ecalpemos|nl

I make films, photographs and electronic music. I build electronic musical instruments

Category: Music

  • I Dream Of Wires: The Modular Synthesizer Documentary

    “I Dream of Wires: The Modular Synthesizer documentary“, previously known as “Modular: The Documentary”, is a new film project looking for crowd funding on IndieGoGo. It’s a documentary about modular synthesizers and why people like to built them and use them for making music.   I watched the trailer and really liked it. It’s not…

  • Studio acoustics (part 3)

    Finally finished mounting all absorption panels and the corner bass traps in my studio. I did some measurements to check the effect of the acoustic panels on the overall acoustics of the room. I took four readings. The base line reading was taken in the room with only the ceiling panels and the side wall…

  • Alessandro Cortini’s lecture on Buchla 200e

    I came across a very interesting audio recording of a lecture of Alessandro Cortini (ex Nine Inch Nails) about modular synthesizers, musical interfaces and the Buchla 200e. He gave this lecture at the Concordia Electroacoustic Studies Student Association in 2009. I can relate to a lot of what he has to say about using physical…

  • A modular patch

    I have been experimenting with a patch on my MOTM modular the last couple of days. I used the following modules: 3 x Oakley VCO 1 x Oakley Multimix 2 x MOTM-390s LFO 1 x MOTM-830 Dual Mode Mixer 1 x CGS Wave Multipliers 1 x Oakley S&H/Slew generator 1 x Oakley Equinoxe phaser 1…

  • Modular patch notation

    The big difference between an analog modular synthesizer and their digital brothers and sisters is the ability to store sound presets. That is something that is not possible in an analog modular. There are of course some hybrid analog synthesizers, like the Buchla 200e, where (a big part of) a patch can be stored digitally.…

  • Drawdio

    Today I built a fun little device called Drawdio. It is very easy to built. It took me less than 15 minutes to finish it. I made it predominantly for my daughter’s birthday party (she’s 5). She thought is was nice but her girlfriends weren’t impressed very much. Anyway, it is a pencil with which…

  • Studio acoustics (part 2)

    I installed 3 absorption panels in my studio. Two on the ceiling and one on one of the side walls. All panels are from the EQ Acoustics Spectrum product line, rigid absorption panels which can be mounted on a wall or ceiling. This is the Spectrum 50 Studio Tile. The tile measures 57.5 x 57.5…

  • What the Future sounded like…

    I accidentally stumbled upon a link to the following YouTube videos. They tell the story of the first experiments in electronic music in the UK and how it later on became EMS (Electronic Music Studio), the creators of the VCS3 and the Synthi 100. I really enjoyed watching these videos. Just seeing how these guys…

  • Studio acoustics (part 1)

    While working on a new track some time ago I switched from listening over the near-field monitors to my headphone. I was in for a very unpleasant surprise. It was a track with some fast sequencing and delay effects. Through the headphones everything sounded fine but through the monitor speakers the sound became… blurry. It’s…

  • Jean-Michel Jarre live in Ahoy, Rotterdam

    With a couple of friends I went to a concert of Jean-Michel Jarre in Ahoy, Rotterdam (Netherlands). For me it was pure nostalgia. Jarre being one of the first electronic music artists I was exposed to (the first one was Vangelis with “Spiral” which was played by a rather open minded music teacher in High…

  • New studio furniture

    I finished my new studio furniture today. I’ve been building it for about 2 weeks and today the final coat of finish was dry. The furniture consists of a desk with two cabinets below and two little cabinets on top of it. The little cabinets each are 8HE high. Then there are two 22HE cabinets.…