Haverford College, in suburban Philadelphia, plays host this coming week to electronic and experimental hip hop musician DJ Spooky, virtual reality guru and composer Jaron Lanier, and Living Colour percussionist Will Calhoun as they gather for an event called “The Sound of Sci(l)ence.” The conference takes place June 15 – 17.

“The Sound of Sci(l)ence: Listening to Quantum Mechanics, the Big Bang, and Nanotechnology,” is a three-day series of conversations, workshops, and performances exploring the intersection of music and quantum mechanics. Supported by a Mellon Arts Residency Planning Grant from Haverford College’s Hurford Humanities Center, the event pairs visiting artists Will Calhoun, Jaron Lanier, and Paul Miller (aka DJ Spooky) with Haverford faculty and students in an effort to widen the scope of quantum mechanics pedagogy through the study of sound, as well locate synergies with courses across the academic disciplines.

Organized by Chemistry professor Joshua Schreier and Physics professor Stephon Alexander, who describe the idea behind the workshop this way:

“Mathematically, quantum mechanics (QM) has many analogies with the classical wave phenomena of sound, and yet the pedagogy of QM is almost entirely visual. This series of conversations and performances will explore how to ‘listen to’ the simple systems used to teach QM, how this can increase student comprehension, reach out to non-technical audiences, and for its own inherently aesthetic benefits. In addition, we would like to explore how this could be used to explore/comprehend our research interests in cosmology and nanoscience. “

The event is FREE, but registration is required. Attendees can register for tickets at this link.

Schedule of Events:

Monday, June 15th

4:00 p.m. Sharpless Auditorium

Open Panel Discussion on Sound and the Physics Curriculum
Speakers: Will Calhoun, Jaron Lanier, Paul Miller/DJ Spooky, Peter Love, Stephon Alexander, and Joshua Schrier

Tuesday, June 16th

12:00 noon Sharpless Auditorium
Screening of Paul Miller/DJ Spooky’s film Rebirth of a Nation
*Snacks provided

4:00 p.m. Hilles 109

Wavedrum Presentation/Workshop with Will Calhoun

Wednesday, June 17th

7:30 p.m. Marshall Auditorium, Roberts Hall
Performance: “The Sound of Sci(l)ence” Featuring Will Calhoun, Jaron Lanier, and Stephon Alexander

Additional Information:

Visiting Artist Will Calhoun is a Grammy Award-winning percussionist and member of Living Colour; winner of multiple drumming awards. Calhoun’s music utilizes both the Korg Wavedrum and the Mandala Drum, integrating banks of effects and other technological enhancements into his performances.

The name Jaron Lanier may be familiar to many readers, for his pioneering work in virtual reality (in fact, it was Lanier who coined the term in the early 1980s).  Founder of VPL Research, the first company to sell VR products, Lanier is also a visual artist and composer. At present, he is Interdisciplinary Scholar-in-Residence, CET, UC Berkeley.

Paul Miller (DJ Spooky) is an electronic and experimental hip hop musician whose work is sometimes called “illbient” or “trip hop”. He is a conceptual artist, film-maker, turntablist, and producer.

This video demonstrates how to emulate a scratch-style effect in Ableton Live 8 using the new delay Modes in Live’s Ping Pong Delay.

This is not meant to replace vinyl nor will it produce a totally authentic sounding scratch sound, but it is a Ableton Live only solution and is a nice add-on to your effects arsenal.

You can download the template at dubspot.

Q. What’s the difference between a bagpipe and an onion?

A. No one cries when you chop up an bagpipe.

Glamorous MIDI controllers like the Tenori-On get all the press, but MIDI bagpipes are where the real action is.

There’s a significant amount of work being done in the area of bagpipe-style MIDI controllers. And it’s no surprise why: MIDI bagpipes combine two of the world’s most maligned instruments, the synthesizer and the bagpipes, into a state-of-the-art, cutting-edge computer music user interface.

That lets you play Sailor’s Hornpipe.

Check this video out and then tell me it wouldn’t have benefited from a bit of MIDI bagpipes:

Here are the latest options for getting your MIDI bagpipes on:

Master Gaita, top photo, lets you use bagpipe fingering to control the MIDI universe.

The instrument made from a PVC tube with nine touch sensors. A 2.5 meter long cable leaving the plastic box carries the MIDI signals to the computer or sound module.

Features:

• Five selectable with a simple command chromatic fingerings (Galician, Asturian, Scottish, French and Extended (2.5 octaves wide).
• Compatible with other bagpipes as Gaita de Boto, Sac de Gemecs, Xeremía, etc.
• Any key/octave performance.
• Independent control of drones. Tenor drone must be tuned either in first or fifth grade of the scale.
• Four switchable sound programs with two instruments each.
• Duete by upper or lower thirds performance.
• Direct PC connection via joystick plug.
• Standard MIDI connection using the supplied MIDI cable.
• MAC or portable computer connection with a USB MIDI converter (not included).
• Auto-shut off after two or ten (by selection) minutes of no activity.
• No mouth or legs support needed because of its bagpipe-like held down.
• No finger moistening needed to activate sensors.
• Nine volts battery or external power supply.

vPipes is described as Next Generation Bagpipes.

vPipes is an electronic Uilleann Pipes emulator (without regulators) affording the possibility of practising in a variety of situations which would prove to be impractical or impossible with a real set of pipes.

Features:

• 2 x High-performance, advanced RISC architecture main processors
• Backlit Mini LCD Display
• Continuous force sensor for realistic octave change emulation
• Li-Ion rechargeable battery
• In system battery charger
• Compatible with 4 AA 1.5V standard batteries
• Integrated synthesizer
• RISC-based digital signal processor (Synthesis/DSP)
• High-quality wavetable synthesis
• Serial MIDI in & out
• Effects: Reverb + Chorus
• Surround on two speakers with intensity/delay control
• Four-band parametric equalizer

The Degerpipes is an electronic bagpipe chanter. It’s designed to be a practice instrument, but it’s also a MIDI controller.

Key Features:

• Same size and finger spacing as a long practice chanter.
• Dual output: PHONES and MIDI. Headphones and MIDI devices can directly connect to the DegerPipes Chanter. It’s also possible to connect the phones output to an amplifier or a stereo.
• The chanter contains all electronic components as well as the battery. No external box or additional equipment is needed.
• Authentic Bagpipe sound including drones generated by wavetable sound synthesis. Highland Pipe and Smallpipe sounds integrated.
• Perfectly tuned chanter scale and drones by usage of crystal oscillator and microprocessor control.
• The Pitch is adjustable in a range of more than three octaves. This enables you to play together with other instruments in any key.
• The drones volume is variable and can also be switched off.
• Through MIDI output every MIDI compatible tone generator or other MIDI equipment can be used (for example PC with notation program).
• An extended cromatical scale is available allowing you to play tunes which are not playable on the real pipe chanter.
• Driven by a cheap standard 9V Battery, Accumulators are also usable.
• Up to 100 hours of playing with only one battery.
• Automatic power off after a minute of no activity.
• A Metronome is integrated within the Chanter.

For some people, that may mean the end of getting double-charged for ringtones at iTunes. If you’re a musician, a sound designer or if you’ve got a podcast, you might want to create ringtones to promote your song or show. You could do this with your music, a show theme, sound effects or a catchphrase.

Here’s what you need:

• GarageBand 4.1.1 or later
• iTunes 7.5 or later
• iPhone with software version 1.1.2 or later

Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating ringtones with Garageband:

Step 1: Select Some Audio In Garageband

Open your Garageband file, turn on the “Cycle region” button, and then adjust your the sides of the selection to get the audio you want. You can preview the ringtone by pressing the “Play” button.

That’s it. Your selection should be under 40 seconds long.

Step 2. Send Your Ringtone To iTunes

Once the cycle area has been set, choose Share > Send Ringtone to iTunes.

Step 3.

Your custom ringtone will show up in iTunes. Give it a preview, and then you can sync it to your iPhone!

Tips:

• If you want to make a ringtone out of an existing piece of audio, like an .mp3 file, create a new Garageband file and drag your audio in, and then follow the instructions above.
• You can find your ringtone on your computer from iTunes. CTRL-click on your ringtone and select Show in Finder.
• You can share your ringtones on your site for people to download. To install, they just drag the ringtone to iTunes and sync their iPhone.

Bob Moog’s namesake analog synthesizers have affected popular music in ways he might not have expected back in 1954, when he began building theremins with his father. But 50 years later, Bob’s musical instruments have catapulted so many styles of music into the future, and his contributions to both players and technicians grow even more profound in retrospect.

Where would rap and hip-hop be if groups like Parliament and Funkadelic hadn’t used Moog keyboards? Where would rock and roll be if groups from Yes to Edgar Winter hadn’t used Moog keyboards? Would jazz music have branched off into fusion without Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea using Moog keyboards? And would classical music have enjoyed such resurgence without Wendy Carlos and her modular Moog synthesizer?

The questions are hypothetical, of course, because synthesizers have infiltrated every style of music, and so many companies have tried to recreate the analog sound that Moog pioneered.

After ten years of making theremins, providing unearthly sounds to science fiction movies and avante garde musicians, Bob Moog met experimental composer Herbert Deutsch, whose search for electronic sounds inspired Moog to create the first Moog Modular. Though Moog took on the project just for fun, when he premiered it at the Audio Engineering Society Convention in October of 1964 the response was immediate and Moog started taking orders on the spot.

By the time he got a graduate degree (PhD in Engineering Physics) in the summer of 1965, the R. A. Moog Co. had delivered several modular synthesizer systems, mostly to academic and experimental composers. But it would be a few years later when public awareness of Moog synthesizers would leap ahead beneath the nimble fingers of Wendy Carlos.

Carlos’ renowned album Switched-On Bach was released on Columbia Records at the end of 1968, achieving immediate success. The album went on to sell over a million copies, creating a sharp demand for Moog modular synthesizers throughout 1969 and early 1970.

Many “switched-on” records were produced during that period, some of which did become popular. By the end of 1970, the now incorporated R. A. Moog Inc. introduced the Minimoog, a compact performance synthesizer based on the technology of Moog modular products, enabling keyboardists to take the Moog on the road. And that began a decade of music that would be forever altered by the Minimoog and its sounds.

R. A. Moog Inc. officially changed to Moog Music in 1971 and became a division of the now defunct Norlin Music in 1973. Moog synthesizers were widely used by professional musicians and the “Sound of the Moog” became an integral part of our musical culture. The list of songs is far too long to print here, but from rock to R&B, from jazz to classical music, the Moog sounds were everywhere.

At the end of 1977, Moog left Moog Music and founded Big Briar for the purpose of developing and building electronic musical instruments with novel player interfaces. Moog keyboards were made for the better part of the next decade by Norlin Music. Moog keyboards ceased production by 1986.

Nevertheless, Moog’s interest in synthesizers and instruments wasn’t quelled.

From 1978 to 1992, Moog operated Big Briar on a small scale and kept building custom instruments. He was also representing Synton, a Dutch manufacturer of modular equipment, and providing consultation services to other music technology manufacturers. In addition, Moog served as Kurzweil Music Systems’ Vice President of New Product Research from 1984 through 1989, and taught music technology courses at the University of North Carolina at Asheville from 1989 to 1992.

However, Moog keyboards and the music they graced began a cult following amongst players and aficionados, and Moog’s inventions never quite left the spotlight. It was his original theremin that was to enjoy an early 90’s renaissance.

In response to the rise in interest, Moog designed the Series 91 theremins in 1991, and Big Briar produced them for the next five years. In 1996, Moog wrote a do-it-yourself theremin article, which was published in Electronic Musician magazine. The design formed the technical basis for the Etherwave theremin, which Big Briar/Moog Music has built and sold continuously since then. In addition to the Etherwave, Moog designed the Ethervox MIDI theremin in 1998. About this time, Moog designed several Moogerfooger analog effects modules, which are based on the technical principles of the original Moog modular instruments and were designed to bring the benefits of analog synthesis to all performing musicians. The result was instantaneous, as musicians worldwide scrambled to own one or all of these amazing devices.

Finally, in 2002 Moog resurrected his namesake analog synthesizer, designing the new Minimoog Voyager for a new generation of Moog players. Like the Moogerfoogers, this instrument is based on the technical principles of the original Moog modular instruments and the original Minimoog, but in addition incorporates a wide range of contemporary features such as fully-implemented MIDI and a three-axis touch surface. Reviews have been very positive, and Moog’s Etherwave theremin, Moogerfoogers, and Minimoog Voyager have all won numerous musical instrument industry awards.

Moog reclaimed the right to use the Moog Music and Minimoog trademarks in 2003, and immediately changed the name of Big Briar to Moog Music Inc.

In 2003, Moog Music released the Moog Pianobar. Developed by Donald Buchla, a long-time colleague of Bob’s and a renowned electronic musical instrument designer in his own right, the PianoBar fits onto any acoustic piano and enables the player to use the piano’s keyboard to control electronically generated sounds.

Moog new products of 2004 were the award winning Moogerfooger Multiple Resonance Filter (MuRF) and the Etherwave Pro theremin. The MuRF is a totally new effects processor that enriches the spectrum and animates the sound of all musical material. The Etherwave Pro is fully professional theremin that incorporates much of what Bob learned about theremin design over the past fifty years.

The past 50 years have been an adventurous time in music, and Bob Moog’s contributions become ever-important and evident in retrospect. His dedication to the craft of making instruments is as legendary as the instruments themselves, and Moog has helped make possible the creation of some of the most important music of the 20th century and beyond.

Moog has employed two guiding principles that have helped shape Moog’s reputation for fine music technology products, and have enabled Moog’s musician customers to create so much of the great music of our contemporary culture.

In his own words, Bob states:

“First, we have sought out musicians who make creative use of electronic instruments, and have asked them for their advice and opinions on what sorts of products we should offer, and what features these products should have. Keeping in constant touch with musicians from all fields of music, and from all over the world, has enabled us to design instruments that have proven to have enduring musical worth.

Second, our design work is an ongoing collaboration with many technically-trained people. For instance, many Moog products, including our recently-introduced Minimoog Voyager, have benefited from our collaboration with Rudi Linhard, a German colleague of mine. And of course, the Piano Bar, our latest product, is an ongoing collaboration between Don Buchla and us. Don has been a fellow designer for forty of the past fifty years.”

In 2005 Moog Music suffered the loss of it’s founder; Bob Moog. Moog was diagnosed with Brain Cancer in April and lost his battle on August 21st.

The Little Phatty Tribute Edition was the last instrument based on Moog’s design. With it’s sound engine designed by Bob Moog, the Little Phatty boasts a 100% analog path, 100 user editable presets and a 37 note keyboard with +/- 2 Octave Transpose. Moog Music released a limited edition run of 1200 individually numbered Little Phatty Tribute Edition synths. The Tribute Edition has special Moog wood sides, a Bob Moog signature plate across the front and rear, comes with a CD ROM featuring highlights from the Bob Moog Memorial Service and a special Bob Moog poster.

Long time protégé and current Moog Engineer, Steve Dunnington said, “Bob and I conceived this keyboard in 2004. We chose Axel Hartmann of Design Box to come up with the look of the instrument. It is sad that Bob is not here to see the finished instrument, but I think he would have been proud.”

More recently, Moog Music announced a production model. The Little Phatty Stage Edition has the same features and sound engine, designed by Moog founder and inventor, Bob Moog, and improved software and an auto-calibration feature. The Stage Edition departs from the traditional wood cabinet and is cradled instead by charcoal-colored rubberized side panels.

“We set out to design a true analog synth with a simple yet versatile interface and make it available to a wider audience.” said Moog Music Inc. president, Mike Adams.

via Moog Music

Mactel Music Applications:

• Airfoil
• AudioExpress
• AudioLeak -  an Leq (Long-Term Equivalent Level) analyzer for audio files.
• CastAway – Wooden Brain Concepts
• Crystal Synth
• Boom Recorder
• eJamming Station -  Real-time Internet-based music collaboration software
• iFeedPod – Carnglass Software
• iSquint – iPod Video convertor
• iTuneMyWalkman
• iTuneSEnabler -  copies iTunes songs, playlists and Podcasts to mobile phones or any other device which can mounted as a volume.
• Garageband
• Max -  an application for creating high-quality audio files in various formats, from compact discs or files.
• MIDI Monitor
• MIDIPipe
• MUVO Helper
• Nuke4All -  Allows using the Hartmann Music “Nuke” USB Controller to work as remote control for other synthesizers and devices via MIDI.
• Pod2Go – Kainjow
• Podcaster
• Podcast Maker
• Remodellizer-  Allows editing of the model files for the Hartmann Music Neuron music synthesizer without the time consuming re-modellizing process.
• Sample Manager – Audiofile Engineering
• Senuti – iPod to Mac music transfer
• SyncTunes
• Video2Pod
• Vodcaster – TwoCanoes.com

If you have information on other major Mac music/audio apps, let us know!

GarageBand ships with plenty of fantastic effects and several useful presets for those effects. But the wonderful thing about audio effects is the vast range of things you can do with them, many of which you probably wouldn’t stumble upon just by randomly moving sliders. This article will help you create three of these less obvious effects: pumping drums, ping pong delay, and a comb filter.  You can create these effects using both GarageBand 1 or 2.

I’m assuming at the outset you have some experience with GarageBand and its effects. If you don’t, check out two ebooks I’ve written to get you started: Take Control of Making Music with GarageBand covers GarageBand basics, using loops and introductory song composition; the latest, Take Control of Recording Music with GarageBand, is loaded with information on recording Real and Software Instruments and the basics of using GarageBand effects.  Both ebooks have been updated to cover GarageBand 2.0.

In this article, author Jeff Tolbert shares some of his favorite techniques for being more creative and productive in GarageBand. Many of these suggestions are taken from his 68-page electronic book, Take Control of Making Music with GarageBand, which you can purchase for $10 online. This article was written originally for Garageband 1.0, but should still be applicable to new versions.

Plan the Song

It’s fine to play around in GarageBand—dragging loops up from the browser, rearranging them so they sound cool together—but at some point you’ll want to stop and think about your goals. Are you making a soundtrack to your latest iMovie project? If so, what’s the mood of the movie or the scene? The clearer you are about your goal the smoother the process will be. You might want to make a little drawing of what you want your song to “look” like. Maybe you want it to start with a bang, then alternate between quiet sections and loud sections, and end with a longer loud part that fades out at the end (Figure 1). Or maybe it should start quietly and build slowly until the end. It’s your call. GarageBand comes with a ton of loops, so you should be able to find something that fits your goal.

Figure 1: A simple sketch of a song.

Change the Default Tempo and Key

Dare to be different! To keep your GarageBand tunes from sounding like everyone else’s, change the default tempo and key. If you listen to songs on Web sites like MacJams.com (http://www.macjams.com/), where GarageBand users upload their latest creations, you’ll notice that the vast majority of the songs are in the key of C and have a tempo of 120 beats per minute.

Even if you only change the tempo by a few beats per minute (118 instead of 120), that will be noticeable; subtle, yes, but noticeable.

The term electro-acoustic refers to a process that happens in any microphone or loudspeaker – sound is transformed into electrical signals, and then transformed from electrical form back to sound. This process is central to all electronic music, because it turns sound into something that can be shaped using electronics and computers.

As a musical genre, electro-acoustic is sort of a catch-all term. As electronica is used to refer to any pop electronic music, electro-acoustic is often used to refer to any electronic music in the classical tradition.

Electro-acoustic grew out of the pioneering work of experimental electronic musicians of the 1940’s and 1950’s, such as Pierre Schaeffer. Shaeffer created Musique Concrète, a style of music that anticipated the later rise of sampling. Schaeffer was interested in the idea of manipulating sound as a tangible object. He took tape recorded sounds and created a huge variety of effects through splicing, speed changes, looping and reversing them.

It also incorporates the tradition of the early synthesists, such as Edgar Varèse. Initially, electronically generated sounds were used as source materials for further tape manipulation. In the mid 1960’s, the emergence of modular synthesizers and computer-based sound manipulation allowed further control over the shaping of sound. Artists like Morton Subotnick explored using gestures to control sound, and combined electronics and synthesizers with acoustic instruments and even dance.

The term electro-acoustic has been adopted by many artists and organizations working in the world of classical electronic music. While the technology of electronic music is constantly changing, electro-acoustic artists continue to draw on the history of ideas pioneered by early electronic musicians.

Modular analog synthesizers

Modular synthesizers provide musicians with a tremendous sense of physical control over the sound. With their walls of knobs, just about any aspect of a sound can be changed in real-time, without having to load any software, map any controllers or page through any menus. While they are largely based around analog control voltages, they can be used with MIDI to Control Voltage converters and be integrated into any system. A large modular system, like the Synthesizers.com system shown at right, offers tremendous capabilities for live performance, experimentation, and sound exploration. 

What makes a synthesizer modular?

In most synthesizers, the signal flow is pre-patched within the synthesizer, which is great for making sounds quickly, and for making synthesizers portable. However, having fixed signal flows limits what synthesizers can do.

Modular synthesizers take a different approach. They allow you to patch anything into just about anything else, giving you almost infinite flexibility. This means that modular synthesizers allow you to explore a larger range of sounds than you can make on other synthesizers. They also give you the ability to change your synth over time. If you like the sound of another synthesizer’s filter, you can get a new module and add that filter to your system.

Modular systems are more affordable than they have ever been. While still not cheap, starter systems are available for a few hundred dollars, and big systems no longer require that you mortgage your house to buy one. At the low end, PAiA makes a modular system that can be had for around $500. At the high end, a basic Synthesis Technology MOTM system will run about $1,500 – $2,000, about the same price range as many good quality acoustic instruments.

Unlike most acoustic instruments, though, modular systems tend to grow, and many musicians find themselves addicted to the concrete control over sound that modulars provide. This leads many to expand their systems as funds allow, which can lead to monster-sized modular setups!. As systems grow, they capabilities expand, and as more people get involved in modular synthesis, the options available expand, too.

About Modular Synths

Most modular synthesizers are modeled in many respects after the classic systems of Robert Moog. The photo at right shows a vintage system from UCSC. Each module in these systems fits into a rack. The modules are connected inside the rack to a common power supply. Other than that, the modules function relatively independently. This means that patch chords must be used to connect the various modules together to make a “patch”.

For example, a very basic patch would be to connect the control voltage (CV) output of the keyboard controller to the CV input of a Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO). The VCO is used to generate cyclical signals and is generally used to create pitched sounds. The CV output of the keyboard is a signal that changes depending on which key on the keyboard is depressed. The audio output of the VCO can be patched into a Voltage Controlled Amplifier (VCA). The VCA controls how loud a signal is. From there the audio output of the VCA can be patched into an amplifier so it can be heard.

That’s an extremely basic patch. Most patches would also include trigger or gate signals from the keyboard. These are used to “trigger” things like envelope generators (EG’s). Envelope generators are used to shape a signal over time. The most commonly used envelope generators are Attack – Decay – Sustain – Release ones that have four controls that change the levels/time of four stages. EG’s are commonly used to change the volume of a signal over time. They are also used to control the brightness of filters over time.

Voltage Controlled Filters (VCF’s) control the frequencies that can be passed through them. The most common VCF’s filter out frequencies above a level set either with a control knob or a control voltage. This lets the synthesist control the brightness of a signal.

Moog and Buchla were two of the most influential early modular synth designers.

Modular Synthesizers In Use

Wendy Carlos made the most influential synthesizer recording to reach a large audience, Switched-On Bach, using a Moog modular synthesizer. Paul Beaver was another early user that was an active session musician, but he also pioneered the use of modular synthesis in the world of environmental new age music.

Keith Emerson was the most famous performer to use a modular synth in live performance. Emerson used it as a glorified lead synthesizer, as much for effect as for musical utility. His monster Moog would have certainly looked impressive on stage. He also was known to wield a Moog ribbon controller in a decidedly phallic manner.

In the seventies, modular Moogs were used around the world by musicians of all sorts, including Paul Bley, Malcolm Cecil, Florian Fricke, George Harrison, Bernie Krause, Klaus Schulze, Tomita, Tangerine Dream, Sun Ra, and Stevie Wonder.

Modular synthesizers fell out of popularity for nearly twenty years. In the 80’s, cheap digital synthesizers like the Yamaha DX7 offered an inexpensive way to get meat and potato sounds. These synthesizers did a good job of meeting the basic needs of performing keyboardists, and they did it for prices that blew away analog equipment. However, they could not duplicate the tactile control of sound that modular synthesizers can give you.

Some would say that we are experiencing a renaissance of modular synthesis. Analog equipment is hugely popular, with used equipment fetching tremendous prices. Modular synthesizers are the Cadillac or holy grail of the synth world.

Big modular analogs are wonderful to use, especially after using a digital synthesizer. While a equipment like a DX7 or a Kurzweil offers tremendous flexibility, power and polyphony at a reasonable price, they don’t have the immediacy, the flexibility, or the ease of use of modular equipment. Analog equipment also offers gradations in sounds that are still difficult to achieve with digital equipment. Controls on an analog synth don’t have 128, 256, or 1024 possible steps; they have as many steps as there are positions on the dial.

Modular synthesis has been recreated in software, such as Native Instruments Reaktor. Nevertheless, there are many synthesists that still enjoy the tactile feedback that modular synths afford, and the vibrant analog sound that these synths are known for.

In the last few years, monster Moog users Peter Namlook and Klaus Schulze have released a series of “Dark Side of the Moog” titles. Techno artists, such as William Orbit, have adopted modular systems as tools for generating new and interesting sounds. Ambient artists, such as Robert Rich, are using modular systems to create exotic electronic soundscapes in live performance, a feat that would be difficult to with other approaches to synthesis.

Modern Modular Synthesizer Manufacturers

There are a surprising number of manufacturers of analog equipment that can be used in a modular fashion. Many, like Moog Music, make synthesizers and effects units that are patchable using standard control voltages. Other companies, like Synthesis Technology, are making true modular synthesizers, but updated for the twenty-first century. The best new modular equipment, like that in the MOTM line from Synthesis Technology, retains the best qualities of classic modular equipment, but updates it with modern electronics and improved designs, so modules have greater stability, reliability and flexibility.

The synth manufacturers listed below all are currently making analog equipment designed to be used in a modular manner. Most of the equipment uses the same electrical standards that Moog pioneered, so it can generally be mixed and matched. The physical characteristics of various systems vary widely. Some systems, like PAiA’s, are designed for compactness and low cost. Others, like the MOTM system, use larger form factors that are great for performance use, but increase the cost.

Building a System

If you’re considering a modular system, it’s good to start small and leave room to grow. The modules that you will want will vary depending on what you want to do with the system. There are many modules, though, that are classic modular components that most users will want to include in their systems. These include, VCO’s, VCF’s, VCA’s, LFO’s and EG’s. A good starting point for sound synthesis use would be two VCO’s, a VCF, a VCA, an LFO, two EG’s, a power supply and a rack of some sort.

Leave room to grow your system, though! Today’s synthesists have more module designs available than ever before. This includes modern recreations of exotic classics, such as ring modulators, comb filters, sequencers, sample and holds, fixed filter banks, and noise generators.

Many innovative new designs are also available to tempt the poor synthesist. Wiard has a module known as the Waveform City that supports wavetable synthesis. MOTM has the juicy Triple Resonant Filter that combines three voltage controlled bandpass filters with two LFO’s. Oakley Sound Systems has a lovely voltage controlled phaser, known as the Equinoxe. Cyndustries offers a uber-sequencer, and many other interesting modules. Doepfer and Synthesizers.com have systems that are relatively inexpensive, yet have many unique modules. Encore Electronics makes a delicious 8-stage Envelope Generator/Sequencer/LFO, called the Universal Event Generator.

Bittorrent is a P2P application designed to solve the problem of distributing large files over limited bandwidth. It communicates with other Bittorrent clients and works with them to allow you to download large files, even if the network is unreliable.

The application was developed by Bram Cohen, who calls himself a “Practitioner of evolutionary design”. He’s developed the BitTorrent application, a free program that runs on OS X, Windows, and Linux/Unix.

Downloading and Installing Bittorrent

The application can be downloaded from his site.

1. Save the installer to your disk, when prompted. Open the installer, and it automatically run itself. You’ll know it done when you get an alert that says “BitTorrent has been successfully installed!”.
2. Once you’ve got it loaded, just go to a site that has a torrent link and click it. This will open a save dialog box:

   

3. Click OK, and save the file:

   

4. Once you save the file, Bittorrent will open and connect to peers in order to download the file.

   

5. Once your download is complete, you may need to uncompress the file prior to using it.

If you have problems working with BitTorrent, a detailed FAQ is maintained by MXDomain.

The best orchestral electronica uses electronics as an important element in a wider palette of instruments, to create new types of orchestration that would be impossible using traditional instruments. It takes the ideas of traditional orchestration and expands them, using the new capabilities that electronic instruments and studio treatments offer.

Some of the composers that work in this style are Vangelis, Mike Oldfield, and Mychael Danna. Vangelis is the most prominent composer using this approach. His soundtracks to Blade Runner and 1492: Conquest of Paradise are good examples of the style. On both of these soundtracks, Vangelis uses traditional orchestral instruments and voices, but he dramatically expands the orchestral range through the use of synthesizers and electronic processing.

Instead it mutated, and one of its mutant offshoots is House Music. House music retains much of the heavy regular beat of disco, but tends to be more electronic, with drum machine rhythms and synthesized basses. The music is song based, and draws on a variety of influences, including Latin, jazz, soul, gospel and reggae.

House music grew up in the early eighties in Detroit and Chicago clubs that appealled to poor and disenfranchised populations, especially the gay community. The music incorporated the Roland Rhythm Section, TB-303 Bassline and TR-909 drums. There’s both instrumental and vocal house music. Vocal house rarely focuses much attention on actual lyrics, instead trying to deliver an intense hook that will get people dancing. C+C Music Factory’s “Everybody Dance Now” is catchy as hell, but doesn’t try to be anything more than a call to dance.

One of the most notable early house cuts was Rhythm is Rhythm’s “Strings of Life”. House grew in popularity as mainstream artists like Madonna gave it more of a pop twist. Even though house music is twenty years old, most club-oriented dance music that is played today is still a variation on the formula created by early house musicians.

One of the earliest examples of what could be considered dark ambient was Brian Eno’s Ambient 4: On Land. This is the darkest of Eno’s ambient works. It is largely electronic, but also includes treated acoustic sounds. The sounds are not easily recognizable – it’s difficult to know if you’re hearing an instrument, electronic sound, or treated recording. On Land is a collage of mysterious, even scary sounds, that create a sense that you’re in an alien landscape.

Richard D. James, better known as Aphex Twin, released a CD in 1994 called Selected Ambient Works, Volume 2, that includes many cuts that could be considered dark ambient music. The music bears the indelible influence of Eno’s On Land, but James charts new territory, too. His ambient pieces tend to be less murky, but just as dark and mysterious as Eno’s work on Ambient 4.

Steve Roach and Robert Rich explore dark ambient territory on some of their releases.

In 1978, most people were listening to disco. The Village people had a hit with “YMCA” and Donna Summer with “Last Dance”. The disco era was in full bloom, and fringe hits were things like Jimmy Buffet’s “Cheeseburger in Paradise”, or “Werewolves of London”, by Warren Zevon.

Against this backdrop, Eno’s quiet, meditative Music for Airports came out. Music for Airports is a sound sculpture, designed to be ignored as much as listened to. It has  no easily discernable rhythm, and no hummable melodies. Yet 25 years later, ambient music has grown to be a busy category of music, and countless musicians name Eno and his ambient music as an inspiration.

Ambient 1 is simply one of the most important pieces of electronic music ever created. Music for Airports created a new genre, ambient music, that has grown to be a popular and influential style.

What is Ambient Music?

Eno places ambient music as an alternative to Muzak. Eno felt that Muzak had created music that was so lightweight and derivative that it had effectively eliminated environmental music as a subject for composer’s attention, or for that of serious listeners. His use of the term “ambient music” was to create a distinction between his music and the canned background music that was available at the time.

Most importantly, Eno wanted to make music that would support reflection and space to think. Eno did this by creating music that was beautiful, but did not have a center of focus to demand your attention. In his liner notes, Eno puts it this way: “Ambient Music must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting.”

New age music tends to avoid heavy rhythms, harsh sounds, complex harmonies, and virtuosic display. The focus of new age music is not on the musician or composer, but on creating music that will meet your psychological needs.

New age music grew out of experimentation by a variety of composers in the 60’s and 70’s. Jazz and rock musicians reacted to the free-form virtuosic music that was popular at the time, and explored more meditative styles of music.

The most important artist of early new age music is probably Stephen Halpern. Halpern began to make music that was intended specifically for meditation and reflection in the early seventies. He couldn’t find a record company that was interested in his music, so he published it himself, and marketed through “new age” stores. These were yoga gyms, health food stores, and places that sold world clothing, incense, and spiritual items. Halpern’s music is based around a very long pulse; his phrases tend to be about the length of a slow breath, making his music very relaxing.

Because new age music covers a lot of stylistic territory, both electronic and acoustic musicians have created music that could be called “new age”. A lot of new age music is unexceptional; it works as background music because it waters down music, stripping away anything thoughtful or challenging. The best new age music, on the other hand, has expanded the range of musical style. Halpern’s work, for example, challenges many assumptions listeners often have about music.

Many other artists have created music that falls into the new age category. Brian Eno’s ambient music, especially Ambient 2, is very contemplative. Many electronic musicians have created new age music, including John Serrie, Kitaro, Aeoliah, Steve Roach and Michael Stearns. Some of the music of Vangelis, Tangerine Dream, and Klaus Schulze could be considered new age, also. Paul Horn has created acoustic new age music for 30 years.

In 1978, Brian Eno released Ambient 1: Music for Airports. It came out at the peak of disco, and was largely ignored when it was released. Music for Airports has grown in significance every year since, though. Ambient 1 was a beautiful manifesto. It is a set of intriguing, timeless soundscapes, artfully packaged. It is also the beginning of ambient music.

In his liner notes, Eno places ambient music as an alternative to Muzak. Eno felt that Muzak was so lightweight and derivative that it had effectively eliminated environmental music as a subject for composer’s attention, or for that of serious listeners. His use of the term “ambient music” was to create a distinction between his music and the canned background music that was available at the time.

Most importantly, Eno wanted to make music that would support reflection and space to think. Eno did this by creating music that was beautiful, but did not have a center of focus to demand your attention. In his liner notes, Eno puts it this way: “Ambient Music must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting.”

Eno’s Ambient series contains a set of four works that cover a lot of territory. Ambient 1: Music for Airports has four pieces that are the aural equivalent of a mobile. Sounds drift by the listener in a seemingly random collage, but combine to make infinite subtle variations. Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror, is a collaboration between Eno and composer Harold Budd. The music is a collection of slow, reflective piano work. Eno treats the piano with a variety of electronic effects, giving it an otherworldly sound. Ambient 3: Day of Radiance, shows another side to Eno’s ambient idea. Day of Radiance is a collaboration with Laraaji, and has two groups of pieces. The first set are dances, and feature hammered-dulcimer playing rhythmic, upbeat music. The remaining pieces are very slow and meditative. Ambient 4: On Land is the darkest of Eno’s ambient works. It is largely electronic, but also includes treated acoustic sounds. The sounds are not easily recognizable – it’s difficult to know if you’re hearing an instrument, electronic sound, or treated recording. Eno’s approach in On Land is the same as Music for Airports, but the results are completely different. On Land is a collage of mysterious, even scary sounds, that create a sense that you’re in an alien landscape.

While Brian Eno has been the most influential composer of ambient music, many other musicians have explored this area, too. Many ambient works aim for a more commercially acceptable take on the style.

There are now many sub-genres of ambient music, including ambient techno, ambient trance, and dark ambient. Active ambient artists include Brian Eno, Aphex Twin, Steve Roach, Robert Rich and the Orb.

The best known early techno producers are Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson, sometimes known as the Belleville Three. They made music for clubs that was a urban take on the music of German musicians like Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream were making. While Techno made it to the clubs in Chicago and New York, it was a largely underground style throughout the eighties.

What is Techno?

Techno is pure electronic music, originally designed for dances, that combines the sound of classic German electronica with an american Urban feel. The music emphasizes the machine sound of electronic drum machines, especially the Roland TR-808, and often is based around repetitive riffs played on bass line sequencers like the Roland TB-303.

The history of techno starts in Detroit. The style emerged there when musicians took cheap, used electronic instruments and abused them in ways never intended by their creators. Early techno artists drew on science fiction and futuristic themes in their music. The techno sound depicted a place unlike the aging Detroit city where it was born. The music and the themes of the songs were intended to sound like something from the future. “It’s an attitude to making music that sounds futuristic,” according to techno pioneer Juan Atkins, “something that hasn’t been done before.”

One of the best known early techno songs is “Alleys of your Mind”, by techno artists Cybotron. Works from Atkins, May and Saunderson didn’t make the charts, but were very influential because they were played in major clubs in the US. In 1988, a compilation called Techno! The New Dance Sound helped define the style.

In the 90’s, artists in Europe began to take the Detroit sound of early techno songs and morph it. New variations were created, including acid, ambient techno, hardcore, and jungle. The techno style has gained more popularity in Europe than it has in the United States, because electronica has been popularized more in Europe than in the US.

Techno has been associated with raves since the nineties. The idea of a rave is just a techno party where like-minded techno fans can get together and dance to continuous dj mixes of electronic music. These have been particularly popular in Europe. In 2000, the Detroit Electronic Music Festival became one of the largest and most significant electronica events in the world. It was free and attracted hundreds of thousands of techno music fance from all over the world.

Trance became a definable style in the early 90’s, growing out of techno and dance music. Trance electronica is often very repetitive melodically and rhythmically, but with continually shifting sounds. The most common way musicians generate interest in the repeated melodies is by varying the filter cutoffs on their synthesizers. Varying the cutoff makes the synthesized phrases change from dull sounding to very bright and piercing.

Trance music carries the torch for electronica, because it is the most popular forms of music that is uniquely electronic. Trance music relies on sequencers, synthesizers, and electronic effects for its sound.

The most commonly used instruments are Roland TR 808, TR 909, and TB 303. These instruments form the backbone of trance. These instruments are about 20 years old, but it is common for newer bass synths and drum machines to emulate these classics. Other synthesizers are used as a lead instrument, pads and to add spice and variety to the mix.

Trance music became popular as it was played by the early “superstar dj’s”, like Sasha, Paul Van Dyk, and Paul Oakenfold. In many ways, trance combines the darker urban sound of techno with the more european sound of electronic dance music.

One of the most important early influences on trance music has to be Giorgio Moroder. While he’s best known for his disco work, he also created a lot of significant early pop electronica. His work with Donna Summer on “I Feel Love” is probably the biggest influence on today’s trance sound. “I Feel Love” has all the features of today’s dance/trance tracks. It’s got the 4 on the floor drums, the sequenced bassline, the filter sweeps that change the sound of the synthesizers as the play and, of course, the diva. His theme from the movie Midnight Express sounds like a blueprint for a lot of current trance music.

Another important influence on trance music was the early detroit techno music, from people like Juan Atkins and Carl Craig.

By the late 90’s, trance was becoming more and more complex. Artists like BT were combining samples, synthesizers, computer treatements and even orchestral arrangements to make trance more complex and expressive. BT applied his talents to producing and even moving scoring. Trance hit the mainstream at the turn of the millenium.

Some good introductions to trance include: Paul Oakenfold’s Tranceport, BT’s ECSM, compilations like Trance Classics, and Robert Miles’ Dreamland.