Sunday 25 December 2016

Emu & Serge for Xmas




A Christmas patch on the Emu and Serge modulars. This was not an easy sequence to set up due to the extremely quirky nature of the early Emu digital logic implementation, but I wanted to test the step sequencer which is capable of generating 32 control voltages if you set it up correctly. There is very little info out there on these modules, and what I could find (the 1978 Emu Systems Catalog, and a more detailed manual called the Emu Modular Synthesiser Operation Manual Retrospective) only had some fairly oblique references to the patch required. Suffice it to say that it took me about 3 days to work it out and plenty of phone calls to Big Al (who knows a lot about early digital logic). It goes something like this: take a clock source and patch it out to the 8 Position Address Generator taking the 'Carry' output trigger (which happens at the end of the 8th step) and mult it out to the 3 clock inputs of a Triple Latch which needs to act as a ring counter. So use the 3 'Q' outputs to feed into the next Data input of each latch with Q3 feeding back into Data 1 to make it cycle. That gives you 3 steps. The clever bit is making the 4th step which means taking the 3 '-Q' outputs and multing them together to generate a clock on every 4th cycle (whenever an "all zero" state occurs). Patch the 4 outputs of the Voltage Source Unit into the 4 ins of the Analog Switch and use the newly created 4 stage ring counter to step through them. PHEW! The rest of this patch uses the Serge to generate some percussive sounds including the Wilson Analog Delay and Spring Reverbs. Its a live single-take jam-up

Wednesday 26 October 2016

Automatron


Here is a completely automated patch on 2 Buchla systems - a 200 series Easel (clone) and an original 100 series modular. The famous Low Pass Gates weren't introduced until the 200 series in the early 1970s, and there are two of them in the Easel. They are doing the percussive noises here. The rest is sustained tones from the 100 but it is all connected together using one randomised clock and the 8 step sequencer from the 100 and the 5 step sequencer from the 200. I added a very long delay from the Bel AD80 (around 3 seconds) and some EMT Plate reverb for good measure

Tuesday 25 October 2016

Barbican Birthday Bashes


We had a marvellous time on Saturday playing at the Barbican in London as part of the Rough Trade 40th Birthday bash. It was a year ago that I played on that great stage for the Brian Eno Discrete Music Birthday bash! See this post

However, this time we (Wrangler) teamed up with John Grant and performed a brand new set of music for our headline show - which was pretty scary for us but A LOT OF FUN. Thanks to John, Ben Eyes, Dancon, Gary and the whole team it was an epic adventure!


Photo: Antonio Pagano

Thursday 13 October 2016

Music School


This is how we did it back in the day...

Wednesday 12 October 2016

Good Company


Speaking of John Foxx, here is a list of his favourite ambient albums - and it features ME! Thanks John!!


Click below for the full text

Oscar Men


Ooh look here are some vintage Oscar owners. Via Chris Paynter

Friday 7 October 2016

More Oscars


More Oscar sounds - and this time more trippy! I figured out how to use the internal sequencer (not easy, but fun once you get used to it) and how to lock it to a clock from my computer. All sounds from the Oscar, a bit of delay from the Bel BD80

Tuesday 4 October 2016

Oscars


An exploration into additive synthesis on the 1983 OSC Oscar duophonic synth. I created a few simple harmonics and played two layers in duo mode, so there are 4 voices with each pair going through a digital delay line (BEL BD80). I then added a long reverb using the Lexicon 224

The video is made by me filming the sound going through an oscilloscope then messing it up with a vintage video mixer



Here is lovely little Oscar:

Saturday 1 October 2016

Octaveizer


This is a demonstration of the Emu Modular doing something unique. It has a module called the Triple Latch which if patched in a certain way will divide down the pitch of an audio input by one octave. As there are 3 latches available it can create 3 downward octaves. So I patched an oscillator into latch one, then into 2 and 3, and the original signal and the divided ones into an Emu mixer to get 4 octaves from one VCO. Pretty cool! I used the ARP2500 sequencer to send the Emu a pattern, and used the Emu Voltage Controlled Transient Generator to vary the envelopes (using other outputs from the ARP Sequencer as CV sources, which locks it into rhythm). There is also an LFO'd notch filter and a very early Ibanez digital delay mixed in



Here is a description of how the Triple Latch works:

Sunday 25 September 2016

Wradio Six Music




Check out our show on Marc Riley's programme on Tuesday. Its here - Thanks Marc!

Attacked




Click here for a feature on my studio in Attack Mag. They cut my head off!

To see the full picture of me click below:

Saturday 17 September 2016

Wednesday 14 September 2016

Sparked Lines


Wow here are the lovely line drawings of synths done by Lyn for our remix album Sparked. Don't they look nice?

Word of the Week #70


Saturday 27 August 2016

Tuesday 23 August 2016

Mix Up Wrangle


Speaking of Mal and mixes and stuff, when we played at Latitude last month Mal did a fabbo DJ set and I asked him to do me a mix of it and send it to me, which he very kindly did. Anyway it was so good he decided to put it up on Soundcloud and its got millions of listens (almost). Check it out yourself here

Soho Wrangle


Mal and Phil represent awesomely on last weeks Back To The Phuture on Soho Radio. Nice one guys, sorry I couldn't make it

Thursday 4 August 2016

Analogue Benge


Here is a tiny film made in the Hoxton studio, via The Vinyl Factory. Ahh, good times

Monday 11 July 2016

Pixelpaint


Here is an art film I made



CREDITS:
Visuals: Oil on canvas, Phillips VKR6810 camera, Panasonic WJMX50A production mixer
Sound: Buchla 100 modular synthesiser, a remix of tracks taken from the album FORMS FIVE, SHAPES IN SPACE, by Benge



Sunday 10 July 2016

Sticky


We have finished our new album! Here we are testing the mix. Its always good practice to check it on as many systems as possible, and in a variety of formats

Thursday 7 July 2016

An Arabesque


Heres a Serge Modular patch. It uses the Analog Shift Registers to create arabesque-like patterns from the sequencers CV output (which is a control voltage delay = pure). Theres also an audio delay via the Wilson Analog Delay module (= crunchy). That's a nice combo I think

Wednesday 29 June 2016

The Bunker Tapes EP


Underground Sound




Over the past few months I have been working with John Foxx on the soundtrack to a stage play based on EM Forster's amazing short story The Machine Stops, about a future where humans live underground and communicate electronically via Skype (seriously)

It seems like ages ago now, but back in May we went up to York to finalise the soundtrack and work with the cast and production team at the Pilot Theatre / Theatre Royal studio. More on the play later, but as part of the general build up to the play's opening we were asked to do a special one-off concert at the York Cold War Bunker. How could we turn that down!?! I love things to do with secret government projects and anything from the 1960s-80s period. If you have a few days to spare, check out this website. The bunker has a very small capacity so we decided to play a short (20 minute) set and do it 4 times to 4 different audiences. Weird idea, no? Anyway it worked really well, and the sound man on the night, Ben Eyes, made a decent recording of the performances direct through the sound desk and also with a stereo room mic. I have mixed and mastered it and it will be available on the MemeTune digital download site soon. Here are some pictures of us performing, taken during sound check by Ben Pugh



And here is a really well made video



What is really interesting about the York Cold War Bunker is that it lets you see "behind the curtain" and glimpse some of the mad things that go on without us knowing. For example, look at that last picture of Foxxy and I sitting in front of that awesome glass map. You see all those dots forming a grid covering the whole of the UK, approximately 10 miles apart from each other? They are all underground bunkers! Yes thats right theres a secret bunker very near you right now!!!



Sunday 8 May 2016

Thursday 5 May 2016

Easel Tiger


Mal took this picture of Phil and I working on the Buchla Music Easel. We are doing a secret project!

Sunday 24 April 2016

Shh!


"Oi! Keep that noise down" "NO! I'm trying out some new modifications on my synth!" This is my Roland Sh-3 which Keith modded to have CV & Gate inputs so it can be controlled externally. Its a really nice and unusual synth and this mod really brings it to life. He managed to use jack sockets that I never used on the synth (headphone out and foot pedal in) so no drilling was necessary and it can easily returned to standard original condition if required. The patch uses a clock signal out of the computer to run the Moog and Roland analog sequencers, and one of them is going to trigger the DR55 drum machine which Keith had also modded a while ago. There is also a Sequential Drumtraks in there for good measure

Oh yes and another thing - I made a new Memetune Video ident - inspired by those supercool branding tags you used to get at the start of dodgy horror film videos in the 80s. Hope you like it

Sunday 10 April 2016

Are You Listening To Me?


Every so often something comes along that is so awesome that it's scope defies the limitations of a simple blog post, but here goes anyway. I have just produced and co written a track called Talk (Are You Listening To Me?) that is a collaboration between John Foxx, Me (i.e. The Maths) and Gary Numan. Let me repeat that: I have just produced a track that is a collaboration between John Foxx & The Maths and Gary Numan!

Whats more, I'm not sure GN has been on a track featuring so many vintage synths since he recorded Cars! (well, maybe a bit later than that, but you get the point). I do know that he is a big fan of Foxxy, and is on record as saying John was a huge influence on his early synth-based work. So I guess it makes sense that he would want to get involved in this collaboration, which is essentially a reworking of our original track Talk from our Shape Of Things album. So I sent Gary the individual tracks from Talk, and he added a brand new vocal part and some synth drones and then I added some more synth parts and mixed it all at Memetune Central. It will be coming out in a little while on a new album of JF collaborations including some new JF&TM tracks on Metamatic Records. You can pro-order it here



Now for some detail about the track itself just in case there are any geeks reading this blog. Here is a list of the synths used and some pictures and a video:

MOOG MODULAR. Used for the initial low sequenced parts and some drones


MOOG POLYMOOG - Layered top lines and main melodies


LINN LM1 & EHX DRM16 DRUM MACHINES - DRM16 comes in first, then the Linn does the main drums half way through


PAIA MODULAR - The weird sequence that comes in half way through


ROLAND JX3P - Layered top lines and main melodies


OBERHEIM FOUR VOICE - Layered top lines and main melodies


GRATUITOUS STUDIO PIC


Here is a little video of me playing a top line on the Polymoog:

There were also a plethora of vintage delay, flanger and phaser units used, as well as vintage EMT Plate and Lexicons because as Gary said '..the vocals need a shit load of reverb on them!'. So there you have it, hope you like the track when it comes out!!



Award Winning


Remember I posted last October about Hugo's film Feral Mix, which I did the music for? Well its only gone and won a flippin' award for best original drama at Worldfest Houston! NICE ONE HUGO YOU DESERVE IT!!!! WOOOOO

Saturday 9 April 2016

Spark Up




Look here! You can pre-order the new Wrangler album which features 11 remixes of tracks from LA Spark. Its an epic release, especially if you go for the double gatefold vinyl, but I would recommend getting the vinyl AND the CD because they are both worth having in your collection (I hear CDs are coming back into fashion)

Thursday 24 March 2016

Couvent


Visited the amazing Couvent Sainte Marie de La Tourette in Lyon, France. It was designed by Le Corbusier and Iannis Xenakis in the 1950s. Its spectacular!

Tuesday 22 March 2016

Shapes In Space


WOW! I made a video for my latest album of some shapes in space:

Saturday 5 March 2016

Arpy


The mighty ARP2500. Heres a little ditty I made, tweaking a sequence

Saturday 27 February 2016

Springer


Rothko has a new haircut:

Wednesday 17 February 2016

Drum Together


This is what a Moog 960 sequencer sounds like triggering a Simmons SDS200. The Moog is also sending voltages to control what would normally be the velocity from a drum pad. Cool eh?



By the way - Robin - did this belong to you at some point???