An Interview with Joel Chadabe on Astronauta Pinguim

via Astronauta Pinguim where you'll find the full interview.

"Joel Chadabe, native of New York, studied with Elliott Carter at the Yale School of Music. Following three years in Europe, he returned to New York and established an electronic music studio at the State University of New York at Albany.

In 1967, he created the design for an analog-programmable Moog synthesizer and commissioned Robert Moog to build it. In 1977, Joel Chadabe and Roger Meyers developed the PLAY Program, the first software music sequencer. From 1983 to 1994, Joel Chadabe was the president of Intelligent Music, the first company to develop and distribute software and hardware for interactive composing, In 1994, he founded Electronic Music Foundation (EMF), a non-profit organization dedicated to the history and creative potential of electronic music. In 2006, he founded Ear To The Earth, a worldwide network for environmental sound..."

via Fabricio Carvalho aka Astronauta Pinguim on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge

After checking out the interview with Joel Chadabe, click here and scroll for other interviews with synth legends on Astronauta Pinguim.

VEMIA Auction Update - Joel Chadabe Late 60s CEMS System Goes Up

The official auction start date is Nov 3 and runs until Nov 11, however you can see some items listed here. From the description it looks like you can start bidding now.

The rarest item to be auctioned? Joel Chadabe's late 60s CEMS system (pictured - click the image for the full size shot). The CEMS system was located at the Electronic Music Studio at State University of New York at Albany. You can see and read more about Joel Chadabe and the system at his official website. Joel also wrote Electric Sound which recently came up for auction here. Side Note from the comments of this previous post: Richard Lainhart of O-Town Media learned to play electronic music on the CEMS system pictured here.

Peter Forrest who runs the auction let me know that the auction will include Felix' Visser's own Syntons. Felix is the man behind Synton, pictured here . His items start at number 5500 and go to 5539.

Update via Richard Lainhart in the comments:
"Some notes about this system: the large knobless module at the end of each sequencer is a Linear Mixer that Bob custom-designed for this system. These were very clean simple mixers that could mix from DC up into the audo range. They were intended mainly to mix the CV outputs from the sequencer stages together, but since they were so clean, we would often use them to mix the oscillator and filter outputs as well.

The jackfields at the bottom of each cabinet are patchbays that connect the cabinets together. In its original configuration, there were bundles of cable behind each cabinet that connected the patchbays to each other, so you could cable between the cabinets without needing extra-long patchcords.

The cabinet with the large white panel contains all the components of the Master Analog Clock, another custom design. The four vertical slots in the third row down from the top are Nixie lamps; these would display the current time count (in 10th of a second, I think). The top row are 8 individual clock subdividers, which could be set to send out divisions or multiples of the basic clock pulse. Below all that are the 8 clock outputs, any of which could be routed to any of the sequencers. The purpose of all this was to provide a master timing source for the sequencers, so they could all be synced with complex rhythmic relationships. The sequencers could also free-run, so you could have any combination of master-synced and free-running.

The remaining cabinet contains most of the actual audio-generating modules, although as I recall there were a couple of additonal filters and oscillators in some of the control cabinets as well.

At the time, it was the largest integrated Moog system in the world, and probably the largest integrated Moog sequencer system ever."

Update via Richard Lainhart:
"By the way, all the pieces on the second half of this page. from "The Wave-Sounding Sea" to "A River On Cold Mountain" were created with the CEMS system. "

KISS2016: A New Level of Interaction, Joel Chadabe

KISS2016: A New Level of Interaction, Joel Chadabe from Symbolic Sound on Vimeo.

"Kyma’s ability to play complex algorithms in real time creates new musical opportunities for realtime decision-making in improvisational processes, all of which results in the emergence of new musical formats."

Be sure to check out previous posts with Joel Chadabe, including a rare interview with Astronauta Pinguim.

Electronic Voyages: Early Moog Recordings 1964-1969 - Compilation LP Preview

Published on May 4, 2019 Waveshaper Media

Update: see the second embed further below.

"Available exclusively from our Bob Moog documentary Indiegogo campaign: https://igg.me/at/electronicvoyager

Electronic Voyages: Early Moog recordings 1964-1969
(Waveshaper Media - WSM-03 vinyl LP)

A1. Robert Arthur Moog - The Abominatron (1964)
A2. Herbert Deutsch - Jazz Images, A Worksong And Blues (1967)
A3. Joel Chadabe - Blues Mix (1966)
B1. Lothar and the Hand People - Milkweed Love (1968)
B2. Intersystems - Changing Colours (1968)
B3. Ruth White - The Clock (1969)
B4. Max Brand - Triptych (1969)
B5. Paul Earls - Monday Music (1968)

In support of their forthcoming Bob Moog documentary Electronic Voyager, Waveshaper Media have produced a compilation LP of Moog recordings from the 1960s. The first compilation of its kind, Electronic Voyages: Early Moog recordings 1964-1969 contains tracks by Robert Arthur Moog, Herbert Deutsch, Joel Chadabe, Lothar and the Hand People, Intersystems, Ruth White, Max Brand, and Paul Earls. All of these tracks, released here on vinyl in an edition of 1000 copies, have been scarcely heard and difficult to track down, with all but three of them previously unreleased on vinyl.

Bypassing the Moog synthesizer’s backseat appearance on key pop recordings by the likes of the Beatles, the Doors, and the Beach Boys, Electronic Voyages aims to highlight the diverse approach of 1960s musicians and composers who adopted the Moog as their primary instrument; these recordings all feature the Moog synthesizer front and centre. Beginning with an “audio letter” (The Abominatron) from Bob Moog to his musician-muse Herbert Deutsch, demonstrating some of the first Moog synthesizer prototype’s capabilities, Electronic Voyages veers from avant-garde and electronic soundscapes, to psychedelic madness and summer-of-love pop. In the 1960s, the Moog synthesizer was a new, groundbreaking instrument, and its use was completely uncharted territory. The pioneering use of the Moog on all of these recordings sounds fresh today - you can sense the wide-eyed exploratory delight unfolding, and the disparate results range from endearingly naive (Lothar and the Hand People, Paul Earls) to downright eerie (Ruth White, Intersystems).

The musicians and composers behind these Electronic Voyages may have been among the first to adopt Moog synthesizers, but the fact that they so readily found within them expressivity, heart, and a means to translate their wondrous sense of discovery, speaks far more to Bob Moog’s visionary invention and enduring legacy."

Update: Playlist of releases in different order:



Robert Arthur Moog - The Abominatron (1964) - from "Electronic Voyages" LP
Ruth White - The Clock (1969) - from "Electronic Voyages: Early Moog recordings 1964-1969" LP
Intersystems - Changing Colours (1968) - from "Electronic Voyages" LP
Lothar and the Hand People - Milkweed Love (1968) - from "Electronic Voyages" LP
Joel Chadabe - Blues Mix (1968) - from "Electronic Voyages: Early Moog recordings 1964-1969" LP
Paul Earls - Monday Music (1968) - from "Electronic Voyages" LP
Max Brand - Triptych (1969) - from "Electronic Voyages: Early Moog recordings 1964-1969" LP

Bob Moog Foundation Features Two Compilations by Pioneering Synthesist Joel Chadabe.

via the Bob Moog Foundation

"We are proud feature two new compilations of music by internationally recognized pioneering synthesist Joel Chadabe. The albums, Electric Sound and Chadabe & Moog, which include compositions from 1966-1987, will be available through the Foundation’s online store. All proceeds from the sale of the CDs will benefit its educational and historic preservation projects."

Chadabe was an early adaptor of the Moog modular synthesizer, using it in compositions as early as 1966. In 1967, while director of the Electronic Music Studio at State University of New York at Albany, he proposed the concept for a new electronic music system. He then designed the legendary CEMS (Coordinated Electronic Music Studio) System and, with support from a SUNY research grant, commissioned Robert Moog to build it..."

Electric Sound by Joel Chadabe

via this auction.

Details:
"'Electric Sound' by Joel Chadabe
'The Past and Promise of Electronic Music"'Softcover - 370 pages
Outer cover a little curled, but inside pages all beautiful, no marks
A thorough history of electronic music, some photographs"

KISS2013: INTER faces - Kyma International Sound Symposium in Brussels

"Kyma International Sound Symposium in Brussels, 12-14 September 2013, to focus on interfaces for interactive sound design and live performance

Champaign, Illinois, June 18, 2013 - Composers, sound designers and performers are invited to register for this year's Kyma International Sound Symposium (KISS2013) in Brussels Belgium from September 12-15 2013. Featured events include hands-on demonstrations of interfaces for interactive sound and performance, a public dialog on spatialization featuring electronic music pioneers Annette Vande Gorne and Joel Chadabe, a competition pitting teams of sound designers and engineers against the clock to create new performance interfaces, an exclusive preview of new developments in the Kyma sound design language, concerts of new music inspired by the Belgian painter René Magritte, live Kyma electronics spatialized through a 70+ speaker Acousmonium in the Espace Senghor, and an installation in the ISIB foyer where visitors (tracked by a Kinect camera) will create a continuous, collaborative soundscape.

[PHOTO: Caption: Actor Allison Goodman, shown here controlling Kyma with an Emotiv EPOC neural headset, is one of the performers scheduled to appear at KISS2013 in Brussels September 12-15 2013]

"KISS2013: INTER faces" will also feature technical sessions on topics ranging from signal processing to interfaces, an 'Open lab' where Kyma experts will be available to answer questions, hands-on demos and workshops focusing on innovative user interfaces and controllers, and evenings filled with live musical performances showcasing some of the best work created in Kyma this year, including music controlled by brain interfaces, game controllers, iPads, Continuum fingerboards and drawing tablets; audio signals used as controllers; Foley artists as live performers; live cinema; motion-tracked dancers, and more!

Kyma developers Carla Scaletti and Kurt J. Hebel will be joined by over 30 audio and music professionals from ten countries in presenting the seminars, music, and hands-on demonstrations.

The full KISS2013 schedule is available on-line at http://bit.ly/150XXuP

Program highlights

KISS2013 organizers Rudi Giot and Jacques Tichon, along with their students at the Institut Supérieur Industriel de Bruxelles (ISIB), have several special activities planned for KISS2013, including:

CLICK FOR MORE »

MOOG CEMS unique original custom modular - VEMIA

"ONE OF THE TWO OR THREE MOST IMPORTANT MOOG CUSTOM MODULAR SYSTEMS IN THE WORLD. This is the system Joel Chadabe dreamt up, in collaboration with Robert Moog, and had him build in the late 60s. It is at VEMIA, undergoing restoration - more details later - but is a unique and hugely powerful system, full of Moog custom modules, some very rare, some very early, and some almost certainly unique. Joel Chadabe's book 'Electric Sound' pp286-287: 'In 1966, I got an idea. I drew up a plan for a completely automated synthesizer system, discussed its feasibility with Robert Moog, described it in an article in 'New Perspectives in Music', and got the funding to have it built. That system, which I called the CEMS (Coordinated Electronic Music Studio) System, was ordered from Moog in 1967.... and installed in December 1969. In addition to an extended array of sound-generating and processing modules, an automated matrix mixer, and a digital clock, the system contained a bank of eight analog sequencers with customised logic hardware for running them synchronously, asynchronously, in succession, or in any combination.' '... the world's largest concentration of Moog sequencers.......' 'In 'Drift'.. (1970), icy electronic sounds swooped automatically through a virtual space without my intervention or control. It was the realtime equivalent of algorithmic composition..' '... a few months later, I was using joysticks to control oscillators, filters, modulators and amplifiers. The sequencers, configured to generate pseudo-random patterns, were also controlling the oscillators, filters, modulators and amplifiers. And I was also controlling the sequencers...... .. I was in effect conversing with a musical instrument that seemed to have its own interesting personality.' The CEMS is housed in four tall vertical cabinets, on casters. 1. 4x 960 (s/n 1094-S, 1096-S, 1103-S etc) 4 x 962 (s/n 1062, 1063 etc) 4 x custom delay mixers, 20 trunk lines. All R.A.Moog, mostly 9/69. 2. 4x 901 VCOs, trunks, Portamento, 2x multiples, CP-3 mixer, 984 mixer, 901, Portamento, 911, 2x 902, multiples, Portamento, 901, 904B, 904C, 904A, 904B, pitch/trigger interface, 912, S-trig>V-trig with portamento, 902, 911, multiples, 911, Attenuators, 911, 903, multiples, 3-pin sockets for joysticks etc, Delays, trunk lines. 3. 'Moogus Operandi' 10 digital numeric switches, 104ms- 4 sec delays, with x1 and x100 switches, digital clock with nixie tubes, trunk section with type B sockets (one line empty), 3x 4U Voltage Controlled Mixers, Portamento (R A Moog, no logo), 905, Triggered Controller, R A Moog banana & 3-pin interfaces, 904B, 902, 902, 911, R A Moog Signal Router, Amplifier, 3x Triggered Controller, PSU, delays and trunk lines. 4. similar to cabinet 1. **It also includes five R A Moog joysticks, serial numbers 1002, 1003, 1004, 1005, and... 1008. - and a pre-production model Ribbon Controller, which Mike Bucki at Modusonics can provide a new ribbon for.** Like many other things in this auction, this is from the collection amassed by Felix Visser, former head of Synton. All items were destined for a national technology museum project, many years in the making, but finally cancelled by politicians and planners. They have mostly been stored unused for a number of years. This system has not (as of March 20) been powered up, and is SOLD AS IS unless we have more information in the meantime. (The power supplies are currently at Lucid Sound for testing and servicing where necessary.) Cosmetic state at present: all sequencer lamps present and guaranteed working 100%; all screws, nuts and washers checked, cleaned and replaced where necessary; veneer repaired on the facing edges of cabinets where necessary; casters replaced; module panels cleaned and looking good; many of the silver knob inserts are missing - many are saved ready to stick back on, but some are lost. (We are searching for replacements, or failing that, new knobs are still generally available.) The quality of early Moog modules is remarkable, and we would expect it to be not at all difficult or expensive to restore this to excellent working order - and beautiful cosmetic condition as well. If required, we can source and supervise this work, and would expect it to be very reasonably priced. All photos were taken before cosmetic restoration, and the system now looks a great deal better - superb apart from the missing silver knob inserts. For more of the old pics see: link"
You can find this one on VEMIA - Click on Auctions, Search, and search for 5560.

Update via peterwendt in the comments: "I knew I'd seen this before: link... great post with lots of details from Richard Lainhart."

Synth Books

See the Synth Books label for more.
Also see the scans label for more synth documentation.


The A-X of Analogue Synthesizers by Peter Forest


Vintage Synthesizers by Mark Vail


Essential Retro by James Grahame

CLICK FOR MORE »

Moogfest 2007 in NYC -- featuring the first annual Moogfest Symposium

"Featuring an all-star lineup from the world of Moog
Greetings from the Bob Moog Foundation!

We have been hard at work all summer as we work towards our mission to document, celebrate & teach innovative thinking. On September 22, 2007 we will be traveling to Moogfest, an annual NYC event celebrating the musical legacy that continues through the instruments that Bob created. Check out Moogfest at moogfest.com and if you live in the NYC area, please join us for this very special tribute!

The Bob Moog Foundation has partnered with Moogfest to create the first annual Moogfest Symposium. At the Symposium, which takes place at 8pm on Thursday September 20, 2007 at Columbia University, luminaries in the field of electronic music will gather to discuss Bob’s legacy as it pertains to their own work and they will be taking questions from the audience. Symposium panel members include:

Herbert Deutsch – collaborator on the development of the first Moog synthesizer; composer, musician and performer; twice Chair of the Music Department at Hofstra University and former Director of Sales and Marketing at Moog Music, Inc.

Gershon Kingsley – musician and composer who led the Moog Quartet, which performed around the country and at Carnegie Hall. Best known for his catchy melody “Popcorn”, which is part of his “Music to Moog By” album, Mr. Kinglsey has recorded many Moog Albums, including “The In Sound From Way Out” with Jean-Jaques Perry and his most recent addition “God is a Moog”.
Joel Chadabe – composer, performer and pioneer in the development of interactive music systems. Mr. Chadabe has had a lifelong career in academia and has lectured, performed and recorded extensively. He is currently Professor Emeritus at State University of New York at Albany; Director of the Computer Music Studio at Manhattan School of Music Visiting Faculty at New York University. Joel is the President of the Electronic Music Foundation and the author of “Electric Sound: The Past and Promise of Electronic Music.”

John Eaton – Avant garde opera composer and performer and Professor Emeritus of Music Composition at the University of Chicago, where he taught for 10 years. He also taught at Indiana University (Bloomington) for 20. Mr. Eaton is a McArthur Fellow who, over a 20 year collaboration with Dr. Moog, created the Eaton-Moog Multi-Touch Sensitive Keyboard. He currently serves as the Composer and Artistic Director for the Pocket Opera Players, based in New York City.

David Borden – musician, composer and performer; played and tested early Moog Modulars in Bob Moog’s studio in Trumansburg, NY. Founder of Mother Mallard’s Portable Masterpiece, the first Moog synthesizer ensemble. Retired Director of the Digital Music Program at Cornell University, where he taught for 37 years.

Trevor Pinch – Author of “Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Syntheziser” and professor and Chairperson of Science and Technology Studies at Cornell Univeristy.

Moogfest and the Bob Moog Foundation are proud and honored to be
sponsoring an event that pulls together Bob’s lifelong friends and colleagues and the vast amount of experiences and knowledge that they share. This promises to be a very special evening.

Please join us at:

Center Room
3rd Floor, Prentis Hall
632 West 125th Street
Columbia University

For directions online, please see:
http://music.columbia.edu/cmc/contact/index.html

For those of you who live in the New York City area, we hope to see you at the Symposium and at Moogfest. We’ll be checking in with the rest of you to let you know how it all went.

Until then-
The Bob Moog Foundation"

Richard Lainhart: CEMS, Theremin, and Ondes Martenot Lecture, BEAF 2011

YouTube Uploaded by matrixsynth on Jun 1, 2011

First three parts of Richard Lainhart's lecture at the Bellingham Electronic Arts Festival on Friday, May 6, 2011, 2PM PST. These cover the CEMS (Coordinated Electronic Music Studio - see the CEMS label below for more), theremin, and ondes Martenot. The audio on these are a little on the low side so remember to turn your speakers back down after listening. You can find a full transcript for each part below in case you can't quite make things out. You can catch Richard Lainhart's lecture on the Buchla 200e and Haken Continuum, followed by a performance, in this previous post.

Transcripts for the above three videos:

CLICK FOR MORE »

The Music of Richard Lainhart Coming to Tokyo & a New Release

October 13 & October 16, 2012 – Tokyo, Japan

Ambient Dream: The Music of Richard Lainhart

"If you are in Japan or know of anyone who will be in Toyko October 13 or 16, please pass this along. Thanks! — Caroline Meyers (Richard Lainhart's wife)

Richard Lainhart (1953-2011) was one of the seminal figures in contemporary American electronic music, composing more than 150 works over the course of nearly four decades. His distinctive sound was characterized by organic textures inspired by natural phenomena, such as clouds, water and fire, typically arranged in minimalist structures and treated with microscopically observed harmonies. The "listening" concerts October 13 and 16 are retrospectives of his music and a preview of an upcoming vinyl LP scheduled for release December 2012.

For more about Richard and the legacy of his music visit
www.otownmedia.com/RichardLainhart
or email Caroline Meyers cmeyers@otownmedia.com"

Update: you can also track updates at Richard Lainhart Music and Films on Facebook.  Be sure to like the page.

And a new release available at Vicmod Records:

"The Course of the River, a vintage electronic music work by the late synthesist Richard Lainhart is now available.

It includes two parts:

A River on a Cold Mountain 14:21
The Course of the River 31:48

The music was created in 1975 on the Moog CEMS System at SUNY Albany Electronic Music Studio. All proceeds from the album will go to the Lainhart Family."

Click here for full details on the release. Excerpt regarding the CEMS:

"The pieces on 'The Course of the River' were both recorded in the State University of New York at Albany's Electronic Music Studio in 1975, using the Moog CEMS (Coordinated Electronic Music Studio) System developed by my composition teacher Joel Chadabe. Joel worked closely with Bob Moog in developing the CEMS, and Moog developed many custom modules for the system, which at the time may have been the largest integrated Moog synthesizer in the world.

The CEMS System contained an extended array of sound generating and processing modules as well as a unique programming system consisting of an automated matrix mixer, a digital master clock, and a bank of eight analog sequencers with customized logic hardware for running them together, independently, in succession, or in any combination of those modes..."

Joel Chadabe

via http://www.chadabe.com/

Top: "Performing 'Solo' at New Music New York in 1979. The system on the table is the first Synclavier. The antennas are modified theremins, built by Robert Moog."

Bottom: "Working at the CEMS System, an analog-programmable electronic music system, in the Electronic Music Studio at State University of New York at Albany in 1970."

via Nino

City Skies 08 Electronic Music Event Nov 8, 2008, Decatur, GA

via James Combs on the AH list:

"A little event I do every month here in Georgia...

City Skies 08 Electronic Music Event Nov 8, 2008, Decatur, GA

The next City Skies 08 event will be held on Saturday, November 8, 2008, with an afternoon Master class workshop with Richard Lainhart (Multi-Dimensional Control for Realtime Analog Synthesis Performance using Buchla 200e and Haken Continuum Fingerboard controller) from 2pm-4pm and performances starting at 8pm. We showcase the region's best electronic musicians at our favorite venue, Kavarna.

Confirmed performers on November 8 include Richard Lainhart (from New York), Collaboration with Sounds (from South Carolina), and Bribing The Buddha (from Atlanta). Shows kick off at 8pm.

The Richard Lainhart workshop for the November show promises to be quite amazing. Please tell your friends about it. Attendance will be limited:

Multi-Dimensional Control for Realtime Analog Synthesis Performance

The promise of electronic music has been, from the beginning, to provide the composer with the means to create his or her own unique sounds and musics without the need for intermediaries like performers and technicians. And the problem with electronic music has been, from the beginning, to endow synthesized sound with the same organic expressivity found in acoustic instruments and natural sound while making synthesizers viable performance instruments in their own right.

The first electronic instruments intended for performance, such as the Theremin and the Ondes Martenot, while providing the performer with highly nuanced pitch control, had limited sound-shaping control and could only play one note at a time. The first modular analog synthesizers, while offering polyphony - the ability to play multiple notes simultaneously - and unlimited sonic control, had limited expressive performance control and were completely impractical for live use.

There have been many attempts since then to integrate the unlimited potential of modular analog synthesis with practical performance capabilities, and to provide the electronic music composer/performer with the kind of expressive musical control available in advanced acoustic instruments. Among of the most successful and creative of these efforts are the Buchla 200e analog modular synthesizer and the Haken Continuum Fingerboard.

Buchla's 200e is the first modular analog synth with patch memory and the ability to re-route patchcords on the fly, making it an ideal instrument for performance, capable of both the highest and lowest levels of control. The Continuum is a unique multidimensional controller keyboard that senses direct finger movement in three dimensions (X, Y, and pressure) for each of up to 16 fingers, making it one of the most advanced performance controllers available today. Together, the 200e and the Continuum make for an electronic music performance system of unparalleled expressivity and sensitivity.

In his workshop, Richard will demonstrate the synthesis and control functions of the Buchla 200e with an emphasis on patch programming for maximum expressivity under Continuum control. The workshop will include a live performance focusing on the Continuum/Buchla 200e system's expressive control capabilities. Time permitting, workshop attendees will also have the opportunity to play the system themselves.

WORKSHOP BIO

Richard Lainhart is a composer, performer, and filmmaker based in New York. He studied composition and electronic music techniques with Joel Chadabe, a pioneer of electronic music and the designer of the Coordinated Electronic Music System (http://emfinstitute.emf.org/exhibits/cems.html and http://www.otownmedia.com/chadabe.jpg), at one time the largest integrated Moog synthesizer system in the world. From 1987-1990, Lainhart was the Technical Director for Intelligent Music, developers of innovative computer music software like M, Jam Factory, and UpBeat.

His compositions have been performed in the US, England, Sweden, Germany, Australia, and Japan. Recordings of his music have appeared on the Periodic Music, Vacant Lot, XI Records, ExOvo and Airglow Music labels and are distributed online via MusicZeit. As an active performer, Lainhart has appeared in public approximately 2000 times. Besides performing his own work, he has worked and performed with John Cage, David Tudor, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Phill Niblock, David Berhman, and Jordan Rudess, among many others. He has composed over 100 electronic and acoustic works, and has been making music for forty years.

Lainhart's animations and short films have been shown in festivals in the US, Canada, Germany, and Korea, and online at ResFest, The New Venue, The Bitscreen, and Streaming Cinema 2.0. His film "A Haiku Setting" won awards in several categories at the 2002 International Festival of Cinema and Technology in Toronto. In 2008, he was awarded a Film & Media grant by the New York State Council on the Arts for "No Other Time", full-length intermedia performance designed for a large reverberant space, combining live analog electronics with four-channel playback, and high-definition computer-animated film projection.

Richard Lainhart
http://www.otownmedia.com
http://www.downloadplatform.com/richard_lainhart
http://www.vimeo.com/rlainhart
http://www.airglowmusic.com

City Skies
http://www.cityskies.com
http://www.myspace.com/cityskiesfestival

Workshop tickets: $15
Performance tickets: $10
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/producer/10495

-Jim"

Richard Lainhart, Morton Subotnick and I Dream of Wires Screening

As many of you know, Richard Lainhart passed away on December 30, 2011. He was primarily known in his later days for his music composed with a Buchla 200e modular system and Haken Continuum. On July 7 & 8, 2012 he and Morton Subotnick's works will be featured in a concert and screening presented by Harvestworks, in association with ((audience)) and River-to-River Festival. A screening of the modular synthesizer documentary "I Dream of Wires" which features Richard will be held on July 8.

"A note from Caroline Meyers (Richard's wife).
'Richard would have been so honored to have his name linked to that of Morton Subotnick for this July 7th concert. He often spoke of his reverence and admiration for the composer's works and I believe Silver Apples of the Moon was the inspiration for Richard to begin his explorations in electronic music.

That he did not live to see this day pains my heart, but I hope that the occasion and the admission price will encourage you to mark your calendar and attend this concert in his name, and in celebration of electronic music from the master.'"

The events:

July 7, 2012, 7:30pm
Works by Morton Subotnick and Richard Lainhart Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts
Pace University
3 Spruce Street, NYC
Admission: FREE

On July 7, Source of Uncertainty II presents a premiere performance of Energy Shapes by Morton Subotnick and excerpts from his legendary album Silver Apples of the Moon.

The July 7th concert's opening feature is The Orchestra of the Damned, by the late Richard Lainhart (1953-2011). The Orchestra of the Damned is a quadraphonic tape-work for the Buchla 200e analog modular synthesizer.

As Richard introduced the first audition of the piece on MatrixSynth (www.matrixsynth.com) in 2007, he said: "Friends: just in time for Halloween, a new piece for Buchla 200e and Continuum - The Orchestra Of The Damned...I played this live entirely with the Continuum - no sequencing or multitracking involved. I hope you enjoy it." [posted here]

In a review for Further Noise, Caleb Deupree says, "Orchestra of the Damned is cinematic with all of its texture changes, from sparse, quiet sounds to constant, siren drones, including a remarkable section reminiscent of the earliest electronic works from Cologne and Paris of the 1950s."

July 8, 2012, 6:00pm
Film screening of I Dream of Wires
including an interview with Richard Spectacle Theater
124 South 3rd Street, Brooklyn
Admission: $5

On July 8, ((audience)) will present a special screening of selections from I Dream of Wires, a forthcoming documentary on the modular synthesizer featuring interviews with manufacturers, collectors, designers and musicians.

The I Dream of Wires, screening will include an interview with Richard Lainhart.

Directed by Robert Fantinatto, I Dream of Wiresis a journey into the obscure but highly influential world of modular synthesizers. Learn how it revolutionized music from the pioneers that were there, why it quickly became obsolete, and how it has become all the rage again.

The film is currently in production; the directors will present a selection of raw footage and interviews. For more information, visit http://idreamofwires.org/.

The evening will also include short films by Liz Wendelbo with soundtracks by her Brooklyn-based synthesizer band, Xeno & Oaklander."

"About Richard Lainhart
Richard Lainhart was a composer, performer, and filmmaker based in New York. He studied composition and electronic music techniques with Joel Chadabe, a pioneer of electronic music and the designer of the Coordinated Electronic Music System at one time the largest integrated Moog synthesizer system in the world. From 1987-1990, Lainhart was the Technical Director for Intelligent Music, developers of innovative computer music software like M, Jam Factory, and UpBeat.

His compositions have been performed in the US, England, Sweden, Germany, Australia, and Japan. Recordings of his music have appeared on the Periodic Music, Vacant Lot, XI Records, ExOvo and Airglow Music labels and are distributed online via MusicZeit. As an active performer, Lainhart has appeared in public approximately 2000 times. Besides performing his own work, he has worked and performed with John Cage, David Tudor, Steve Reich, Phill Niblock, David Berhman, and Jordan Rudess, among many others. He has composed over 100 electronic and acoustic works, and has been making music for forty years. In 2008, he was commissioned by the Electronic Music Foundation to contribute a work to New York Soundscape.

Lainhart's animations and short films have been shown in festivals in the US, Canada, Germany, and Korea, and online at ResFest, The New Venue, The Bitscreen, and Streaming Cinema 2.0. His film "A Haiku Setting" won awards in several categories at the 2002 International Festival of Cinema and Technology in Toronto. In 2008, he was awarded a Film & Media grant by the New York State Council on the Arts for "No Other Time", full-length intermedia performance designed for a large reverberant space, combining live analog electronics with four-channel playback, and high-definition computer-animated film projection."

Richard Lainhart Releases A New Album on Ex Ovo

February 26, 2008 — Richard Lainhart, award-winning composer, performer, and filmmaker, is pleased to announce that Ex Ovo, founded in January 2006 for the love of dulcet drone music, has issued a release of his CD White Night. The disc is also available in the States from CDeMUSIC .

An excerpt from White Night can be found at www.aalfang.de.

________________________________________
Ex Ovo writes: Back in 1974, one year before Brian Eno's first landmark in ambient music, a young musician from New York wrote down a fragment of beauty's hidden story with the minimal vocabulary of sine waves on the young black skin of a Moog synthesizer. The first release on CD features Richard Lainhart's masterpiece in its original 29-minutes-version. There's no single second to add, after this time everything is told though nothing has been said.


________________________________________
Richard talks about the work's origin:
" "White Night" was composed and recorded in the late fall of 1974 at the State University of New York at Albany in the Coordinated Electronic Music Studio (CEMS). CEMS was created by my composition teacher Joel Chadabe with design and custom fabrication by Robert Moog and was, at the time, the largest integrated Moog modular synthesizer studio in the world.

"The piece consists of a dense, continuous four-note chord, each note in the chord recorded in a separate pass to one track on a Scully 4-track studio recorder. Each track consists of a single sine wave oscillator which is frequency modulated by a group of eight additional sine wave oscillators. Those oscillators are all tuned to different tones, each harmonically related to the fundamental chord tone. The amplitude of each harmonic oscillator is continuously varied under the control of an individual sequencer, and each sequencer is free-running - that is, the sequencers are not synchronized to each other, but rather running in their own independent timebases.The result is a continuously-changing complex harmonic waveform which modulates the frequency of the chord tone oscillator, generating a continuously-changing complex timbre based on the fundamental pitch of the note.

"The center tone of "White Night" is 212 Hz, slightly higher than the G below Middle C. The other notes create a chord consisting of a perfect fifth below the center tone, a major seventh just below the center tone, and a major second above the center tone. "White Night" was composed without reference to the standard A-440 tuning system, as we had no such pitch reference in the studio; I just picked a center tone that felt right, and went from there. As such, "White Night" lives in its own pitch world.

"The title "White Night" came about so: it was late December in upstate New York when I was finishing the piece, and a blizzard passed through town the night of the final mix. As I sat in the glow of the sequencers and tape decks in the University studio listening to the final version, I looked out the window and saw a security light on a building opposite the studio illuminating the blowing snow as it drifted off the roof. All I could see was the snow swirling in the light against the blackness; a moving painting continually drawn, erased, and redrawn, always changing, but always the same. It may sound bleak, but it wasn't - it was beautiful. It seemed to me that the image of the dancing whiteness perfectly matched the sound of the piece, and so I called it "White Night" to commemorate that evening of wind and snow."
________________________________________
Ex Ovo shows that ambient music is alive and well. I applaud their good work spreading the word -- and the music -- worldwide. — Richard

'2008 marks my 40th year as a musician.'"

Moog 904C Filter Coupler - VEMIA

"Very early 904-C, R.A. Moog logo, and with veroboard hand-wired circuit, so possibly a prototype. For restoration: three jacks and one potentiometer were missing on this (which probably came direct from Bob Moog to Joel Chadabe, and then to Felix Visser of Synton). Spare parts have been obtained from Kevin Lightner and are included - see the photo. Five new washers will be needed - not supplied."

VEMIA - Click on Auctions, Search, and search for 6114.

Gershon Kingsley Part 2

YouTube via moogfoundation.
"Joel Chadabe, president & founder of the Electronic Music Foundation, introduced Gershon Kingsley"
I'm not seeing Part 1 yet. I'll update this post and let you know if it goes up later.

Gershon Kingsley - Popcorn

YouTube via sometest353.
"The Original Popcorn Video cuz i didn't found it on youtube."

Gershon Kingsley plays Popcorn 2007

YouTube via GKingsley
"The Composer himself at the August Foerster Grand"

Update: Excerpt on Popcorn via kingsleysound.com where you will find more:
"Despite the wide range of music Gershon Kingsley has composed, he is most well-known for a 1972 instrumental dance hit called "Popcorn."

Kingsley recalls that he wrote the primary melody to "Popcorn" in about 30 seconds. The song was first released in 1969 as part of a Kingsley solo album called "Music To Moog By." LINK TO: MOOGBY Then the First Moog Quartet, while on their nation-wide tour of college and universities, used "Popcorn" as their encore song.

In 1972, "Popcorn" was recorded by a group of musicians under the band name Hot Butter."

Announcing the 2010 Bob Moog Foundation Calendar

via The Bob Moog Foundation.

This would make a great stocking stuffer.

"The Bob Moog Foundation has created a calendar celebrating the rich history of the Moog Legacy through vintage photos, memorabilia, quotes and information taken directly from Bob’s archive. The photos trace pivotal moments in Bob’s early career and highlight many musicians and pioneers who inspired his work. Throughout the calendar, which is laden with images of early Moog instruments, Bob’s thoughts and philosophies about his work are shared in an effort to give greater understanding to his history and path; his was one of collaboration, listening and absolute dedication to musician’s needs.

The calendar is comprised of five photos of Moog himself, taken from 1958-1974. The remaining photos are of:
* Leon Theremin
* Vladimir Ussachevsky
* Herb Deutsch
* Keith Emerson
* Paul Beaver and Bernie Krause
* Isao Tomita
* Joel Chadabe
* Roger Powell

The calendar was designed by graphics artist Rose Hecht in collaboration with the Bob Moog Foundaton. Through her designs, Rose pays hommage to the original Moog modular synthesizer as the instrument that spawned an industry and radically changed the face of popular music. The background of every page touts panels of knobs and patchbays — images taken from photos of an early modular that was used in Moog’s shop in the 60s. That instrument is one of the many priceless items in Moog’s archives.

The calendar is available for purchase on our online store. All proceeds go to fund our ongoing projects, including the preservation of the archives."

"What a beautiful, informative, and intricately detailed document the 2010 Bob Moog Foundation Calendar is! The rarely — if ever before — seen photos are outstanding, so much so that in 2011 I may extract and frame many of them for my studio walls. On second thought, the calendar as a whole will end up in my archives; I promise no scissors will ever touch it. Also extremely cool and drool-worthy are the Moog Modular images in the background. Well done! I can hardly wait for the 2011 edition." -- Mark Vail

Update: In case you attempted to purchase a 2010 Bob Moog Foundation Calendar and were unable to, the calendar is now available for purchase on the Bob Moog Foundation online store.

The Development and Practice or Electronic Music

via this auction

"'The Development and Practice or Electronic Music' by Jon H. Appleton & Ronald C. Perera
Printed in 1975. Hardcover.

Chapters:
1. Otto Luening: Origins
2. A. Wayne Slawson: Sound, Electronics, and Hearing
3. Gustav Ciamaga: The Tape Studio
4. Joel Chadabe: The Voltage-Controlled Synthesizer
5. John E. Rogers: The Uses of Digital Computers in Electronic Music Generation
6. Gordon Mumma: Live Electronic Music

Basically an old textbook on electronic music and analog synthesizers, you can learn a lot about making electronic music with synthesizers by reading this book. Covers all sorts of things, such as how synthesizers work, how you hear different frequencies, how to record synthesizers, how to use them in interesting ways live, and examples of how others have used them in the past. There are also tons of great black and white photos of old synthesizers, modular synths, and people using them live.

Synthesizers pictured include: Minimoog, EML ElectroComp, Moog Sonic VI (Prototype?), ARP 2500, ARP 2600, Synket, Moog Modular, EML Synthi 100, EML Synthi A, and more!"

see the seller's other items for more.

CLICK FOR MORE »