RIP Tristram Cary

Tristram Cary passed away this week at the age of 82.
Pictured: In Tristram's studio
http://www.tristramcary.com/
"While serving as a wartime naval radar officer in 1945, he independently conceived the idea of electronic and tape music, and is thus a world pioneer in this field. His contribution to concert and entertainment musical repertoire in every genre from pure electronic music to instrumental solos and orchestral and choral works covers the entire second half of the 20th century, and is now moving actively into the 21st."

via wikipedia:
"Cary was educated at Westminster School in London, England and is the son of a pianist and the novelist, Joyce Cary, author of Mister Johnson. While working as a radar engineer for the Royal Navy during World War II, he independently developed his own conception of electronic and tape music, and is regarded as amongst the earliest pioneers of these musical forms. Following the war he created one of the first electronic music studios, later travelling around Europe to meet the small numbers of other early pioneers of electronic music and composition.
His concert works of note include a Sonata for guitar (1959), Continuum for tape (1969), a cantata Peccata Mundi (1972), Contours and Densities at First Hill for orchestra (1972), a Nonet (1979), String Quartet No. 2 (1985) and The Dancing Girls for orchestra (1991).
Cary is also particularly well known for his film and television music. He has written music for the science fiction television series Doctor Who, as well as the score for the Ealing comedy The Ladykillers (1955). Later film scores included Quatermass and the Pit (1967) and Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971), both for Hammer.
Cary was one of the first British composers to work in musique concrète. In 1967 he created the first electronic music studio of the Royal College of Music.

He provided the visual design for the EMS VCS3 synthesizer, the first portable synthesizer, though not the first to be attached to a keyboard, designed by Bob Moog a year later in 1970.
Cary received the 2005 lifetime achievement award from the Adelaide Critics' Circle for his contribution to music in England and Australia."

WHAT THE FUTURE SOUNDED LIKE

YouTube via VCS3DOCO.


"Film teaser for the documentary What The Future Sounded Like - the story of the Electronic Music Studios and their impact on music history. www.myspace.com/whatthefuturesoundedlike"
"Tristram Cary (Director: 1969 - 1973) Pioneer of classical electronic music during 1960s and composer for film and broadcast with musical credits on the first Dr.Who & the Daleks series, later scored the Ealing comedy The Ladykillers as well as a few Hammer films. Pipe smoker, tune writer, gun-for-hire, classical composer, navy man. Role at EMS was as resident composer and artist and as the most musically experienced. Co-designed VCS3. Built wooden cabinet, wrote hand-book. Left to become Professor of Electronic Music at the Royal College of Music. Since became Professor of Music at the University of Adelade. Retirement is not an option." Alos see CDM and Califaudio. This post will remain on top for the rest of the day out of respect. New posts if any will be below.

Tiptop Audio Z5000 review by Stretta

You can find the full review on The Stretta Procedure.

The following are a couple of excerpts:
"I spent all of last night playing with it, giggling. Tons of fun. I love putting reverb before the amplifier so the lines you play are smeared, but still gated by the keyboard. A reverb module makes patching far more easy, and opens up creative opportunities you may not have considered before. The Z5000 also includes a handful of other programs like chorus, flanging, but the real focus is on various reverbs. Now I really want the Plan B Model 40 Elf-series headphone preamp - everything is contained in the modular case!"

"When you get a new module, your old instrument is entirely new again. This is the really cool thing about modulars, and a concept I'm dying to exploit in software. You want to try the module with everything else you already have. It makes the entire system more powerful. You're not just buying a single new module, you're gaining what that module can do, in interaction with everything else in the system."

It's also typically much cheaper to pick up a new module vs. a new synth if you need a quick GAS fix.

Mooged Out

"In case you missed it…

Here it is folks…pictures and a review from the Mooged Out: Asheville CD Release party, featuring Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band!

First, a big “hat’s off” to all the musicians and volunteers that made this incredible night possible. You all helped to raise thousands of dollars for the foundation–a big help in preserving Bob’s archives. Get your copy of Mooged Out: Asheville as a gift with a $25 donation."

More images and words on the event on the Bob Moog Foundation Blog.

Pictured: Playing a Voyager with Booty Band: Lisa Huang

klee2_01

flickr by fonik2000

full size

"my version of Scott Stites KLEE2 sequencer built from the electro-music.com PCB edition."

klee-firstImpression

klee-firstImpression from loopcycle on Vimeo.
"The CV output A is feeding the pitch of oscillator A.
The CV output B is feeding the pitch of oscillator B.
Gate busses 1, 2, 3 are triggering three envelopes, which are opening two filters and one VCA.
The Klee is running in 16x1 mode.
You can see the lights chase each other from stage 1 (upper left) to stage 16 (lower left)."

Buchla 227

flickr by verbos

full size

Hobnox Audiotool im Test

Hobnox Audiotool im Test from Phlow on Vimeo.
"Audiotool von Hobnox | Mit den Audio-Werkzeugen auf Hobnox verfolgen die Programmierer einen spannenden Ansatz: Musik produziert man im Browser und steckt dort Geräte wie Synthesizer, Drummachines und Effekte zusammen - ähnlich wie wir es von Reason kennen. André Michelle, der Kopf hinter der Flash-basierten Musikproduktionsumgebung, erklärt uns im Interview was das Hobnox-Tool bezweckt, was geplant ist und welche geheimen Funktionen und Tricks das Audiotool schon jetzt bereithält."
"Audio tool Hobnox | With the audio tools to pursue the programmers Hobnox an exciting approach to music produced in the browser and there is equipment such as synthesizers, drum machines and effects together - similar to what we know of Reason. André Michelle, the man behind the flash-based music production environment, explains in an interview what the Hobnox-purpose tool, which is planned and what functions and secret tricks the audio tool already in store."
You can check out Hobnox (literally) online.

Hard Soft Synth and tr-808

Hard Soft Synth and tr-808 from Gijs on Vimeo.
"Audio processing the tr-808 with the HSS. In the beginning it uses a chopper effect (i don't know the common name for this type of effect..). The HSS chops up the input signal, and plays the short loops after another. Then there is a ring modulator effect And in the end there is a bit crusher effect, with a legato sweep between the changes."
This is the last post of the HSS for now - you can find more by clicking on the Gijs link below the video.

Hard Soft Synth on Oscilloscope

Hard Soft Synth on Oscilloscope from Gijs on Vimeo.
"Playing some of the sounds that the HSS can produce, visualized on a oscilloscope..
In this case the HSS prototype 1 was used.
gieskes.nl/instruments/?file=hard-soft-synth-1"

HSS Proto1 to Proto2 Random

HSS Proto1 to Proto2 Random from Gijs on Vimeo.

"Prototype 1 is used as a CV input and Audio input (at the same time) for Prototype 2.
gieskes.nl/instruments/?file=hard-soft-synth-1"