Composer, Developer & Podcaster Darwin Grosse Has Died

Darwin Grosse

Composer, developer & Art + Music + Technology podcast host Darwin Grosse has died.

He had recently announced that he was ending his podcast because of his health issues.

“While I wish this could continue, I’m afraid it no longer can. Two years ago, I was diagnosed with kidney cancer, and began treatments and procedures that have left me greatly fatigued,” he noted. “Early last week, it became clear to me that my health complications will prevent me from dedicating the time and concentration to AMT that I strive to achieve. As a result, I will be discontinuing the podcast production permanently.”

The news of his death has been shared by friends via Facebook.

Darwin Grosse was a composer & synthesist, a writer, the Director of Education and Customer Services at Cycling ’74 (developers of Max) and a hardware developer.

He released several solo albums via Bandcamp, including The Means Of Production and 2600.repast, and he collaborated with Colorado-based synthesist Mark Mosher as (no)poem.

Darwin Grosse created ArdCore, an Arduino-based programmable module for MU and Eurorack systems.

As a writer, Grosse authored dozens of articles for Recording magazine. For years, he wrote and edited the site CreativeSynth.com. He wrote the book series Modular Synth Mastery. And he created educational content like 20 Objects, “A Pragmatic Method for Learning Max/MSP/Jitter and Max for Live”.

As part of his Masters Degree program, Grosse developed the ArdCore platform,  an Arduino-based multi-function device for modular synthesizers. ArdCore is an early example of an open source hardware + software platform in the modular world.

The module, which has been made available in both MU and Eurorack formats, can be loaded with a wide range of firmware, so it can be used as a quantizer, sequencer, clock divider, gate sequencer and more.

Darwin Grosse was most widely known, though, as the host of the Art + Music + Technology podcast.

His wide-ranging background meant that he was equally at home interviewing synth pioneers like Morton Subotnick, tech gurus like Native Instrument co-founder Stephan Schmitt and keyboard gods like Herbie Hancock. He hosted more than 380+ episodes, which are a massive resource for synthesists.

Episodes of the Art + Music + Technology podcast are available via the podcast site.

13 thoughts on “Composer, Developer & Podcaster Darwin Grosse Has Died

  1. Darwin will be greatly missed by many members of the international music synthesis community. One of his greatest accomplishments, not mentioned in the article, was the completion of his “Official Guide” for the Kurzweil K2000 (available here: http://mememiner.com/k2000.html).

    Even though, at the time, Kurzweil was famous for the encyclopedic documentation furnished with their synths, Darwin’s “guide” provided even the novice user a way to exploit the wonders of that amazing synthesizer. Although this may pale in comparison to his later accomplishments in life, many people, who are still devoted Kurzweil fanboys to this day, will probably remember Darwin for their first “real” introduction to the K2000. Although I had personally lost touch with Darwin over the past decade, or so, my memories of him as a friend and as a band mate will live on as long as I do. RIP

  2. I heard last night that Darwin Grosse has lost his life to cancer. I’m numb, and I just really want this to no be true, and my thoughts immediately go to Darwin’s wonderful family. ?
    ?
    I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have developed a great friendship with Darwin over the years. Darwin had always been so incredibly supportive and warm and generous to me both as an artist and as a friend, and he has inspired me with his words and his actions in ways that very few have, both as a friend and as a mentor. ?

    Darwin invited me to grab a coffee with him 5-6 weeks back and we were laughing and jining about all of the great things that he was going to get back to doing once he wrapped up the chemo treatments that were kicking his ass at the time.
    ?
    My heart is broken beyond words right now. ?
    ?
    Rest easy my friend.

  3. Over on a Kurzweil forum, we were talking about all the amazing things he did with/for K2000 synthesizers and the user-community. He created a helpful series of in-depth tutorials for the K2000 that users (even of more recent kurzweil keyboards) find very helpful. It’s cool to see how many different hats he wore and all the ways he contributed to this art.

  4. I heard last night that Darwin Grosse has lost his life to cancer. I’m numb, and I just really want this to no be true, and my thoughts immediately go to Darwin’s wonderful family.

    I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have developed a great friendship with Darwin over the years. Darwin had always been so incredibly supportive and warm and generous to me both as an artist and as a friend, and he has inspired me with his words and his actions in ways that very few have.

    My heart is broken beyond words right now.

    Rest easy my friend.

  5. Absolutely shocked. I never had the opportunity to meet Darwin, but I have been a long time listener of his podcast, and more recently his compositions. I am saddened by this news and my condolences go out to all of his family and friends. He did an amazing amount of work for the music community in many different disciplines, and he will be sorely missed.

  6. I sent this message to Darwin not knowing that he would never be able to read it. Allow me to write it here to honor his memory:

    Hi Darwin,

    Every day I am surprised by what humanity is capable of achieving with technology and art, and, even today, the possibility of being able to contact people from all over the world seems magical to me. However, the word “contact” is not enough to describe the experience that you Darwin, through your podcasts, have given me and I will take with me for life. The connection I am referring to is much more intimate than the grandiose transfer of information that you intended, it is knowing myself my concerns, my desires and my miseries through yours, it is seeing, in whatever my existence is, a representation of some detail of yours. It is the closest thing to a pure friendship, without requirements, expectations or considerations. If you feel overwhelmed, please, don’t! Look at it the same way as it is a playback of some of your music: those of us who have followed you are a vibration (altered by you) expressing itself around the world, just as the music playback is a vibration (altered by you) expressing itself in the air. This “vibration” that you have induced in me will inevitably continue its course, surely achieving some wonderful and inscrutable process, and the same with those thousands of other “vibrations” that you have been seeding. You yourself taught me that the truth is in what you do for the needs of the heart, far from the desire for recognition or pats on the shoulder, but today I want to show you, convinced that you do not need it, my deep gratitude for your work, because my heart asks me that, in some way, this connection is reciprocal, and you receive back part of this vibration, I apologize for trying with just these humble words.

    I wish you the best at this stage and strength to continue finding opportunities to discover, learn and marvel at this life and this time we have met.

    A big hug Darwin.

    Luis.

  7. I met Darwin in the !990s and had the pleasure of seeing his basement synthesier “lab”.. It was amazing. We collaborated on music and Darwin did a number of remixes for me that I still have on DAT that were never released. He was a great talent and I a so sorry to hear this news.

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