In Phase

American Selection

Multi-Modular

Here is a multi-modular patch, whereby I use the Buchla 200 MARF to control the EMS VCS3

This is possible because I modified the VCS3 Jones cable to be able to send and receive CV and gate signals

I’m also using the Roland 100M to add some filter modulation on the VCS3 via the pin matrix

The last bit of the patch is sending some triggered bursts of sound from the output of the VCS3 into the Buchla 200 delay and bandpass filters, which are being modulated by the MARF as well

Electronic Music Sound

Got my new copy of Electronic Sound - I am featured on the CD that comes with it if you order it here. Yippee!

Overlay

Overlaying the EMS VCS3 with the Buchla 200. The VCS3 is being sequenced using two cables that have a jack at one end and a matrix-patch pin at the other. The Moog 3C and Roland 100M were thrown in for good measure..

Breaking In

Polysynthi Thingi

Playing around on the EMS Polysynthi. No other effects were used in this video. It really is a clever little polysynth. The aftertouch is surprisingly expressive. And the voltage controllable analogue delay is shattering

VCS3 Time

Spend a little time with the VCS3:

Brass Thing

Here I am playing the VCS3 from the Polyfusion sequencer. I clocked the sequencer from the EMS random generator. Its kind of like a silly brass band instrument from Mars

VCS3 Going Cheap

....But no, its not for sale

Spiders From Moors

I have just had my EMS gear serviced and calibrated in preparation for my appearance at the Barbican later this month. DID I MENTION I AM PLAYING AS PART OF THE DISCREET MUSIC CONCERT ON THE 26TH SEPTEMBER? Please come along! I have been asked to play the synthesiser and tape parts live on stage, what an honour - Discreet Music is one of my favourite albums, and it was Brian Eno's first release in his seminal ambient series of albums. It was the very first ambient record! Anyway, my gear is all fit and ready thanks to Keith, but when we opened the VCS3 up there were two SPIDERS inside - they had not harmed the circuits though, just spun a few ambient webs and eaten some ambient flies

You can listen to an interview with Leo Abrahams and David Coulter about the gig below (about half way through the program)

EMS Plan

Look I got Chris to make me a stand for all my EMS gear. Its made out of a vintage 60s/70s era G-Plan shelving unit I got at a car boot sale. Super-doopa, yes?

Cupboard Love

Something amazing just happened that normally only happens in daydreams you know where you walk past a charity shop and imagine seeing a Moog modular in the window for £20

Well I got an email from a friend (thanks Phil J!!!) who has a friend who works at a London university in the music department one day a week. This chap was clearing out a cupboard and found a load of old gear that hadn't been used for years and wanted it to go to a good home, rather than it just being neglected or even worse chucked out. So I got passed this email saying there was a load of EMS gear from the 1970s and did I know of anyone who might want it!?!? So rather excitedly I replied that yes I am someone who is an avid fan of EMS equipment and that I own the rest of the matching series!! I had to pay a nominal fee to keep the bursar happy, but the amazing thing is I have now got the full set of EMS modules and keyboards and they are an exact match of my EMS VCS3 and DK1 (one of the first synths I bought 20+ years ago)

Here is a picture, my existing Putney and Cricklewood, and the new TKS touch keyboard and sequencer, 8 octave filter bank, pitch to voltage converter and random voltage generator. This is a very powerful system! Lucky me!!!!

I am working on getting them all up and running - the rack modules need the Bulgin power connectors and the TKS needs a power supply (my VCS3 Mk1 won't power it) but luckily Robin from EMS is helping out with supplying the manuals and info I need to get it all working nicely together. Watch this space!

University Challenge

Last week I went to Norfolk for the day and I popped in to the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts to have a look round. Its a very impressive art/artefact collection which used to be in Mr Sainsbury's bedroom (according to one of the museum's staff I spoke to). He liked Frances Bacon a lot. The building is an early Norman Foster, and it is in the grounds of the University of East Anglia. It really is an amazing campus and well worth a visit if you want to see a fantastic 1960s example of British futuristic utopia. The halls of residence are the crowning glory - crazy ziggurats designed by Denys Lasdun who also designed the National Theatre in London. What a beautiful place to spend as a student, sleeping all day long (thanks to Lyn for that joke)

I vaguely recalled that the UEA had a very important electronic music studio in the 1970s and wondered if it was still going. To my great horror I discovered that it has just closed down and the current students are the last ones to attend! It was set up in the early 1970s by Tristram Carey who purchased one of the first EMS Synthi 100s for the students to use. That machine eventually ended up in the collection of Mute records founder Daniel Miller, here he is being interviewed about it by Tara Busch:

On doing some google research on the history of the UEA studio I came across this very interesting thesis by Nicola Candlish on UK electronic music studios and the pioneering people behind them:

Nicola Candlish PhD 2012.pdf by Zack Dagoba

All Packed

...and ready to go to Cornwall!