Modular Synthesis: Patching Machines and People

Cover
Half Title
Endorsements
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Contributors
Acknowledgements
Introduction
	Note
	Works Cited
Preface (All Patched Up: A Material and Discursive History of Modularity and Control Voltages)
	Modularity and Control Voltages in Electronic Sound
		As Experiments
		As Commodities
		As Technical Concepts
	An Industrial History of Control/Power/Signal
		The Relay as an Amplifier of Signals-Thinking
		The Relay as a Trigger for Modularity in the Electronics Industry
		The Vacuum Tube and the Transistor as Amplifiers of Modular Practices in the Electronics Industry
		Computing Hardware as the Material Basis for the Eurorack Format
	From Patch Up to Punch Up: Synth-Ethics or the Stakes of Modular Electronic Sound
	Notes
	References
1. The Buchla Music Easel: From Cyberculture to Market Culture
	Introduction
	\"The Genesis of the Electric Music Box\"
		Manifesting the Electric Music Box
		The Model 208 Stored Program Sound Source
		From Counterculture to Cyberculture (to Market Culture)
	Buchla in the Analog Revival
		Conclusion: The Easel as Object of Desire
	Notes
	References
2. Modular Synthesizers as Conceptual Models
	Introduction
	Heyde\'s Modular Organology
	Deleuze and Guattari\'s Thought Synthesizer
	Kittler\'s Wagnerian Machine
	Conclusions
	Notes
	Bibliography
3. A Time-Warped Assemblage as a Musical Instrument: Flexibility and Constauration of Modular Synthesis in Willem Twee Studio 1
	Willem Twee Studios
	WTS Studio 1
	Modularity
	Preservation and Interpretative Flexibility
	Instauration, Consolidation, Constauration
	Attachment
	Acknowledgments
	Notes
4. Interview
	Dani Dobkin on Repairing the Computer Music Center Buchla Instrument and Teaching Modular Synthesis
	Notes
	References
5. Gordon Mumma\'s Sound-Modifier Console
	Preface
	Context
	A Design Emerges
	Circuit Overview and Concepts
	A Balance Modulator (BM) Generates Sidebands
	Balanced Modulation Circuits
	Mumma\'s Design
	How the MC1545 Does Balanced Modulation and Other Tasks
	Squelch (SQ)
	Tremolo
	Oscillators
	The Twin-Tee Filter
	The Filter Oscillates at One Frequency
	Tuning
	Adding Voltage-Control
	Envelope Follower
	High-Pass Filter
	Voltage-Control, Again
	Afterword
	Note
	Acknowledgments
	Notes
	References
6. Artist Statement: Switchboard Modulars - Vacant Levels and Intercept Tones
	Escanaba: First Spark of an Idea
	Synthesis of Ideas/Searching for Precedents/First Mentors
	Patchpoint #1: Influential Encounters and Decisions - The End of Naming
	Patchpoint #2: Ambiguous Boundaries/Drum Machines/Names
	Patchpoint #3: Influential Encounters and Decisions - Approaches to Materiality
	Patchpoint #4: The Sandbox
	Patchpoint #5: Playing the Machine
	Patchpoint #6: Overlaps and Portals
	Patchpoint #8: Systems for Encoding Space
	Note
	Reference
		Websites
7. Eurorack to VCV Rack: Modular Synthesis as Compositional Performance
	Notes
	List of References
		Text
		Audio
8. Strange Play: Parametric Design and Modular Learning
	Introduction
	Distributions of the Sensible: \'Talent Regimes\' and the Null Curriculum
	\'Forgotten Basics\': Sound Learning from the Inside Out
	From Null Curriculum to Modular Practice
	Conclusion: Parametric Play and Material-Centric Learning
	Acknowledgements
	References
9. Grid Culture
	Lines as a Gear Culture
	Interfacing the Community
	Discourses and Community
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
10. Modular Ecologies
	Breaking Apart in Order to Put Back Together Differently
	Formations
	Modular on the Spot
	The Beirut Synthesizer Center
	We Need Any Kind of Center
	Translation
	Surrender
	View from a Height
11. Ourorack: Altered States of Consciousness and Auto-Experimentation with Electronic Sound
	The Palimpsest
	Reminded of What Dreams Sound Like
	Cybernetic Circuits
	Called with Secret Codes and Unutterable Names
	Gateways to Electronic Otherworlds
	Scriptio Inferior
	Notes
	References
12. Patching Possibilities: Resisting Normative Logics in Modular Interfaces
	Introduction
	Modular Patching Interfaces
	Mating Connections, Gendering Interaction
	Modularity & Cybernetics in Synthesis Systems
	Interfaces & Metaphors
	Patching Possibility
		Androgynous Nodes
		littleBits
		Leaky Matrices
		Intermodulations & Sympathetic Connections
	Conclusion
	Notes
	References
13. Draft/Patch/Weave: Interfacing the Modular Synthesizer with the Floor Loom
	Weaving Basics
	Drafting Patterns in Max/MSP
		Hardware and Software
		Performing Weaving Drafts
		Creative Process
		Reflections
	References
14. Composing Autonomy in Thresholds and Fragile States
	Introduction
	Part 1: Thresholds and Fragile States (Reprint)
		Introduction
		Modeling Biological Autonomy through Sound
		Technical Details of the Autonomous Circuits
		Performance Instructions
	References
	Part 2 Measuring Autonomy
		The Chaotic Oscillator
		Modeling the Oscillator
		Coupling between Oscillators
		Computational Experiments
		Experiment 1: Auditory Neotaxis
			Measuring Long-Term Change
			Experiment Design
			Results and Analysis
		Experiment 2: Mapping the Possibility Space
			Experiment Design
			Results and Analysis
	Notes
	References
15. Virtual Materiality: Simulated Mediation in the Eurorack Synthesizer Format
	The Make Noise/Soundhack Erbe-Verb: A Meta-Reverb
	ModBap Modular: \"Everything Is Vinyl\"
	Radio Music: A Digital Emulation of Radio Aesthetics
	Aesthetics of Digital and Analog Systems
	Notes
16. Interview: Designing Instruments as Designing Problems
	Note
17. Interviews with Four Toronto-Based Modular Designers
	Notes
18. Interview
	Notes
19. Interview
20. Interview
	Note
21. Modular Synthesis in the Era of Control Societies
	Bibliography
22. Randomness, Chaos, and Communication
	Introduction
	History
	Random Methods: Shift Registers
	My Design Process and Between Everything and Nothing
	Teaching
	Notes
	Bibliography
23. Interview
	Notes
24. From \"What If?\" To \"What Diff?\" and Back Again
	Introduction
	Transformation Deltas
	Patch Histories
		From \"What if?\"
		To \"What diff?\"
		And Back Again
	Future Paths
	Note
	References
25. Interview: The Mycelia of Does-Nothing Objects
Index