The Radioactive Orchestra Making Music With Radiation

YouTube Uploaded by KSUinformation on Jun 27, 2011

"At http://www.nuclear.kth.se/radioactiveorchestra/ you can make your own music!
This is a project with the goal to make radiation more understandable. By translating the isotopes different energy levels to sound frequences we can ad another sense to grasp nuclear physics."

Fukushima 50 - nuclear echoes in our hearts

YouTube Uploaded by TouchedByInspiration on Mar 28, 2011
On the gear: "Nord Wave, and a very old tube-driven tape echo, produced by a german company called "Klemt" in the late 60's. As far as I know, this company finally became the german company 'Dynacord'. We recorded the piece with the Fostex LR16 and two Neumann mics for the piano. The mic signal was fed into the tape echo via an aux bus. Christiane was controlling the feedback of the tape echo manually while playing the piano. The recording was mixed afterwards in Logic 9."
follow-up to Sendai - Improvisation for the japanese people

On the performance:
"Piano-Performance by Christiane Dehmer.
The disaster in Japan still occupies me. The earthquake and the Tsunami are over now. But Fukushima and what it means for our world will remain.
In this video I play a piece of music that I have dedicated to the "Fukushima 50 ". When the disaster took its course in Fukushima, 50 workers remained in the damaged nuclear power plant, to avoid that the situation gets completely out of control. With primitive means they fought under the most adverse circumstances against the radioactive danger and put their lives to risk. The catastrophe of Fukushima and the actions of these people show once again that bravery, courage and personal commitment in the face of the complete failure of high-technology is the only reality that we have. Security, however, is an illusion.
The piece was recorded live during the night of 24.3.2011. I played piano, synthesizer and vocals. In addition, I used a more than 40 years old tube tape echo (Echolette S) which produced pretty crazy sounds from the piano. This ancient device and its distorted sound symbolizes in a special way, how outdated and not very controllable some of our technologies became.
Listen to the echoes in our hearts...
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Die Katastrophe in Japan lässt einen so schnell nicht los. Das Erdbeben und der Tsunami sind vorrüber. Aber Fukushima, und das was es für unsere Welt bedeutet, wird bleiben.
In diesem Video spiele ich ein Stück, das ich den "Fukushima 50″ gewidmet habe. Als die Katastrophe in Fukushima ihren Lauf nahm, blieben 50 Arbeiter in dem havarierten Atomkraftwerk, um zu verhindern, dass die Lage völlig außer Kontrolle gerät. Sie kämpften sie unter widrigsten Umständen gegen die radioaktive Gefahr aus den Reaktoren uns setzten dabei ihr Leben aufs Spiel. Die Katastrophe von Fukushima und das Handeln dieser Menschen zeigt einmal mehr, dass Tapferkeit, Mut und persönliche Hingabe im Angesicht des vollständigen Versagens von Hoch-Technologie die einzige Realität ist, die uns bleibt. Sicherheit dagegen ist eine Illusion.
Das Stück ist live aufgenommen am 24.03.2011. Gespielt habe ich Piano und Synthesizer und Gesang. Zusätzlich habe ich ein mehr als 40 Jahre altes Röhren-Bandecho (Echolette S) verwendet, das aus dem Piano recht abgefahrene Sounds produziert hat. Dieses altertümliche Gerät und sein verzerrter Klang versinnbildlichen auf besondere Weise, wie überholt und wenig kontrollierbar manche Technologie mittlerweile ist.
Höre die Echos in unseren Herzen..."

Hans Vegner Studio Panorama

Click this one for the full size shot.
via Hans Vegner on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge
"Here's a pseudo pano shot of our studio.we'll be releasing short videos of some old gear in the upcoming weeks on elektrobahn.com... thanks Matrixsynth" "...we've got a request to do a show which involves geiger counters triggering our gear with Yves Amu Klein on Friday." Note the custom Pro-One minus keys on the right.

Update on the Pro-One: "it's a couple of Pro Ones i joined together it's a work in progress. already it's capable of cross modulation and we're working on unison and a few patch points."

The synth to the right of the desk is a Crumar Spirit. For those not familiar with the Stratus, it was designed by Bob Moog, Jim Scott and Tom Rhea. Via Hans: "yes the fabled Spirit. this radioactive show just popped up but afterward we're starting a small video section. and we'll have a go at the Spirit. if you've never played with one, they are truly unique. between the filter section and the mod routing, disturbing..."

Solartron Atari Axe Synth Theremin

images via this auction.

"Up for auction is " Solartron ", a custom built, one of a kind, Experimental Synth Theremin Midi Controller. I recently sold Solartron's big brother, " Zontar ", here on Ebay for $ 1,500, so for those of you who missed Zontar, here is your chance. The band Mute Math uses a much simpler version of this device, and this unique proto-type is being offered to the most discriminating electronics collector. Solartron is actually two separate electronic devices which can be controlled independently, or simultaneously for additional sonic madness, all housed in a space-aged frame.

The first function of Solartron is as an experimental Midi Ribbon Controller. These controls are located in the middle section of the device. The black knob on the left hand side of the front panel is the Midi Rate, or Speed knob, which also provides Arpeggiator-Type patterns. The black knob in the middle is the Master Volume control. The green push-button to the right of the Master Volume is the " Rate Burst " control. This control instantaneously increases the Rate or Speed. The green button on the lower portion of the middle front panel is the Power On/Off Switch for the Midi Controller, and the black knob on the right hand side of the front panel is the Midi Patch Selector, which allows you to switch the Midi Patch Program on the fly. The Midi Controller section is powered by a 9-volt battery, located on the left side panel, an LED light indicates that it is powered up, and the Midi Output Jack is located on the right hand side panel.

The second function of Solartron is a Light Sensitive Photocell Theremin. The Photocell Theremin is housed in a small Red Dome, located in the top portion of the device, directly above the Midi Controller section. The green button to the left of the Red Photocell Dome is the Photocell Theremin On/Off Switch. The Photocell Theremin operates off of the same 9-volt battery as the Midi Controller section.

A third feature of " Solartron " is quite unique, and was not offered on " Zontar ". The lower section of Solartron features a Red Radioactive Symbol on clear plexiglass, and behind the plexiglass are Red Flashing LED lights. The upper portion of Solartron also features a row of Red Flashing LED lights behind a clear plexiglass panel. A green button on the left side panel near the Theremin Controller activates the Red Flashing LED lights, and are independently powered by a 9-volt battery located on the left side panel. A large Black Knob is located on the right side panel, and with this knob you may control the rate, or speed at which the Red LED Radioactive Symbol and row of LED's flash. This is a very cool feature, which allows you to sync up the rate of the flashing Radioactive Panel and LED lights with the rate or speed of notes generated by the Midi Controller Ribbon or Photocell Theremin. This would be quite effective visually in live performances, yet can always be shut off with the power button if not required.

Solartron features guitar strap lugs, which enables the user to strap Solartron on like a guitar. Solartron is approximately the length of a guitar, yet weighs less due to it's lightweight, aluminum housing. Solartron features a silver/gray post on the left-side of the neck which is decorative in nature, but also serves to stabilize and balance the neck portion of the device. Please note that Solartron sounds and reacts differently with each Midi device, which can be considered part of it's charm. If you wish to hear sound samples of Solartron, please send an e-mail, where I can direct you to the appropriate site."

If anyone has the link, feel free to comment.