Pioneering circuit-bender Reed Ghazala discusses the origins of circuit-bending the Texas Instruments Speak N’ Spell:

 

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Stan Warnow, who’s working on a film biography of quirky electronic music pioneer Raymond Scott, reports on finding a treasure-trove of Scott source material in Kansas City:
Along with the Raymond Scott brain trust of Irwin Chusid, Jeff Winner and Gert-Jan Blom, I spent last week in Kansas City, MO at the Marr Archives at the [...]

Electroacoustic pioneer Donald Erb, a composer that helped promote the acceptance of electronic music, died Aug 12th at his home in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. He was 81.
Erb’s Reconnaissance, one of the first chamber works for live synthesizer and acoustic instruments, premiered in New York in 1967 with Robert Moog on synthesizer. A more recent work, [...]

A memorial service for electro-acoustic composer and author Allen Strange has been scheduled:
A Celebration of Life
In The Memory Of John Allen Strange
4:00 pm Saturday, September 13th 2008
Mexican Heritage Plaza
1700 Alum Rock Ave
San Jose, Ca 95116 map
The Strange family would like to invite you to a celebration of life in the memory of Allen Strange. We [...]

Bebe Barron, who, along with her husband Louis Barron, created the pioneering electronic score for Forbidden Planet, died April 20, 2008 at the age of 82 of natural causes.
Barry Schrader sent me the news, along with this brief bio:
Bebe Barron was born Charlotte Wind in Minneapolis, on June 16, 1925. She received an MA in [...]

Circuit bending is the process of creatively short-circuiting cheap electronic devices such as guitar effects, children’s toys and synthesizers to create new musical instruments and sound generators.
If you’re not familiar with it, you might want to check out this short preview for the circuit bending documentary by Derek Sajbel. The video features Q.R. Ghazala, Nebula [...]

TONTO (The Original New Timbral Orchestra) is one of the most famous and influential modular synthesizers in the world.
TONTO’s Expanding Head Band, made up of Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff, was an influential electronic music duo from the 1970’s. They only released a few albums, but these recordings, along with their collaborations with musicians such [...]

A new 2 disk limited edition DVD box set takes a look at the life of Jean-Jacques Perrey.
The DVD features a new 2 hour, 3 camera interview; two complete lectures from the Tryptych and Transmediale festivals (also featuring the late Bob Moog) and Transmediale concert with Dana Countryman in high definition widescreen, rare photo gallery [...]