Revenge Of The Synth: Benge Interviewed

see the full interview with more shots on The Quietus. In regards to Benge's new CD, Twenty CD previously posted here: "Ben, better known as Benge has just released an album called Twenty Systems which traces a history of sorts through twenty years in the development of synthesizer, starting with the 1968 Moog Modular and ending up with the Kawai K5M which was released onto the market in 1987. Each song is played entirely on one keyboard with no additional effects or processing (apart from on one track but more of that in a second). It is very true that this project feels very 'now' with the recent years seeing re-ignition of interest in vintage synths and such figures as Delia Derbyshire and Dr Moog. Edwards started his collection nearly two decades ago however, picking up the instruments for a song when people were chucking them out to upgrade to computer software and the songs aren't at all retro-flavoured but instead will find favour with those who like electronica and IDM. This said he must be aware of the new found allure that his collection of instruments has as the album comes with a lovely booklet portraying them all. (At the bottom of this interview, there are a selection of photographs to whet your appetite.)"

John Foxx & The Maths - Destination

YouTube via JohnFoxxMetamatic — April 30, 2010 — "In between rehearsals for the ''Short Circuit'' analogue synthesizer show at the Roundhouse on 5 June, John Foxx has also been doing some filming with Benge and Karborn. This is at Benge's Play studios in London, where they're recording the new John Foxx & The Maths album, due for release in autumn 2010. Karborn projected some films across them as they played - hence the sunglasses as they were blasted with white light. It's very much a rough cut of something that may develop into a full length promo later in the year - some of the imagery may also be used on screens at the Roundhouse, or even form part of a dvd at some later stage. All loose plans at the moment, but as Brian Eno recently commented, Benge's studio is an important contribution to the ''archeology'' of synths - and the great thing about these old machines is they look as fantastic as they sound. The track on this clip, 'Destination' is the first single from the album and is currently available with a second track, 'September Town' via iTunes etc."

Benge - Spirals & Orbits

video upload by zack dagoba

"New Benge album made entirely on a Buchla 100 and Watkins Copycat

1960s space atmospheres and abstract bleepings"

https://zackdagoba.bandcamp.com

Manual Advance by BENGE from the album ARPFORMS

zack dagoba

"The track is taken from my album "Arpforms" - every sound on the album was made on the Arp 2500!

2020 saw the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the ARP 2500. This video is an homage to this amazing machine

https://zackdagoba.bandcamp.com/album...

instagram: memetunestudio"


Download includes 12 page PDF booklet

"This year marks the 50th anniversary of the creation of the ARP 2500

Introduced in 1970, the 2500 was Alan R Pearlman’s first commercial product, being sold under his company’s name Tonus Inc. Alan had come from an engineering background, having worked as a designer for a company providing equipment for NASA, which was used on the Gemini and Apollo space programmes. Indeed, some of the circuitry and hardware that was sent into space was actually used in the 2500 synthesiser, giving an indication of the quality and precision of the instrument he was responsible for creating

The team that developed the 2500 must have put much time and thought into the development of the system before it was finally put into production. Contemporaneous equipment consisted only of modular systems, and therefore the concept of the pre-wired keyboard synthesiser had not yet been formed, and the only instruments (other than electric organs) that were available were fully or semi-modular in nature

With the 2500 the decision was made to do away with the patch-cord method of interconnecting the various signals and control voltages, replacing them with a series of matrix-switches to make the connections. There are several advantages with this design philosophy, but there are also a few disadvantages which I will describe later. The biggest advantage I can see is that it makes patching the system very neat and tidy, there being no cables to work around when building sounds. On a conventionally patched system, the amount of cables can build up very quickly to become a mass of tangled wires, which can obscure the control surface and legending on the synthesiser, making it hard to see what is going on. On the 2500 the controls are always kept clear

CLICK FOR MORE »

A Smile in Space May Cause an Avalanche Part 2

video upload by zack dagoba

"A Smile In Space May Cause An avalanche - part 2

Released on the compilation celebrating 3 Years of Modulisme

Composed by Philippe Petit using Buchla 200 & EMS Synthi A Synthesizers + e-bowed Piano Soundboard into a Moogerfooger Ring Modulator & Peavey 5150 + Ampeg SVT-2 Pro bass Amplifiers

« Electronic Tonalities » by Benge, made with the Emu Emulator II
and a wine glass

Video by Benge, made on 2 x Panasonic WJ-MX50 video mixers, Grass Valley Indigo video switcher, Emu Modular for video modulations

/ @zackdagoba

https://modulisme.info/

www.philippepetit.info"

Electronic Sound Issue 56 Magazine & CD Bundle Featuring EMS

via Electronic Sound

"We have a superb issue for you this month. And that’s not only because we have an exclusive interview with Kraftwerk main man Ralf Hütter, although since Hütter rarely talks to the press that is clearly something a bit special.

Our cover feature details the history of EMS, the legendary UK synthesiser company founded by Peter Zinovieff, Tristram Cary and David Cockerell in 1969. What started out as a vehicle to fund Zinovieff’s studio became a decade-long adventure in synthesis with a very British sense of innovation about it. EMS machines like the VCS 3 and the Synthi AKS were responsible for some of the best known electronic music of the 1970s – from the Radiophonic Workshop to Brian Eno to Pink Floyd.

We also have a weighty report on the recent Bluedot Festival, featuring Kraftwerk, New Order, Jon Hopkins, John Grant and more. Our interview with Ralf Hütter took place backstage after the Kraftwerk set, with Hütter radiating urbane charm and wry humour as he chatted about music and science and sampling and cycling. “We are not a museum, so let’s play what we do,” he declares. “My art is music.”

Other interviews this issue include Haiku Salut, Eric Random, Jah Wobble & Bill Laswell, Paranoid London, Rolo McGinty from The Woodentops. Plus, of course, we have our packed front section, our ace regular columnists, and our usual exotic feast of new album reviews. Hit the link to order your copy straight away!



Limited Edition CD Album: ‘The Sounds of EMS’

This month’s audio accompaniment is ‘The Sounds Of EMS’, a fascinating 45-minute CD of music made either by the people responsible for EMS, or by the machines they built. You can almost smell the dust burning as the old circuits start warming up! The CD has two pieces by Peter Zinovieff and another from Tristram Cary, the latter with a spoken explanation of what he wanted to achieve with the piece. There are also tracks by David Vorhaus (who founded the cult electronic group White Noise with Delia Derbyshire), Mike Hankinson (another early adopter of the VCS 3), Benge from Wrangler and Jack Dangers from Meat Beat Manifesto.


01. PETER ZINOVIEFF – ‘A LOLLIPOP FOR PAPA’
02. TRISTRAM CARY – ‘ 3, 4, 5 – A STUDY IN LIMITED RESOURCES’
03. BENGE – ‘1969 EMS VCS3’
04. DAVID VORHAUS – ‘THING FOR TWO VCS3S’
05. JACK DANGERS @ TAPE LAB – ‘SYNTHI 100-PIECE 1’
06. MIKE HANKINSON – ‘JS BACH’S FUGUE AND TOCCATA IN D MINOR’
07. PETER ZINOVIEFF – ‘JANUARY TENSIONS’ (EXCERPT)
08. TRISTRAM CARY – ‘3, 4 , 5 – A STUDY IN LIMITED RESOURCES’ (TALK)"

My studio - 1981

flickr by Chris_Carter_ where you'll find a description of the studio. Be sure to click on the All Sizes link when you get there for the full size shot. This is also Chris Carter's MySpace page. Note the Gristleizer.

The synths:
"The modular system on the right consists of three Roland 190 racks and two 191J racks containing: two 182 Step Sequencers, 121 Dual VCF, 130 Dual VCA, 112 Dual VCO, 150 Ring Mod/Noise/S&H/LFO, 110 VCO/VCF/VCA, 172 Audio Delay/Phaser/LFO/Gate Delay.
Also included in the Roland racks were a number of my own self-built modules, including a: Digisound Dual VCO, Digisound Dual VCF, Digisound Dual VCA, Digisound Dual ADSR, Digisound Dual RM, Blacet variable clock/divider, a Gristleizer module and (in the top rack) a flanger/delay and a dual phaser/flanger/delay.
Under the modular system is a Boss DR-55 Dr. Rhythm (sitting on top of) a Roland CSQ-600 Digital Sequencer, a Roland TR-808 (one of the first in the UK I might add), a Sinclair frequency meter (for tuning) and a Roland 181 Controller Keyboard."

sent my way via Benge. BTW, do check out this post on Benge's Twenty Systems as well. The CD is a tribute to synths and comes with a very nice CD book on the synth used for each track. The CD received praise from Brian Eno.

Electric Independence: John Foxx

via motherboard.tv
"We went to visit John Foxx deep in the darkest depths of Shoreditch, East London, at the studio of his latest collaborator, Benge. The studio isn’t far from where Foxx’s infamous “The Garden” studio once laid (on top of multiple Roman graves no less) and it’s also the location where the duo cut Interplay, the latest album by John Foxx and the Maths.

The notoriously quiet man sat down with Jordan to wax nostalgic about Foxx’s time in Ultravox, synths (obviously) dub techniques, drinking and eccentric sex. Finally, John was kind enough to demonstrate his infamous drum machine and play us some of the patches from his highly influential first album, Metamatic."

You might recognize Benge from several posts here on MATRIXSYNTH. He runs It's Full of Stars and currently works with John Foxx.

New Release from Benge on Cassette Tape

via Benge's It's Full of Stars, where you'll find full details on the release.

Side A
1-EMS VCS3 Putney
2-Moog Modular
Side B
1-Serge Modular
2-Paia Modular

Two embeds below. Note the pic above is the cover.

Benge Forms2 video

Published on Oct 2, 2013 zack dagoba·244 videos

"Video to accompany the album FORMS TWO - EARTHMOVES by Benge. This video was made on a Sinclair ZX Spectrum+. The album was made on an Ensoniq EPS synthesiser - for more info see http://myblogitsfullofstars.blogspot....

Download the album here: http://zackdagoba.bandcamp.com/album/..."

benge 261e one-desktop.m4v

YouTube Uploaded by zackdagoba on Sep 4, 2011

"see http://myblogitsfullofstars.blogspot.com/ for more info"

benge 261e scope desktop


serge and buchla.m4v

The Dreamer by Benge

Yamaha CS80 video upload by zack dagoba

Check out the video for THE DREAMER here:


video upload by

GForce Visits Benge Studio - Something New in the Works

via Benge's It's Full of Stars where you'll find more pics.

"Dave and Chris came here to play around on some of my big modulars. They are working on a top secret new product that I cannot tell you about, but believe me it's going to be way cool for synth-heads. We spent two days patching and sampling the Moog 3C, the Arp 2500, the Roland 100M, the VCS3, the Serge, etc, etc, by the end we were totally synthed-out!"

Visual Audio by Benge aka zack dagoba

Visual Audio One - Buchla 200
video upload by zack dagoba

Visual Audio One
by Benge
Made on the Buchla 200 Electric Music Box
and
JVC KY1900 video camera
Panasonic WJ-MX50 video mixer

Visual Audio Two - VCS3 Putney


Visual Audio Three - Moog Modular 3C

Benge's Moog.

YouTube Uploaded by Diagrammatics on Feb 6, 2012

"Max, Benge and Myself having fun with a Moog." And synthesizers.com.

Additional pics on It's Full of Stars

Benge - Buchla Hybrid

Benge - Buchla Hybrid.mov
Published on Jan 14, 2013 zack dagoba·205 videos

"heres a patch on my hybrid buchla 100 / 200e system - see http://myblogitsfullofstars.blogspot.com/ [this post] for more"

Dawn - D.K.Synergy ambient music by Benge

video upload by zack dagoba

"Good morning!

Here is an ambient study by Benge, made on the D.K.Synergy digital synthesis system, Lexicon Model 200 reverb and Lexicon Prime Time Model 95 Stereo delay unit, SSL SiX mixer/compressor, SSL 2+ sound card. Shot on JVC KY-1900 video camera. Font used: Lazenby Computer. Field recordings of the dawn chorus, England, April 27th, 5:37am"

Hannah Peel - Chloe - LIVE STUDIO SESSION

Published on Mar 6, 2014

Live at Benge's studio, via It's Full of Stars

"Hannah Peel - Chloe - LIVE STUDIO SESSION
Taken from the NEW 'Fabricstate' EP order now from iTunes:
UK | US

Limited Edition Vinyl and digital download:
http://www.shop.hannahpeel.com/

Filmed live in MemeTune Studios, Hoxton, London, where Hannah is based
'Analogue Synth Heaven'

Video: Filmed and edited by The Black Revolver
Hair: Hiro Hirata
Produced by My Own Pleasure
http://www.myownpleasure.com

Connect with Hannah Peel:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HannahPeelMusic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Hanpeel
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/hannahpeel
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/hannahpeel
Website: http://www.hannahpeel.com

Thanks to Benge, Tom, Rob and Hiro

This video has been supported by the Momentum Music Fund. Momentum is managed by PRS for Music Foundation, supported using public funding by National Lottery through Arts Council England, and in association with Deezer.
https://www.prsformusicfoundation.com"

Tone Flow video by Benge

Published on Apr 2, 2018 zack dagoba

"I made a video to accompany my latest modular synth album, Tone Flow, by Benge. The music for this track was made on a vintage Moog modular 3C system. I also used a Korg DSS-1 vintage sampler to sample and play back sustained tones from the Moog. See https://myblogitsfullofstars.blogspot... for more"

Benge SULIEO

Published on Jul 29, 2014 zack dagoba

"Me, touching some synths.
Benge - "Sulieo" new album - http://zackdagoba.bandcamp.com/album/....
For more information see http://myblogitsfullofstars.blogspot...."