Synthesizers

Abode (Paul Stapleton, Caroline Pugh) and RepoRoom, Luggage Store Gallery

Tonight we review last Thursday’s concert at the Luggage Store Gallery in San Francisco, part of Outsound Presents’ weekly series. I arrived to a darkened gallery with abstract bands and shapes of light being projected onto the wall, with Jan Pusina sitting in front controlling electronic musical sounds. The video was being controlled Bob Pacelli using analog video synthesizers.

The stripe patterns remained for a while with different combinations of colors and widths, before eventually changing to geometric shapes and even some curved forms. The music was primary long drones with complex timbres, but towards the last third of the set there were additional textures with shorter-length sounds. Overall it was a short performance, but I thought the duration worked well given the minimal nature of the visual and aural material and kept it interesting.

The second set featured Adobe, a duo of Caroline Pugh on voice and electronics with Paul Stapleton performing on his “Bonsai Sound Sculpture.” We have reviewed Stapleton performing with his creation before (see this article from last year). However, this was a more formal duo that has been performing together for a long time.

Stapleton’s electronic sounds blended well with Pugh’s vocals, which combined tradition Scottish folk singing with extended vocal techniques, feedback and cassette-player effects. I was impressed with her performance, both the range of sounds and techniques and the overall strength of her voice. Her sound ranged from long brilliant tones to rapid-fire sequences of phonemes that may or may not have been actual words. There was also an element of humor in her presentation and some of the text. Stapleton’s sounds ranged from DJ-like recordings played at variable speed to metallic noises and other scratchy bits of sound, and fill in the spaces in between the vocals. After the performance, I went to take a closer look at the Bonsai Sound Sculpture itself:

Overall, a strong performance with very contrasting sets, ranging from the more meditative opening to the more dynamic and virtuosic conclusion. I was quite happy I made the effort to come out on an exceptionally cold night in San Francisco to hear these sets.

CatSynth Pic: Mystery Rhythm Machine – Barns & Mullins Percussionet 20

Via matrixsynth, where you can find more info and pictures.

“I recently picked up an old rhythm machine at an estate sale, It’s called a Percussionet 20, made by Barns and Mullins, London, England.

I think it may be rare because I could not come up with any info about this unit online anywhere, even tried Emailing Barns & Mullins twice, but they never responded.

Perhaps one of your readers may have some info about this oddity.

It will play all of the rhythm styles such as ( Fx – Foxtrot, Tw -Twist, Ch – Cha Cha, Tg- Tango etc.) at the same time, so you can combine various rhythms, also you can select and de-select the individual instruments in the rhythms such as: Snare, Tom Tom, Side, Bass, Bongo etc.

Rear has Hi and Lo output and ¼ ” footswitch input that starts and stops the rhythms.

Add some verb and delay or modulation effects and it sounds pretty incredable.

As usual, Charlotte the cat has her own thoughts about my Percussionet 20, see attached photos.”

CatSynth video: Synthesis for Cats

From Poppaneedsanap, via matrixsynth

“OJ (Turkey Leg) on the Etherwave pitch CV controls the rate of random LFO, pinging a Q106 oscillator. Bling Bling (aka Manwich) goes nuts on a contact mic and Moog MF104Z Delay. Ok, I mixed the contact mic pretty low I admit, but it was his first time wiggling and he was a little self conscious about his performance.

A more robust jam will follow when I find the fucking laser pointer!”

Analog modular improvisation

Here is a little track I created last night improvising with a few of the modules in my Eurorack system. Enjoy!

This analog modular improvisation featured the Wiard Anti-Oscillator and Noisering from Malekko Heavy Industry, Make Noise Maths, and KOMA SVF-201.

CatSynth pic: Quasimidi Rave-O-Lution Drum Machine SN 42262

Another “cat not included” auction photo courtesy of a matrixsynth:

“Cat not included!”

“This unit is unexpanded (hence the moderate price)… There are many technical photos of this synth at http://www.loscha.com These pictures are of the actual unit you will be buying.

The power socket has a slightly broken shell, but the plug holds in no problems.”

KORG Polysix/Mono-Poly era knobs.

CatSynth pic: M-Audio Venom Synth Keyboard

Via matrixsynth, where you can find more info.

49 full-size keys with velocity
12-voice polyphony
Features 512 single patches and 256 multi-sound patches
41 oscillator waves and 53 drum sounds sampled from vintage analog and digital FM synths and drum machines
Three oscillators per voice
FM, sync, and dynamic wave-shaping
Three LFOs and three AHDSR envelopes
Four-part multitimbral
Four independent MIDI-syncable phrase sequencers
Two global bus effects and one inset effect per part
Classic arpeggiator
Tap tempo and top-panel BPM control
Built-in USB 2.0 2-in, 2-out 24-bit audio interface
Microphone, instrument, and stereo line level inputs
MIDI in and out via 5-pin DIN connections
Large custom LCD display
Four rotary encoders for editing and performance control
Assignable pitch bend and modulation wheels
Vyzex Venom software editor for Mac and Windows included”

Cool cat not included.

We think the cat probably prefers the box 😉

CCRMA Transitions

We close out the year with one final gig report: my performance at the CCRMA Transitions concert at Stanford University’s computer-music center. The two-night event took place in the courtyard of CCRMA’s building, with a large audience beneath the stars and between an immersive 24-channel speaker array.

I brought my piece Realignments that I had originally composed in 2011 for a 12-channel radial speaker and eight-channel hall system at CNMAT, part of my Regents Lecturer Concert there. This version, outdoors in front a large audience and clad in a provocative costume, was quite an experience, and you can see the full performance in this video:

The Transitions version of the piece was remixed to use the eight main channels of the speaker array at CCMRA. Once again, the iPad was used to move around clouds of additive-synthesis partials and trigger point sources, which were directed at different speakers of the array. The overall effect of the harmonies, sounds and immersive sound system was otherworldly. I chose this particular costume to reflect that, although I had also used it a couple of weeks earlier in my duo “Pitta of the Mind” with poet Maw Shein Win at this year’s Transbay Skronkathon. I am planning more performances with this character (but not the same costume) in the coming year.