Electronic Music Article from 1968

I stopped at a garage sale today and on a whim bought an Electronics magazine from 1968. When I got it home, I was flipping through it and was shocked to see a photo of Morton Subotnick in front of a Buchla synthesizer in one of the articles.

The article is a fun read from an anthropological point of view. Electronic music was just starting to get some footing and people were beginning to use computers to make music. Here is a scan of it and a PDF can be downloaded from the link at the bottom of the post. Enjoy!

Click to access Electronics_4-29-68.pdf

Noise Engineering Ataraxic Translatron

I helped beta test and provide design feedback for the first Eurorack module from Noise Engineering called the Ataraxic Translatron.

More info here:

http://www.noiseengineering.us/ataraxic-translatron.html

It is a linear feedback shift register oscillator that sounds a lot like the early home video game consoles since it uses the same techniques to create waveforms. I also did a demo video which is embedded below. Note that I made a mistake in stating that the pitch knob scales incoming CV. It actually offsets it.

Purchasing info can be found here:

http://www.noiseengineering.us/purchasing-information.html

Alternative Controller Done Right

I am always interested in new interfaces for performing music, especially if they are functional, expressive and the user doesn’t look like a total dork using the device. That last factor may seem unimportant, but I have to say I have seen many alternative interfaces that make the performer look completely absurd. There is something to be said about the form factor and ergonomics of, say, a guitar, which is probably why I feel like this guy nails it in every respect:

It is original, functional, expressive, looks comfortable and sounds amazing.

 

Rock Music

Pinuccio Sciola is an artist who works with giant rocks to create ‘sound stones’ which resonate when manipulated with hands or other stones. This short film about him has English subtitles (@ 9:30 there is an amazing sound stone with long tines cut into it – sounds great on a big stereo!):

If you’re in a hurry, these are short: