Thursday 29 August 2013

Tied Up


Back in the studio today with Foxxy, and Hannah came in and gave me my tie that she crochêd for me when we were on the tour bus last May. Modelled by JF and I. Thanks Han!

Tuesday 27 August 2013

Gene Youngblood


UPDATE TO PREVIOUS POST: via Rick on Muffs. It seems the Buchla 101 that Sorrel is using in the video in the previous post is the one recently restored by Rick, and came from the same hoard obtained from Ralph Hocking / Experimental TV Center



Here is the full hoard:
170 ARP 2473 Omni II Synthesizer Keyboard w/ footswitch
708 ARP Keyboard Model 3604-P with Synth Model 2608P
182 Arp (Tonus) Electronic Music Synthesizer 2002 (Arp Model Series 2000, cabinet 2500)
1804 Atari C-240 Video Music
1319 Bode 6552 Frequency Shifter
1320 Bode 6402 Dual Ring Modulator
426 Buchla. Also CBS Musical Instruments. Wood box holds models 180, 156, 185, 191, 110, 158, 111, 160, 165. Keyboard model 112.
427 Buchla The Electronic Music Box: Larger metal box Dodecamodule model 212; Smaller metal box Dual Oscillator model 258;Polyphonic Keyboard model 237.
171 The Electronic Music Box; Bayside Model 10140
183 & 270 Electro Harmonix Instant Replay and External Trigger
1801 Electro Voice, Unidyne, RCA, Shure, Sony, Sennheiser, Bell & Howell, Sheridan Electro Units Corp, MICROPHONES
167 EML-101 ElectroComp Synthesizer Keyboard
164 EMS 73913 Pitch to Voltage Converter
169 EMS Synthesizer DK 2 Keyboard Modulator
184 EMS Sequencer 32 SS32
238 EMS Synthi A
164 EMS VCS3a Putney
1321 Fairchild 658A Reverbertron Dynamic Reverberation System
1173 & 1222 Fairlight CVI Compact "Producer" & keyboard used with Fairlight CVI Compact coll. # 1173
428 Fairlight The Fairlight Computer Musical Instrument (CMI)
1154 Furman RV-1
1298 Hammond Solovox Keyboard and Tone Cabinet KB
1299 Korg MS 10
1032 Lafeyette Two Channel Echo Verb II
173 Moog 950 Keyboard Controller; 951 Keyboard Controller
Module Breakout: Modified Addition- Sequential Glide with CV adjust Auto Glide Multiples 901A Oscillator Controller (3) 901 B Oscillator (9) 901 Voltage Controlled Oscillator 903A Random Signal Generator 984 Four Channel Mixer with: VC modules/filters and input processors 960 Sequential Controller (2) 962 Sequential Switch (2) 961 Interface 914 Fixed Filter Bank 905 Reverb Unit CV Input 904-B voltage controlled high pass filter 904-C Filter Coupler 904-A Voltage Controlled Low Pass Filter 902 Voltage Controlled Amplifier (3) 911 Envelope Generator with module called "Trigger and Envelope Voltages" for 902 and 911 911A Dual Trigger Delay 912 Envelop Follower 174 & 175 Moog 951 Keyboard Controllers
180 Moog 1125 Sample - Hold
1310 Moog Prodigy Model 336A; RQ542AS
1316 Moog 1084 Mixer/Amplifier
179 Moog Sonic Six Synthesizer
176 Moog 901-B Moog Model 10 Modular
178 Moog Mini Moog
177 Moog 2090 Micromoog Synthesizer
707 Moog (RA) 956 Ribbon Controller
153 Roland MC-202 micro composer
166 Roland RE-201 Space Echo
154 Serge Quad VCA; Dual Slope; Function Generator; Audio Mixer
155 Serge Sequencer; Envelope Generator; +&- Slew
156 Serge Programmer; Power Supply
232 Serge VCO; VCF; VCA
233 Serge slope generator; comparator; mixer
186 Triadex MUSE
227 EAB Videolab

The two Buchlas listed there were sold to Ralph Hocking by Gene Youngblood who is a very cool bloke. So he owned my Buchla 100 and also Sorrel's Buchla 200. Here is Gene interviewing George Lukas:

UPDATE: It has now been confirmed that Sorrel Hays definitely recorded the Southern library music album stuff on this very Buchla. See previous post

Sunday 25 August 2013

Sorrel Hays




I was browsing over on Toys & Techniques and came across the work of Sorrel Hays. She is interesting to me because she makes experimental music on some of my favourite machines (i.e. vintage Buchla and Synclavier). But it seems there is little info on her out there and also some confusion as to some of her musical output. Here is a wiki page about one release in particular, the Southern library album called Electronic Music from 1971. Here is an extract, which sounds very Buchlaesque:



And some more uploaded by toysandtechniques:




And heres a video of her in action, check out the Buchla 101 at 1.15




UPDATE: MYSTERY SOLVED - As a result of matrix publishing a link to this post and the awesomeness of the internet in general, Sorrel Hays HERSELF confirmed that she did in fact record the Southern library tracks and it was NOT Delia Derbyshire. So Wikipedia was wrong and I was right. It is a Buchla on that record - the very one that Rick has just restored while he was working on my 100 Series

Saturday 24 August 2013

Through The Looking Glass


These pics were taken on my new favourite beach in the world by pointing the iPhone through one of the lenses of my Nikon 10x25 binoculars:

Friday 23 August 2013

Sheer Endless

I wonder what sort of music he is playing for her?

Thursday 22 August 2013

Adults Only




Check out our remix of Adult's new single Tonight, We Fall. We had fun making it on the Buchla 100

Beach Bum


A picture of me lounging on the beach in Crete...

Monday 12 August 2013

Moog 901 Beats


Here is a little demo of the majestic R.A.Moog 901 VCO - the original and BEST VCO ever made! I'm really happy because this 901 (not to be confused with the 901 A B combo VCO) came with my original modular IIIC system that I bought in 1994, but it NEVER WORKED. Thats right - I tried a few times over the years to get it fixed but it seemed to beat the fixers - until last week when I took it to my friend. He fathomed it out and also did a simple mod to it on my request - I have added pulse width modulation on the square wave - something that Robert Moog himself didn't think of implementing on the first generation of VCOs. So for the first time I have a 901 VCO with PWM and it sounds spectacular. In this patch I am using the 901 and two 901B oscillators mixed together, and a third 901B saw wave to modulate the pulse with of the 901. Unfortunately the MP3 encoding on the MOV file does terrible things to the purity of these sounds, it sounds nothing like the real thing, in fact nothing sounds as good as these up close

Big Drums


The Serge Modular makes a very good drum machine. All modular synths do! This is me tweaking a clap sound for a remix I'm doing. The other drum sounds were recorded earlier from the Serge, using MIDI to clock things

Wash Day


John & Jori


Johns been busy as usual! Heres a new single from an EP with Jori Hulkkonen. Nice video...

Friday 9 August 2013

Sunday 4 August 2013

Stippy Stappy


A VCS3, 100M, and Phase2 performance when I got home. I wish I was still in Cornwall. On the Stippy Stappy walk to the beach