Milan Metro by Syd and I - 2026 Tiny Desk Submission

video upload by Syd and I

This one is in via supporting member Saul Stokes, the I in the father and dauther duo Syd and I.

"We are excited to share our song Milan Metro with you. This song was written while we were on vacation in beautiful Milan, Italy. We loved riding the old trains through the city.

Performed on a Circuit Tracks, 1010 Black Box, Korg Kaoss Pad NTS-3, Dexed Synth

Syd and I are Sydney and Saul Stokes, a father/daughter synth-based band from Oakland, CA. Saul has been writing electronic music for decades. After seeing his daughter Sydney perform at an open mic, they began writing music together. Syd and I have now been performing original songs around the Bay Area for over a year. They draw inspiration from pop and electronic music to create a sound that can span generations."

Syd and I – Milan Metro (Live at Lumen Labs) | Electronic Music Performance, 2025

video upload by Saul Stokes - Frequensea

Featuring suporting member Saul Stokes aka Frequensea with a Novation Circuit Tracks.

"Syd and I, performing live at Lumen Labs in Berkeley, August 2nd, 2025. Milan Metro should find itself on streaming platforms in the next month. One of the things I have been working with Syd on is to have her perform the song a few times before singing in the studio. This allows her to get comfortable with her voice articulations and lyric memorization prior to studio recording. Currently, I feel like Milan Metro is the most original piece of music we've done so far. A nice yin and yang of a younger life perspective, combined with my lengthy background in instrumental electronic music. I hope you enjoy.

Unfortunately, we had a second GoPro connected to the main mixer outs to record some really nice audio. The battery ran out very quickly, so we're stuck with the GoPro's internal mic. Not terrible, but could have been better.

Our first EP as well as some singles:

📀 Apple Music – / syd-and-i
🎧 Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/artist/03OJQ...
💿 Bandcamp – https://saulstokes.bandcamp.com/album...
📸 Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/syd_and_i/p..."

Saul Stokes, Syd and I #synths #openmic #sbsc #sanjose #california #electronic #performance #live

video upload by steve cooley

"A live music performance by Saul Stokes for the first ten minutes, then a song from Syd and I.
Check out Saul's bandcamp: https://saulstokes.bandcamp.com/
and his/their youtube channel ‪@frequensea_experience‬

Recorded at ‪@gratefulgardenssanjose1058‬
All details: https://southbaysoniccircuits.org/

Visuals by :
Tim Tompson https://timthompson.com/tjt/index.html
David Tristram https://tristram.com

Event Credits:
Thanks to Grateful Gardens, San Jose
Thanks to Community of Christ for supporting our community event by letting us use the venue and equipment.
M.C. and chief instigator : Doug Lynner
Streaming Producer : Collette Lynner
Ops and Marketing: Joerg Ferber
Video Producer: steve cooley

Thanks so much to all of the folks at Community of Christ for all the help with event logistics"

Syd and Saul Stokes performing Dreamer at Freight and Salvage, Berkeley California

video upload by Saul Stokes - Frequensea

And now for something a little different on the site in via supporting member, Saul Stokes. Close-up of the gear he's playing at the end.

"This week, we made our way over to the Freight @ Salvage in Berkeley, California, to test out our latest track, Dreamer. Dreamer will be out later this Spring on a new EP we're finishing up. The Freight & Salvage has an amazing sound system, but I was dealing with very low stage monitors, which wildly makes you feel like no one can hear you. You have to trust the sound engineer, and it can pull you out of the zone. Syd, on the other hand, easily commanded the song with simple vocal perfection. This piece is an extraction of music built from my Frequensea Episode 7 composition. Dreamer reminds me of a lot of classic electronic music. Perhaps an amalgam of early OMD and Massive Attack. The first lyrical line pays homage to This Mortal Coil's 'Morning Glory.' Look us up on Instagram to see where we'll be next.

IG #syd_and_I

Battery Powered Equipment:
Novation Circuit Tracks
1010 Music Black Box
Korg NTS-3
Minidexed
Bastl Bestie mixer"

Syd and I - Live at the Faight collective in San Francisco 2025

video upload by Saul Stokes - Frequensea

This one is in via supporting member Saul Stokes.

"Syd and I are a father-daughter electronic music duo. Our style of music comes from Syd's amazing singing, lyrics, and compositional skills combined with my 30-year history of electronic music. This is our first EP, 24 on 7. For our live sets, we have fine-tuned the perfect live show setup. Our entire set is battery-powered and built into a travel case. This allows us to set up and perform quickly anywhere. Contact me for booking possibilities! Check out the rest of our EP using the links below.

Instruments:
1010 blackbox
Novation Circuit Tracks
Korg Kaoss pad Nts-3
Rasperry Pi MiniDexed
Bastle Bestie
all battery-powered!

Spotify -
https://open.spotify.com/track/54cHys...

Bandcamp -
https://saulstokes.bandcamp.com/album...

Apple
/ syd-and-i

Thank you,
Saul

Follow us to stay updated on future live shows and new music.

ig@syd_and_i"

Vintage BINSON ECHOREC BABY

Note: links to listings are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

"We've been tape and disc echo fanatics for years and have accumulated an extraordinary collection of echo units, some of which are being sold to finance other studio purchases.
We've recently sold a Binson PE603T, a mint Echorec B2 (see feedback below) and an amazing Baby Binson; we have an excellent Echorec 2 coming up for sale soon as well as valve and solid state Copicats (please see other listings) and various spring reverbs.

Offered for sale here is a valve (tube) Baby Binson disc echo from the late fifties or early sixties in reasonable cosmetic condition (see photos below) and good working order. Everything works as it should and this unit sounds good for an original Binson - the echoes are characterful and warm. I've owned this machine personally for around ten years - it has been well-maintained and looked-after during that time and has had minimal use as it was my back up machine.

We've tested this against our benchmark Baby (a fully-restored machine from Eric at ESE Music) and it performs well, though is not up the same standard (as one would expect): all echo head combinations are as even in level and tone as can reasonably be expected from a 50 year-old vintage machine such as this.

Please be aware that these units require some looking after and that regular maintenance is the key to keeping this in good working order.

The motor starts well and the disc spins smoothly, however after not being used for some time it can be noisier when first started and can take a little longer to get up to speed; this is especially likely to be the case after shipping. It recently had a new replacement transformer fitted - supplied by Binson UK.

The photos clearly show the condition - some past damage to the clear plastic disc cover and one knob has a piece missing. The input and output have been converted to 1/4 inch jack sockets and the power input is on an earthed IEC socket to comply with modern safety standards.

Binson Echorecs are amazingly-designed and engineered: where a tape echo's (ie Copicat) input sound is recorded to tape, on a Binson it is recorded onto a circular spinning disc which has replay heads poisitioned around it. It is possible to select single and repeating echoes or reverb-like swells - these units have a sound all of their own. The green Magic Eye valve glows with the level of signal and looks fantastic at night (or on a darkened stage). There is a richness to the sound of these older units - the repeats modulated by the ageing transport mechanism in a most appealing way.

Binsons were one of the must-have pieces of equipment for bands in the early sixties, alongside the Fender Stratocaster and Vox AC30. Famously-used and abused by Barrett, Gilmour, Waters and Wright of Pink Floyd in the 60s and early 70s (Binsons are very much in evidence on Live at Pompeii and can be seen on photos from many Floyd live shows), Binsons are increasingly sought-after by studios, mix engineers and producers for their unique sound.

Binsons do tend to encourage experimental noise-mongering.
The repeats are not hifi - this is after all 50 year-old technology - if you want perfect repeats, buy a digital delay.
Authentic fifties slapback echo, Hank Marvin, psychedelic Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd, Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin: all these sounds and more can be had from this little baby.

This is set to 240v but other voltages can be selected - it may be necessary to fit a higher-value fuse for certain voltages.

For optimal performance, the jockey-wheel, motor pin and flywheel should be kept clean; the magnetic band should be regularly cleaned and oiled; the heads should be regularly cleaned.

Please be aware that it is a vintage unit and may not take kindly to being shipped. It will be well-packed, but if it's not behaving as it should on receipt, please get in touch. Please be aware that to own a machine such as this, you must be prepared to have it regularly checked over and maintained by a competent technician: it should withstand being shipped, but some calibration may be necessary."

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Phoenix

Interesting connection to Syd which I posted about earlier. Antonio Tuzzi, author of a software synthesizer named Phoenix developed in 1997 for the Mac, dropped by to post a comment on the Syd.

"I think I've seen for the first time Syd in 1996. Was my inspiration: I wrote a couple of emails to Jim and after that I decided to write a virtual analog real time synth and by the 1997 I had Phoenix up and running on MacOS9.
Phonenix is (was) a very powerful tool! It was used in couple of schools.
If you have a powermac still running MACOS9... let me know
the url contains a snapshot of Phoenix running"

I find the very first software synthesizers fascinating. I remember when I saw Dave Smith's Seer Systems Reality for the first time. I thought this is it. The time has finally come for synthesizers in software, the realization of the PPG Realizer. I remember thinking the next step would be less powerful but more accessible shrink wrapped synths in software. Now we have thousands of software synthesizers available to us, many even free.

Update: you can get the software here: link. Install and use at your own risk. Antonio Tuzzi sent this my way with the following comments:

"Hi M,

attached phoenix...

remember, was a development stage application (used in digidesign in
1997~1998...)

is written for MACOS9 (but still run with some chocking on MACOSX calssic mode)

is a RAR file that contais a DMG image, file should be copied in
alocal directory on the final computer

there is pratically no documentation. but the synth is still able to
create real time AIF files that can be reused in samplers or in
composign software (ProTools ?).

implemented oscillators tables filters string filters delays reverb
analyzer and room simulators


ciao
antonio"