HARDWARE GONE HAYWIRE

Thanks to one of my 'famous friends' for sending a link to this site. Jesus Christ...I'm both repelled and attracted by these DIY synth anoraks. I know there's a part of me that would love to join in the fun, designing schematics, soldering circuit boards together, making wooden cabinets to contain my ever-increasing array of discreet analogue modules. Thankfully I have almost no working knowledge of electronics (changing a plug is about the limit of my capabilities), nor do I have the time or money to indulge in this particular pastime. Reading through the prose and examining the pictures, it strikes me as an almost vulgar display of object worship. I was particular taken by this guy's in-depth photo study documenting the receiving and unpacking his new modular synth. The sad thing is, I can totally relate to his enthusiasm and his need to share his joy with the world. My recent Plasticman post is basically the vinyl fetishist equivalent (wish I'd taken some pics of me opening the package now!)

Anyway, all those funny homemade things reminded me of a weird little homemade modular synth I 'babysitted' for a couple of months back in 1997...

It was called 'The Void' and was designed and built by some West Country analogue freak (can't remember who he was exactly). Apparently this was one of his smaller models, using off-the-shelf parts from Maplin electronics. I won't go into the exact details of my temporary ownership of this beast, but it was nothing illegal, I swear. It had all the usual modules, including two VCOs, two VCFs (very Moog-like), noise generator, ring modulator, modulation oscillator (aka an LFO) and, best of all, a true analogue eight-step sequencer that was loads of fun to fiddle with. It was also the only time I've ever had the opportunity to get stuck into programming a synth with Patch Cords. Here's a pic of me fucking with it, using a Roland SH-09 as a keyboard controller and sporting some ill-advised side burns...

I know I taped a load of improvised music with it, but these recordings seem to have disappeared. Damn. We made some lush music together, but it's lost forever (sob!). It was non-midi of course, but interfaced nicely with Roland's control-voltage and sync 24 systems. Speaking of which...

Here's a shot of the Gutta around 1995/96 with some of his beloved collection of Roland gear. At the top is a Roland TB-303, with a TR-909 below. I don't own any of this stuff anymore. Sold it off years ago when I realised just how much money I'd spent tracking down all those classic boxes for what was basically a hobby. My first son was born in October 1996 and I had to take a long hard look at my life, my priorities and my finances. The machines had to go. Of course I didn't give up on the music making part of the hobby - as I recall I just made do with newer copycat machines like Novation's (admittedly impressive) Drumstation. But we had some wonderful times together. At the time of writing this post, there's an MP3 at the Riddim Composer from that period, which is basically a TR-808 workout with some outboard effects and a riff coming from a Korg Mono/Poly. While I'm reminiscing on this period, here's a few more tunes...

MP3: Stop Fucking With My Mind

This is pure non-midi improvisation, featuring synced 808 and 909, with a Juno 60 polysynth triggering from the rimshot output.

MP3: Concussion

Fucking well messed-up analogue acid nonsense. Sorry about the tape-hiss on this one.

MP3: Compu-dub

Drum meditation...this one's all about Roland's lesser known CR-8000 'compu-rhythm' drum machine, dubbed-out to the max with outboard FX.

Right, sorry about all this self-indulgence (I seem to do a post like this every few months) but before I go, here's another shot of me with my beloved Roland kit, along with my beloved cat Tiggy (R.I.P). To the left you'll see the TR-808, TR-707 (on top of a crappy digital D-110 sound module) and the Juno 60. Check the poster of Kim Basinger on the studio wall. Told you I was shallow...

Normal service will be resumed shortly...