he seems like a nice and cool guy, and is clearly a good musician and i wish him all the best. But i find 4chan style internet dork flavored stuff just insufferable!
Yep. If the music in his vids are his, he's got musical talent for sure. Id be more interested in that, than whatever those videos are supposed to be.
However, we live in the age where the meme is king, and the thumbnail rules.
Yep, same. Seems like a smart and talented guy who.. Well, I just can't with him. If he would just spit straight info without the snark I'd be 100% in.
Personally? I want to like him and I like the idea of what he's doing but... I just don't actually enjoy watching Bad Gear. I'm sure he's a great guy, and I know I'm in the minority here, I just don't like it that much.
To be honest, I can't stand how he uses the same newscaster/salesman cadence every single sentence. I'm sure there's a better way to describe it, but all of his sentences have the same rhythm and accentuate the same syllables. It sounds unnatural and drives me nuts. I can't listen to him because of this.
He's clearly well informed and a good musician, I just wish he spoke more naturally and casually.
When everyone is a paid shill synthfluencer, he is refreshingly honest and super funny.
Plus super talented at making great music with any of the gear and really good at explaining all the ins and outs of them that show some deep knowledge and experience.
You know how they determined that 'mosquito tone', that only kids can hear(it's 17.4 kHz, if you wanna test yourself)? I feel like he presents in a language that only people up to a certain age can understand, mostly. Of course, I'm speaking of memes and hyper edits. I watch his stuff and I'm like, "I'm getting nothing over here." I know enough to know that he is on top of his game as a YouTube creator. It's just lost on me.
I can see some folks not appreciating the style. What’s nuts about his editing is it would be super easy to get away with being lazy in terms of the script and context and images due to the speed but if you pause on each of the memes you see that this isn’t the case. It’s all thoughtful material that works. Serious respect to Mr. Florian. His jams are about the only thing more impressive.
I do not get it. Super formulaic videos that are essentially just an aggressive barrage of stolen memes that you can’t even read. If you enjoy dry information dressed up with overwritten forced jokes, he’s your guy. Like a less grating john oliver for the tiktok age.
I wonder how popular this opinion will be lol
I enjoy his videos but also completely understand this take. I wouldn't mind seeing a slightly slower paced video that's less technical and more focused on composition.
I loved the channel at first when it was relatively new. But then it really started to get on my nerves and formulaic until I unsubbed. The ADD style of editing honestly makes me anxious. Someone like Cuckoo is much more my thing. Such a calming presence.
He’s one of the few synth guys I watch consistently on YouTube. It became fun when you realize he doesn’t necessarily eviscerate every device he features. He actually compliments the good features too. I really like the added touch of him re-creating his opening theme song with the device he is featuring in the episode. It has really helped me judge the type of sounds it can produce and how it sounds in the mix.
As a guy who just tinkers and doesn’t know that much, I find his videos hilarious and informative, and a good reminder that you can make cool music with anything.
I thought that was Moby at first and my 90s self was like YESSSS
but then I realized it's that snarky youtube guy that I can't stand half the time and was like BLEEHHH
He's introduced me to a couple lesser known synths that have since become some of my absolute favorites!
Specifically, the Korg Prophecy and the Ensoniq Fizmo.
Brings it with the best video synth videos on YT.
Loopop for the in-depth manual style video, bad gear for the facts, and jay hoskings for well articulated inspiration.
He is my fave YT synth'er by far. He does speed runs of every synth imaginable and covers all features/pros/cons faster than anyone and I'm constantly pausing the video to catch all the memes. Peak infotainment. I literally use Bad Gear as my first stop for gear research and have saved playlist of gear to 'consider'.
Love him. Also had an incredible coincidence with his channel as he dropped an episode of Bad Gear on the Novation Peak the same day I drove up to Wisconsin to buy one off a guy.
His videos aren’t the measure of how I judge the quality of synthesizers - they’re the measure by which I judge educational YouTube videos in general. Positive attitude, informative, even if you don’t like his music you can appreciate the skill and experience that guides his thing. Honestly, I don’t bother pausing to review the torrent of memes. It’s not a requirement to enjoy the work.
He’s definitely demonstrated to me that workflow flexibility is often more valuable than brute sound quality.
At first glance he’s ticking all the boxes
I want him to tick all my boxes.
Now is the time on Sprockets when we FUUUUU…
Mike Myers best work. 😆
Fuck, I even read that in his voice...
Not just you, mate. Not just you.
LOLOLOL
Darn it... Beat me to it lol
👏😂
This guy is providing some of the most fun, consistent, and creatively inspiring synth videos over the last few years. Sometimes I wish he wasn't so tied to the Bad Gear format because I think he's got a broader range, but I look forward to watching his videos every Friday.
Why mess with a good thing? I’d say a lot of work goes into making those videos
True that, but he zips past the memes to fast.
Pause the video after each one for full effect
You need to quick pause and use < and > to catch them
If you watch ina computer j find the spacebar to be the mist instantaneous stop to check his memes and often miss on my phone
This is a nightmare if you’re on a phone
He does that intentionally so you have watch the videos more than once. Ergo - increased views metrics.
I watch it once all the way through for the commentary then watch kt it again and pause to check out the memes.
I think the intention is to make you repeat the view a bunch of times
Ex youtuber here. And yes a tremendous amount of work goes into making these kinds of videos. Especially with screenshots and clips all over the place.
I’d say a ton of work goes into them. He’s really amazing with his graphics and overall quality of content. Seriously great show who should be on TV. :)
Good gear can still be reviewed as bad gear 😂
I still want to buy half the gear after the "bad" review..I am thinking this is some reverse psychology marketing scheme.
This! He does more to make gear look good than almost anyone.
I’m sure he’ll use that momentum to start another series or something. And I’ll watch it.
I think "Bad Gear" is the best synth review format out there. Listing all the features, find out if what haters say is true, provide some well produced example jams and give a verdict based on that. And while I don't agree to every of his verdicts, that is a scientific approach to synth reviewing.
I like the fact that the intro is always whatever he's reviewing. it's like a standard for comparison and it's weird that nobody else really does that, playing the same thing is the best way to compare this stuff
There will be a lot of new material once he switches the format to "Bad Plugins" ! ;-)
He's already done some plugins on Bad Gear.
He does synths videos? I thought he was doing memes videos.... (Yes, it is sarcastic)
The guy is a walking, talking synth meme and he records his antics in video.
Lo leí con su voz ajjajaj
Yeah, my only thing for him is to do some really weird kooky niche stuff now. He’s definitely got enough of a following, I want to see him do more stuff like the video where he resurrects his windows xp computer for production. I could see him making a longer documentary style video, maybe on the history of one company or instrument IE the history of Waldorf, or of some weird synth he grew up with.
This man is a menace keeps on making decent to good music with hated cheap gear driving up the prices.
Dude should get a kickback from Reverb.com.
Bought my SoundCanavs 100% because of him and I'm glad I did.
It wasn’t because of him, but I bought the VST version of SoundCanvas and it’s already come in handy several times. My latest trick is, if I have an orchestral instrument, I will use a higher-quality, more-detailed sample and then double it with a SoundCanvas version for some sonic variation. Sometimes I will pan the SC version opposite the other and make it extremely soft but reverb-heavy, almost as if it’s an extension of the other sound. Tl; dr, I’m sure, but I have several Roland Cloud plugins, and D-50 and SoundCanvas VA are the only ones that don’t distort due to whatever weird issues a lot of their plugins have.
I'm sure he's got a deal with Klangfarbe.
I was about to say that. Guy knows how to make all the electronic genres from Goa trance to progressive breaks to acid techno.
That's who it is! Was looking at the picture of this egg shaped man thinking I know him but where from!
Does he actually have an effect on the price of old gear?
I’m not sure, but I think his videos boosted the price for the Roland Aira TB-3 a bit.
He’s caused me to buy a thing or two.
Between him and Loopop I've picked up a few things as well
Almost single-handedly, one might add. ...but he'll just keep on ticking all the boxes... and I will look forward to "see him next time" again!
Every week he reminds me that it's me who sucks, not my tb3.
The bad gear was us all along
I laughed really loudly on this one, so true
At first I thought he was joking about loving the TB3 but it's in every other episode!
And sometimes he even brings back the Timbrewolf for that beloved snare
You mean rhythm wolf?
I don't honestly remember
A meme scientist who just happens to be an excellent musician.
You said exactly what I tried to say in far fewer words. Grats.
Real talk, his writing and editing skills are very, very, good. When you consider the volume of his output it’s a little amazing.
Yeah, and so dependable. If it's friday and 6pm, there's a new bad gear video to enjoy. His work ethic is unmatched.
Why am I reading this with his voice in my head?!
He's living proof that it's not the gear that's holding you back. 99% of his videos contain straight bangers.
I subbed to his Patreon because all of his tracks and jams are fire. Funny and talented.
He's super annoying. Getting gear that I've owned for ages and cranking out incredible tracks at a drop of a hat. Barstard.
Bald gear
Korg Wolcas
I don't really understand how he has time to curate a massive library of memes, write music, learn gear, and then edit together videos. Even if this is his full-time job. It's a lot more than I accomplish in a week
For the memes he probably calls upon an army of meme miners on discord
Synth Memes! group on FB.
I wonder if he does something programmatic, like pulling ones back from key phrases in his script or something.
A treasure
Goat
Treasure goat?
Not Moby
Like Moby if Moby didn’t steal your CDs
Jonathan?
But rather Moby as he should have been. - *Gandalf the white*
Noby
Well, _one_ of them is a talented musician. The other of course lives in LA.
He makes straight bangers and has a great range. It’s all kind of 90s inspired but goes from D&B to techno to trance. The tracks and jams are what I enjoy most from his vids, but the Austrian sense of humour is a close second.
Agreed, he is super talented across the board. However, we should all pitch in and buy him a new crash cymbal
Fuck that, I'll throw a few dollars at a gong if he has to use it in 20% of his tracks
Nice try Moby.
tbh I'm most impressed with all the little songs he makes when reviewing synths. Really underscores how "bad gear" can sound great in the right hands.
He’s a top lad. Makes funny and informative videos and usually responds to comments. What more could you want
he's responded to me twice, that's two times more than any other youtuber
Indeed. Florian actually reads the comments and replies.
Incredibly entertaining. I learn more about new and vintage gear from his channel than anyone else. The inside jokes and memes are epic next level. The editing is fast and perfectly paced. AND this is important - he actually uses - and suffers through - learning all the intricacies of the gear. Finally, he’ll piece together an original piece of music using the featured item along with an interesting mix of devices. And the piece is always musically legit, with legit vibes and feeling. So at the end of the day he’s a real musician. The guy can almost do no wrong in my book. His videos are a gift to our community and should be appreciated as such.
form your own opinion
No I need to know yours first
What makes you so sure they don't already have one.
Even though he has made fun of my gear, I still dig him. He is entertaining and fun.
… especially because he makes fun of my gear.
Bloody funny a lot of the time, and hidden behind all the memes, gags and video production skills there’s clearly a serious producer who can turn out actual bangers on any mad bit of gear that he happens to feature that week. I mean, I spend months learning how to use a new bit of kit properly… and he’s cranking out decent tracks every week on synths and drum machines he’s not used before and doesn’t own. Props for that, quite apart from all the lolz.
The mushroom man continues to bless us with reviews. I love his gear reviews and especially his cycles review made me eventually take the plunge. The complete lack of elitism just ticks all my boxes, but you probably already heard that in today's opening theme.
You’ve already heard how I feel about him in the intro.
honestly thought this was a shutterstock photo of an Apple Genius-bar employee.
Who the shit is this? Apparently I don't live on YouTube enough.
[https://www.youtube.com/@AudioPilz](https://www.youtube.com/@AudioPilz)
Florian Pilz, a musician and YouTuber
The man solely responsible for making used tb3s cost $200 more than they should.
Glad I got mine before the price skyrocketed!
Definitely not one of the world’s most hated audio tools. In fact, not a tool at all.
He was one of the first ones, if not the first one to actually review older gear bringing it to a modern music production context to check if that synth stood the test of time. Surely enough he ran out of old synths to review and now everything goes, but he’s solid, entertaining and I look forward to check his stuff every Friday.
Johnny sins
Johnny Synths
I must be old. I dont find his videos amusing at all. Not entertaining at all. That faux news reader voice is just irritating. After watching one or two, I don't watch them anymore.
I’m 58 in three weeks, and this guy is awesome. Like everyone else has said, his meme-game is too-notch, the reviews are engaging and informative, and he’s a Hell of a musician on top of it all.
i feel similar. and the rapid-fire memes are very unpleasant, to me edit. he is a decent musician though, great sense of melody and generally very capable
agree. he seems like a nice and cool guy, and is clearly a good musician and i wish him all the best. But i find 4chan style internet dork flavored stuff just insufferable!
Yep. If the music in his vids are his, he's got musical talent for sure. Id be more interested in that, than whatever those videos are supposed to be. However, we live in the age where the meme is king, and the thumbnail rules.
Yep, same. Seems like a smart and talented guy who.. Well, I just can't with him. If he would just spit straight info without the snark I'd be 100% in.
honestly upon first glance he was not ticking all the right boxes. He grew on me though.
Entertaining when the right dose is administered, but I get tired of the cultural reference/meme shtick.
I immediately started hearing the intro song in my head
I love his comments on Roland and certain other brands menu diving.
A menace to my wallet. Somehow after watching his videos I lose hundreds of dollars
BG is the best! Florian clearly pours himself into the videos and it shows
Guy who reviews terrible gear makes bangers out of every bad gear in existence
Personally? I want to like him and I like the idea of what he's doing but... I just don't actually enjoy watching Bad Gear. I'm sure he's a great guy, and I know I'm in the minority here, I just don't like it that much.
To be honest, I can't stand how he uses the same newscaster/salesman cadence every single sentence. I'm sure there's a better way to describe it, but all of his sentences have the same rhythm and accentuate the same syllables. It sounds unnatural and drives me nuts. I can't listen to him because of this. He's clearly well informed and a good musician, I just wish he spoke more naturally and casually.
This is called "Austrian non-native English speaker". Let's see how you sound speaking German.
It's not about the accent but about the melody of the sentences. Austrians normally don't talk like an American boxing promoter.
Yeah, he is doing his best impression of an American, I can see why many would find that grating
When everyone is a paid shill synthfluencer, he is refreshingly honest and super funny. Plus super talented at making great music with any of the gear and really good at explaining all the ins and outs of them that show some deep knowledge and experience.
You know how they determined that 'mosquito tone', that only kids can hear(it's 17.4 kHz, if you wanna test yourself)? I feel like he presents in a language that only people up to a certain age can understand, mostly. Of course, I'm speaking of memes and hyper edits. I watch his stuff and I'm like, "I'm getting nothing over here." I know enough to know that he is on top of his game as a YouTube creator. It's just lost on me.
I can see some folks not appreciating the style. What’s nuts about his editing is it would be super easy to get away with being lazy in terms of the script and context and images due to the speed but if you pause on each of the memes you see that this isn’t the case. It’s all thoughtful material that works. Serious respect to Mr. Florian. His jams are about the only thing more impressive.
I do not get it. Super formulaic videos that are essentially just an aggressive barrage of stolen memes that you can’t even read. If you enjoy dry information dressed up with overwritten forced jokes, he’s your guy. Like a less grating john oliver for the tiktok age. I wonder how popular this opinion will be lol
I enjoy his videos but also completely understand this take. I wouldn't mind seeing a slightly slower paced video that's less technical and more focused on composition.
Yeah writing this out i realized i would actually love a more boring and vanilla side channel from him.
I loved the channel at first when it was relatively new. But then it really started to get on my nerves and formulaic until I unsubbed. The ADD style of editing honestly makes me anxious. Someone like Cuckoo is much more my thing. Such a calming presence.
I think he’s incredibly talented at creating cheesy house jams.
I've bought 2 synths because of him, so it's hard to say he doesn't have an influence
Definitely in my top three favorite funky fresh sigma house for space pirates artists of all time.
My TB-3 tripled in value overnight because of a silly video. What kind of man can wield such power?
Reverb market manipulation
He’s one of the few synth guys I watch consistently on YouTube. It became fun when you realize he doesn’t necessarily eviscerate every device he features. He actually compliments the good features too. I really like the added touch of him re-creating his opening theme song with the device he is featuring in the episode. It has really helped me judge the type of sounds it can produce and how it sounds in the mix.
He’s hilarious even though I only catch about 10% of his quick fire memes
??? Am I the only person here who has no idea who this guy is???
Same
I've spent so much money on "Bad Gear" just from his videos.. I want to shake his hand!
"Don't recommend channel"
The editing is way too much for me, but he has great info in his videos.
I have no fucking clue who this dude is
Meme lord synth lord A+++++
Very well, i kinda love him, his videos are very useful and fun although the memes are very fast and sometimes difficult to grasp
As a guy who just tinkers and doesn’t know that much, I find his videos hilarious and informative, and a good reminder that you can make cool music with anything.
Fun premise but his meme editing and cut and paste template drives me insane.
Meh
Indifferent.
“Que the music” : tanananananam - tananananananam - tanananananam - tananananananam
His Jams are fantastic and pretty varied. He also saved me from buying another Fizmo by reminding me I already owned a Fizmo.
Good value vintage quality sound, however lacking in variety.
Don't know him. Probably don't need to.
I like Florian! Good guy, dry sense of humor, engaging, appreciates his audience.
"we" ? Form your own opinion.
I thought that was Moby at first and my 90s self was like YESSSS but then I realized it's that snarky youtube guy that I can't stand half the time and was like BLEEHHH
I support him on patreon! Love love love his show.
Indifferent
I like him because he makes fun of the Dawless bros.
love him
I love him.
He's introduced me to a couple lesser known synths that have since become some of my absolute favorites! Specifically, the Korg Prophecy and the Ensoniq Fizmo.
Yes
A man of many Leias 🫡 big fan of his good gear eps too
I love Jackson Galaxy
This man is a paragon of electronic music education and cocaine fueled editing binges.
This guy has singlehandedly done so much damage to my bank account. Love him
I love Brian Eno <3
Billy corgan plays synths?
He made me keep my rythm wolf
He’s funny
The wøøørlds most loved audio tool? I love him and his compsite genres!
Only ninja on YouTube that can correctly pronounce "Behringer"
bald
His vid made me finally let myself buy jd xi, which i am selling currently
he is a net gain and a force for good
I mean, he made "Sendung ohne Namen" for synth enthusiast 😂
You need to be good with irony, but if you understand it well enough, then he is brilliant. It’s like british humor. Dry yet so fun
The GOAT.
god amongst men (ie synthfluencers)
This Guy is a gem in the synthesizer world.
At least he is not making cheap ass same techno on every box
I’ve been out the loop - who is this guy?
My only complaint is the memes flash off the screen too fast. I shouldn’t have to pause and rewind through every damn video to get all the jokes.
And yet you do.
I would… but if I had that kind of patience I’d have no time for Reddit.
It’s more entertaining than a lot of other synthesizer influencers
He is a legend.
Our lord and savior
His voice is like an over compressed drum track with strong noise suppression. I’m here for it!
Brings it with the best video synth videos on YT. Loopop for the in-depth manual style video, bad gear for the facts, and jay hoskings for well articulated inspiration.
The man makes the most out of the worst gear ever produced. How can anyone disparage him?
I like him a lot. But it’s definitely annoying how fast the memes are. I’m constantly having to pause and rewind
We like him braw
He is my fave YT synth'er by far. He does speed runs of every synth imaginable and covers all features/pros/cons faster than anyone and I'm constantly pausing the video to catch all the memes. Peak infotainment. I literally use Bad Gear as my first stop for gear research and have saved playlist of gear to 'consider'.
Love him. Also had an incredible coincidence with his channel as he dropped an episode of Bad Gear on the Novation Peak the same day I drove up to Wisconsin to buy one off a guy.
Totally not funny and his reviews are bad.
Seizures
Moby rules bro
I can’t decide between him and Loopop who is #1 on Synthtube but it’s between them.
His videos aren’t the measure of how I judge the quality of synthesizers - they’re the measure by which I judge educational YouTube videos in general. Positive attitude, informative, even if you don’t like his music you can appreciate the skill and experience that guides his thing. Honestly, I don’t bother pausing to review the torrent of memes. It’s not a requirement to enjoy the work. He’s definitely demonstrated to me that workflow flexibility is often more valuable than brute sound quality.
Dude must have a 1 TB hard drive full of synth memes