Terry Riley’s ‘In C’ On Modular Synthesizer

Sunday Synth Jam: This video captures a performance by Anna-Maria Van Reusel of Terry Riley’s In C on Eurorack modular synthesizer.

In C, composed in 1964, is considered one of the seminal works of minimalist music. The score is made up of 53 musical fragments that can be played by any number of musicians. Each musicians starts with the first phrase and can repeat it as many times as they like before proceeding to the next phrase.

An 8th-note ‘c’ is played as a pulse that the other instruments sync to.

Riley’s In C was first released on record in 1964, and the recording’s influence can be heard in recordings ranging from The Who’s Baba O’Riley to Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians to Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells.

Technical details of this performance:

Studio recording with two voices (Morphing Terrarium and MI Elements) through delay and reverb effects, sequenced by Beatstep pro. The ‘c’ is played with 4ms SMR, into wave multiplier.

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