SPOTLIGHT: The Casio SK series keyboards, carries great nostalgia for many of us who grew up in the 80s and 90s.
My friend got one for his birthday, and after spending an entire day at his place sampling burps, coughs and farts, I knew I was destined to become an electronic musician. If this is your story too- let us know below in the comments section.
The SK line’s distinctive design and sound evoke memories of early bedroom-made electronic music and hip-hop production, making it a sought-after collector’s item. The SK sound quality is characterized by its lo-fi charm. Everything sampled into it sounds like crap, but in a good way!
There’s a thriving community of musicians and collectors who appreciate the SK-2 , SK-5, SK-8 et al for their historical significance and cultural impact.
Used prominently on my 2008 release of AUDIOCOSM by Jarrod Barker, the SK-8 was used as a sampling beat box and also one or two of its famous presets were used in a loop to create swirling matrices of sound on a number of tracks. I found this keyboard in a thrift store in 2007 buried in the children’s electronic toys. It was $2.99 CAD and even had the battery cover. This fortuitous discovery was the spark that led to the writing and recording (on a boat no less!) of AUDIOCOSM.
The rare white version of the SK-10.
At their absolute basic, the SK line are fun keyboards and a great introduction tool to lo-fi sampling. But there is much more.
After recording a short audio sample (recorded either via the built in monophonic microphone or by plugging in an audio source using the 1/8″ female jack) you can choose from various envelopes (settings that affect how the sound starts, how long it sounds and how it ends) and also select whether to reverse or loop samples. These toy synthesizers are a treat when connected via guitar effects pedals. A good outboard effect can transform these keyboards into something much more powerful and believable. If that isn’t enough you can explore the factory preset sounds some of which sound more realistic than others but all have usefulness in the correct setting.
Most SK’s have a decent enough piano, vibraphone, flute, trumpet and clarinet sounds. There are also built-in speakers that are loud enough for mobile use such as camping or beach hang outs and of course the SK’s run on batteries. They also have line out feature which bypasses the onboard speakers allowing you to record them into your favorite DAW or standalone recording machine….an analog 4 track is a great bedfellow.
The Mod community and the SK (circuit bending)
Due to it’s relative affordability (used prices have continued to rise in the past 10 years) the SK series of keyboards have been embraced by electronic musician modifiers. Their basic construction and ease of internal access makes modifying them a lot of fun. The creativity of modders seems to be endless- everything from MIDI control to individual audio outputs to real time control of sound chips using dip switches or rotary controls.
Join that thriving community by buying this one from our friend at Tone Tweakers today! For the Silo, Jarrod Barker.
A few years back, I posted the “I Found a… Pipe” blogpost – an attempt to initiate a series of found object accounts; exploring the dynamics of curiosity, the chance encounters, the chains of association, the pratfalls and prat-uplifts that may accompany such discoveries.
One of the persistent themes is the idea that electronic-equivalents of sound-making processes can be found for free in the physical world – an ideal driven by poverty and its resultant anti-capitalism, and accompanying skepticism towards commercial electronic hardware flavours-of-the-months. Whereas the “pipe of 2018” had limited sound-making value, this new blogpost examines the musical scales obtainable from multi-holed hollow flints, found during pandemic walkabouts.
I’ve been traipsing around fields.
The flint-rich geology of the locale boasts rocks with hollow cavities – channels left by decayed ancient sea sponges. These hollow flints are difficult to spot, as their holes are usually clogged with mud. After some cleaning with water and bell-wire, the cavities can be cleared, creating almost ocarina-like ‘instruments’. So far, a number of different flints have been found with interlinked channels, each offering unique microtonal musical scales.
These stones, each with their own in-built set of pitches formed 500 million years ago, are good grist for the arbitrary tuning mill.
Why is arbitrary tuning important? I consider it a topic all-too-frequently dismissed. For those who enjoy the divergent aspects of differently-tuned music, or wish to escape the ubiquity of the equal tempered musical scale, it may be surprising that microtonal/xenharmonic music offers very little refuge – it is here that just intonation and “pure” harmonic mathematical dogmatism supplants one tyranny with another. I exaggerate here a bit, but it’s fair to say that random/arbitrary musical scales are generally viewed as unsophisticated in microtonal music circles.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1273936272562753536
A few years ago I tried to establish a historical basis for ‘intuitively selected tuning systems’ in my Radionics Radio project (on Sub Rosa records), but drawing upon a fringe science – no matter how artistically groundbreaking those acoustic-radionic activities were in the late 1940s – didn’t convince many (radionics involves ‘psychically’ selecting frequencies that correspond to thoughts).
Random tunings offer complete freedom, and reveal the idiosyncrasies of the instruments used, as well as the identities of soundmakers. I would go as far to politicise it: arbitrary tuning is perhaps the ultimate musical ‘decolonisation’ whilst also being a practical and philosophical ideal for microtonal music’s LGBTQ+ lineage that embraces such varied personalities as Kathleen Schlesinger, Elsie Hamilton, to Harry Partch and Wendy Carlos – a lineage rarely-discussed, but deeply rooted, I believe, in the opposition to the norms of western equal temperament (and the contra-norms of just intonation and equal divisions of the octave).
The hollow flint… containing a scale.
Hollow flints found in fields speak of the primacy of arbitrary tunings: random, fully individuated tunings literally set in stone.
My favourite is a handheld flint with five channels. Unlike the specially-lipped ocarina, hollow flints cannot produce pure tones when blown into, unless a sharp ‘labium tip’ is expertly chiselled into it somehow (a feature of all fipple flutes). This isn’t necessarily a problem – for instance, sound artist Akio Suzuki has been playing upon unrefined natural stones for decades, eliciting exploratory pitched noise: half-tonal, half-percussive, and sensitively done. Covering the holes on the flint while blowing does produce vague pitches, but too broad to measure precisely.
Kathleen Schlesinger, in her 1939 deep-study of ancient greek auloi (reeded wind instruments dug up from historical sites) and their possible scales remarked that “it is impossible to determine the pitch, scale, or modality of any pipe that lacks a mouthpiece which will play it”.
These rocks are not instruments, and it is indeed tricky treating them as such: even if a fipple mouthpiece (from a wind recorder, for instance) is introduced to the rock (which I did), the pitch of the notes varies due to its player’s breath pressure: the more open holes there are, the more breath pressure is required to produce a tone – and the natural reflex action is to supply more breath pressure, an action so unconscious that it almost feels as if the rock becomes an extension of the body. Try it yourself.
It is possible to connect a small lapel microphone to a loudspeaker amplifier, and place the microphone inside the flint to hear feedback. The feedback pitch is relative to the cavity, and alters according to the fingering of the cavities. I did a brief experiment with this on camera, and posted it to Facebook to advertise the episode of Wavelength on Resonance FM where I describe these experiments.
On the internet, there’s always either a miserable don’t-know-who, or a know-it-all nonsenseclown poised to blurt.
If they’re remotely connected to creative doings, it tends to spur on the mission to legitimise arbitrary scales. On this occasion, one such character (I can’t discern which) emerged from the woodwork to advertise their obliviousness to these experiments’ contexts: “eh, this is like sticking a piezo transducer in anything. Ok; weird, somewhat regulated noise. ‘Man farting in field’ has been Lucier’d to death.”
Maybe this person is rightfully irate to some extent: the volume required to obtain the pitches of the flint cavity is horrendous on the ear. To record it, one rainy afternoon I walked to the field where the flint originated, specifically to avoid remonstrations. Alvin Lucier used compressors to limit the volume of his object-based feedback. This feedback technique actually pre-dates Lucier’s work by eight decades – the feedback flute was proposed by Alfred Graham, patented in 1894 – a failed history I’ve excavated and written about in ‘Magnetic Music…‘ and ‘Failed Histories of Electronic Music‘, and recreated as a working model. Graham recognised the many variables affecting the flute’s pitch, such as battery power, the shape and construct of the loudspeaker and microphone, and their relative positions.
Nevertheless, the feedback flint, if held stable enough, is a fairly accurate approximation of the pitch intervals obtainable. By comparing the feedback-generated intervals with the intervals obtained with an attached fipple, and also with the vague windy tones created when blowing, mean averages can be obtained.
Alfred Graham’s feedback flute, 1894.
With the lowest note registering as 669Hz, the ratios are calculable as 1/1, 737/669, 775/669, 263/223, 269/223 and 828/669 (giving an ascending 167.590, 254.628, 285.622, 324.674, 369.149 in cents).
What can be done with these notes?
Well, the scale of this handheld flint encompasses less than four semitones (3.69, to be exact), which is a restrictive set of notes, but frequent exposure to the notes acclimatises the ear to soundmaking/melodic possibilities. This is something noted by the composer Susan Alexjander who derived scales from DNA bases. DNA bases’ tunings might as well be arbitrary, such is the inharmonic chaos – they seemed “so strange and alien that one at first despairs of ever creating a beautiful work of art, or making any coherent ‘sense’ out of them”, according to Alexjander. By constant exposure to the new scales “played over and over on the synthesiser, some arrestingly beautiful combinations began to appear”… so when dealing with such disorientating scales, perseverance is key! For the Silo, Dan Wilsen.
More can be heard on Wavelength, broadcast on Resonance 104.4FM on 19th June 2020. “A programme of multiple agendas presented by William English. This week: a tape sync with Oscillatorial Binnage member Daniel Wilson who, prevented from bin-diving during the Covid-19 epidemic, instead turns to “ground-diving” to dig out unusual stones from the earth. The potential for producing ‘rock music’ is showcased after a lengthy preliminary chat with William on the current state of the second-hand book trade.”
New Amsterdam Records releases are special and Surface Image, the album-length composition for solo piano with 40-channel 1-bit electronics, composed by Tristan Perich and performed by pianist Vicky Chow is no exception.
“Surface Image is a stunning marriage of Perich’s inspired electronic aesthetic and Chow’s nuanced yet fiercely virtuosic playing. The line between electric and organic is artistically blurred, as the simple hand-wired electronics fuse with the individual notes of the piano on the same, expansive plane. Recorded at EMPAC’s sound studio by producer Argeo Ascani and mix engineer Jeffrey Svatek.”
A look at the performance set-up in “Surface” by Tristan Perich for a piano performance by Vicky Chow
Curated by Alexis Lowry Murray, “Audible Spaces” presents three sound installations that encourage participants to explore the subtleties of listening. Tristan Perich, Zarouhie Abdalian, and [The User] have each created immersive environments using seemingly uniform sounds that dissolve into tonal, tactile, and temporal variations as participants engage with them. Perich’s Microtonal Wall (2011), on view in the Cohen Gallery at the Granoff Center, demonstrates the extraordinary complexity that can be generated using only the most basic electronic tools. Drone-like from a distance, this 25 ft long sound field of 1-bit noise dissolves into 1500 unique frequencies.
Back in 2005, composer Lewis Spratlan and I began work on an opera inspired by Louis Kahn. Kahn, who excelled in music and once considered becoming a composer, was especially cognizant of how sound works in a physical space. “Space has tonality,” he often said. Kallick, a professor of music at Amherst College, made recordings of the “acoustic envelope” at several Kahn buildings, which were employed in composing the work’s prelude and interludes.
Composer Jenny Kallick
Key elements from Spratlan’s music were integrated into this electro-acoustic music, creating a seamless connection between the narrative world of the characters and the sounding spaces that filled their dreams. Opening in the ruins of Rome and ending with the healing waters at Kahn’s Salk Institute, ARCHITECT: A Chamber Opera narrates the dramatic arc of Kahn’s journey from dreamer to master builder.
Click the link below to read about Spratlan discussing the project with Frederick Peters, board chairman of New Music USA, which supports composers, performers, and audiences of new American music. For the Silo, Jenny Kallick- Amherst College.
“For me It was an incredible feeling to use this 120 ton radio dish, capable of peering into the far reaches of the universe, to create an artwork focusing on one of the greatest achievements in human history” Richard Clar image: space.com
Los Angeles, CA, – Richard Clar using an earth-moon-earth (EME), or moon bounce as it is also called, radioed two very special signals off the surface of the moon where their return was received at Dwingeloo Radio Observatory in the Netherlands.
Clar’s extraordinary two-part project, Giant Step and Lune sur la Lune, paid tribute respectively to Apollo Astronaut pioneer Neil Armstrong’s first step on the moon on July 20, 1969 and to the far side of the moon itself, something witnessed only by a rare group of individuals, the Apollo Astronauts. The two radio transmissions to the moon and back emanated from a radio dish in Italy.
Giant Step is a personal response to an event Clar personally witnessed back in 1969, and he wanted to use his creativity to pay tribute to those who took part in the Apollo program, and especially Neil Armstrong for what he did on that momentous day.
He wanted this work to say something about the moon itself, using the moon.
His interest was piqued after hearing about an earth-moon-earth bounce (EME) from Italian artist and colleague, Daniela de Paulis, who together with radio specialist Jan van Muijlwijk developed the process of using EME to send images to the moon and back in 2009. As he researched the Apollo Archives, he came across an Electrocardiogram (EKG) of Neil Armstrong as he took the first step on the moon on July 20, 1969 – and Richard found his inspiration!
While data scientist Dr. Ryan Compton created the sonification tone from Armstrong’s actual EKG graph, prominent Los Angeles-based double-bass jazz performer and composer Roberto Miranda used the tone to create compelling sounds that have been called “edgy and hauntingly beautiful.”
“I wanted the art to say something about the first humans to set foot on the moon. Think how many living beings have observed the moon for eons…and now we have made a number of trips to the moon and back. I want people to have new experiences through my artwork,” says Clar.
Lune sur la Lune, an image of the far side of the moon, was transmitted in a poetic gesture onto the earth facing side of the moon. Since only the Apollo astronauts have seen the far side of the moon, using the radio-reflective surface of the moon to produce a site-specific artwork makes the moon a unique part of the process rather than just a subject matter ─ and also gives people on earth an opportunity to witness this phenomenal event and experience the moon in a new and different way. Shortly after the sound and image from Giant Step and Lune sur la Lune were received and processed at Dwingeloo, and will soon be accessible to the world at www.rockthemoon.com.
There was considerable excitement at the Dwingeloo Radio Dish on September 26th by those who witnessed the sound signal and image signals being received from the surface of the moon after the moon bounce. All in all, the art mission was a great success.
“For me It was an incredible feeling to use this 120 ton radio dish, capable of peering into the far reaches of the universe, to create an artwork focusing on one of the greatest achievements in human history,” stated Clar.
Richard Clar’s timeless work has been exhibited in museums, galleries and universities throughout the United States and Europe. His visionary ‘art in space’ began in 1982 with a NASA-approved concept for an art-payload for the U.S. Space Shuttle. Philosophical in nature, many of Clar’s themes originate in space environment issues, such as orbital debris, war and peace, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), and water management on earth.
Clar studied at the Chouinard Art Institute (now Cal-Arts). In 2001 and 2002, he coordinated the Leonardo/OLATS/IAA Space Art Workshops in Paris. Clar is the Director of Art Technologies; a Member of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA); a Member of the IAA SETI Permanent Study Group; a Member of Women in Aerospace, and a Member of the Leonardo Space Art Working Group. He was the Secretary of the former Art and Literature Subcommittee of the International Academy of Astronautics, and a past Member of the Executive Board, Graphic Arts Council, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
An early example of Richard Clar’s Space Art
Clar founded Art Technologies in 1987 as a liaison between the worlds of art and technology. By collaborating with such partners as the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Boeing Aerospace Corporation, and contemporary composers, Clar generates high-visibility art works that transform state-of-the-art technology and highly-engineered materials into evocative contemporary art. His work is found in many corporate collections, including JBL Sound, Home Savings of America, and the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas.
After spending the last fourteen years in Paris, Richard Clar now resides in Northern California. For more information on his extraordinary artwork, please visit:
I spent most of yesterday afternoon watching and taking notes from the 86 minute documentary ELEKTRO MOSKVA. This film is so rich and interesting that I found myself sitting in reflection every time I jotted down another intriguing story element…..and believe me there were lots.
Stanislav Kreichi with ANS – world’s first ‘draw sound’ synthesizer.
The film’s official website describes itself like this: “ELEKTRO MOSKVA is an essayistic documentary about the beginnings of the Soviet electronic age and what remained of it- a huge pile of outdated, fascinating devices. Today they are being recycled and reinterpreted by musicians, inventors and traders, who carry that legacy on into an uncertain future. An electronic fairy tale about the inventive spirit of the free mind inside the iron curtain- and beyond.”
An example of everyday Soviet Russia DIY- In 1970 TV’s were readily available but not antennas.
Well all of that is certainly true but I discovered something deeper….. something partially hidden and really only stated at the end of the documentary: A metaphysical connection between electronic instruments, their circuitry and between immortality and rejuvenation. A sort of Frankenstein subplot. And that makes ELEKTRO MOSKVA much more interesting. It lingers and stays with you as all great films and documentaries tend to do.
Leon Theremin
Leon Theremin
Leon Theremin
If the inventor of the world’s first electronic instrument- The Theremin is to believed, his experimentation with electronic instrument designs led to techniques that allowed rejuvenation of human life and the bringing of the dead back to life. Kooky stuff to be sure but in our modern age of DNA manipulation and Stem Cell research shouldn’t we keep our minds open to all biological possibilities? Why is it so obtuse to think that electronic manipulation holds the key to immortality? The brain is after all- a sort of electronic computer. Why else would Russia have kept the body of Lenin whole and entombed for over a hundred years? Perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself- let’s move instead to the birth of Communist Synthesizers.
A Ghost of Communism: The backdrop for the film
It began with the Soviet electrification of the country. As Russian homes and farms became wired, Science and Technical Progress became heralded by the state as ‘the new Gods’. In 1926 Léon Theremin ( Lev Sergeyevich Termen ) invented an early form of television which was adapted for border security use and classified. At the same time, the state decided that technological developments were only considered legit and legal if they strengthened communism.
Alexey Borisov
The long awaited electrical revolution expected by the masses and any notions of new, exciting products in Russian homes became instead a sort of electrified jail and super factory. Then, after Russia had successfully developed nuclear bombs and orbited the first man in space- things changed. A celebration of technical progress and Soviet achievement became politicized through the use of synthetic music and sound. Found out what happened next by watching ELEKTRO MOSKVA online in HD. Highly recommended. For the Silo, Jarrod Barker.
Click me! New Music created from early sci-fi soundtracks incl. Theremin cameos.
Coming to Kickstarter April 18th. Meet the designers, makers, musicians and their instruments and learn how they have shaped the world of electronic music. Richly illustrated with a unique collection of sketches, photos and graphics and with a foreword by electronic music visionary Jean-Michel Jarre.
The book’s essence is to celebrate innovative interface designs, provide a categorization of gear and explore the functional, artistic, philosophical and aesthetic world of user interfaces in the context of making and performing of electronic music.
Featuring exclusive interviews with: Roger Linn, Dave Smith, Keith McMillen, Richard Devine, Suzanne Ciani, Olivier Gillet, Ean Golden, Brian Crabtree, Matt Moldover, Axel Hartmann, Dorit Chrysler, DiViNCi, Skinnerbox, Native Instruments, Ableton, Teenage Engineering, Roland, Elektron and many more.
A wide range of landmark pieces of equipment is featured along with chapters on design principles, interface elements, visualization of sound and instrument and controller concepts such as grids, touch and modular. PUSH TURN MOVE is the very first of its kind in both scope and depth. Please sign up on www.pushturnmove.com or follow along on http://fb.me/pushturnmove/
PUSH TURN MOVE is written by friend of The Silo- Danish designer, author and electronic musician Kim Bjørn and edited by Mike Metlay, editor at Recording Magazine and Paul Nagle, reviewer at Sound on Sound Magazine.
For as long as I can recall, I’ve wanted to write original music, never being a fan of jumping into a covers band and playing someone else’s music. I never understood why anyone would want to, apart from maybe doing a remake or remixing a song. I’ve done a few stints, and have friends currently in covers bands… fantastic players and performers.. and I respect that…. but it’s just not for me. Usually I find that the instruments themselves are the drivers that motivate and provide me with the inspiration for ideas that might eventually become songs on an album. That’s even more relevant now with all the choices one has in electronic instruments, VSTs, DAWS, etc.
Voice Industrie Founder Alain Levesque
Years ago, electronic instruments were far less intuitive and user friendly, but we managed to squeeze every ounce of functionality they offered to break new ground and explore things not otherwise possible on acoustic instruments. With Voice Industrie, I write and produce all the songs, mostly because I know what I’m after, and to a lesser extent because nobody has ever offered to co-write a VI track. I’m not entirely sure how that translates in the grand scheme of things lol…. But here we are six albums into it since 1992.
My name is Alain Levesque and I am primarily a self-taught drummer who “learned his chops” by playing along to Pink Floyd, Yes, Genesis and King Crimson records many years ago. Suffice it to say Bill Bruford quickly became my idol and mentor. I loved how he approached drumming then and right up until the day he retired. I was determined to form or find a prog band to play with until Gary Numan came along and then things changed. I became fascinated with synthesizers and electronic music and began producing crude experimental electronic works in addition to maintaining my role as a drummer/songwriter for a prog trio we named Roboxis. Fast forward to 1992 after a few short-lived projects and solo outings, and the formation of Voice Industrie, which included 2 drummers on electronic pads and 2 keyboardists armed with what resembled an entire music store’s synth department.
Back then “VI” performed live only about 4 times a year, including some very memorable outings with 2Unlimited, KMFDM, Cassandra Complex, Assemblage23, SNFU and many other very good established or upcoming bands. Today, VI consists of a trio that includes a full time drummer on a Simmons SD2000, a keyboardist and myself on Simmons and Nord pads, Keyboards and vocals. We recently held the “Dreams Of Flight” album release in Edmonton and Calgary. While VI has ventured south to the USA, we have yet to travel overseas. Maybe next year?
The Technology We Use And Embrace
In the early days I owned a Star instruments “Synare3” pad and was happy messing about with that, until the Simmons SDSV electronic drums arrived in 1984 everything really opened up. I was able to play melodies on those pads with sticks in hand while holding down the kick/snare back beat with my feet. I could contribute melodies and play harmonies to guitar or keyboard lines. Great fun, until the draw of commercially viable music lured away my mates, and thus Roboxis was to be no more. I continued to acquire synths and Simmons gear as it came available, making the task of creating music from a drummer’s perspective somewhat less difficult, and ultimately managed a decent studio filled with electronic drums, racked modules and keyboard gear.
Voice Industrie Simmons SD2000 electronic drumset
Through the years the equipment roster has undergone changes and upgrades, but with much of the now vintage gear still serving my needs. The first two VI albums were written on and recorded directly off an Ensoniq ESQ-1 and Ensoniq EPS. A change to Cakewalk DOS (!!) was made at album #4, and I have used a number of DAWs [Digital audio workstations commonly known as ‘recording on a computer or laptop using a software program CP] until really finding my groove with FL Studio and Cubase.
I have a few “go to” VSTs but still draw on sounds generated by vintage outboard gear such as the Simmons SDS7, SDE, MTM, Korg Wavestation, Ensoniq VFX-SD and others for inspiration. I quite enjoy randomly layering multiple instruments with MIDI to see what ensues, like playing the Nord Drum2 and Simmons SD2000 MIDI’d to a VST or Virus TI. I am never quite sure what will ensue. For the past few albums, I have forced myself to toss away familiarity when writing. Only by subjecting oneself to discomfort and unfamiliar territory will one experience unexpected results. This couldn’t be more true with the latest album, where a lot of it emerged from accidents and bending the rules lol. I love that!
Nigel John Stanford
Published on 14 Sep 2017
► Album & 4k Video: http://NigelStanford.com/y/a-/Automatica
► Spotify: http://NigelStanford.com/y/Spotify
Subscribe and like to see more Robot videos, as I release them for my album Automatica.
Robots rock, they were fun to work with. My favorite is the robotic drummer. More work to be done, and maybe I could play with them live. Stay tuned 🙂 Thank you to Kuka, Sennheiser and Roland
Cinematographer
Timur Civan
Collaborator
Roman Bilichenko
Director
Shahir Daud
Category
Music
Licence
Standard YouTube Licence
Music
“Automatica” by Nigel Stanford (iTunes)
A huge thanks to all the people who helped me make this record. And thanks to everyone for your patience. I hope you all like it. http://NigelStanford.com/y/a-/Automatica
This video is just… Man! Melody, feelings… I just felt like this mashines feel what they do, not just go after script. (Sorry for my English). Tried my best. Great! Masterpiece indeed.
I then entered the working world and forgot all about making music. Fast forward 30+ years, and the itch to make experimental music overtook me again, but now technology had changed drastically. I no longer needed hardware. I discovered apps on my iPhone, and music platforms like SoundCloud and Bandcamp were all that I needed. I was immediately obsessed.
I yearned to use hardware/instruments again, but not being able to play an instrument is a definite hindrance 🙂 I searched for cheap keyboards on the net. I soon discovered the “Stylophone” and ordered one ‘sight unseen’. It was unique, inexpensive and fun, but quite limited in sound variety. I started mixing the Stylophone with app produced sounds/music, as well as other “found sounds”. (I really appreciate the functionality of software based mixing apps, which are almost essential to my creations these days). I then stumbled upon a couple of user videos of the Hyve synthesizer, and knew I had to have it. It was clearly non-musician friendly (and looked so different, cool and fun).
Then came the disappointment … You can’t buy one! (BUT I HAD TO HAVE ONE!!!) Turns out, the engineer/designer guru behind this awesome device (Skot Wiedmann), has work shops in the Chicago area, and you can go build your own, ( very inexpensively ). I knew what I had to do. I looked at a map, saw that Chicago was about 8 hours away, and realized that I had to go build it. I started to plan the trip. I knew that a fellow SoundCloud musician and Facebook friend (Leslie Rollins) lived in Berrien Springs, Michigan, about 2 hours outside of Chicago.
This presented a twofold opportunity. I could hopefully, meet Leslie face to face, and hopefully have a place to spend the night. I contacted Les and everything was A-OK! I purchased a ticket to build my Hyve, and started to plan my road trip. The workshop was going to be from Noon to 3pm, Saturday Sept.24 in a cool space called Lost Arts in Chicago.
I had the whole week off from work, because I was overseeing a contractor doing extensive yard work at my house all week, and I was hoping to leave Friday so as to arrive at Leslie’s place in the late afternoon or early evening, spend the night, and leave for the workshop Saturday morning. Alas, plans rarely work as hoped.
The contractor wasn’t finished until Friday afternoon, and Les wasn’t getting home from a business trip until late Friday night. New plan! Early to bed Friday. Early to rise Saturday (2:30 am), and depart for Leslie’s place in Michigan. It was an easy drive, and I got to Berrien Springs (a beautiful sleepy little university village) around 8:30 am. Met Leslie, and got to trade stories over a great breakfast in a local cafe. Then, I quickly admired Leslie’s impressive modular synth racks at his home studio “Convolution Atelier” and then left for “Lost Arts” in Chicago.
Lost Arts is located in a cool old industrial complex. The workshop provided everyone with a surface mount board with the touchpad on one side, and components layout on the back. A sheet listing components and placement was also handed out, along with tiny plastic tweezers. Everyone then had their component side “pasted” with a solder paste applied through a pierced template, in a process similar to silk screening. Everyone then started to receive their very tiny components from the parts list. Following the placement locations, the components (chips, capacitors, resistors, etc) were set into their pasted areas with the tweezers (magnification and extra lighting was a must). Once all the components were placed, they were carefully “soldered” into place by simply holding a heat gun over each component until the solder on the board had adhered it. Once this was done, everyone had their 9v battery and line-out jacks hand soldered into place by Skot , and then … the moment of truth, Skot tested each one for proper operation.
It was a fascinating process and great experience. I met a lot of cool people at the workshop, both builders and staff/helpers! I can’t say enough what a fantastic experience this was, and what an awesome, diverse and versatile device the Hyve is. I doubted my sanity when planning this trip, but it turned out to be very rewarding!
Leslie and I then went back to Michigan, stopped at a local brewery in Berrien Springs (Cultivate) and sampled a few of their excellent brews, and then proceeded to Convolution Atelier to play with Leslie’s modular system. (I’m a newbie to all things modular, and I received a great crash course from Leslie on his very cool array!) Then it was out to dinner with Leslie and his wonderful wife Lisa, and finally back to their house where I stayed for the night, and finally hit the road towards home the next morning. It truly was a great adventure! For the Silo, Mike Fuchs.
I really like this album, there’s some great soundscapes but also a sparseness and edge of tension at times. The production is excellent allowing sounds to evolve and grow. Fact: you will find a variety of recorded sounds that combine with layers of noise and drone elements and this results in the expected elements of experimental but yet retains a solid coherence.
Ohms Per Swamp Cubed
This song uses field recordings and subtle noise / drone elements, it has a stripped back feel but this is done very effectively.
Melancholic Transistor
This also sounds like another field recording and has excellently layered noise / drone sounds and a subtle emerging lead which adds a great tension. My Role…
A great spoken recording, although I’m not sure where it was taken from. There’s effective layering of sounds again, and there are looping elements and bass and percussion sounds. Take note of the processing of the vocals towards the end because this is excellent too.
Laminated Numbers
The processed vocals have an ethereal, spooky feel. Again- more layering of sounds, butfor this time there’s an Eastern feel to the background sounds and the song captures the mood of a “half-heard” conversation. All of these different elements are combined really well. We Interrupt This Broadcast
The striking percussive sounds heard here are layered logically against a recording of a public news report that warns of an impending nuclear strike. There’s a effective tension to this song. Drone #4
Opens with a string type sound layered over a field recording and a warble like sound that serves to remind the listener of hand-tuning an old radio while searching for a clear station or trying to remove static caused by radio wave interference. Overall, a nice bit of tension to this song. Lo Fi Left Over Laminated Loops
This song has a big atmospheric opening, slowly evolving sounds and dense layering. Sophisticated Babble
A slowly revealed opening and then sounds panned really well create a broad stereo spectrum. This track has a sparse feel and yet the recorded vocals are richly layered. There is a sense and feel of being a removed outsider listening in from afar. Radio Waving
Strong combinations of radio recordings and noise, the layered percussive rhythm works especially well and provides a contrast to the harsher radio sounds.
There’s lots to consider here. For the Silo, Mike Fuchs. Yellow Salamand’r 4 on facebook
Inside Every Man Lives the Seed of a Flower (13.21)
Maestro Nick Storring- not afraid to integrate electronics into classical instrumentation
Gardens was composed, performed, recorded and mixed spring 2011-autumn 2013. All instruments performed by Nick Storring. The work was designed as an informal tribute to arranger/ producer/ composer Charles Stepney. Its titles refer to the Come To My Garden by Minnie Riperton which Stepney co-wrote, produced and arranged. No musical materials were borrowed, however.
The creative processes which birthed this album was funded by the 2011 Toronto Emerging Composer Award, which is administered by the Canadian Music Centre and generously supported by Michael Koerner and Roger D. Moore. No effects processing was employed aside from simple dynamics, equalization, mixing, and spatialization. Other ‘processing’ is strictly through acoustic or electromechanical means.
Instrumentation: violin, cello, electric mandola, electric bass, guitalele, Strumstick, banjo, harpsicle, autoharp, esraj, kemence, rebab, ananda lahari, Hohner Pianet-T, Yamaha CP60M stage piano, glockenspiel, steel pan, thumb pianos, toy pianos, roto-toms, snare drum, djembe, khol, bells, thunder tubes, rainstick, woodblocks, cymbals, other found/ homemade percussion, jaw harps, melodicas, harmonicas (diatonic and chromatic), tuning reeds, harmonium, khêne, mey, hulosi, xaphoon, concert flute, bansuris, sulings, recorders (alto, soprano, sopranino), various other flutes, mijwiz, been, pan pipes, kazoo, found wind instruments, voice.
Many thanks to those who offered listening, feedback, instruments, support and exposure (through various channels) during the creation of this work. There are many of you, and I truly value your contributions.
I yearned to use hardware/instruments again, but not being able to play an instrument is a definite hindrance 🙂 I searched for cheap keyboards on the net. I soon discovered the “Stylophone” and ordered one ‘sight unseen’. It was unique, inexpensive and fun, but quite limited in sound variety. I started mixing the Stylophone with app produced sounds/music, as well as other “found sounds”. (I really appreciate the functionality of software based mixing apps, which are almost essential to my creations these days). I then stumbled upon a couple of user videos of 
This presented a twofold opportunity. I could hopefully, meet Leslie face to face, and hopefully have a place to spend the night. I contacted Les and everything was A-OK! I purchased a ticket to build my Hyve, and started to plan my road trip. The workshop was going to be from Noon to 3pm, Saturday Sept.24 in a cool space called
