Cute black cat with a growing Eurorack system featuring modules from Noise Engineering, Hexinverter, 4ms, and Doepfer. From @sophia_hjkl on Twitter.
guess who finally getting into eurorack?
https://twitter.com/sophia_hjkl/status/1453516328019521537
Today we look back at the recent Analog Ladies edition of the Church of the Superserge that took place in late June at Robotspeak in San Francisco.
The Analog Ladies show featured solo performances by five women on analog synthesizers (along with some additional items). It was a diverse cross-section of musical and performance styles, with each artist being different focus to her set. First up was series regular Elise Gargalikis performing on a Serge Modular synthesizer with along with vocal samples and loops.
Gargalikis, who often performs as part of the duo, Slope114, has a mellifluous voice that rises above some of the noise sounds from the modular synth, while blending as a high note in longer drones.
Next up was Miss Moist, an Oakland-based electronic musician who describes her music as “electro candy pop // tropical kitsch”. She combined analog electronics with a Korg Electribe and Mini-Kaoss Pad.
[Photo by Tom Djll.]
The result was a blend of rhythms and sweet tones that did indeed match the description, but also moments of harsh glitching and moderate noise hits before returning back to the main patterns.
The next set featured Jill Fraser performing on her vintage Serge modular synthesizer.
Jill Fraser’s set featured fully formed compositions ranging over different parts of her career all the way to very recent. Some were very abstract, but with intricately detailed sound design on the Serge. I’ve always been impressed with the woodwind-like sounds that some musicians have been able to get from this instrument. There were also some melodic and rhythmic pieces as well, reflective of her career in film and TV.
Next up was Mint Park, who performed with an analog modular synthesizer made composed primarily of TipTop Audio modules along with a laptop running Ableton Live!
Her performance was intense. A strong set of beats with punctuated breaks was feed through the modular with hard grating noise that worked well in context. She kept up the energy for the entire duration of the set.
Then it was time to take the stage as the final act of show.
[Photo by Dmitri SFC]
For this set, I brought the full analog modular system, including some recent acquisitions such as the Hexinverter.net Mutant-Hijats – I opened the set with the Hihats controlled by the Make Noise Rene and the Moog Theremini. The Theremini, used exclusively as a CV controller for the modular synth, was the centerpiece of the set as it enabled full embodied performance. I also brought along the Garrahand drum, which works well fed into the Make Noise Echophon.
You can here my full performance in this video.
Amanda Chaudhary at Analog Ladies, Robotspeak, San Francisco from CatSynth on Vimeo.
I always try to make sure there is a variety of textures and energy-levels and weave together a narrative structure even within improvisation. Overall, I was very pleased with this set and the response from the large crowd.
[Photo by Tom Djll.]
Indeed, all the artists were well received by the overflowing crowd at Robotspeak – it’s not a large place, but it was filled with synth enthusiasts and those who enjoy more adventurous music. This was the first Analog Ladies edition of the Church of the Super Serge, but I certainly hope it won’t be the last.
[Photo courtesy of Robotspeak.]
In this article we focus on some of the rhythm and percussion modules that were shown at this year’s NAMM show.
Tiptop Audio presented the Circadian Rhythm along with its well-known line of percussion synth modules. It is branded as a “rhythm composer” and a central element to a rhythmic modular system to work alongside the existing Trigger Riot module. They also had several Serge Eurorack modules. You can hear them all together in this video.
Nearby was Delptronics, makers of the popular TriggerMan module for sequencing and patterns. It pairs well with their drum modules, including the ThunderBell available in both Eurorack and cowbell form. The ThunderBell is now part of the system at CatSynth HQ.
Hexinverter.net makes a wide variety of modules, including popular kits for synth percussion such as “Mutant HiHats” and “Mutant Clap.” This year they introduced the Mutant Machine, which is a more generalized percussion synthesizer compared the earlier ones that each do a specialized instrument model. They also introduced Mutant Glue, an all-in-one mixer with compression, distortion, etc.
I have traditionally shied away from drum synths in my analog modular systems until now, as the offerings and demos did show me that there are more esoteric possibilities than traditional electronic beats. Although as that first video suggests, those can be fun, too.
