Modular Test : I Feel Love

A short video of the modular test mentioned in the previous blog, shot on my mobile phone so the audio quality is not great but you get the idea.

Bathysphere Modular

This is the modular synth in the Bathysphere studio which I’ve just finished re-housing into 4 smaller units, so as to make it a bit more portable. We bought this baby 18 months back on ebay and It came in one big heavy cabinet, 66 Doepfer and Analogue Solutions modules, including 9 oscillators, 4 sequencers, 6 analogue drums and numerous filters, envelopes, LFO’s and utility modules. It’s a fantastic synth and it’s been used on pretty much everything we’ve done in the studio since. It plays a big part in my circuit bent setup, I designed the Chaos Sequencer to send out triggers and receive control voltages. and all my Speaks have CV ins. Today is the first time for some months that I’ve had the whole thing running together as I’d previously taken out a few modules to build a small system for an ASMO vs kREEPA set at Summer Sundae 2007. I spent a couple of hours this afternoon testing all the modules by patching it up to play Giorgio Moroder’s classic analogue workout ‘I Feel Love’.

Behold The Beast

This is the Birmingham Electro-Acoustic Sound Theatre or BEAST, a comprehensive and unique sound diffusion system specifically designed for the performance of electro-acoustic music. The BEAST system uses up to thirty channels of loudspeakers, separately amplified and arranged in pairs, each pair having characteristics which make them appropriate for a particular position or function. They include custom built trees of high frequency speakers suspended over the audience, as well as ultra- low frequency speakers.

I recently attended a concert to celebrate it’s 25th anniversary, with works by BEAST composers past and present, including a piece I recently worked on called ‘Jungular’ by Ph.D student Serena Alexander. Jungular started out as a piece for live voice and electronics and was composed by Serena as part of her MA studies at De Montfort University, Chris and I at Bathysphere worked with Serena to realise a recorded version for the BEAST concert. We used a variety of techniques to emulate and synthesize the natural sounds of the jungle, including processed voice, circuit bent electronics, analogue and granular synthesis techniques, studio outboard and a huge arsenal of plugins.

Jungular session

The piece is in four movements, namely, Jungle Floor, Water, Insects and Treetops. The first movement introduces the ambient sounds of an imaginary jungle and its inhabitants. A rainstorm heralds the water theme, where a frogs’ chorus strikes up. The third movement focuses on the micro sounds of insect life; the rhythmic tapping of death watch beetles and ants scuttling to and fro in their nest, stirred by angry hornets. In the final movement birds of prey circle high above ground, their rhythmic wing beats contrasting with the spiralling wind in the canyons.

Dub Siren [circuit bent]

The cases for the initial run of 5 Dub Sirens I’m building are almost complete, my friend Will at Wernick Musical Instruments is building them to my specification. They are made from beech wood with aluminium base plates and will have a translucent polycarbonate front panel. I will be posting a demo video on my YouTube channel when they are finished.
They will cost £70 + postage, message me if you’re interested in purchasing one.

The controls are as follows
on/off/ mode switch
4 way loop select switch
loop length switch (short / long)
2x 4 way effect select switch (3 distortion, 1 pulse effect)
2x effect amount knobs
pitch knob
audio output select switch (continuous output or momentary push button)
LFO amount knob
LFO speed knob
LFO shape knob (square wave – triangle wave)
there will also be 5 flashing LED’s mounted under the front panel, one of which indicates the LFO speed

Sudophone (Merztin)

This is a Sudophone or Merztin which I’ve completed today at a workshop with John Richards (kREEPA) at DMU Leicester. It has been designed by John for a specially commissioned performance with Japanese noise artist Merzbow. The Sudophone is a collision of oscillators, feedback networks and distortion housed in a junk tin can with grip bolts and electrode-controllers. Merzbow will be joined on stage by a 25 piece Dirty Electronics Ensemble made up of De Montfort University students and myself at 2 concerts in Birmingham and Leicester

Wednesday, 16th April – Hare and Hound, Birmingham
capsule.org.uk
Thursday, 17th April – PACE Studio, De Montfort University, Leicester
dmu.ac.uk