Robotspeak

PLEASE OFFER CLASSES SOON! Please!
I’ve been only once, ultra unique spot. I moved to SF a couple weeks ago, and the actual first thing I did after the movers dropped my boxes off was head to Robotspeak. I find it hard to imagine that other stores like this exist within 5000 miles. I grew up abroad and could envision shops like this in Berlin… but I’ve never seen anything like it in the states.
I visited to ask about their upcoming class schedule and was told that they may or may not offer classes again. Also asked some basic questions about learning /​synthesis practice. I got some brief answers, and definitely felt like the owner wasn’t too welcoming of newbies (or at least me).
Pros:
1. This place looks like the inside of a spaceship. Super cool atmosphere, half-​sunken off the street. kraftwerk vibes very fitting of the niche.
2. Bursting with legitimacy. The owner knows his stuff down pat. Robotspeak is clearly a labor of love, a hundred times more authentic than your typical big-​box music store.
3. Tons of equipment available for purchase… and even though the monster rig is not really for sale, how many music stores do you know of where you can actually play a modular rig taller than yourself? I haven’t got my hands on it yet, but seems like a lot of fun.
4. Classes — not on offer as of my first visit, but definitely could be a great resource (see listings on the site). There are other music schools in SF & the bay, but Robotspeak is synth-​centric, offering a host of classes in circuit bending, analog synthesis and modulars. Cost is very reasonable, borderline cheap (I mentioned to the owner they could probably charge 2−3x more and he said they do it to spread the knowledge, not make money). Cool mentality.
5. Events /​meetups — Again, not experienced myself, but the fact that this even happens is a testament to the passion of the owners & staff.
Cons:
1. Not super organized (class schedule unknown /​TBD, though they are all listed on the site as if they’re still offered). Very DIY feel with more of a home garage atmosphere — seems like they figure class & event stuff out on the fly, probably based on community demand. Unclear whether classes will be offered or not.
2. The guy in charge clearly knows his stuff and was passionately demoing a piece of hardware to another customer as I entered, but once that guy left and I began talking with the owner, I didn’t get what I would call an enthusiastic response. I’m fairly new to synthesis & modulars, walked in with a lot of excitement, and was hoping for a friendlier exchange. To be fair it was probably the 500^th time the owner has been bugged by a beginner asking dozens of questions, looking for some free knowledge, so it’s hard to say how welcoming I would be in that situation myself.
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Overall, this place strikes me as a golden resource for those who already have some knowledge /​are specifically looking to purchase particular hardware. The store may not be best suited to beginners (I’m assuming newbies get the same response I did).
I tried to be friendly but didn’t feel very welcomed, even though there were zero other customers in the store for 90% of the time I was there. I felt as if I was wasting the owners’ time and that he was hoping for me to leave.
For now, I’m giving it 3.5 (rounded up to 4) stars as i seems like a super cool spot for those who can successfully engage the staff, as evidenced by the other reviews and the enthusiasm displayed by the owner while demoing a product to a prospective customer when I first walked in.
Hoping to spend a lot of time here as I learn. If they weren’t planning on offering classes early next year I’m not sure if I would return until I had a lot more knowledge, as I’d like to be able to engage the staff more fully.
Perhaps the class offerings will make a difference in creating a welcoming vibe for newcomers to the city & the store. I hope to find out if/​when classes begin again.
tl;dr Please offer classes!

Robot speaks is an interesting little shop that provides a different shopping experience then the usual local instrument place. It carries boutique instruments and effects that you would be hard pressed to find anywhere else in the city or anywhere else for that matter. The focus is on the high end and mostly with synths (especially modular) and they host related events and classes for electronic music. In theory this shop sounds like a cool place for those super heavy involved synth-​heads but unfortunately the place suffers from some fatal flaws despite it being obviously loved store ran by a staff that cares about what they are selling.
Having tried to go shop at this shop 7 or 8 times I have only been able to successfully enter the store front 3 times. This is due largely to the fact that they are open on strange days and business hours. The first time I finally managed to get in the shop and look around I found the owner twiddling with his modular setup full blast. This was 2 or three years ago. Having just had an event where the designer of a certain synth module lent him a unit to test he was deep into playing with it. I walked in and was ignored while I traveled around the space disappointed at the small selections on display in the tiny shop. I had over $ 1000 bucks in hand and was ready to purchase something but received seemingly no interest from the owner to do business. Another person walked into the shop later after me and immediately the owner gravitated towards him. Apparently he was a friend or a regular so they started chatting immediately still leaving me ignored. I left frustrated.
The next time I managed to enter the shop the owner was there again playing with some gear and checking emails in the back corner. This was a year after my last visit and I thought I would give the place another try because I was hoping the last time was just a weird one or something. I was again met with the same aloof treatment. Having visited the online shop I saw they had Elektron products sold in the store. I was extremely interested in testing out their machines so I came in to the store front hoping they had a unit to check out. I was disappointed to find this not to be the case. After finally tracking down the owner and telling him that i was interested in buying a unit he informed me they didn’t even have any units on site. For me it seems like a no brainer that if you have a storefront and are specializing in selling boutique items you should at least have what you are selling for people try. Why would someone bother to come in if the only way to order a unit is first to ask for them to order it for you? Why not just order it directly from a supplier that has a stock of units online instead of going between a middle man who has to do the exact same thing you are doing and take longer? It seems like a silly business practice to me. I asked a staff member about the classes they provided and he straight up told me to look it up online because he didn’t know and didn’t want to look it up. I walked out again.
The third and final time I came to Robot Speaks a few months ago I walked in to find that they were doing an event. It was not advertised nor was it posted on the website. I walked into be a customer but ended up being a spectator. It was rather annoying to find this as I wanted to buy something but in all fairness the performers were pretty sweet. They were all doing fully analog modular sets and it was fascinating to watch. They finished up and I went walking around the store looking to purchase a echo pedal that I saw they sell. I never had the chance because the people kept talking and congratulating themselves on each other’s setup. After waiting for an hour for the store to function like a store (after the performances) I was now being ignored again as a customer. I was over it and left. Before I walked out I over heard the business owner talking about how they were several thousand dollars in debt to a company they order from and I find it to be no surprise.
I think that is going to be the last time I check out the store with the mindset of buying. Maybe I will check out some of the events but I don’t think I will ever purchase anything. It’s a shame because I was really excited about finding a place that offered and specialized in the rare niche things I am interested in and obviously by passionate and knowledgeable people. Unfortunately between the poor customer service I have received, impractical confused business models, and rather inconvenient business hours this store has lost my respect and interest as I can’t justify driving 45 min into the city to receive this poor treatment and service.
I will give this place 2 stars at the very least for being unique and having soo much potential but I will never recommend business with them based off of my experiences. Some people may have the patience to deal with this but I don’t. I am looking for a place with a little more professionalism.

Robot Speak is a great store and quite unique for the Bay Area. I’ve taken a couple of electronic music and acoustic theory classes here and they were a lot of fun. Steve is pretty cool and let’s you mess with the modular to figure out what you want to buy. Lots of new and used gear and a beautiful picture of Bob Moog on the wall. You can tell it’s a labor of love.

Don’t expect this place to be your typical music store. It’s more like someone out there opening their doors for those interested in modular synths and the latest in electronic music producing gadgets into his basement. It’s as if it’s his own garage (definitely has that feeling), and shows off his gear. He plays with them, demoing them as if each unit is a plate at a 7 course meal at an exclusive restaurant only few have the honor of experiencing. And it’s that friend that shares his passion for his discoveries that makes you want to make music yourself. Except that instead of coming home empty handed with nothing but inspiration, you come away with his magical loot!

I wanted to like this place, as I’m super into music tech. But I’ve tried twice to visit this shop during their posted business hours and they’ve been closed. Their hours are very erratic to begin with so I made sure to check the website before heading over there. The last time I had biked all the way over from the sunset for the sole purpose of visiting the store, and was pretty frustrated to find all the lights off. If you’re going to have your customers go through the trouble of having to conform to your erratic scheduling, don’t add insult to injury by not being available during those hours. Maybe they’ve become better now, but they’ve lost my business forever.

excellent place for all your dj/​vj toys! owner steve is very knowledgeable and helpful and will let you play with the gear before you buy. he’ll put you in touch with real people (not some corporate generic support number) to help you get started with whatever you get. they also offer classes esp in ableton it seems

Just had the best experience of walking into an electronic instrument store, and getting exactly the info I needed about connecting my keyboards to my Mac, so that I can both compose and perform live.
Steve gave me a quick demo of Maschine with Ableton Live, which is a kick-​ass combination. This guy was generous and very knowledgeable.
To the complainers, small shops like Robotspeak are getting squeezed out of existence, due to local musicians not buying local at shops like Steve’s. Work with him. He’s competing with online retailers that ship massive amounts of product, but have no local presence, or the kind of in-​depth knowledge Robotspeak has to offer.
I’m definitely going to attend their classes and buy my gear through them. You should too, if you care about SF. Lower Haight is about more than hipster T-​shirts and bars, so let’s keep it that way and buy from shops like this.

Analog Synths? check
Knowledgeable staff? check… they’re nice and coo too
Cables & Software? yup
Circuit bent toys? check
Classes? oh yeah
Live Performances? you betcha
Used Gear? yiiiip
New school, old school and diy gear? oh yu kno
Modular synths might be the only thing missing at this joint. :) perhaps i just haven’t been there on the right day…
a crucial component to SF’s audio community
to top it all off, you’ll probably be able to take something for a test drive… if you’re nice
f*** the fat cats Gutter Center, Best Barf and the like.
Support Local Businesses!!!
Robotspeak for life!

There’s something about walking down the stairs to the basement that is Robotspeak. Your eyes will want to absorb this micro-​museum of electronic audio and your hands will want to tinker with the newest hotness. The owners are chill and when I bought some software a year ago they were able to answer all of my questions. This is a great local business.

This place is in my neighborhood and I’ve passed it and peeked in the windows many times.
I got Logic 9 for Christmas and had no idea where to start to learn it. I called Robotspeak and Steve and I started a correspondence which led to him coming in on a day when the shop was closed and spending a few hours with me getting me started.
The information was great and he’s been available to answer my stupid beginner’s emails since — without making me feel stupid, I might add.
Now that I’ve actually ventured inside and have seen all the cool stuff they have, as well as the great service, I’m sure I’ll be returning for more classes, equipment and hopefully to some of their events!

My favorite little music shop in San Francisco. Extremely friendly, knowledgeable and a very decent selection of instruments in stock that seem to cater to the electronic musician. I was able to get some out of stock gear last minute for a show we had at a good price. In fact they were the only place in the bay area that had it. I ended up staying to shoot the Sh*t with one of the owners and play with gear for over an hour after my purchase. If only I had time to hang out there more often…

Great service here and they had just what I wanted. Very knowledgeable too.
I showed up just as they were closing but the guy was still accommodating and even insisted on waiting for me while I pulled my car up, can’t beat that service! Definitely support this great independent store.

These guys could literally not be cooler. Next time you want to buy some gear, consider spending your hard earned dollars with these guys instead of going with the big chain stores– the added value they give in brain power and service are so worth it, and you have to ask yourself… what if Robot Speak was not there anymore?
BUY YOUR STUFF FROM ROBOT SPEAK.

These guys are unbelievably understanding. And accommodated my every need. I am not gonna lie, I was kinda a pain in the ass and they were patient and went out of there way to make me happy.
This is an incredible store. Support small businesses… like this one!

You need to visit Robotspeak if you:
–produce any kind of electronic music.
–are a circuit bending mad scientist.
–love analog synthesizers.
–want to see the latest trends in music production/​performance.
–want to see some cool musical toys you have never seen before.
–have any questions about music hardware or software.
–find yourself bored in the lower Haight.
What an incredible use of such a small space! Fabulous store with very friendly, helpful staff. I have turned several of my friends on to this spot and they all seem to find something different to be excited about there. Very valuable resource for the modern DJ/​producer/​noise maker.

I really liked this store because of these reasons:
* Unique, one-​of-​a-​kind store.
* One-​on-​one service and knowledgable. The man I talked to was possibly an owner or at least an employee very invested in the store. He dissuaded me from buying something that would have cost more money because he thought it would fit my needs better.
* Friendly to non-​audiophiles. I love audio recording and sound, music, etc, but I’m no gearhead. I was able to have a productive, non-​condescending conversation in layman’s terms.
* Small but cute store packed with cool stuff. It’s fun to just look and drool at the awesome stuff.
* Priced the same as chain stores, but you get to support local business. And you get much better service from someone who cares about his customers. Not some spotty teenager talking down to you.
Im case this matters, I was looking for an interface to record with a condenser mic in Final Cut. I was going to get an mbox because I didn’t know what else to do. Instead I bought TC Electronics Konnekt 6 — it’s great. I was told it’s better for my needs because the mbox isn’t always compatible with other programs.

This is by far one of the best toy stores in San Francisco!
Robotspeak is to an audio geek, what Good Vibrations is to women.
They have everything from audio interfaces, audio & MIDI sequencing software, software synths, virtual instruments, keyboards, dj equipment, drum machines and MIDI control surfaces.
One of the things that separates them from any other music store is that they have hard-​to-​find gadgets that you would normally only see or find online.
Another thing that separates them from other music stores is the fact that the guys who work there are really knowledgeable and helpful.
Electronic Musicians: Places like this are part of what make San Francisco so cool and unique.

Robotspeak has synths (both integrated keyboards and modules), midi keyboard controllers, audio and midi cables, audio and midi interfaces for your computer, studio monitors, keyboard stands, effects boxes, drum machines, and lots of software. You can expect a totally straightforward shopping experience with personal and honest attention from real musicians.
You won’t find a lot of the mainstream synth/​workstation brands here like Roland, Yamaha, Alesis, Korg (although they often have the microkorg in stock). Instead, expect some lesser-​known brands like Elektron, Dave Smith Instruments, Access, Future Retro, and MFB. Give them a try if you haven’t! Robotspeak also carries Moog synths. I haven’t touched any of those because I think I would like it too much, if you know what I mean.
Watch out for those glass display cases! Seeing a little synth module in there makes me want it instantly, for some reason. One day, I wandered into the store because I needed some audio cables, and I saw the DSI Evolver in the display case. When I got home, I went online to learn all about the Evolver. It wasn’t long before I returned to the store to buy it.

This is the sort of store that makes San Francisco unique. It’s small and quirky and they usually have the basics. If you’re a music producer or want to get into production check this place BEFORE Guitar Center for «Electronic» equipment (Guitar center for acoustic). When I was in here a few weeks ago they had just been robbed by some crack heads and the staff was dealing with the aftermath. They still took the time to talk, and remembered when I had ordered something from them way back (Via phone on another coast).
To some this place might just be a basement walkup with some instruments, but to me it’s a hidden treasure.

During my move out to the west coast last year, I sadly had to part with some of my music gear from my home studio *sniff* … So I was thrilled to find a store like Robotspeak, just what I needed to outfit my new home studio with sorts of great gear! The store itself is small and cozy, the staff knowledgeable and you can take any piece of hardware *and* software for a spin. The folks and service here are a very welcome change to the abuse I sustain most times I walk into a Guitar Center.
They even host monthly Robotspeak sessions where local artists come to jam out and talk about their music.