EVI Serge by vgermuse Part 2

YouTube via matrixsynth. Sent my way via Todd Barton, aka vgermuse.
Part2: 2:15 demo. Follow-up to Part 1 here.
"This time instead of a single patch on the EWV2000 I am scrolling through a handful of original sounds along with the Serge. Enjoy and Thanks!"

"The EVI 2000 analog synth module of the EVI 1000 is producing long sustained sine tones which are now and then sent through a Moogerfooger Ring Modulator. The EVI is triggering a patch in the Serge that is creating random pitches and drastic timbral shifts. Hope you enjoy."

Matrixsynth by vgermuse

Click here for Buchla 200e tracks by Todd Barton, aka vgermuse. The following is the track listing along with synths used for each.

1. drifting--evi-2000, steiner-parker synthacon, boss rc-20
2. being and time--steiner-parker synthacon, boss rc-20
3. metalliton--buchla 200e
4. slowEvolution--buchla 200e, metasynth 4
5. cresting--buchla 200e
6. autumnAmbience II--steiner-parker synthacon, boss rc-20
7. stormBirds--buchla 200e
8. spaceMetal--buchla 200e, metasynth 4
9. exponentialSpace--serge modular music system, roland jp-8
10. horizoning--buchla 200e
11. offering--evi-2000, boss rc-20

Todd Barton - Analog Horizonings

"a very mellow collection of ambient soundscapes featuring the EVI-2000 along with the S-P Synthacon, Buchla, Serge and JP-8"

http://cdbaby.com/cd/toddbarton

"After four decades of exploration Todd Barton is still delving deeply into the ever-expanding frontiers of musical expression: from his DNA derived Genome Music to his innovative scores for plays at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival; from performances of Zen Shakuhachi Meditation Music to avant-garde music for electronic synthesizers and computers; from performing with luminaries of jazz and poetry to lecturing on music and composition from the Middle Ages to the 21st Century.

Todd's music has been heard on NPR’s Morning Edition, Westcoast Live, and the Curve of Wonder.

Since 1979 Todd has been exploring electronic systhesis and computer-based music. His love for vintage analog synthesisers continues to this day.

Over the years Todd has collaborated with a variety of jazz musicians and poets including Anthony Braxton, Zakir Hussein, William Stafford, Ursula K. Le Guin and Lawson Fusao Inada.

analog horizonings: ambient soundscapes for vintage analog synthesizers.

all music composed, produced and performed by todd barton"

Note Todd also goes by the alias vgermuse. You can see previous posts featuring vgermuse here and one more here. You might remember him from the Steiner Parker Synthacon and Buchla 200e demos.

Vgermuse Studio Shot 2

No title link. Another shot via vgermuse.

EML-101, Cricklewood Keyboard, Moog Voyager, MOTM, VCS3, EVI-2000, Serge Modular.

Update via Reed in the comments of the previous post: "He just did an album... [link]"

Vgermuse Studio Shot

No title link. Just a studio shot sent my way via vgermuse.

Roland Jupiter-8
Buchla 200e
MOOG Voyager
CME-UF7

Update via Reed in the comments: "He just did an album... [link]"

More Steiner Parker Synthacon via Vgermuse

Another shot of the Synthacon sent my way via vgermuse. Click here for some samples. See these posts for more.

Chattering Buchla

YouTube Uploaded by vgermuse on Sep 25, 2011

"This is a follow up to the 281e plays the 261e demo. This time the 281e is playing the 259e. Note that I haven't even twiddled many knobs or pressed buttons to scroll through the wavetables -- there are hours of fun ahead :-) Oh yeah, I did use the LFO from the 261e to modify the 259e LFO CV in there at the end."

buchla scroll

via vgermuse
"Here's a little audio file of just scrolling through 9 various iterations of a single 200e patch. Nothing special but interesting contrasts among settings."

mp3 here

Scratchin' the Buchla

YouTube Uploaded by vgermuse on Jul 18, 2011

"It must be a silly Monday morning -- exploring real-time patch touching. Sorry the sound isn't better but you'll get the idea."

Allen Strange RIP

Sad news in via vgermuse:

"I just received an email letting me know that Allen Strange passed away yesterday in Seattle. What a deep loss on so many fronts."

You might remember that Allen Strange recently had to cancel a performance in the Seattle area due to illness. If you do not know who Allen Strange is and his impact to the world of synthesizers, read this short bio (source of image and excerpt below) and then take a look at these previous posts; be sure to check out all the links to more info. He was a pioneer of electronic music and wrote a number of books on the subject. This is a sad day.

The following is a brief excerpt of his accomplishments:
"He received two grants from the San Jose State University Foundation (1969 and 1974) for research into electronic music and in 1970 became professor of music and director of the electronic music studios at the university. In 1973 he attended Chowning's music seminar at Stanford University Artificial Intelligence Center. Strange is one of the leading authorities on analogue electronic music; his Electronic Music: Systems, Techniques, and Controls (1972) is now a classic text. He also wrote Programming and Meta-Programming the Electro-Organism (1974), the operations manual for the Buchla Music Easel and has documented the 200 Series synthesizers made by Buchla. He co-founded two performance groups, Biome (1967--72), in order to make use of the EMS Synthi, and, with Buchla in 1974, the Electronic Weasel Ensemble. He was president of the International Computer Music Association (1993--8) and has appeared as a guest artist-lecturer throughout the world. With his wife, Patricia, they have recently published The Contemporary Violin: Extended Performance Techniques."

Update via Robin in the comments:
"From the Family of Allen Strange.

Just wanted to thank you all for your kind words. Allen will always be remembered as a loving father, husband and musician. There will be a memorial reception at the Bainbridge Island Music Guild on March 1st at 4 pm. Directions and information can be found at http://www.islandmusic.org/. We are also planning a life celebration for Allen in the Bay Area of California in the next few months, I will be sure to post that info when it gets planned."

Update via the comments:
"The Family of Allen Strange is having a memorial celebration in San Jose on September 13. For more information please see: http://www.allenstrange.com/ and if you plan on attending please RSVP at http://allenstrange.blogspot.com/

-Robin Strange"

Buchla Skype Tutoring with Todd Barton

Todd Barton is offering Buchla Tutoring via Skype. You'll find the full details on his website here.

You'll find a ton of video posts by Todd featured here and previously under his vgermuse alias here.

Buchla 249e for Sale

via Todd Barton aka vgermuse
"This Buchla 249e is in pristine cosmetic and operational shape. I am the original owner. It is, of course, pre v30 and comes with original documentation and firmware card. A very rare and amazing module!

Paypal is the way to go. Free shipping in the US (lower 48).

249e $4,750
Update: price reduced to $4,650

Please contact me at bartonmusic@mac.com if you are interested. All best wishes, Todd "

Click the pic for the super size shot.

Serge Self Improv

YouTube via vgermuse | August 25, 2010

"a self-generating patch using a Serge Modular Music System.
All analog all the time."

serge madness

Published on Nov 24, 2012 by vgermuse
"just another day exploring live performance techniques. . ."

OBP TV Interview with Composer Todd Barton

via OBP

"He’s the man behind much of the music at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. And he says, it’s OK if you don’t even notice the music. Todd Barton’s goal is to affect the mood without being obvious."

Some synth spotting in an interview with Todd Barton aka vgermuse. You should recognize the name from numerous posts. Metasynth, the Waterphone, and a pocket theremenin get a mention along with various other instruments.

Todd is currently working on the premiere of an adaptation of Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood in NYC by Ping Chong.

buchla etude eight

buchla etude eight from todd barton on Vimeo.

"Randomly cycling through a self-generating patch with five variations. Developed on a small Buchla 200e system. Main oscillators are 259e and 261e."

via Todd Barton aka vgermuse

"Inspired by Giorgio Sancristoforo’s recent self-generating Buchla patch in the classic electronic music style, I put together this brief, modest etude. I’m always amazed by the delicacy, power, elegance, gnarl and grit of just two Buchla oscillators!

The modules:

266e-259e-261e-281e-292e-291e-285e-206e

Randomly cycling through a self-generating patch with five variations.

A couple of minor edits for better continuity and a bit of SoundToys echo/reverb.

No overdubbing.audio: https://files.me.com/bartonmusic/91j9c4.mp3"

via Todd: "Just came out of the mountains for a couple of hours and sent this release to the 200e group -- feel free to post if you like. Back to the mountains where there is no internet :-) best, Todd"

Todd coming out of the mountains to share moments of brilliance. :)

Using the Buchla 291e Triple Morphing Filter as an Oscillator

291e Feddback Osc-2

Uploaded by vgermuse on Feb 22, 2012

"Continued rudimentary explorations into feeding back the filter outs to ins on the Buchla 291e triple filter to create three oscillators. This time just the 291e and the 281e with the 281e controlling the VCAs in the 291e."

Buchla 200 Triple VCO 291e Patch

YouTube Uploaded by djangosfire on Feb 22, 2012

"So someone mentioned using the Buchla 291e Triple Morphing Filter as a VCO....

To do this you feed the output of each channel back into itself.... Then you have 3x feedback VCO's....

The VC part comes from the ability to externally control each of the filter frequency stages via a CV source....

On top that fun, the 291e module allows for things like:
- 8x stage step sequencing
- 3x VC Bandpass Filters per stage
- per stage, per VCF external modulation control via am/bw/fm
- per stage, per VCF: VCA
- and loads more!!!!

SO this vid is a really short test of these feedback VCO's, so that you can hear how rich they can sound and behave.

The sequence is created on the 291e - but I also patched the 255 into the Freq inputs to allow per VCO external pitch control - also using a Eardrill Source Selector (along w/ 077 Pendulum Ratchet & the 255 again) for sequence transposition

Other things happening (as this vid is a short 'for fun' demo) but just to be clear: you are hearing ONLY the 291e patched as a TRIPLE OSCILLATOR in the sequence . . . . . pretty cool possibilities here!"

Todd Barton aka Vgermuse Featured in Oregon's The Mail Tribune

"Music Director and resident composer Todd Barton is retiring after more than four decades with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Barton was first hired in 1969 to play instruments. He became OSF’s music director in 1972."  Todd will be performing this coming Saturday: "Barton will play with other musicians during concerts on Dec. 1 and Jan. 5 at The DanceSpace, 280 E. Hersey St., Ashland. Both concerts start at 8 p.m."

Read the full article here.

This one in via Brian Comnes.

Richard Lainhart’s Buchla For Sale

Via Todd Barton:

"Caroline Meyers, wife of the late Richard Lainhart has asked me to help her find a buyer for Richard’s Buchla. She is interested especially in anyone desiring to continue Richard’s legacy by exploring his massive patch.

I know that Richard had a patch on his 18-module system that he explored and performed on for almost 3 years. The current 12-module system (see photos) was his 'traveling system' which was paired down from his original 18-module setup.

The modules were all purchased in 2009 and are 2.x firmware, however, Caroline is happy to upgrade it to 3.x firmware before shipping to a buyer.

The modules are:

207e Mixer/Mic Preamp/Envelope Detector
210e Control and Signal Router
225e MIDI Decoder/Preset Manager
261e x 4 Complex Waveform Generator
266e Source of Uncertainty
281e Quad Function Generator
291e x 2 Triple Morphing Filter
292e Quad Dynamics Manager
Cabinet and Buchla Power supply

All modules are in pristine cosmetic and functioning condition and includes the cables pictured. Caroline is asking $15,300. A similar new setup would cost $16,640 (without the cables). It would come with detailed instructions for replicating Richard’s patch."

If interested contact Todd at vgermuse@yahoo.com.

Buchla 259 | Episode 02 | Playing the Oscillators

video upload by Cinematic Laboratory

"In episode 01 I started with the Main/Principal oscillator. But a complex oscillator also has a modulation oscillator. In episode 02 I am going to focus on the 'dual oscillator' side, which could be useful for anyone with two VCO's in a case. The original title was 'surfing the oscillators' because it's inspired by a @vgermuse Todd Barton live improvisation from 2012 where he actually played the 259 on instinct, just fiddling knobs. Part one of the video is music from the actual recording: https://soundcloud.com/user7621213/bu...

Playing the oscillators by hand is possibly the most fun and gratifying experience with your modular. Just have a big reverb nearby! So I hope you have FM inputs to play with. I am saving the modulation/FM bus for episode 03 and I may finish the series with a 'build your own complex oscillator with anything you can find'. In this episode I am also revisiting the Furthrrrr Generator with the 'strong zero' core. I mentioned that the digital core may not be the best choice if you're looking for an analog 259 experience but this does not mean it's bad. It's quite the opposite.

We'll stay in complex territory this month. Next up will be a Cosmotronic Vortex video because all the material I shot for this series deserves a separate item. If all goes well, I'll have a Cs-L video planned and finally a Lubadh 'reel life' episode with 2.0 firmware. So plenty to study and hopefully something to look forward to."