“Which sounds better?” The Technics SL-2000 is a series of direct-drive turntables for the consumer market. It was produced from 1976 to 1978.

This series of adverts was issued in 1977 by Matsushita Electric / Panasonic, promoting consumer-oriented audio equipment made under their Technics brand. They pair two typefaces with flared stem endings, Albertus and Optima. Technics ads used this combination already in 1976.

The Technics RS-615US and RS-630TUS are tape decks produced in 1977 and 1978.

The Technics SL-1950 is an entry-level turntable with automatic changing function.

Most of the cover type is set in Erbar-Grotesk halbfett – with the exception of the year 1932 and the house numbers 11 and 12: these are added from Futura fett. Maybe the printer didn’t have numerals in these sizes at hand. The oldstyle roman is Tiemann-Mediäval.

This posts features selected pages from the guide published for the Mitteldeutsche Funk- und Phono-Schau that took place in Leipzig in the fall of 1932, including the front and back covers and a number of interior pages, with infographics and adverts.

We get to see a range of period typefaces, all released by German foundries in the first third of the 20th century. The oldest one among them is Aviso, which appears for the labels on page 23, listing commonly used electrical circuit symbols. Aviso was first cast by Berthold in 1903. The monolinear italic might have been chosen for its similarity to DIN 16, the standard letterforms used in technical drawings. See the captions for more notes on the type.

The printing – and probably also the design – was done by Leipziger Buchdruckerei AG, a local company with ties to the Social Democrats.

The “Central German Radio and Phono Show” was the third major radio exhibition by the Leipzig chapter of the Arbeiter-Radio-Bund Deutschlands (ARB, “Workers’ Radio Federation of Germany”). In the foreword, the organizers write (translated):

Despite the severe economic crisis, the ARB has taken it upon itself to organize this exhibition. Since the last major exhibition (ARA 1928), transmission and reception technology have seen an upward trend that shows no signs of slowing down. This exhibition is intended to be more than just a promotional and sales event. It aims to introduce the layperson to the wide-ranging and fascinating field of radio technology. The technical processes are explained to visitors in a simple manner, organized into educational groups, using models and practical demonstrations. For the ARB, the goal is to familiarize listeners with the technical processes involved in radio broadcasting. The dissemination of technical knowledge is a cultural endeavor that should not be underestimated and forms the foundation for the ARB’s cultural mission.

The inner cover advertises capacitors, transformers and other parts to DIYers who build their own radios. It uses the same typefaces, with a headline in Energos. The monolinear sript was first cast by Schriftguss in 1932, making it the youngest one used in this booklet.

The text typeface is Säculum. Note the use of tracking for emphasis at the beginning of the last paragraph. The heading uses Erbar-Grotesk with a ch ligature and the standard German quote marks.

The ad by Ludwig Fries relies on Erbar-Grotesk’s space-saving schmalhalbfett style.

The electrical symbols, labeled in Aviso

Tables with values for the electrical resistance of various types of wire and the weight of one meter of wire

Ohm’s law and a formula for calculating the power handling capacity of resistors

The ad for radio journal Die Mirag pairs Energos with two weights of Erbar-Grotesk. The copy is in the Zweite Garnitur that is distinguished by a shorter x-height.

More Energos with Erbar and Tiemann-Mediäval for an by Radio-Schnorr. The logo at the top has handdrawn letters.

Schaub’s ad introduces Kreß-Versalien. The arrow was composed from several sorts, see the small gaps between them.

The Telefunken ad on the back cover uses Futura together with Signal. This script typeface was first cast by Berthold in 1931, one year before Energos.

The OffBit typeface appears in the interface and marketing materials of IKKO ActiveBuds, a device developed by IKKO Tech and introduced with the tagline “World’s First AI-Smart TWS Earbuds!”.

Within the interface, OffBit – particularly the DOT style – is used as a display typeface for key labels and visual highlights. Its modular dotted structure recalls early digital displays, adding a subtle retro-computing character to the device’s visual language. For functional information, the interface pairs OffBit with clean sans-serif system fonts as a companion.

Darlene is a new effects pedal created by Heather Brown Electronicals. Brown describes its voicing as “intentionally neutral. No color, no smear. Just preserved dynamics with rich sustain, natural attack, and silent operation.”

Designed by Graham McClanahan, this pedal goes all-in on typography. Nearly the entire face (!) of the pedal is occupied by the pedal’s name, typeset in Fit. The letters are arranged in a 4×2 grid, with “DARLENE” set in Fit’s Normal width and “COMPRESSION” squeezed into the upper right cell, stretching the typeface to its narrowest, least-readable limit!

The pedal’s dials have labels set on a circle in Avenir Next Condensed. Supplemental information on the side is Heather’s handwriting, digitized!

McClanahan said about the choosing the typeface:

I was actually scrolling Adobe fonts a while back and FIT stood out immediately, so I saved it and played around with it but didn’t really have an application. When I worked with Heather a few months later, we tried a lot of different artwork iterations and nothing really seemed right and then I stumbled upon FIT again. It was my first time using a variable typeface in print so it was a lot trial and error and fun. True to its name it just fits anywhere and has so many possibilities (I probably did over 50 different versions initially because it was so fun). Also this being a compression pedal FIT seemed natural here. Absolutely brilliantly crafted. Something that also worked so well is Heather was hoping to have someway to emphasize DAR on Darlene because of a family member’s nickname that inspired the theme/name of the pedal. This wasn’t really working with the other iterations we went through and we were ready to ditch it but with how flexible the layout possibilities are on FIT it was a huge win to incorporate that in the final. Most importantly David’s typeface carries the design so credit to his brilliance here and I’m excited to see more of what’s to come from him.

As the font’s designer, I couldn’t be more thrilled with this application of Fit… this is the kind of thing it was born to do!

Packaging

Packaging interior

Cambridge Audio is one of the UK’s great audio success stories. An independent British company, quietly making some of the world’s best hi-fi products since 1968.

For decades, they’ve been trusted by audiophiles, renowned for brilliant sound, obsessive engineering and quality that lasts. But while the products kept getting better, the brand hadn’t evolved at the same pace. Our role was to open it up: to help Cambridge connect with new audiences and build long-term relevance.

This wasn’t about reinvention. It was about surfacing the energy that was already there. Giving the team confidence to move beyond the traditions of hi-fi, and position the brand at the heart of new music culture in ways that had always shaped the business behind the scenes.

At the centre of the new direction is a simple brand idea: Made by Music. A reminder of the soul, spirit and feeling that inspires every product they make. It became the filter for every decision, reconnecting the brand with what drives it and providing an emotional, authentic and expansive foundation for the future.

Visually, the identity balances expression and craft. We kept the iconic circular marque but undocked it from the logotype so it can be used more creatively. The wordmark was refined, and a new typographic system introduced to balance premium restraint and cultural energy.

Over the past 12 months, we’ve helped bring the brand to life across every touchpoint. We rebuilt the website from the ground up, making it easier for people to explore, compare and find the right product.

We launched the Melomania A100, Cambridge’s new in-ear headphones, to shift perception and invite new listeners in. We redesigned packaging to reduce environmental impact and turn the unboxing moment into a meaningful connection. And we worked closely with product and engineering teams to rethink the interface design, ensuring the product experience feels every bit as considered as the sound.

Cambridge is a company built by people who live and breathe music. Our aim was to bring that passion to the surface – creating a brand that feels as bold, smart, and soulful as the products themselves. We’re excited for what comes next.

In Amsterdam’s excellent music recording studio IJland, a Telefunken Magnetophon M5 broadcast or studio deck is used to “glue” digital audio mixes together by using old hardware. It has a magic touch with music production.

The Magnetophon tape recorder was one of the first recording machines to use magnetic tape in preserving voice and music. The brand name Magnetophon – introduced in 1935 by AEG and later continued by Telefunken – became the generic word for the tape recorder in a lot of languages. On this device, it’s shown in outlined script letters based on Signal.

Лель (Lell, sometimes also transcribed as Lel) was a Soviet brand of musical instruments including analog synthesizers. Its logo is based on Bronisław Zelek’s New Zelek, with widened proportions.

The devices were manufactured at the Lyubertsy musical instrument factory in the Moscow region of the USSR.

The series included the UDS, an electronic drum kit with a synthesizing unit and two drum pads (with a rubber surface) on a stand; the PSR, a digital drum machine; the RC, a digital multi-effects processor; the SM, an electronic percussion instrument; and the DD, a drive distortion pedal.

The labels for the keys and controls use a Cyrillic typeface (or lettering) that appears to be related to Bank Gothic.

The DR-9 uses a logo in letters that resemble the Ustav script used for Church Slavonic (compare Blagovest). Other fonts include bold italic caps from Helvetica and Brush Script.

The AOS-100, made by Best Elektronik A.Ş., is a school bell timer/clock made for use in PA-integrated school bells that are used in Turkish public and private schools. It has 23 preset monophonic melodies, with additional functions such as playing the Turkish national anthem (İstiklal Marşı) and bells manually, automatic bell, announcement, holiday setting with one key, holiday mode, announcements, weekly lesson programs, automatic holiday days and a monochrome LCD display.

The device used Donald Handel’s Handel Gothic for information text. The Best logo is based on Othmar Motter’s Motter Tektura.

Variant with MP3 player and USB support

Plug Me In is an Atlantic Records jazz LP from 1968. The album features Eddie Harris “& his electric saxophone,” though the tenor saxophone in question is still an acoustic instrument. As we can see in the cover photograph by Lee Friedlander, Harris is sending a signal from his acoustic instrument into a Maestro W-2 effects unit – a “Sound System for Woodwinds” as it was originally pitched. Most of the playing album doesn’t sound particularly effected, though the altered tone is clearly audible in “Theme in Search of a T.V. Commercial.”

The cover design is by Marvin Israel, who used Allen Riptide here in a two-color and multiple-size setting (the dashes around the Mistral setting are enlarged from the other Riptide letters).

If you’re curious about the W-2, here’s a demo of it in use, and here’s a demonstration record of the W-2’s successor, the W-3.

Top control panel of the Roland MPU-100, with model number set in Eurostile and device description set in Corporate Image.

The Roland MPU-101 MIDI to CV Interface was a device released in 1985 that could convert multiple digital MIDI input signals into analog Control Voltage (CV) signals as output. This allowed musicians to have a way to use newer MIDI enabled devices with components that only supported the older CV format.

The device's model number is set in Eurostile and the description is set in Earth. Additional text is set in Helvetica.

Front panel of the Roland MSQ-700, with device number and description set in Corporate Image

The MSQ-700 Digital Keyboard Recorder was released in 1984. It was an 8 track sequencer that could record to memory as well as a tape I/O interface and transport controls to load and save performance data. It was one of the first Roland products to feature MIDI and has case styling similar to the TR-909 which was released the prior year. The device also supported Roland's proprietary data exchange format Digital Control Bus (DCB), which at the time was in the process of being phased out in favor of the more flexible and open MIDI standard.

The device model number and description are set in Corporate Image. Additional text is set in Helvetica

The Deluxe version of the Memory Man delay pedal from Electro-Harmonix debuted around 1977. As of 2024, It’s still (or again) in production, with a basically unchanged design.

The pedal name is set in VGC’s Barry and a bold condensed sans, possibly Kabel Black with straightened terminals. Labels are in Helvetica and sometimes also in Futura. The Electro-Harmonix logo is set in Skjald, see the dedicated post.

A blue-and-red version of the Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man from around 1977

This magazine ad from 1977 for the (non-deluxe) Memory Man is set in Baker Signet (or Baker Signete by Headliners, which offered additional weights) with Friz Quadrata.

The Nano Deluxe Memory Man is a compact version of the classic Deluxe Memory Man.

Radiotehnika RRR was considered one of the best musical equipment manufacturing plants in the USSR. It was located in the city of Riga in the Latvian SSR, but its roots predate the USSR. From the Radiotehnika website:

“VEF Radiotehnika RRR” was founded in 1927 in Riga, Latvia and had radio/audio production as a main activity. The company was given its present name Radiotehnika RRR (Rīgas radiorūpnīca – Riga Radio Factory) in 1941 joining two private companies: a joint stock company “Foto-radio centrāle A. Leibovic” established on 28 December 1927 and a radio production company “A. Apsītis un F. Žukovskis” established in 1934.

This plant produced both a vinyl record player and speakers.

The Radiotehnika logo as used in the 1980s is based on Kabel Black, in Latin letters. Eurostile Extended was used in the design of the 101 series, featuring a Cyrillic version for the Russian-language labels. The 101 series included an radio tuner (T-101), a vinyl record player (ЭП-101), an audio cassette player (М-201), and a 20-watt power amplifier (У-101).

Advert for the Bose model 111 and 101 speaker series in Japan from 1986 (see it in the June 1986 issue of Adlib). The large “BOSE 111/101” text is Helvetica Black, with Helvetica Compressed used for “101 MM-G”, “101 MM”, “111 AD”. Japanese text seems to be set in DNP Shuei Mincho [or rather Ishii Mincho, see comments]. The slogan “Better sound through research” below the Bose logo appears to be some sort of humanist typeface – Basilea comes close. Though the 1 on the digits at the bottom is hard to identify, it appears to be Helvetica Condensed, or some other Grotesk like Univers.

The Electro Harmonix Electric Mistress Flanger/Filter Matrix, designed in 1975–1976 by David Cockerell, was the first ever flanger to be made in a pedal format.

This particular version was available between 1976 and 1981. “Flanger/Filter Matrix” is in ITC Serif Gothic. Knob labels are in all-caps Futura. The Electro-Harmonix logo is in Skjald, see the dedicated post.

Note: The unidentified type of the main Electric Mistress logo remains something of a mystery. Upon checking various forums, it's been hypothesised that this typeface is either custom lettering, or a modified version of an existing type such as DeCoro or similar.
[Edit: it’s Raflo, see comments.]

The Deluxe Electric Mistress was offered along side the original Mistress between 1978 and 1981 and later reissued in 1999, and now is discontinued.

Deluxe Electric Mistress XO, 2015

Left, the original pedal from 1978 using Marvin and right, the 2023 version using Marvin Visions

Anthony Rubolotta designed the re-issue of the Slap-Back Echo pedal by Electro-Harmonix, a rarity from 1978.

The original version designed by David Miller used Marvin and the 2023 version uses Marvin Visions. And though the form factor is different, the layout retains a similar design which ties them together in time.

The secondary fonts used for the labels are Helvetica (1978) and Futura (2023). The Electro-Harmonix logo is based on Skjald, see the dedicated post.

The new version on the pedal on its packaging

The 2023 version of the pedal

Goodhertz partnered with Chase Bliss to bring their popular audio software plugin, Lossy, to the pedal format. A description of the pedal from the Chase Bliss website reads:

Lossy captures the special kind of degradation that happens to digital audio when it’s shrunk, transferred, and compromised.

Streaming music on a 56k modem, an MP3 ripped from a CD-R, a viral video from 2007 played through a cellphone.

All the nasty and beautiful mistakes of heavily deconstructed digital audio in an easy-to-tweak real-time pedal.

VCTR Mono is used in the small text, labeling the controls. Poppins, the brand typeface for Chase Bliss, is used one some of the other labeling on the side of the pedal, as well as the logo.

The Lossy logo is custom drawn by Rob Stenson, who describes the process:

We've used a pixel version of that logo for the Lossy plugin for a long time, and for the pedal I wrote some more Python code to transform it (outlining, blurring, then autotracing with potrace). I originally made the pixel version of the logo myself, based on the title on devonwho’s Lyon album cover. I thought the album cover was custom lettering, but years later I found it used an actual font (either “Italic 08_55” or “Italic 08_56”, not sure which, both listed here), and that my recreation of L, O, S, and Y were pretty dang close to the original (not hard to do when it's a pixel font).

The Goodhertz logo is also custom. Rob Stenson describes its history:

James Edmondson (OH no Type) did the original Goodhertz logo (which is a riff on an early Motown logo), but I transformed that for the pedal w/ some Python code (I “flattened” it with the FlattenPen).

Front and back panel of the GR-700, as shown in the 1984 Roland GR-700 and G-707 Brochure.

The GR-700 Guitar Synthesizer, G-707 Guitar Controller, released in late 1984, and the GR-77B Bass Guitar Synthesizer, released around a year later, from the Roland Corporation.

The device names and model numbers are typeset in Earth, with altered A’s and a slightly different G. Numbers are also slightly different to those seen in listings. These may be yet unseen alternate glyphs or modifications. Earth was also used for the device names and numbers on many other Roland products released around the mid-1980s. Other text featured in the brochure and on the devices appears to be set in Helvetica. The type in the Roland logo, designed by Takuji Tomita and in use since 1972, is set in Univers 53.

Front cover of the 1984 GR-700 and G-707 Brochure. Model names are typeset in Earth. Note different A and G used.

Detail from the GR-77B

The GR-700 compared to the GR-77B. Note the different A’s used on each model, potentially constructed from an inverted U or V, or maybe unseen alternate glyphs included in Earth.

Front panel of the Roland TR-909, with model number and device name set in Earth.

From Wikipedia:

The Roland TR-909 Rhythm Composer, commonly known as the 909, is a drum machine introduced by Roland Corporation in 1983, succeeding the TR-808. It was the first Roland drum machine to use samples for some sounds, and the first with MIDI functionality, allowing it to synchronize with other devices. Though it was a commercial failure, the 909 became influential in the development of electronic dance music genres such as techno, house and acid.

The device name and model number are set in Earth, which is also used on other Roland products released around the mid-1980s. Additional text is set in Helvetica.

The TR-909 was designed by Tadao Kikumoto.

Angle view of the TR-909.

Menura, a German audio manufacturer based in Bochum and Berlin, designed the MDMX, an innovative modular DJ mixer: “The MDMX is designed to empower DJs with its advanced features and intuitive interface. It offers a versatile platform that caters to your unique style and creative vision, whether you're a professional DJ or an aspiring artist”.

The sleek and stylish design of the MDMX is complemented by the carefully selected fonts used in its branding. Maxi Round Mono (designed by Johannes Breyer & Fabian Harb with Andree Paat, and available from Dinamo) and Lausanne (designed by Nizar Kazan and released by TYPE.WELTKERN) perfectly capture the modern and artistic essence of the mixer.