Music For Easels Excerpts

"Here are a few excerpts from our recent CD. [previously posted here]

We are excited to announce the release of our new CD: Music for Easels!
CD available here: www.cdbaby.com/cd/bartonbayardmononymscram
Digital downloads available soon on iTunes, Amazon, etc.

This is a live recording of a rare convergence on November 7, 2014 at the Schneider Museum of Art in Ashland, Oregon where Todd Barton, Bruce Bayard, Eden Mononym and Adam Scramstad gathered to explore the improvised interactions of four Buchla Music Easels.

In this historic performance these Oregon sound artists met in quadraphonic space surrounding the audience with speakers, offering them a unique listening experience. The CD is a stereo mix of all four channels.

The five tracks on this live performance album range from the world premiere of Todd Barton's composition, Butoh for Easels, to compelling solo improvisations by Eden and Adam to exciting ensemble soundscapes."

Spatial Frontiers III

"Todd Barton and Bruce Bayard performing as the duet, Control Voltage Therapy, continue their quadraphonic concert series at the Schneider Museum of Art. Again this month with special guest Eden Mononym. Here is a live recording of the completely improvised concert of May 22, 2015 [announced here] featuring 3 Buchla Music Easels and a special program card, 'Pontillism' by Todd Barton"

Todd Barton Building his Aleph Patch on Eurorack with Random Source Serge Modules & More

Building My Aleph Patch Published on Dec 3, 2017 Todd Barton

"5 years ago I created a patch that I called The Krell https://vimeo.com/48466272 [posted here]
It was developed on a Buchla system and its name paid homage to Bebe and Louis
Barron and their pioneering electronic music from the film Forbidden Planet.

For the past many months I’ve be working of a similar yet different patch I call
The Aleph after the short story of the same name by visionary and imaginative writer, Jorges Luis Borges. web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/borgesaleph.pdf
'an Aleph is one of the points in space that contains all other points.'

This patch was developed using a constellation of eurorack modules. Hopefully this description and walk-through of building the patch will be a catalyst for others to develop, enjoy and explore!

My thanks to fellow travelers along the way who have encouraged, prodded and given me feedback: Bruno Liberda, Daniel Cramer, James Cigler, Gerald Good, Darrin Wiener, Bruce Bayard, Adam Scramstad, Charles Seeholzer, Michael Vannice, Robert Coburn, Federico Placidi, Colin Spiby, Michael Maag and Matrixsynth to name a few… Thank you!"

Also see The Aleph Patch Explained.

Buchla CVT 3

Published on Feb 3, 2017 Todd Barton

"Live improv with Buchla Music Easels and Epoch Benjolins: Todd Barton and Bruce Bayard
better audio here: https://soundcloud.com/user7621213/bu..." [embed below]

nautikal

"a brief live improv on two Buchla Music Easels (with a hint of 200e). the only processing is spatialization. we sent one Easel through a Buchla 227 and the other Easel through a Buchla 227e. by Todd Barton and Bruce Bayard."

Cage Morphagened

Published on Aug 21, 2018 Todd Barton

"This rather intense composition was created from a 30 second sample of John Cage's prepared piano piece, And the Earth Shall Bear Again, using the MakeNoise Morphagene module developed by Tom Erbe. Video by Bruce Bayard http://brucebayard.com/
Better audio at: https://soundcloud.com/user7621213/ca..."

Haken Continuum Exploration-1 looped

YouTube Uploaded by vgermuse on Jul 3, 2011

"This is a very brief exploration of Edmund Eagan's internal patch 0 for the Haken Continuum. His patch is amazingly flexible, responsive and sensitive, as are all the sounds/patches he created for the Continuum. I apologize for the poor sound quality -- just a simple flipcam, ugh. Just using a Boss RC-20 to loop the initial pass."

Haken Continuum Free Jazz exploration

Uploaded by vgermuse on Jul 3, 2011

"live performance with Continuum (todd barton), electronics (bruce bayard), saxes (michael vannice) and percussion (terry longshore). Excuse the poor audio -- just a flipcam. Hopefully more professional video/audio soon."

The sleeves of the MATRIXSYNTH T. :)

Wood of uncertainty & Upcoming Todd Barton Buchla Performance

"Buchla 200e system. . . self-generating patch. . . source of uncertainty. . . . . ."

And an upcoming performance in Ashland, OR:

"Bridge State at the DanceSpace

Dear Friends,

I'm really excited about these upcoming multimedia performances! It is a wonderful opportunity for me to
work with an amazing ensemble of diverse artists.

Bruce Bayard with be offering his creative and evocative video projections and sonic improvisations
Suzee Grilley dancing with grace, elegance and connection
Christine Williams unfolding a wide spectrum of nuanced and compelling vocals
David Bithell manipulating poetry written by Jonah Bornstein and recorded by Dan Donohue and Christine
Williams.

Two nights! Each will be different!
Saturday, October 18, 2014 8pm
Sunday, October 19, 2014 8pm

We will present two evenings of improvisational multimedia performance. The event includes quadraphonic sound, music on two Buchla Easels, dance, vocals, video projections and Max processed poem by Jonah Bornstein as read by Dan Donohue and Christine Williams.

Bridge State is funded by a grant from The Haines Philanthropic Foundation.

The DanceSpace is located at 280 E. Hersey in Ashland.

Advanced tickets available via Paypal here:

http://brucebayard.com/2014/09/bridge-state-at-the-dancespace/

I hope you can join us for these exciting events!!

all best wishes,

Todd"

sweep. pulse.

"a live improvisation for two Buchla Music Easels accompanying a modern dance performance on 11-14-14 choreographed by Ellie Leonhardt with her students at Southern Oregon University. Easels: Bruce Bayard-Todd Barton."

Dual Easel Krell

video upload by Todd Barton

"Found duplicate Krell program cards that I made 10 years ago. So Bruce Bayard and I popped them into our Easels and gave them a spin."

Spatial Fontiers vi

"The last concert in Control Voltage Therapy's series, Spatial Frontiers featuring Todd Barton and Bruce Bayard on BEMI Music Easels. Rendered in stereo here but performed at the Schneider Museum of Art in quadraphonic."

MATRIXSYNTH T-shirt Sighting at Oregon Fringe Festival 2016

Brian Comnes sporting a MATRIXSYNTH T at the Oregon Fringe Festival 2016. That's a Doepfer Pocket Dial MIDI controller in front of him.  Side note: the pic was taken by none other than Todd Barton.  Todd has also been known to sport a MATRIXSYNTH T.

Also according to Brian "I think Ashland with 3 Easels in 22000 people probably has the highest per capita Easel density of any where. The easel performance that night was by Bruce Bayard who has the third Easel in town. I was using Ableton Live to deliver a soundscape to back up my video piece."


Thank you Brian and Todd!

Transitions 1

video upload by Todd Barton

"A year ago I began this little series for my Patreon page. Now I will periodically be making it public over the coming months. If you'd like to support my Patreon and keep the tutorials flowing here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/synthtodd

I'm beginning a little series on Transitions Tips and Tricks thanks to recent discussions with my friends and colleagues, Darrell Bluhm, T'ai Chi master and Bruce Bayard, Easel performance partner and artist. I look forward to your feedback. Enjoy!"

Don Buchla Memorial Concert Videos by Encyclotronic22

Published on Apr 24, 2017 Encyclotronic

Electronic Music Archive - http://encyclotronic.com/

First video is from the collection of Alessandro Cortini and Associates w/ music by Keith Fullerton Whitman.

Playlist:
1. Buchla Synthesizers Room - Don Buchla Memorial Concert, San Francisco
2. Peter Blasser - Don Buchla Memorial Concert
3. James Fei - Don Buchla Memorial Concert
4. Loachfillet and Professor Cantaloupe - Don Buchla Memorial Concert in San Francisco
5. Ezra Buchla - Don Buchla Memorial Concert in San Francisco
6. Ezra Buchla - Don Buchla Memorial Concert in San Francisco
7. Laetitia Sonami - Don Buchla Memorial Concert in San Francisco
8. Morton Subotnick and Lillevan - Don Buchla Memorial Concert in San Francisco
9. David Rosenboom - Don Buchla Memorial Concert in San Francisco
10. Circus of Associates: Joel & Claudine - Don Buchla Memorial Concert, San Francisco
11. Circus of Associates: Joel & Amy X Neuberg - Don Buchla Memorial Concert, San Francisco
12. Circus of Associates: Mark Vail & David Battino - Don Buchla Memorial Concert, San Francisco
13. Circus of Associates: Joel & Peter Apfelbaum - Don Buchla Memorial Concert, San Francisco
14. Circus of Associates: Joel & Brian Rice - Don Buchla Memorial Concert, San Francisco
15. Todd Barton and Bruce Bayard - Don Buchla Memorial Concert, San Francisco.
16. Circus of Associates: Joel & Amy & Peter - Don Buchla Memorial Concert, San Francisco
17. Circus of Associates: Group - Don Buchla Memorial Concert, San Francisco
18. Circus of Associates: Group - Don Buchla Memorial Concert, San Francisco
19. bran(...)pos - Don Buchla Memorial Concert, San Francisco
20. Ami Radunskaya - Don Buchla Memorial Concert, San Francisco
21. Jessica Rylan - Don Buchla Memorial Concert, San Francisco
22. Susan Ciani - Don Buchla Memorial Concert, San Francisco

SONOLUMINESCENCE

"Todd Barton, Terry Longshore, Suzee Grilley, Michael Maag and Bruce Bayard creating improvisational sound, movement and light." [link]

Todd uses a variety of synths in his performances, ranging from the Roland JP-8080 pictured to a moog, serge, buchla and pro-one.

The image in this post is the PR photo for an upcoming sequence of three concerts. Pretty cool when bands use images of synths so prominently in their promotional material.


click here for their website were you will find some performance clips, images and more.

Quadraphonic: Easels in Space Nov. 7 at Schneider Museum of Art

"There have not been 4 Easels in performance since the Electric Weasel Ensemble in the 1970’s. This is a rare and exciting free event!

Todd Barton, Bruce Bayard, Eden Mononym and Adam Scramstad will perform solos, duets, trios and quartets of freely improvised electronic music."

Full details at toddbarton.com.