Try the Tube Shot Darling...

Electronic music comes in many forms and is used for all purposes. In the 1980s one such purpose was a super sexy computer voiced pinball machine called Xenon. This was the first pinball machine to use a new and improved voice board allowing multiple and longer samples to run as the player turned on the machine and started flipping away. It also was distinguished as being the first female voiced pinball machine which makes sense since the sound design was done by none other that sound and synthesizer pioneer Susan Ciani.

By 1980 Ciani was both a classically trained musician and a critically acclaimed early adopter of electronic music instruments and composition. While trying to make her mark she lived in NY and combined her unique vision and skill set in the emerging field of commercial sound design. Of her commercial work she is probably most famous for the "pop and pour" sound of a Coca-Cola can being opened. She had accomplished many firsts including being featured on the cover of  fledgling Contemporary Keyboard magazine

Ciani's weapon of choice was an early Buchla modular and early examples of her work on this can be heard at her own excellent web page here: http://sevwave.com/electronic%20music.html


But it was the company Ballys and their new Pinball project Xenon that would carve out even more groundbreaking work using the new (at the time) technology of sampling. With the invention of new memory chips which could store larger amounts of recorded sound the new Pinball machines could talk to the player. And who better than the playful and creative Ciani to make the machine come to life? This was the 1970s after all so it almost made sense for an over-the-top sexy robot design to moan when you slide a quarter in it or for the Alien blinking lights to invite the player with an encouraging breathy "Welcome to Xenon" upon start up.

The full story is captured with all it's humor, ground breaking tech, and the combination of both Ciani's vision and sense of fun in this short documentary made back in the day: 




The Kickstarter funded documentary A Life in Waves on Ciani and her journey is currently showing at festivals and will be commercially released soon. In addition to her years as a classical pianist and composer she is also now performing Electronic music again including a recent concert for the Women and technology exhibition Making/Breaking the Binary: Women, Art & Technology (1968–1985)  and the upcoming Don Buchla Memorial concerts next week. 

I encourage everyone to keep up on her still full schedule and dig deep into the back catalog of this innovative and unique musician and composer who not only broke ground for women, Electronic music, and commercial sound design but did so without every compromising her spirit, creativity, or sense of joy. 

Tilt on!

“I have always been outside, and I’ve chosen to remain there" - Don Buchla

Don Buchla, Musical Instrument and Control interface inventor, engineer, and unique visionary passed away this month at the age of 79. 

Photo by Yotsuba&!

The NY Times obituary captures a bit of the flavor of his life and legacy and can be found here: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/arts/music/don-buchla-dead.html

I spoke with the man once and had the opportunity to see both he and his instruments and controllers perform in concert. He was drole, irreverent, quiet, and if you paid attention, funny. He eschewed the term "synthesizer" instead preferring to call his inventions "instruments" and even as he went away from traditional keyboard structures and western scale playing he always focused on the whole of an instrument as a vehicle to allow the player to make music. Indeed his most famous instrument was a portable collection of electronic mayhem he called the "Music Easel" which encouraged the user to mix colors of sound and paint something new. 

He wasn't a product of Hippie culture but he certainly contributed and drove it (literally and figuratively, he was behind the scenes in the Merry Pranksters and was on the famous van). He always lived and invented on the outside of what was expected both as a designer and in his business with financial gain being low on his list of priorities. During the beginning years of the analog synth revival he continued to focus on digital instruments that didn't make sound themselves but instead allowed users to play any instrument in a completely new and unique way.  His Marimba Lumina took midi controllers to a new level and created a percussion interface that could play crescendos and drones as well as hits and notes:

Not content to even touch an instrument Buchla invented the Lightening Controller which used space and area itself to create notes and dynamics:

Many people consider his return to designing and manufacturing boutique synthesizer modules as the culmination of his career and indeed his 200e system built upon and pushed his previous sound and interface designs further. I usually refer to modular synthesis as a "Masters Class" in synthesizer playing and if that's true then using a Buchla Modular is the doctorate program. Despite being perhaps the most complex and unusual instruments of their kind, Buchla steadfastly never wrote a manual for anything but the basics of how to turn on his modules instead insisting (and allowing) the user to make their own progress, mistakes, and discover new ways to "play" music in the process. 

My 200e System including DIY bits and bobs...

In his last few years Don Buchla experienced some health issues and sold most of his company and designs to the current Bucha Electronic Music Instruments (BEMI) company. Things did not flow smoothly and despite the initial praise and applauding of his vision one of the first products released was a more or less reproduction of the Music Easel from the 1960s. Despite the demand and interest in this instrument BEMI was plagued with production and quality control issues often taking thousands of dollars per unit in deposits from individual users and failing to deliver a working instrument for months or in some cases years. Don was never interested in repeating the past, only moving forward into the future and eventually something behind the scenes changed and he was fired from the very company that bears his name and sells his designs. A lawsuit he brought against BEMI was settled only a few months before his passing and the future of production and distribution at BEMI, while often promoted as being fine, is in an ongoing questionable state. 

Don Buchla didn't invite chaos but he also didn't impose order unless it was exactly what the user wanted. He opened notes, sound, and dynamics up for anyone curious (perhaps dedicated) enough to seek it out. His inventions - like the man himself some might say - were cranky, odd, occasionally misfired, and uniquely brilliant. Despite any earthly complications his legacy as a pioneer in art, sound, and space is not only secure but still waiting and encouraging us to explore what he left behind. 

Bleep and Bongo on.

Buchla has a Mind of it's Own...

I've been traveling for work and was home for a few days in between. I went to the studio where the main modulars are and flipped the switch to turn them on. 

This is what greeted me:



What I think was going on was the synth was patched up to the last demo I did of FM into the new Mike Peake (of Ebolatone fame) custom 258 module I received last month. 

However, the 200e has a preset manager and it seemed to recall a different preset. So when I turned it on it was patched for one thing and sent info to play another. This falls under the category of "happy accidents" I've talked about before. Ok, so perhaps not so happy but, well...  I was sufficiently amused to document it in this short clip. 

Enjoy as much and you can and bleep (carefully) on...

And now I shall say nothing more...

I recently came across an interview with actor Bryan Cranston where he commented on fame vs: acting. Among other insights he said that ever since he was 25 he had been making a living -  as and actor-  without ever having to do anything else. As far as he was concerned that was the pinnacle of success. The fact that he could continue to do what he loved made all other factors (fame, money, even recognition) irrelevant.

Many  artists don't make a living doing what inspires them, yet they continue all the same. There certainly are as many factors for this as there are people. In some cases artists don't even try to make a living or get paid for their "work. In others, attempts to do so don't work out. In almost all the cases where someone continues to create- with or without external encouragement - it's because they truly get their reward from the process itself.  It didn't need to be labeled and commodified but the whole "outsider art" movement is based on people with little or no formal training who create, seemingly in a vacuum, simply because they feel inspired to.

Then there are true artists like Eliane Radigue. She has formal training but it didn't come easy. She was a pioneer that most people never heard of . She knew exactly what she heard in her "mind's ear" and set out with her tools and determination to make it a reality.

I came across this fantastic documentary of her recently and believe it not only illustrates the intricacies of using a modular synthesizer (in this case the Arp 2500) but also show how these boxes are instruments and how and artist creates with one.  I've often used the terms "aural sculpture when trying to explain how modular synthesists  carve an piece from various sounds and sequences so I found it especially refreshing to see Mademoiselle Radigue mention the building of her sound is literally done in pieces within a frame of sound "like an architect who needs a scaffolding". She also explains that she uses scores and timing to perform her pieces. So much electronic music is done free form and improvised we tend to forget one can approach it with the same discipline and skill set as a classical composer.

Radigue describes taking months or even years to create a piece painstakingly building and taking away elements until it matched the piece in her head. She mentions how she spent ten years away from electronic composition and then when she returned she took another three months throwing out every conventional sound she knew until a tiny scrap of sound came to light and then, Voila! she built on that.

This kind of dedication (some might call obsession) can be found among all cultures and generations of artists. We are fortunate to have such an eloquent example to learn from and, most of all, enjoy.

Sweat, Surprise, and a New Track...

Perhaps you have heard the phrase "Creativity is 1% Inspiration and 99% Perspiration". The implication being you shouldn't sit around waiting to create, you need to work at it and be determined to both start and finish something. 

With my project "Sweeping the Noise Floor" it's necessary to focus to complete tracks and albums (let alone live shows which are a lot of work) but I really couldn't define the actual percentages. This is because almost all my tracks come out of a place where I don't have a specific sound or goal in mind at the onset. I assemble what tools I want to use and then  start slowly patching and building until something comes into focus. Once the initial inspirational sound is there I process to trying to mix levels, parts, etc live in a linear fashion to see what I can do with what I've found. If I'm still pleased with what's happening I progress to recording tracks live and then dumping and editing them on the computer doing the panning, levels, and perhaps adding more effects, fades, etc. 

If this sounds very fatalistic that's because, for this project at least, I try to set up an environment where things will fall into place. While it's obvious nothing would happen if I didn't put the effort in, I approach the instruments (and especially the modular synths) as something organic and acting a bit on their own. While I set certain wheels in motion it's also true I am constantly both pushing forward and sitting back at the same time. Does that count as "perspiration"?  I honestly don't know.

The more quantifiable parts of the track (working on the parts, mix, final master) are more rote and similar from any other track by the time I get to those stages. But that initial Something, that Je ne c'est quoi that starts the ball rolling? I would certainly give that a lot more than 1% credit - whereever  it comes from.

I didn't intend to create anything today. Parts of this track go back 3-4 years while the majority of it was composed and recorded all at once in less than an hour after my morning coffee. It's what I like to call a "surprise" in that I wasn't expecting to come up with anything and when I did I just went with the flow. 

Perhaps I'll do a "part 2" to this post where I'll describe the patch and how I came up with this ditty. (By all means please comment or email if you'd find that interesting and/or helpful!) But for now I'll just let the music do the talking. 

Close your eyes, relax,  and float on.

Inspirado, Hardware Vs Software, and Guest Speaker...

Part of the reason I started this blog was to learn more about the process of making sound. Half of that was me writing down my thoughts and processes and thus figuring out just what it is about music or gear that inspires me and others. The other half is listening to other's comments on similar topics and applying that input to what we all do be it composing, recording, or just listening and enjoying synthesis and sound.

I recently came across a lecture from 2009 by musician and synthesist Alessandro Cortini. Alessandro is probably best known as a keyboardist and synth player in Nine Inch Nails as well as his projects SONOIO and ModWheelMod. His biography may be especially interesting to readers of this blog  as he started out as a serious guitarist and his experience with synthesis came much later in his career first starting with software synths and plugins and then progressing to hardware instruments. He is now known as, among other things, a virtuoso of the Buchla Music Easel as well as other esoteric and classic hardware instruments. His perspective and journey offers some unique insights on the age old questions of just what prompts inspiration and how important are the tools and instruments to the composer and, in particular, an electronic musician.

Alessandro Cortini in the NIN Studios...

This starts very early in the talk when after describing his first experience with an actual vintage synth over it's virtual form he asks:

"Why is it so different when you have something in front of you that is supposedly the same thing and it's just I'm controlling it with the mouse in front of a computer and then I'm controlling with knobs when I have the real thing?"

Similar to my previous post he discusses the benefits of computer software but then that is followed by what could only be described as a love affair with the "actual" instrument and how that offers something special as well. The fact that the instrument he is using for his demo is a Buchla 200E modular, an instrument heavily featured on this blog, is a nice touch.

Other parts of the lecture that I found interesting were when he discusses how he went about recreating the synth and keyboard parts for classic and new Nine Inch Nails songs (perhaps a dream gig for many synthheads). Again, he gives a unique perspective on his "job" and walks the audience through the ups and downs of using electronic instruments and how that makes a difference on his inspiration as an artist.

The presentation is audio only and broken down into two parts where he speaks a little about his background and how he got into synthesis and then does an in-depth hands on demo of the Buchla 200e system. This has been linked on a number of sites but I'll include the page from the great site Synthtopia  since it includes both audio files in a useful streaming and downloadable player.

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2009/02/15/alessandro-cortini-buchla-200e-lecture-demonstration/

Study on!

Mixed Signals...

For those interested in what all this philosophizing on inspiration,  composing, and general sound mayhem adds up to I present my new full length album of heavy synthesis by Sweeping the Noise Floor, titled Mixed Signals..  I have been recording and mixing the material for this record off and on for a bit over three years. During that time I've acquired new tools and instruments, learned a few new techniques, and mixed and matched those integrating them into my vision of what Sweeping the Noise Floor should be.

To Stream the album in it's entirely you can click below or go directly to http://davidtalento.bandcamp.com/album/mixed-signals








Mixed Signals,  is a 12 song, hour plus culmination of my more free form all synth based material. Here is the description from the main release page:

This is the second full length Sweeping the Noise Floor studio album following up on 2007's "Baseline. Over Three years in the making "mixed Signals" showcases a growth of the overall Sweeping the Noise Floor sound and intention while maintaining it's creeping energy and dedication to emotional sound exploration. 

There is a lot of variety in these songs. Some evolve slowly while others tic and ping back and forth in the audio realm. Some ever have (gasp) melody while others take the listener to uncharted territory and aural locations. While the length runs over and hour you'll find different songs take their own path and time frame to get where they are going. 

A few of these tracks have been previous released over the years most notably "That Which Was Then Becoming" which appeared on the international compilation "Signs" dedicated to notated scores and Buchla Modular synthesis as well as on the synthesis and art blog:   SynthandI.blogspot.com 

Modular synthesis in general still take center stage including instruments by Buchla, Serge, Modcan, and various DIY manufacturers such as MegoOhm and DAEDSound.com. There are also older mono synths and some new additional tools such as custom Reaktor ensembles and very creative recording and mixing techniques. The end result is a step forward in sound exploration which, I believe, creates a cohesive whole. 

The "album" was specifically mixed and sequenced to be listened to in it's entirely, perhaps as background, perhaps as the main event. However you choose to apply it I thank you for your support and hope you enjoy it as much as I have putting it all together. 

DT Phila Pa, May 2013

To make things a little more interesting I'll be pointing out some highlights from tracks as I remember making them along with some insight into the process in upcoming posts. In the meantime feel free to listen, download, and enjoy. Comments are welcome and if anyone would like to do a published review or suggest someplace I should submit the album for review please let me know and I'll send off a free download code.

Headphones ON!

Studio Madness... quick pic

Candid surprise action shot taken by a friend visiting the studio of me playing the modulars...

Far left:  Frac system with Blacet, Metalbox, Paia, Bugbrand, Wiard, DAEDSound, etc. 

Center: Modcan A format system with Modcan, Cyndustries, DIY MegaOhm and DAEDSound modules. Includes converted Doepfer, Dotcom, Encore, and AS modules as well as Ian Fritz, Music From Outer Space, Flight of Harmony, and other source PCBs.

Right: Buchla 200E system with Buchla and DIY DAEDsound modules including Dotcom and Flight of Harmony modified modules

Patch on!

Welcome Back Analog (and then some!)

Synthesizer enthusiasts and musicians in general tend to love gear. Guitarists are notorious for lusting after a specific year/make/model of a Gibson Les Paul, Fender Telecaster, or even some more esoteric out of production cheap Japanese pawn shop special that captured their heart or imagination years ago. We tend to collect gear like baseball card enthusiasts collect their favorite teams or an antique dealer collects tea cups.  Part of this is for the different features, interface, or  sounds a particular instrument makes but if we're honest a lot has to do with the phenomena of simply wanting to try *that* or the thrill finding some rare piece has. There's even a tongue-in-cheek term for this illness, Gear Acquisition Syndrome (or G.A.S.  for short in internet speak) and it's only half in jest someone (usually a significant other or friend who doesn't understand the draw of a 1981 Ibanez Tube screamer with the original JS chip) throws their hands in the air and comments while rolling their eyes.  Yep, he's got G.A.S.

Online forums and mailing lists dedicated to esoteric analog and other synthesizers (read GEEKS) are ripe with decade old arguments of which synth is "better", why "X" is overpriced, how someone should just reissue a "holy grail" type long lost piece and why/how that will never be done, or was done, or was done but it wasn't quite *right* and the original is better, etc etc etc. Thank you Internet.

If  we were to push aside many of the minor conversations revolving around pure taste and opinion I believe  most of the complaints by gearheads come down to "I want one and I can't find it" or "it's so rare/vintage if I do find one I can't afford it."When you have G.A.S. common sense doesn't always drive your decisions and thus we get outrageous price tags on instruments only which a few years earlier were selling for 1/10th this week's cost.

It's ultra rare a company recognizes the small but vocal minority who want their vintage products. In many cases the synth went out of production for very good reasons with some being poor sales, it was too difficult/expense to mass build any more, or even it was a complete commercial failure upon it's release and only found new life in a new context years later.

I'm happy to report this week at NAMM (the National Association of Music Merchants) three old, long out of production products are being re-introduced to the general public. What many gearheads once only dreamed of is become a reality.  Three completely different manufacturers are selling  three classic, amazing, and highly sought after synthesizers for the first time in decades and all are being made available again in close to original specs. Each was lovingly and painstakingly (perhaps even fetishistically) reproduced by teams paying special attention to what made the original special and they have spent time and money over and above to "get it right". None of these are a quick and dirty clones or cash ins on hype.

Of course there will always be some who criticize and aren't satisfied but in looking at the initial reports of these items I'd say this is a DAMN fine time to play synthesizer and prices for NEW versions are infinitely more affordable than buying an ornery and perhaps delicate original which is also a huge plus.

Let's meet some of the class of 2013, all of who actually graduated a far back as the early 1970s shall we?

1. Korg MS20 -



The Korg MS20 is an odd duck in older analog monosynths. Moog had their buttery bass MiniMoog which even the most casual synth nerd (and most guitarists) knew about. Arp had the Odyssey, Sequential Circuits had the Pro One and all of these were sold by the boat load as lead, bass, sound effects instruments. But Korg went a little left of center and came out with the semi patchable, dual screeching filter MS20. Compared to the other synths of it's time it was... well, Weird.

Perhaps it's precisely it's unique design and sound that helped make it a favorite of  alternative bands from industrial to indie rock. The MS20 was never the good looking kid in the class but it's attitude won creative folks over from Skinny Puppy to  Richard James (Aphex Twin) to Portishead.  Korg has amazingly brought back this synth in all it's analog glory for a fraction of the price vintage ones go for. They're proud of this legacy and in an honorable Japanese tradition even rolled out the original designers for input in it's resurrection.

What does it sound like? Well it can be smooth or fluid but it's forte is processing external sounds and it's insane dueling resonant screeching filters. For a good example of it's sheer power check out my 1990s track "Night Nurse" where it builds menacingly  into a crescendo of sweeping freaknoise. Thank you Korg!




2. Cyclone  TT-303 Bass Bot

The TB303 "Computer Controlled Bassline" was an absolute failure by Roland Corporation standards upon it's release. It was supposed to substitute for a live bass player for one man bands and provide realistic low end accompaniment for lounge acts. It's infuriating programming and nontraditional sound made it more like a space age silver bleep box than a heavy four string guitar player. Which, as it turns out, is exactly what it became when poor techno musicians began scooping them up in pawn shops for pennies back in the 1980s. These re-appropriating  DJs soon figured out the quirks that made it fail as a bass guitar made it ideal for a new type of music that relied on repetitive beats, squelchy leads and basslines, and outrageous swirls of filtered and accented pulses that made your head spin. ACID was born and while some it it went the polite Acid House route, plenty of raw, rubbery, and downright dirty and fast recordings were made. The 303 made hardcore Acid possible and it became the DIY Punk of the techno world with all the good and bad that entails.

Over the years few electronic instruments have been as revered, hated, over used, and perfectly well adapted as the TB303. Used prices soared and literally dozens of clones were made over the next few decades. One could spend months researching and discussing the various good and bad points of all this but bottom line, the TB303 has a rabid following and without exception all of the various third party versions were *different* moving the quirks of it's sequencer, filter, or design around with "improvements" which left purists wanting. After a few years in the making it seems a true clone (down to the design, buttons, programming, and knobs) is emerging. The Cyclone TT-303 is a thrid party instrument (not a Roland product in any way) which has garnered praise from 303 experts around the world. Is it the new TB303? Regardless of where you come down on that decision it's amazing to see such a labor of love working to make this iconic instrument available again in all of it's glory.

For extra credit here's an amusing short documentary detailing the fall and rise of the invincible 303:



3. Buchla Music Easel -

Perhaps the most astonishing "reissue" product is the one no one ever thought would happen. Actually no one ever thought anyone would WANT it to happen! The Buchla music easel is a portable collection of  analog synthesizer modules with a touch control key like interface that boldly went where no instrument when before. While Robert Moog was designing instruments for traditional musicians Buchla went so left of center he created a Non-instrument instrument for sound freaks and true pioneers with input from forward thinkers like Morton Subotnick. Apparently only 30 or so were ever made and over the years it's legend has grown to mythic proportions with some prices creeping up over $20,000 if and when one ever showed up on the market.

Buchla  re-emerged in the 2000s with a new line of equally intense boutique synthesizer modules and took his legacy into the 21st century with the 200e system featuring unique oscillators, sequencers, and many pieces that simply defied categorization (his "filter module the 291e can also be a sequencer, oscillator, and amplifier for example). With the 200e and his unique interactive and spatial midi controllers like Thunder and Lightening  Buchla moved on and on with each new piece surprising designers, academics,and hardcore modular freaks at every turn.

So it was shocking in all these circles this week when the newly formed Buchla Electronic Music Instruments (BEMI) announced a full scale reissue of the original "Music Box" complete with touch pressurized keypad, original programming cards (solder your own resistors to make your patch kids!), and faithful reproduction of all of the components. For synth nerds the Music Easel is the Holy Grail and the rarest of the rare. Add to that it was just so damn esoteric and non commercial it's new life would seem a bit of a puzzle. But times (and tastes) have changed and, again, it's a good time to enjoy odd sounds.

So now, apparently, the Music Easel  will be available not only again but truly - for the general public - for the first time in mass production. Price is not cheap as it's rumored to be around $4000 plus extra for the new interface add ons (Blue tooth and Ipad interfaces will apparently be made available - for a 50 year old synthesizer!!!).

Still amazingly BEMI seems poised to be moving forward even as they look to the past. The man has done it again.

Here's  the obligatory tacky interview and a description of the 2013 Music Easel:

So there you have it. Three entirely different companies in different countries with different structures making odd instruments that were so ahead of their time it's taken over 40 years for some of them to be in demand.  Who knows what the future will hold for these designs (or their offspring)? Perhaps this signals a renewed interest in hardware instruments VS VSTs and Apps? Maybe the tactile user interface and features that have stood the test of time will once again dominate the electronic music world (or at least happily co-exist in it)?

But such discussions will be around and are for another day.  This week, let's simply enjoy the bounty that these new classics offer and all together... Bleep On!

Demo. Track. Yes.

Earlier this month I sat down to do a post on the joys of the Buchla 261e oscillator. I've previously posted about how uniquely sophisticated and organic this digital/analog hybrid Oscillator is and I find myself coming back to it over and over again for all sorts of tones, timbres, and classic waveforms.  Like many Buchla modules the 261e contains much more than meets the eye. it's CV controllable modulation oscillator offers evolving waveforms and the main sine wave, while digitally generated, is extraordinarily round and wooly.  I've also raved about it's built in filtering and timbre controls which make this a number of modules in one. 

So with more exploration in mind I sat down to do a demo of both oscillator sections with a little tweaking. I  built up a series of complimentary sequences on the 250E and assigned various gates and CVs to the waveform input, and both pitch control inputs.

One thing lead to another and I "rolled tape" to capture my simple demo run through.  Then I liked what I was hearing so I separated the two oscillators and did a few more takes. Then I started to carve out three distinct lines from the 261e including both sine wave outputs as well as the modulated multi-waveform modulation oscillator output. Along the way I started tweaking the filter and timbre controls in time with the sequence to create something a bit more sophisticated that I originally intended and took the raw WAV files and started messing with volume and panning and fades to sculpt something musically out of the raw material.

Next thing I knew I added another synth (MS20VST) played live over top. A bit  more editing,  some added reverb, and by the time I was done I decided it really wasn't a demo anymore. So, now we get a new completed track.  I told you before how the 200e has a way of convincing me to do more than I thought I would.  This is certainly still a solid demo of what the 261e can do. I suppose it's good to know that might sometimes be more than even I intended.

This track is available for free streaming and download at Name-your-own-price including free as part of my new singles collection at the bottom of my bandcamp page here:  http://davidtalento.bandcamp.com/. Feel free to sample the other ware while you are visiting and, of course, bleep on.

Buchla Ambient Track and "Accidents"

Following up on the track I posted in the previous entry, here is a bit more information on how it came about and some insight on what I perceive to be the creative process and how it can be enhanced by modular synths and organic technology in general.

The track started out as a short beat drive sequence at about 120BPM. Not very fast but certainly more rhythmical and up tempo. I also took advantage of the modular nature of my instruments by cross patching different systems. I ran the 259e oscillator into the Modcan Digital delay and a custom Analog Solutions Comb Filter built into ModcanA format.  I then went to the 261e and patched it into a low rumble drone that used internal feedback between it's Primary and Modulation oscillators. Dedicated readers of this blog might remember how amazed I was at the low "BoooooM" the 261e sine wave can spit out and I have been fascinated by it's capabilities ever since.

I had both oscillators being run by the 250e sequencer which was sending CV out to the pitch in of each osc and then also sending gates and triggers to the 281e envelopes and 292e gates. To make things a bit more interesting I started to program the pulse and CV in on the 250e and set it to different combinations of strobe and various advance/enable/sustain modes on the start/stop section.  As with a lot of my tinkering I wasn't entirely sure where I was going but I was trying different things to see if I found a sound or rhythm that appealed to my mindset at the time.

This is where I feel modular synthesis in general, and the Buchla 200e system in particular, helps to inspire me. Patching and programming modules is a far cry from picking up a guitar or sitting at a piano and hitting a key. Yet, at their core, they are all instruments used for making music. With a guitar you can bend the string or slide your finger up the neck to reach another note or tone. One a piano you can hit the key fortissimo or barely press it so the hammer slooowly meets the felt and the note is more or less coaxed out.

A modular synthesizer, by it's definition, offers openings and access to sound building blocks that don't exist in hardwired or closed systems. It's the fumbling with the interaction of these parts that make the equivalent of a sustained note or muted string to me. I feel my way around the patches starting with something more or less straight forward (in this case I wanted to process the 259e and have a sequence play the 261e sine wave) and then mutate and bend the patch until it starts to peak my interest. I call this the synth "talking back" to me and I often refer to it as a very organic process. With something as complex as the 250e sequencer and the modulation possibilities of the 200e's oscillators it's entirely possible to have the instrument come up with aural combinations and results you didn't expect. If you are going into the composition process looking to allow this to happen "happy accidents" can occur which bring about completely new directions for your music.

This is exactly what happened with the track in question. I usually make a patch I'm comfortable with and map out the modulations and mixing I am going to do in real-time and then sit down and record the track live pretty much sticking to my plan. I set up everything to what I believe it's  "start point" should be and pause the recorder anticipating I'll press go and we're off capturing what I laid out in my rehearsals and preparations. This usually involves stopping or rewinding the sequencer (or other tempo generator) and, in this case that is exactly what I did. What happened next, however, was the perfect "happy accident".

Instead of silence when I stopped the 250e I heard this fascinating organic drone emit from the Buchla. A strange pinging tone (a combination of the 259e modulated A/B waves and the comb filter and delay apparently)  started  *talking* completely alien to my involvement.  It was as though I had created an aural Golem and had set it loose and it wasn't until I stopped the sequencer and it's notes from pushing everything forward that I realized the patch was already moving.

I sat for a few moments stunned by the sound it was creating. Slowly I started to mix in the 261e and realized by turning up the level on the 292e I could allow enough of the strong sine wave through so it would feedback. It sounded like one of Robert Fripp's 1970s feedback guitar solos and with some practice I was able to "play" the 261e in this sustain/feedback mode like an instrument in and of itself. The final piece came through when I started to manually shift the steps on the 250e. By not clocking them I had full control over when the notes of the pre-programmed sequence changes. I could go forward, backward, or even skip steps as I saw fit with both the other tones flowing from the manual tweaks I gave them.

The result is the track "Down the Hill Backwards", a  titular nod to Brian Eno. I sat down to make a straight forward up tempo melody oriented electronica track. The modular, however, had other ideas and it wasn't until I stopped and listened to what it was telling me that I realized I had created something entirely different. The ability to interact with and instrument like this is what makes a machine "organic" and the creative process inspiring to me. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I do.

Here is the track one more time:




Talk on.

New Buchla 200e Ambient track...

I've been busy in the studio again. Will upload a more complete post including patch details soon but for now enjoy this new track courtesy  of the 200e and some odds and ends.

You Got Chocolate in my Peanut Butter... and Inspirado..

Being an old Industrial/Noise guru I have always appreciated the clangorous metallic sounds that Frequency Modulation synthesis can offer. Being an experimental sound freak I have always liked the idea of mixing external sounds into the "wrong" input on modular synths and getting unexpected results. Feeding audio into CV inputs is one trick that never disappoints.

The Buchla 200e oscillators offer many options to get low bit rate aliasing and  glitch sounds. The 259e on it's own does weird wavetable freaknoise if you sweep it or even sometimes just try to track it via a quick CV or trigger. The 281e envelopes have a loop mode that can be organically triggered then modulate other audio parameters in an unusual rhythm (especially when fed by a Source of Uncertainty).

Yet sometimes I just can't resist messing with things further.

Here are a few experiments feeding the audio of a Vintage analog beat box (Roland TR606) into the FM inputs on the 200e. This causes glitching and twisted pitch triggering and gives an example of how you can make experimental music all the more... well, Experimental. 

First up is a stereo mix of the drum machine on one side and the 261e on the other. The clip starts with the solid tone of the 261e and then the Drum machine starts in. You can hear both together to give you an idea how audio modulates the Frequency of the oscillator. This is a far cry from trying to track the filter to pitch but of course that is the whole point. Throughout the clip I also manually tweak the Timbre controls a bit.

Second, we travel a little further down the rabbit hole. This is a clip of just the 259E audio with no dry signal. I'm messing with the waveform mix as well the Timbre. This is a good example of audio Frequency Modulation and what is can do for you (outside of scare cats and neighbors). 

Finally all this noise messing did what it usually does - it inspired me to try and do something more deliberate and "musical" (insofar as synth noise is musical).  This clip actually doesn't include any FM from the above examples but having heard those sounds for an hour or so I was curious about feeding the audio into more traditional inputs and seeing if I could get something in the same spirit.

This clip has the Drum machine being fed into the Preamp and then I'm taking two outputs from that. One is feeding a single channel of the Lowpass filter only section of a 292e and the other is going into my DIY Flight of Harmony Plague Bearer with the Source of uncertainty modulating the VCA input on the Plague bearer. Is it the "same" as the FM experiments? Well no. But can you see where one thing leads to another? If you can then welcome to the road of Inspirado...

Travel On...

Bzzzz (Guest speaker)

I've been working on a post explaining some of the unique philosophy of Buchla Modules and, in particular, the 250e sequencer.  It's clearly going take a little more time and in the process I posted on a forum for some advice and hints. The great 7th Dan has been very helpful and in fact has a series of instructional videos on  200e modules among other things so while I'm still working I thought i'd give him some press here.

His Blog is here: http://www.niklaswinde.com/index.html

For those not entirely interested in detailed how to videos there are also things like this video as well as some pretty handsome cat pics. Something for all synth geeks!

All sorts of goings on...

It's been a while since I've posted but it's not for a lack of activity. I have a new album from  Sweeping the Noise Floor almost finished, there are huge goings on from Buchla and Associates, and there are plenty of synth and noise machines floating around for upcoming posts.

To get us going here is a quick theme I did on the Yamaha SK30 organ/string synthesizer. Live one take old school and I even left the recorder "shut off" click at the end to add some lofi mojo :)



Here is a brief update of the new Buchla Company 

The first new module, the 267e is now available as well as a new ultra portable completed system the Buchla Skylab  which many are calling a new "Music Easel" type unit. In addition Buchla and Associates has formed their first ever partnership which was announced at the winter NAMM show. You can watch a short video with Mike Marins explaining that here:  


There also is a new update to the operating system for the 200e main computer (included in the 225e and 206e modules) and updated firmware for all modules (now operating on 3.x). I am currently keeping my system on the old firmware but hope to upgrade sometime in 2012. For now you can find experiences and opinions about the process and features in the Muffwiggler forums and in particular on this thread.

So there you have it, news, one new song, and a few hints of things to come.  The next post will be a return to form with some examples and more synthy geek stuff to follow but for now relax with the stringz'n'things and keep an eye peeled for the "new" Buchla Musical Instruments.

New Buchla Compilation Release!

One of the great things about being an electronic musician is the constantly evolving community on-line. There are forums, mailing lists, blogs, and sites which offer information and support on even the most obscure instrument, software, operating system, or vintage relic.  

Another benefit of this is it is easier to find other like-minded individuals and create and share music and ideas. Those of us older types remember the days of "tape trading" when the only method of having a friend in another state or country hear your music was to put it on a cassette and put in in a mailbox. Like, with postage and such kids. Gasp!

Some great music came out of those days. I personally participated in a Devo, AC/DC, and two looping, and numerous "Electronic Music" compilation tapes and CDs.  Perhaps in a more nostalgic post I'll muse on the joys and fun of those days but for today, the end of 2011, I'll take the leap forward and present you with an end-of-year present:  SIGNS: A COMPILATION OF WIGGLERS’ GRAPHICAL NOTATIONS FOR THE BUCHLA SYNTHESIZER. 

 

I'll let the curator of this fine release, Giorgio Sancristoforo, describe his efforts and the final CD as he does it best:

"Some months ago I’ve asked to the fellow Buchla musicians of the MuffWigglers website to participate to a collective experiment on music notation for the Buchla synthesizer. In the world of modular synthesizers music we often see free improvisations, sketches, etudes, but very rarely “composed” music with notation.

This experiment was an attempt to involve nowadays modular musicians in the field of composition by means of graphical notation.

The result is finally here. Signs is not only an amazing collection of mind blowing music, it is also the proof that notation in electronic music is alive and kicking and indeed deserve further explorations.  I want to thank with all my heart all the contributors of this amazing work. I hope you will all enjoy it."

 

The download "CD" release includes a beautiful 22 page  full color booklet with essays, bios, and descriptions of each of the pieces and artists. It is in high quality 320 KPS MP3 format and FREE!!!

You can download SIGNS as well as other fantastic cutting edge electronic music from the Gleetchplug Website here:  http://www.gleetchplug.com/Gleetchplug/Releases.html  

I'm proud to have a track on this great compilation. It was both challenging and fun. For full details download the release and check out the booklet! 

Here is the full TRACKLIST:

1)Olga Kokcharova & Gianluca Ruggeri : Eidetic Landscape
2)Todd Barton : Altair II
3)Niklas Winde aka 7th DanSound : Men för helvete Älskling!
4)Cyril Baud aka Ernest Saint Laurent : Incursions 3
5)Didier Debril : Sequences
6)Giorgio Sancristoforo : Andante Molto Vago
7)David Talento : That Which Was Then Becoming
8)Lyonel Bauchet : Kinesthézic
9)Schleusolz : Waltzing at the shipyard 

I hope you enjoy listening to release. Happy New year and keep bleeping into 2012!!

Play.Record.Volume.Tone.

One of the reasons I started this blog was to have a running diary or some of my synth and modular experiences. While I do use these instruments for songs and at times even construct full shows, albums, or sound design projects I also use them for... well, Therapy.

I find the act of turning on and plugging into all these boxes and wires can yield the same results as taking a long walk in the woods. Or meditation. It's relaxing, focusing, and cathartic. My large modulars reside on one table in my main studio and everything is wired up to a power conditioner. With the flick of one switch these sleeping monsters come to life.

I usually start by taking all the patch cables out picking a single initial sound source. This way I start fresh with no specific agenda. It's like the aural equivalent of clearing one's throat. Or mind for that matter. From there I patch and tweak the path of the original sound. Maybe it needs to be turned on and off (VCAs/Envelopes) maybe it needs to be swirled around some (Filters, Phasers, Delays), maybe it just needs to be heard. I stick with this one sound until another shows up starts it's own similar journey. Then the two go off in search of more. This method tends to lead towards minimalism where I focus on a small group of sounds but get them grow and evolve as the jam goes on. Getting a distinct aural impression from each piece is important and I spend a lot of time with mixers in my system bringing things forward, setting others aside, etc.

Modular synthesizers lend themselves very well to this process. You start with a single building block and , by their very nature, have to attach it to something else and then attach that to something else. And so on. Much like other art forms like painting or writing there are no real guidelines letting you know when you are "finished". You do something, refine it, take it out, put it back in, and keep going until you're either satisfied you have something worth looking, reading, or listening to or you throw it all away and start anew. The process is the thing, not the end result. Until, of course, you are "done".

Last night I sat down for one such session. It had been a few weeks since I turned on the 200e and I decided to challenge myself by incorporating something new into the system and then using only a handful of pieces to make something out of it. The result is this recording:

Play.Record.Volume.Tone. by DAEDSound

Using the method described above I started with running a pattern from my trusty TR606 drum machine into the 207e Preamp. I purposely overdrove it a bit (the 606 really responds well to being thrown into a warm bath of dirt) and then decided to run it into the filter only section of the 292e. The Mod Osc of the 259e is slowly modulating the CV curve allowing the low pass section to open a bit more now and then.

I then took the Env Detector output of the 207e and ran it into the CV in on the 259e principle Osc. The Mod Osc here was also internally patched to sweep between the A and B banks of the 259 and to make things interesting I added another cable from the Preamp out into the Warp CV of the 259 as well and mixed that in live.

Two happy accidents occurred. The first was I didn't recognize the pattern on the drum machine at first. I know my 606 VERY well and found this odd. When I took a look at it I realized the tempo was set down. WAY down. I liked it and left it that way allowing what normally would be cannon ball toms blasting to sound like slow creeping soft rolls of sound. The unique filtering effects of the vactrols on the 292e certainly added to this.

The second "mistake" was that the envelope detector triggered the 259s in a kind of bassline pattern which mutated a bit as I mixed in the snare and other sounds. Now of course the whole point of an envelope detector is to create a pulse or gate out based on the audio sound coming IN. But since I had overdriven the preamp a bit the bassline wasn't quite 100% consistent and adding and taking out other sounds in the audio path created slightly different rhythms. It's one of those "of course it does that" things when you look at it on paper but you never know how it's going to work out until you try your source and patch. In this case I liked it.

The final touch was when I started messing with the 261e. I had the Mod Osc slightly modulating the pitch of the Primary Osc but also manually tweaked the Symmetry, High Order, and Timbre as well as the overall main pitch. The result was a great growling and undulating tone that sounded static but was always moving *just* a bit. My favorite kind of drone.

I started by creating and mixing everything on the mixer section of the 207e (for my larger ModcanA Format modular I use a series of Cyndustries MixSix modules when I am in creation mode). For my new recordings I have now moved to a simple Zoom R16 digital recorder however. This means that once I have all the sections lined up in the 207e mixer I backtrack from that and plug a 1/8" to 1/4" cable directly into each sound and run it into it's own channel on the R16. This allows me to capture each sound on it's own WAV file and then I can easily import them and mix, edit, etc in my DAW.

I ended up liking the drone of the 261e during the recording so much I kept going on that long after I had turned off the 259e and 606 sounds. By having all three tracks recorded live and separately I was able to shift the 261e track to start earlier in the mix and then let the final end of that sync up with the fading out of the other pieces. Perhaps I'll do a more in depth post on recording minimal electronic music at some other point but prior to the R16 as a tool I would have most likely only recorded a live L/R stereo out of the entire jam with the fades and edits being done in real time on the mixing module or an external mixer. That has it's place and , as I mentioned, I still compose that way, but having separate WAV files makes things much easier to mix, edit, and mess with down the road.

Of course that introduces the whole "is this DONE?" aspect as well. But we'll leave that for another day and, for now, you can listen to the "final" mix of this track.

Geek Out!

PS: The title comes from an 8track tape release I put out by the indie rock band Overdrive Date Master (yes, we released an 8Track tape back in the 90s!). The pic on the cart was taken from the first page of a Wollensac mono reel-to-reel tape deck manual.

The Man Speaks...

While Poking around the beloved MuffWiggler Forums I came across this gem; a video fo a 2007 long lecture/interview with Don Buchla that I feel I just have to share here.

There are a few print interviews with Don Buchla and even more written about him and his ways in various books. He's not know for being verbose and here in an almost comical way he answers many of the interviewer's long run-on statement/questions with a simple "No" or "Yes". However, this interview in particular also covers some other topics such as his work with NASA and details on his career outside of making electronic instruments which I personally find fascinating. There is a section in the book, "The San Francisco Tape Music Center: 1960s Counterculture and the Avant-Garde" where he talks about his ideas and work making resources for the visually handicapped which is just as original and open minded as anything he has ever put into a synthesizer module. This video offers more of the same in addition to some insight the creation of some of the early Buchla designs, how and why he chose some of the design philosophies he did, as well as covering some parts of the currently manufactured 200e system which this Blog started around.

Lecture: Don Buchla (Toronto 2007) from Red Bull Music Academy on Vimeo.

It's a long interview and at times the interviewer's questions ramble but it's well worth getting through to get some perspective on one of the founders of modern synthesis which you simply won't find anywhere else. The last half or so of the video contains detailed explanations and some pictures and video demos of Buchla's various alternative controllers such as Lightening and even rarer prototypes, etc. It ends with a few questions from the audience. If you ever wanted to go beyond synthesis with Buchlidian philosophy this is the best place I have found to start.

Finally, there are more print and PDF interviews and insight on this MuffWiggler thread as well. All of these constitute a great resource on this fascinating man and his ideas and inventions.

Read on!

Together at last!

My repaired modules were returned earlier this month and for the first time ever my DIY pieces, EarDrill 077, Cyndustries ZOe, and all Buchla 200e modules co-exist in the same cabinet.

For anyone curious on the process Buchla and Associates is (surprise!) decidedly old school. They have a USPS PO box so no shipping via fedex or UPS, etc. I did get a chance to follow up via email with Karl but somewhere in the process my order got finished but not shipped back for a few weeks.

I left a Voicemail and a few emails but it wasn't until we entered the other old school technology - the Live Phone call - that we made progress. I called in the afternoon (PST) and a pleasant older gentleman (Don himself maybe?) answered. He was very polite and friendly and walked back to one of their rooms with me on the phone and said my modules were on the desk. Two days later they were on their way with tracking info emailed to me. Win/WIN!

I traded for my system and got it used and there was one LED out and an issue with the 250e's Dip switches not working. I was pleasantly surprised when there was no charge for the repair! They also paid shipping back to me (not insignificant when you factor in insurance for over $2k in modules). I know a few small synth manufacturers who operate like this and it clearly has to cut into their already limited margins. Contrast this with other manufacturers that void their warranty if you are not the original owner and some won't repair your synth at all if you did not buy it from one of their chosen dealers. All this to say it's one more "nice" thing about B@A that make it seem like the company really is not just a business but a labor of love. When you're dealing with a high end boutique manufacturer you expect a few quirks. It's really nice when you realize they are rather charming ones. Sure, maybe I could have gotten my order back sooner but if this is the way they do business (kind repairs for current owners, trustworthy, pleasant and friendly service) and, of course, perhaps the most insanely original modules available I'm happy to go with the flow.

Along with the order I bought some more 200e tinijack audio cables and a blank panel for more DIY madness. Stay tuned for the next chapter in the life of the Synth and I...

Phase Me!

Super short post today just to mention I finally built my first powered DIY 200e format module. This is a Flight of Harmony Plague Bearer phaser with two additional homebrew attenuators.

Audio demos and more info to follow soon.

Swirl out!