Isolation No2

This is the second part of my ISOLATION SESSIONS in which I set up a self-playing patch on a synthesiser and just let it play on its own for a while

Here is a 12 minute video of a vintage Serge Modular from the early 1970s. Nothing else!

You can put this on in the background while you are doing your self-isolating, it might help pass the time?

Ducky

Isolation

Here is a 12 minute video of a Buchla 200 playing by itself. Nothing else!

You can put this on in the background while you are doing your self-isolating, it might help pass the time?

Blipper

Bleets

A pure Buchla composition exploring percussive beats. I'm trying to decide if I should get another Dodeca module or a 292/281/266 combo. And guess what I got myself a cute little Neve 542 mixer which I am learning how to use at the moment as well

Arpeggiated Console

BENGE FORMS 9

A GALACTIC DEVICE -
A TRANSFORMATION MACHINE !

Taking inspiration from 1970s science fiction TV and film soundtracks by the likes of Malcolm Clarke (Dr Who -The Sea Devils) and Gil Melle (The Andromeda Strain), Benge harneses the power of his trusty EMS synthesisers to compose a suite of musical vignettes fit for an entirely imaginary tele-play. Casting himself out into to a world of crudely designed studio sets depicting faraway civilisations, ancient but highly advanced alien species who all happen to speak english, adrift in a universe of primative electronic bleeps and buzzes, he sets the musical scene for this never-to-be-seen space soap opera. Please take this opprtunity to create, in your own mind, a suitable televisual accompniment to his soundtrack, along whichever lines this electronic musical odyssey takes you





Author's Note:

As with many of my recent solo albums, I sometimes like to set myself certain limitations whilst composing and recording music. This album is no exception and was recorded on vintage equipment which was manufactured by EMS during the 1960s and 1970s

To make this record I used the following:

VCS3 Mk1 - The Putney
DK1 Keyboard - The Cricklewood
EMS TK1 Sequencer
Polysynthi Polyphonic Keyboard
EMS Random Voltage Generator
EMS 8 Octave Filter Bank
EMS Pitch-Voltage-Converter

The pieces of music were constructed using overdubbing (sound-on-sound recording). During mixdown a little analogue reverberation was added on some of the tracks (EMT 140 valve-type plate reverberator)

Consoled

I have just built a BIG CONSOLE to put some of my rack-units into, rather than having them all piled up on the floor, etc. Its really big! But its pretty cool having everything connected up to a new (actually old Roland) patchbay. It took ages to connect it all up - below you can see its development from paper to reality, and at the bottom is the patch chart, including all the midi patching

Guide

Ooh - Those nice people over at Electricity Club have gone and done a Beginners Guide To Benge - how handy is that!

White Eat

Some studio images by Neil Arthur from our recent Blancmange sessions - yes expect a new album very soon!