Muse Wonder vs Ember-1

Patchbay is a small workshop in Rotterdam where three of us spend our days bringing vintage synthesizers back to life. We repair and restore instruments from the 1960s, 70s, and 80s — Minimoogs with drifting oscillators, Junos with silent choruses, Prophet-5s that have not powered on in decades — tracing faults board by board, replacing tired components, and calibrating each machine until it sounds musical again. We believe these instruments were built to be played, not preserved behind glass, so we work carefully and reversibly wherever possible, documenting every repair and keeping original parts when they can be saved. Musicians, studios, and collectors bring us synths from across Europe, sometimes in flight cases, sometimes in pieces. Whether it needs a full restoration or a single sticky key, we treat it as if it were our own, and we will not send it home until we would happily play it ourselves.

Patchbay is a three-person workshop in Rotterdam dedicated to keeping vintage synthesizers alive. We work on the machines that shaped electronic music — analog polysynths, temperamental drum machines, early digital oddities — replacing tired capacitors, rebuilding keybeds, and coaxing silent oscillators back into tune.

Between us we bring decades of experience in electronics, instrument design, and music-making, but what unites us is simpler: we believe these machines were built to be played, not displayed. Every repair happens by hand at our benches, with period-correct components wherever possible and thoughtful modern solutions where reliability demands it. We test everything the only way that matters — by listening.

Whether your Juno has lost a voice, your 808 has lost its kick, or a flea-market find needs a full restoration, we treat each instrument as if it were heading back to a studio, a stage, and a long life of making noise. Because it is.