Trent Reznor is known for smashing keyboards on stage. This one, he will likely keep. Swedish woodworker Love Hultén built the Nine Inch Nails frontman a one-off trent reznor synth station that combines an analog synth rig with a working Atari 2600+ console.
The trent reznor synth station has a cartridge slot on the front panel, a small monitor in the top corner, and a joystick set beside the keyboard. Missile Command is already loaded.
Designer: Love Hultén
Reznor owned an Atari 2600 as a child. He taught himself to program on a Commodore 64 and later composed the sound for id Software’s Quake, released in 1996. The Atari in this build is personal to him.
Hultén has combined woodworking with electronics since he started design school in 2010. He builds synths, arcade cabinets, and consoles, mostly as one-off commissions. His work resembles a 1970s electronics company that hired cabinetmakers instead of plastic molders.
Hultén’s panel-based approach to electronics has a close cousin in a walnut console that uses motorized faders to control home lighting. Walnut console with motorized faders shows how wood and hands-on controls can make tech feel furniture-like.
The synth at the center
The sound source is an Analogue Solutions Ample, a desktop synth handmade in England and priced at $2,499. Apart from its MIDI chip, the circuitry is analog. It has three oscillators, a 24dB low-pass filter, and circuits based on mid-1970s designs.
The Ample’s signature feature is a pin matrix. Instead of patch cables, you route signals by pushing pins into a grid of holes. Each pin has a different resistance, which sets how strongly a signal reaches its destination.
Hultén built a pin matrix into his own panel. Rows labeled VCO1, VCO2, VCO3, noise, and ring mod line up against destinations such as filter cutoff and oscillator pitch. Bright orange pins mark the active connections.
Six gold plates in the middle of the console appear to be the Ample’s touch keys, each sending a set voltage when tapped. A compact keyboard handles everyday playing below them. Knobs, switches, and pins share one tall panel, which gives the instrument the look of a vintage studio console.
Effects and the Atari
The signal next passes through the Zen Delay, a stereo delay built by Erica Synths with London label Ninja Tune. Coldcut’s Matt Black co-conceived it. It combines a tempo-synced delay, a 24dB multimode filter, and valve overdrive, which suits warm, dubby sounds with some grit.
An Industrialectric RM-1N reverb pedal follows for extra space. Hultén gave the effects their own section of panel, with knobs for feedback, drive, tone, reverb mix, and a control labeled drone. Reznor could build a full Ghosts-style soundscape without leaving the trent reznor synth station.
The Atari is an official 2600+, released by Atari and Plaion in 2023 for $129.99. It is an 80 percent scale replica of the 1980 four-switch model. It offers HDMI output, an enlarged cartridge slot, and support for original 2600 and 7800 cartridges.
Hultén moved that cartridge slot onto the main panel. Power and TV type switches flank it, echoing the original console’s controls. The monitor and joystick complete the setup. In the photos, the system runs Missile Command, a game in which your cities eventually fall. That suits Nine Inch Nails well.
Design details of the trent reznor synth station
Black panels with orange lettering mirror the old Atari cartridge labels, including the Missile Command cartridge in the slot. Horizontal ridges across the face echo the ribbed top of the original 2600. The knobs alternate between black and orange.
The biggest reference is the cabinet itself. The 2600 wore fake woodgrain, and Hultén answered with real hardwood. A grain-textured black panel on the back has an Atari logo cutout that glows red. Slim black legs give the unit the proportions of a mid-century cabinet.
Hultén’s 2022 NES-SY37 already paired a console with a chiptune synth. This trent reznor synth station puts an analog synth and a working atari 2600 synth rig side by side, with each part doing its own job. It is a one-off commission, so buyers cannot purchase one. The Ample, Zen Delay, and 2600+ are sold separately, which gives a determined builder a starting point. Reznor, though, should keep this one away from the stage.
If the Atari side of this build appeals to you, another project revives 1980s hardware aesthetics in a very different form. 3D-printed brick phone reviving 1980s style is worth a look for its nostalgic, hand-built take on classic gadgets.
Source: yankodesign.com
Frequently asked questions
Who built the Trent Reznor synth station with the Atari 2600+?
Swedish woodworker Love Hultén built the one-off synth station for Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor. It combines an analog synth rig with a working Atari 2600+ console.
What synth is at the center of the Trent Reznor synth station?
The sound source is an Analogue Solutions Ample, a handmade desktop synth priced at $2,499. Apart from its MIDI chip, its circuitry is analog, and it has three oscillators and a 24dB low-pass filter.
Can you buy a Trent Reznor synth station like this one?
No, the synth station is a one-off commission, so buyers cannot purchase one. However, the Analogue Solutions Ample, the Zen Delay, and the Atari 2600+ are each sold separately.
Which Atari model is built into the Trent Reznor synth station?
The station uses an official Atari 2600+, released by Atari and Plaion in 2023 for $129.99. It is an 80 percent scale replica of the 1980 four-switch model and supports HDMI output and original 2600 and 7800 cartridges.
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