Wolfgang Seidel’s Freeartslab

Basic Electricity stalwart Wolfgang Seidel sent me these new additions to his freeartslab Youtube channel.

The first two videos feature music from his collaboration with the wonderful duo Lan Cao and Gregor Siedl, aka Zicla. The synthheads among us might enjoy the conversation between Wolfgang's Buchla Music Easel and his old friend Conrad Schnitzler's EMS Synthi A.







If you like the music, you can get a copy of the trio's CD 'Optimistic Modernism' from Moloko Plus Records.

Bleeps & Bloops Reimagined

A fun experiment, applying events that might be clichéd in the modular context to preset sounds. Inspired by the CV to MIDI compositions of Konstantine, the piano playing of Quentin Tolimieri and rediscovered due to this forum thread.



Recent discussion of a piano module reminded me of something I did a few years ago where I used a simple Clavia G2 patch to control a Yamaha QY10. It’s a small MIDI notepad from the 90’s that has a rubberised keyboard, sequencer and PCM sounds … drums, piano, double bass, horns, strings etc. In other words, the antithesis of the timbres we know from the modular synth. Here’s what it sounds like ‘sequenced’ by a stream of random MIDI events:



The Patch uses the G2’s MIDI modules to send both keyboard and random notes to the QY10. Flicking through the MIDI channels on the Yamaha itself causes hanging notes and weird stuff.



It’s all quite entertaining - the above recording was played live and edited for brevity. If you want to hear music made by someone who does this properly, check out Konstantine aka Paranormal Patroler. He knocked us out at his Basic Electricity concert with his CV to MIDI set using Doepfer and ADDAC conversion.

Basic Electricity Concert Tonight - Rastko, Plastiq Phantom

If you’re in Berlin tonight, come along to Basic Electricity, a concert with the Serge Animal tamer, Rastko and Patch Point proprietor, Plastiq Phantom, aka Dr. Wiener.

Doors open at 19:30 for music at 20:30 at the König Otto in Neukölln. As you can see, it’s an amazing venue housed in the old Kindl brewery.

There’s more info here and a Facebook event here.

See you later!

BE#23, Thursday, 19.10.17 @ König Otto
Tickets 10€. Doors at 19:30, music at 20:30
Am Sudhaus 3, 12053 Berlin Neukölln
U7 Rathaus Neukölln or U8 Boddinstr.

Basic Electricity - concert, tomorrow night in Berlin

Basic Electricity returns tomorrow night with a special concert featuring Michael Vorfeld’s Glühlampenmusik and Wouter Jaspers’ Field Trip at the König Otto in Berlin, Neukölln - come along at at 20:00 for what promises to be an audio-visual treat!

There’s more info at the Basic Electricity Blog and here is the Facebook Event.

Here is Wouter performing with some of his Koma gear at Powwow last week:



Look forward to seeing you tomorrow night at Basic Electricity!

BE#22, Thursday, 28.9.17 @ König Otto
Am Sudhaus 3, 12053 Berlin Neukölln
U7 Rathaus Neukölln or U8 Boddinstr.

Tickets 10€. Doors at 20:00, music starts 21:00
Seating is limited to 50, so please come on time.
The bar will be open for drinks and sandwiches.

Basic Electricity on Friday - Joker Nies, Gino Robair, Richard Scott

Join us on Friday, April 21st for an evening of hands-on live electronics with Joker Nies, Gino Robair and Richard Scott. It’s the second Basic Electricity concert in our new, super venue, the König Otto in Berlin, Neukölln.

There’s more info, pics + video here and the Facebook event is here.

Here is a video of the re-opening concert with Wolfgang Seidel, Hilary Jeffery and me:



direct link

We're looking forward to seeing you on Friday!

BE#20, Friday, 21.04.17 @ König Otto
Am Sudhaus 3, 12053 Berlin Neukölln
U7 Rathaus Neukölln or U8 Boddinstr.
 
Tickets 8€. Doors open 20:00, music starts at 21:00.
Seating is limited to 50, so please come on time.
The bar will be open for drinks and sandwiches.

March 24 - Navs Live @ Basic Electricity Berlin

I’ll be playing live with Wolfgang Seidel, Hilary Jeffery & Hainbach this Friday, March 24th, at Berlin's best live electronic night, Basic Electricity.



We’re very happy to have a new venue, the wonderful König Otto in the old Kindl brewery in Neukölln.

There’s more info, pics and video here; the Facebook event is here.

Doors open at 20:00, music kicks off at 21:00. The address is Am Sudhaus 3, 12053 Berlin Neukölln.

Look forward to seeing you on Friday - until then, here are some ideas I have been working on for the show:



Cheers, Navs.

Live at Superbooth

I’m very happy to present an evening of improvised music on Friday, 1st April at Andreas Schneider’s inaugural Superbooth in Berlin’s historic Funkhaus.

Basic Electricity stalwart, Wolfgang Seidel and I will be joined by Hilary Jeffery on trombone for a clangorous electro-acoustic trio. Hainbach combines recordings and melodic modular electronics and is accompanied by Orca’s hand drawn and animated visuals. And Frank Bretschneider presents his new project Sinn + Form, featuring recordings of vintage Buchla & Serge systems at EMS, Stockholm.

Follow the links in the artist’s names for more information and media. Click this link for a list of evening events.

We’ll play in the wonderful Saal 2, the so-called ‘small’ recording hall!



Click here for more pictures and information about the Funkhaus.

Here’s a taster of some patches I'm preparing for the concert:



Look forward to seeing you at Superbooth!

June 29 - Richard Scott & Navs Live

Join us for a special Basic Electricity at Sonic Dimension/ Club Magdalena on Saturday, 29th June. Richard Scott & Navs will play their own pick-of-the-patches and top the evening with a rare appearance as modular synth supergroup, Banana Jaxxx.
Alright? Not 'arf!

Basic Electricity live at Sonic Dimension 2
29.6.13 • 22:00 • Club Magdalena • 10243
Magdalena • Resident Advisor • Facebook

Basic Electricity - Concert this Friday

Join us for Basic Electricity #9 this Friday, 19th April when Max Loderbauer makes his solo debut on Buchla 200e synthesizer and Erik Dower goes head-to-head with the Boom Doctor.

More info here. Facebook event here.

BE#9, 19.04.13, Doors: 21:00
Kastanienallee 77 (Kino)
10435 Berlin (Prenzlauer-Berg)



Looking forward to seeing you at BE#9!

Basic Electricity - Concert this Friday

Heads up for BE#8 with Wolfgang Seidel & Eliad Wagner and myself this Friday. Usual venue, usual time, unusual music and cold IPA! More info here.

BE#8 Friday, 01.03.13. Doors @ 21:00, music @ 22:00 sharp. Kastanienallee 77 (Kino). 10435 Berlin P-Berg.



Got the fright of my life at Schneidersladen today:



Sorry, Wowa … the new modules in white I can understand, but that's going too far ... ;)

Basic Electricity #7 - Concert Tonight!

A reminder of BE#7: tonight's gig with Hainbach, Electronicpresskit & Trouby Modular. Doors open at 21:00, music at 22:00 sharp at the cinema on Kastanienallee 77, 10435 Berlin Prenzlauer Berg.



We've got tunes for the ladies, noise for the boys and modules for the musicians. Hainbach will present songs from his new album:
 
Brave the cold tonight and snuggle up in a cosy Kino with some great music, chilled IPA and special snacks!

Basic Electricity #7 - Friday Nov 16

The next Basic Electricity concert is on Friday week, 16th November. We've got another great line-up with Hainbach, Electronicpresskit and Trouby Modular. See the BE blog and Facebook event for more.

BE#7, 16.11.12 Doors: 21:00, Music 22:00 sharp
Kastanienallee 77 (Kino) 10435 Berlin P-Berg



Here are some pictures from BE#6 with Derek Holzer, Vanessa Ramos-Velasquez and JenaMu6.



Thanks to everyone who came and see you at BE#7!

Basic Electricity - Concert Today!

A reminder about tonight's gig with Derek Holzer, Vanessa Ramos-Velasquez and JenaMu6. The venue is the Kino on Kastanienallee 77, 10435 Berlin Prenzlauer Berg. Doors at 21:00, music at 22:00 sharp.



I won't be playing, but had some fun with this patch last night:



Inspired by the sound of Japan's Gentlemen Take Polaroids, it features a Plan B M15 VCO FM'd by Doepfer's A-143-9 QLFO. The gated sound was fed to an A-199 spring reverb with the feedback routed through Cwejman's FSH-1 frequency shifter. I added a touch of Logic's Ensemble, but 90% of the effect is the shifting reverb. Lovely.

Look forward to seeing you tonight at BE#6!

Basic Electricity #6 -Reminder

BE#6 with Derek Holzer, Vanessa Ramos-Velasquez & JenaMu6 is just 10 days away! Look forward to handmade electronics, microscope-visuals and modular soundscapes on Friday, 28th September. The venue is the cinema on Kastanienallee 77, 10435 Berlin Prenzlauer Berg. Doors open at 21:00, music at 22:00 sharp.

To get you in the mood, we've just released be-ep3. It's a document of Franz Schuier, Anthony Bisset & Lu Katavist's excellent live sets at BE#5 and is a 'name your price' download:



Franz, Anthony & Lu played on two stages. Their different musical styles and approaches made BE#5 one of our best nights yet. Here are some pictures from the evening:



Thanks to everyone who came to make it such a special night. Look forward to seeing you Friday week for BE#6!

The Shape of Things That Were Pt2

An interesting aspect of Lu Katavist's performance at BE#5 last week was his use of an Analogue Systems RS-35 External Processor to control his Euro rig. The musical results were great, so I checked to see whether I could get my hands on one.



I was surprised to see that the usually paltry list of Analogue Systems modules available at Schneidersbuero had grown to include the full range. I asked Andreas who told me that he was very happy to have recently secured a direct line to Bob William's modules.

Seems like the perfect cue to present some more scans from my recently trashed collection of magazines. Below you'll find Bob Williams discussing the price of second-hand synths in 1993 and Gordon Reid's 1998 review of the RS Integrator.

Music Technology, May 1993, Bob Williams Interview
The Mix, August 1998, Gordon Reid on the RS Integrator

I've updated the original post with a scan of Peter Forrest's second Doepfer review from 1997 as well as an interview with the author, auctioneer and collector himself.

For future scan updates, click on the media tag.

Mystery Module

Spotted at Basic Electricity #5 ...



... kan you guess what it is?



Thanks to Franz, Luka, Anthony and everyone who came to make BE#5 such a fantastic evening! Pictures, music and maybe some video to follow.

PotD - Mutant Horse 2

A gentle gallop into Basic Electricity #5 on Friday. This is a take on the patch Tom & I played at BE#4, likened by Ian Boddy to "riding a mutant horse".



A Sport Modulator provides both timing information and CVs, driving Maths, a VCO-2RM, Triple Wave Folder, A-112 Sampler/ Delay and VCA-2P panner. The oscillators are FM'd before being gated, folded and sampled. A stepped and manual CV controls the rhythm, delay time and panning. Flipping between track- and sample-and-hold on the SM delivers the final crack of the whip.

Derek Holzer live at Basic Electricity

Derek Holzer & Vanessa Ramos-Velasquez will debut their bioart project A.LIVE at Basic Electricity #6 on September 28th.
Here's a preview:

A•LIVE Information Metabolism from Vanessa Ramos-Velasquez on Vimeo.

Completing September's bill is Rotterdam sound sculptor JenaMu6. Visit the Basic Electricity site for more info, flyers, music and video.

BE#6, 28.09.12, 21:00
Lichtblick Kino. Kastanienallee 77,
10435 Berlin (Prenzlauer Berg)

Anthony Bisset live at Basic Electricity

Anthony Bisset will join Franz Schuier & Lu Katavist at Basic Electricity #5 on Friday, August 31st!



See the Basic Electricity blog for more on the gig and click the 'Machine' link at Anthony's site to see his reformatted modular 'with DNA from Serge, Buchla, Ken Stone & Bisset' and other live instruments.

BE#5, 31.08.12, 21:00
Lichtblick Kino. Kastanienallee 77,
10435 Berlin (Prenzlauer Berg)

Basic Electricity #4 Reminder

BE#4 with live modular music from Ian Boddy, Navs & Tom takes place tomorrow at Kastanienallee 77, 10435 Berlin. Doors at 21:00, concert at 22:00 sharp. See you there!