Nova Pon’s musical journey reaches its apex with “Symphonies of Mother and Child,” a monumental composition premiered in February 2022. Spanning 40 minutes and featuring fifteen performers, Nova Pon’s opus explores the depths of motherhood with a graceful restraint, avoiding bombast in favor of poignant intimacy.
Turning Point Ensemble Conductor: Owen Underhill; Flute, Piccolo, Alto Flute: Brenda Fedoruk; Clarinet, Bass Clarinet: AK Coope; Oboe, English Horn: David Owen; Bassoon: Katelin Coleman; French Horn: Nick Anderson*, Valerie Whitney**; Trumpet: Katherine Evans; Trombone:Jeremy Berkman; Percussion: Jonathan Bernard; Piano, Toy Glockenspiel: Jane Hayes; Harp: Janelle Nadeau*, Violin1: Marc Destrube; Violin 2: Francisco Eduardo Barradas Galván; Viola: Sarah Kwok*; Cello: Isidora Nojkovic; Bass: David Brown.
Having first met at the Extreme Chill Festival in Reykjavík, Iceland in 2019, Bernocchi and Chaplin met up in London to create minimal electronic interventions and haunting melodies, with slow-moving textures and layered ambient sounds
This is an album exploring the interplay between random events and deliberate human intervention, something which, in the electronic music field, I call cybersynthesis. I saw it’s creation as being analogous to creating pictures using the medium of Watercolour, whereby the various pigments are allowed to flow randomly in water with the hand of the painter guiding the proceedings with an eye on satisfying various criteria. These criteria define the artist’s intention. The work is the result
The music was made on the Serge Modular Paperface system, with most of the modules being made in the early-to-mid 1970s. However, one panel of the nine used is a modern unit formatted to the Serge standard, made by the British synthesiser manufacturer Loudest Warning. This panel was assembled on my instruction, a service happily provided by the manufacturer, and contains cybernetic functions that I felt were lacking in the other modules in my system, but which fit in with the spirit of the Serge. They were designed to aid in the composition of self-generating melodic and rhythmic patterns
These functions are as follows:
Two Gated Comparators, each one slightly different from the other. These modules take in pitch data, and hold it in memory to be passed out at a sequentially gated step, with up to 8 steps. They create a semi-random series of notes and gates and can be used in conjunction with other modules such as the Quantizer
Window Comparator: This takes a clock input and puts out up to 8 new gates based upon a range set by external CV. It can be used to create complex rhythmic patterns which again are semi-random in nature
And-Comparator. This takes multiple gate events and outputs a new gate only if all inputs fire together. It is useful for selectively thinning out complex events into simpler rhythmic events, also known as rhythmic quantizing
The Slope Detector takes any variable CV and generates various gates depending on the rise and fall time of the input
73 EG. A complex envelope generator based on the original Serge design from 1973. It allows voltage control over most parameters and also generates extra gate outputs under voltage control. In cycle mode it can be used as a complex VC-LFO
Having this extra panel added to my system has opened up the compositional potential of the instrument to a very large extent. All of the melodic elements you hear on this album were generated using what I call ‘cybersynthesis’ principles, which is a fascinating area of electronic music that I have greatly enjoyed exploring on this record
Download form Bandcamp includes full colour 10 page PDF booklet!
Five years after its inception, Sanger’s Jiffy Looper reaches v.1.2. The 16-second audio looper for the Monome Norns ecosystem is designed to provide a quick and fun looping addition to your app collection.
The recent additions include a complete code overhaul and full midi mapping implementation across all parameters, opening up the usage to those with midi foot pedals and other external controllers.
Fans of Languid Gongue, will already be familiarized with the auditory softcut zones reached by feeding synths into Jiffy whilst manipulating the speed and dub parameters 😉
More Jiffy updates and other new Norns apps are expected from Luke this year. Stay up to date on Jiffy development at llllllll.co and at Github.
Another fine year for music here in the flatlands. Here are our ten most frequented frequencies of the past 12 months. Go check them out and support the artists!
Rob Papen Inspiration Soundware has unveiled the eXplorer-9, an enhanced bundle featuring 30 plug-ins.
Notable additions include the upgraded Go2-X, an improved version of the original Go2 virtual instrument. Although this is described as having a ‘friendly’ interface, I found the colours and UI a little dated and somewhat busy personally (a visual trait that could be addressed across the entire product range). However, it’s a good sounding instrument! The upgrade introduces features like waveform drawing and morphing, expanded ARP functionality, and the inclusion of MAGIC MODE for musical variation.
The second addition is the Albino-3 Legend, a resurrection of the groundbreaking Albino-3 virtual instrument with updated features such as VST3 support and adjustable GUI sizes. I was a keen Albino user back in the day (loved the filter types!), so it’s great to see it back again for modern OS systems.
eXplorer-9 also offers nine legacy products and the PRISMA plug-in, allowing users to creatively combine up to four virtual instruments.
Overall, the bundle promises a comprehensive suite of powerful tools for music production, blending new features with nostalgic elements from the past.
Synth East: Electronic Sound X NAC present Subotnick film screening
Followed by Adam Buxton in conversation with Steve Davis
+ performance by Luke Sanger (BAR)
23/2/24
The all new Friday evening Synth East event is curated by Electronic Sound Magazine and the Norwich Arts Centre and kicks off with (possibly) the UK premiere of a documentary on musician Morton Subotnick, who at 90 years old, is known affectionately as the Father of Techno. It’s called Subotnick, Portrait of an Electronic Music Pioneer by Waveshaper Media who brought us the intoxicating 2014 documentary, I Dream of Wires.
Following the film we have writer, broadcaster, comedian and musician Adam Buxton chatting with Synth East alumni Steve Davis about music, life and modular synths. Finishing off the evening we have an ambient set from modular musician Luke Sanger as we relax into some beers in preparation for what’s to come for the rest of the weekend.
Very interesting spoken word narrative over synth, guitar and eastern instrumental ambient scapes. Each track on “Penny” resonates with emotional depth and musical richness, creating a compelling soundscape that captures the essence of Penny’s life.
Maya Hardinge & David Louis Zuckerman skillfully use a diverse range of minimalist arrangements to evoke the various stages of Penny’s journey, from the soulful melodies representing her introspective moments to the rhythmic beats mirroring the pulse of her adventurous encounters.
Nehalennia documents the second meeting of the The Cley Project. We were able to meet and play again in the inspiring surrounds of the same artist’s house we used last year in Cley. These tracks are a development of the music we made last year and utilise more prepared musical elements in the improvisations. More time has also been spent on producing and mixing the tracks.
Joseph Myoushin Sanger – Shakuhachi Dave Pullin – Bass Harralulu – Electronics
Recorded & mixed by Cley Project Available now at Bandcamp
