Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Nemotron 3 Ultra

Patchbay is three people in a workshop in Rotterdam, trying to keep old synthesizers alive. We repair, restore and recalibrate the instruments that shaped electronic music: Moogs and Oberheims, Rolands and Sequential Circuits, the odd temperamental Soviet oddity that someone found in an attic.

Most of what lands on our benches has been silent for years. A crackling pot, a drifting oscillator, a power supply that gave up in 1994. Some come from working musicians who need their instrument back before the next tour. Others come from people who inherited a dusty box from a parent and want to hear what it sounds like.

We work slowly and by hand. We trace faults with a scope and a schematic, source or rebuild parts when originals are gone, and change as little as we can. Every synth leaves with a note describing exactly what we did, so the next person to open it knows where we have been.

Come by, bring your synth, and stay for coffee.

Patchbay began in a narrow workshop on the edge of Rotterdam’s Noord district, where the hum of aging oscillators meets the rhythm of the city’s canals. Founded by three synth enthusiasts — a former studio engineer, a circuit designer, and a musician who still plays the same Juno‑106 he bought in 1986 — the studio grew from late‑night repair sessions into a dedicated space for restoring the instruments that shaped electronic music’s golden era. Every unit that passes through our bench is treated with the same reverence we give a first‑press vinyl: capacitors are swapped, contacts cleaned, and calibration traced back to original service manuals. We don’t just fix synthesizers; we listen to their history, understand their quirks, and return them to the stage or studio ready to inspire the next generation of sound. Patchbay is small, intentional, and built on the belief that vintage gear deserves a future as vivid as its past.