Barry Schrader's The Barnum Museum CD & Vintage Buchla Performances

"After four years of composing and mastering, The Barnum Museum CD is now in production and will be released on the Innova label on September 25, 2012. This one-hour, eight-movement work is inspired by Steven Millhauser’s short story, The Barnum Museum, and is a journey into the imagination of the fantastic. There’s a new page on my site for The Barnum Museum CD, with excerpts from the notes and music from the first two tracks. I’ll be putting up samples from the other movements throughout the next two months.

On Wednesday, July 25, at 8:00 pm BST (UTC/GMT +1 hour) (3:00 pm EDT; 12:00 noon PDT), London Resonance FM will present a special one-hour program of my music from the past 35 years. This program presents the rarely-heard Moon-Wings from Moon-Whales and other Moon Songs (1982-1983), composed on the Buchla 200 analog synthesizer, and also features the premiere presentation of a ten-minute sampler from my latest work, The Barnum Museum (2009-2012). I've recorded special commentary for this program, and you can listen to this show by streaming with the link and information given here.

My recent article on John Cage, Caged, is available online on Glasschord. While the piece largely deals with Cage's work from my own perspective, it contains some interesting facts about Cage's background and influences. Glasschord is an excellent and important online magazine that covers contemporary culture and art. The complete program notes for The Barnum Museum will be presented in the October issue of Glasschord, along with a special Barnum Museum Sampler mp3 file."

"After years of work by the Iota Center, Pamela Turner, and Mark Toscano and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the experimental animation work of Adam Beckett (1950-1979) has been remastered and released on a new DVD. Included in this DVD is Heavy-Light (1973), Adam's most abstract work.
I was fortunate to be able score Heavy-Light, using one of CalArts' Buchla 200 systems, and it's great to see Adam's work restored and made available to the public. Also on this DVD is Evolution of the Red Star, with music by Carl Stone."

Barry Schrader's The Barnum Museum Now Available

This is a follow-up to this previous post. The release is now available.

"The Barnum Museum is now on sale in both CD and electronic download formats. The CD is available on the CD Baby and Innova sites, and will be on sale at all other major sites on September 25. MP3 files of the tracks are already on major download sites such as iTunes andon Amazon.

Sample tracks of all eight movements of The Barnum Museum are now available on the website.

This one-hour, eight-movement work is inspired by Steven Millhauser’s short story, The Barnum Museum, and is a journey into the imagination of the fantastic:

1. The Romanesque and Gothic Entranceways
2. The Hall of Mermaids
3. The Caged Griffin
4. The Subterranean Levels
5. The Flying Carpet
6. The Homunculus in a Jar
7. Chinese Kaleidoscopes
8. The Chamber of False Things:
Porphyry Figurines from Atlantis
Golden Cups from El Dorado
Water from the Fountain of Youth."

CalArts Plan B Analog Synthesis Symposium Jan 14-25

"Peter Grenader will be teaching a six-class course at California Institute of the Arts during the upcoming 2008 Winter Interim in room B-305. Schedule as follows:

Week 1: M/W/F 4:00–6:00
Week 2: TH/F 4:00–6:00

Credit Hours: 15

This class is limited to CalArts student body. Alumni may contact the CalArts School of Music to determine if you are eligible.

Curriculum will include a detailed overview on the operation of CalArts' new Plan B system, as well as in-depth instruction on the principles and practices of additive and subtractive analog synthesis which will include both theory and analysis of various electronic works which utilize analog technology.

Please note that Morton Subotnick will be returning to CalArts during the interim to teach two multi-session classes. One is 'Creating with New Media', and another entitled 'What Music really Is" which is also in B-305 and precedes the Plan B classes the first week. As well, Barry Schrader will be teaching an electro-acoustic flavored single session class which runs after mine next Friday

Photos the new CalArts system wil be posted here next week. It's nice, we think you'll like what you see!."

Scream 2007: ANALOGLIVE! Performances Now Available

via Peter Grenader:

"It gives me great pleasure - for the first time, ever and with the permission of the composers involved to upload the audio files from the live performance ANALOGLIVE, realized and recorded at the Redcat Theater - downtown Los Angeles November 16th, 2007.

In 2007, in what composer Barry Schrader termed an historic event, the annual SCREAM EAM festival hosted Analoglive!, an ensemble conglomerate of live analog electronic music with film composer Gary Chang, Nine Inch Nails keyboardist Alessandro Cortini, Richard Devine, composer and instrument designer Chas Smith, Thighpaulsandra (of Coil and Spiritualized), Peter Grenader and video artist Paul Tzanetopoulos. Analoglive exists as the only sold out show of the SCREAM Festival's 36 year run.

1) Gary Chang: Sanctuaries: Faith (2007)
http://www.ear-group.net/faith.mp3

2) Chas Smith: The Ghosts on the Windows (2007)*
http://www.ear-group.net/ghosts.mp3

3) Peter Grenader: The Secret Life of Semiconductors - Part Four (2003-2009)
http://www.ear-group.net/slocscream.mp3
[intermission]

4) Alessandro Cortini: Paris 1 (2006)
http://www.ear-group.net/paris.mp3

5) Thighpaulsandra: The Aborted Ascension Of Angel Assassins (2007)
http://www.ear-group.net/assasins.mp3

6) Richard Devine: Captract (2004)
http://www.ear-group.net/richard.mp3

You can find pics from the event here and all posts on ANALOGLIVE here.

Synth Movies

Be sure to see Synths in TV and Film for videos and pics.


Deconstructing Dad - Raymond Scott


OHM: The Early Gurus of Electronic Music (2005)


Moog (2004)


Tangerine Dream Live at Coventry Cathedral 1975 (2007)


Modulations: Cinema for the Ear (1998)


Better Living Through Circuitry (1999)


Oxygene: Live In Your Living Room (3D version here)


Et la tendresse?... Bordel!


Liquid Sky on IMDB
Liquid Sky on Ebay
Liquid Sky on Amazon

via synthetic in the comments of this post: "Neil Diamond's "The Jazz Singer" was on cable a few days ago and the synth player was rockin' an ARP Quadra. I think I saw a String Ensemble in there too. The last concert scene, "Fahhh, we've been travelin' faaahhh..."


Totally Wired

Stockhausen Interview 2007

Also see Synths in TV and Film and the Synth Movies label for more, for example this excellent documentary on KORG.

Uploaded by ssensseless on May 26, 2010

Theremin: an electronic odyssey -trailer-

YouTube Uploaded by ssensseless on May 26, 2010

on eBay

on Amazon

Latest posts:
Intro to Synthesis by Dean Friedman
Daphne Oram documentary - Wee Have Also Sound-Houses & Early BBC radiophonics: Private Dreams and Public Nightmares (1957)
Pierre Henry documentary - The Art of Sounds
Barry Schrader & Death of the Red Planet
DEWANATRON! A 3D Stereoscopic Documentary (Official Teaser)
DEWANATRON! A 3D Stereoscopic Documentary (3D Trailer)
What the Future Sounded Like (2006)

Bebe Barron's Mixed Emotions

via Peter Grenader of Plan B:

"In 2000, Curtis Roads, composer, director of the of the electronic music department at UCSB and ex-editor of The Computer Music Journal commissioned his friend Bebe Barron to compose a piece of music at UCSB's CREATE studios.

At first Bebe was hesitant to do this, but at the arguing of Barry Schrader, over a six week period with the technical assistance of composer Jane Brokman, Bebe did in fact compose what was to be her last body of work, aptly entitled 'Mixed Emotions'

Although digital, it has a remarkable analog quality to it, akin to the timbres we would expect from the Barrons. You can hear Bebe speaking about these similarities in a taped audio interview which is still accessible at npr.org (search Barron once on the site, you'll see the link).

Until recently Mixed Emotions was heard only by those who attended it's premier at UCSB and at the 2001 SCREAM Festival at CalArts. Earlier this year however, Leonard Newbauer (Bebe's husband) commissioned a gentleman by the name of Mario Salinas to tape and produce a video of her memorial. In it they included Mixed Emotions, which is accompanied by some really interesting video graphics. The presentation is great. Without hesitation I can say that Bebe would be very pleased.

After some discussion, I have received approval from Leonard to release the Mixed Emotions section of the memorial DVD to the internet. It will be officially premiered on Matrixsynth in the next few days and will take permanent residence on my You Tube space:

http://www.youtube.com/user/petergrenader

Keep your eyes and ears tuned for this significant body of work - the last from legend and first lady of electronic music, Bebe Barron.

- Peter Grenader"

For more info on Bebe Barron's influence and legacy see this post.

Update via Mike in the comments: "And don't forget that Wendy Carlos just posted a lovely tribute to Bebe Barron on her own website: http://www.wendycarlos.com/people/BebeNYC/index.html"

MATRIXSYNTH THANKS!!!

The following people have been supportive of the site in one way or another and deserve a special mention.

• Chris Randall
• Chris Carter
• Jacknife Lee
• Laurie Spiegel
• Thighpaulsandra
• Mitchell Sigman
• Velvet Acid Christ
• Peter Grenader (Buzzclick and Plan B)
• Allesandro Cortini (Modwheelmod, NIN)
• The Chemical Brothers
• Richard Lainhart
• Barry Schrader
• Nick Batt (Sonicstate)
• Cynthia
• Ken MacBeth
• George Mattson
• John Bowen
• Parallel Worlds
• Tom Whitwell

Barry Schrader CalArts Farewell Concert Live Now!

Update: the concert and live stream has ended. Once the archive stream goes up, it will live in the main post here.

Yamaha DX100 Frequency Ratios Decoded by noyzelab

noyzelab has decoded the Yamaha DX100 Frequency Ratios, on github.

"The Yamaha DX100 owners manual contains a very interesting chart of its 'carefully chosen' frequency ratios, although there is barely any discussion about them at all or what they actually are or relate to..

These mysterious ratios also appear in the other 4, 6 & 8 operator Yamaha FM synthesizers/chips, such as the DX7, DX21, TX81Z, FB-01, DX11, FS1R, DEXED, you name it.. so the information here is relevant for any FM synthesizer capable of producing these ratios.

With a little deciphering using a tiny Python program it turns out this mysterious chart contains 4 groups of inharmonic ratios : √2, √3, π/4 and π. Included in this repo are =>

- spreadsheet in Open Office & PDF format deciphering and organising these ratios into a more coherent layout, plus an Addendum of complete tables computed up to 30x multiplication

- Python program to produce the Addendum tables. Edit & rerun this code to generate output for higher ratios, for example alter the multiplier variable to print out higher ratios for use with 6 & 8 operator synths.

- excerpt from the original DX100 owners manual showing these ratios obtained from here =>

Yamaha have been quite cunning, as you will see from the tables I've made decoding this mysterious chart. The inclusion of these 4 inharmonic ratio groups has been done in such a way that they contain exact multiples of themselves. This is incredibly useful when programming an FM sound using just sine waves, and as Yamaha hint they "produce extremely complex waveforms" for things like "sound effects including extremely realistic bells, explosions, etc."

Here is a simple example I tried poking around on my DX7ii:

Consider creating a sound containing inharmonic timbres, where you would like to have a complex wave modulating a simple sine wave carrier tracking the keyboard normally. This could easily be achieved with a 3 operator sine stack 3>2>1. For the carrier [operator 1] you could choose a ratio of 1.0. Then you could setup operator 2 at √2 = 1.41 creating an inharmonic ratio, and modulate it with operator 3 using √2 but at x 2 = 2.82. This would give you a 2:1 ratio for operators 3 & 2 respectively and create a nice complex modulating wave with minimal to no beating. You could further adjust either or both operator 2 & 3 ratios using √2 as the inharmonic ratio to keep it whole number [integer] based.. or move across to another inharmonic set for one or both and explore futher from there.

how to keep me going ==>
if u find this repo useful please think about supporting my work either thru my bandcamp page: https://noyzelab.bandcamp.com/ or send a Paypal donation or otherwise get in touch via noyzelab [at] gmail [dot] com

thanks, dave"

Update: this reminded me of an interview I did with Barry Schrader in which he discusses his deep dive into FM synthesis after working with vintage Buchla systems. Scroll down to Triptych for an example and/or search for Yamaha for more.