Wendy Carlos Talks Stanley Kubrick, A Clockwork Orange & the “Cir-Con.”

I just saw this video today. This appeared on my Facebook feed via Automatic Gainsay. All I can say is that she was an inspiration for many of us. Her music was always epic and seemed so out of reach for a common button pusher like me! Her scores were always noteworthy and were the perfect background for the movies they were part of. She deserves all the recognition and respect she gets.

To see her speak so candidly in this video is heartwarming and brought back so many visual and auditory memories for me. As I mostly only know her from interviews in magazines & limited segments in videos, this is a treat.

She was way more than just her Moog Modular and her Switched On Bach album.

Enjoy!

From Youtube.com
Published on 10 Apr 2014
Wendy Carlos plays selections from the soundtracks for Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining and A Clockwork Orange. She plays an instrument she helped design called the Circular Controller or “Cir-Con” and remembers Stanley Kubrick.

No infringement intended. Video uploaded with the intent to share some insight on the artist and her work.

The MacBeth Elements Synthesizer at Musikmesse 2014 (Video)

Check out the new Macbeth Elements Synthesizer. It looks deliciously awesome to me. The video is recorded at Musikmesse 2014 by the folks over at Future Music Magazine. Enjoy.

Maestros: The Novation Story (2014)

I recently ordered a Novation Bass Station II. So, as you can imagine they are top of my mind this week when it comes to synthesizer goodness. Courtesy of Sound On Sound, I came across this video of Novation celebrating their heritage as a quality provider of MIDI controllers, software, electronics and synthesizers.

The Novation Story

If you would like a chance to win your choice of a Bass Station II, UltraNova or a MiniNova synthesizer visit this page here, download the free sample pack and build a track using them for a chance to win.

From the Novation website

Want to win your choice of Bass Station II, UltraNova, and MiniNova?

Has your inspiration been stirred by our heritage celebration short film? The combination of the Novation sound and innovative design style makes our family of synths invaluable for your productions, and has done for acclaimed electronic and dance musicians including Orbital, M4SONIC, Rudimental, T.E.E.D, Lunice, Teddy Riley, Jimmy Mac (keyboardist for international sensation Lorde), and many more for over 20 years.

We’re proud to present a massive free sample pack that shows off our legendary synth heritage, and all you have to do is create your own track using it for the chance to win one of our latest award winning hardware synthesisers.

Enter the contest here.

Proud new owner of this synthesizer:

Novation Bass Station II

Congratulations on the great synthesizer and electronics story so far, Novation!

Daniel Miller of Mute Records Talks Eurorack Modular Synthesis (@LEAF 2013)

This is a great little video of the very legendary Daniel Miller (Mute Records) going through a Eurorack synthesizer at Leaf (London Electronic Arts Festival)2013. Enjoy!

I like the bit where he mentions switching up the module order in his Eurorack to inspire new patching and ideas!

This came to my attention via I Dream of Wires.

This image via modulargrid.net

Happy New Year from The Synthesizer Book (2014)!

The Synthesizer Book would like to send out a big warm and appreciative thank you to all of our readers.  Thank you for visiting this blog, engaging and giving us your continued support.  

The book project has taken longer than expected.  Life, family, career are still priorities.  However, the research, the learning and the depth of exposure to all things synthesizer continues to grow;  therefore, expanding the volume of topics from which to draw inspiration.

All that said, here is a big toast to the new year and a resolution to continue on the quest of why this blog originally started, to create The Synthesizer Book.

Happy New Year!

Richard (The Synthesizer Book)

Alessandro Cortini of Nine Inch Nails – Trash Audio at the Apothecary (Video 1 and 2)

Lots of analog, modular and synthesizer goodness…

Video 1 of 2

Video 2 of 2

Trash Audio
Sonoio

The Title Sequence -Without A Love **NEW

The cover art immediately caught my eye. I also like the track and always appreciate the immediate delivery methods of mediums like Bandcamp. So, here it is for your listening pleasure. Check it out at bandcamp.com

This is a one off single featuring Lindsay West on vocals. The song is written, performed and produced by The Title Sequence. Cover art by Caitlin Burns

Dicken Schrader & His Cover Band-DMK Do Depeche Mode’s, Everything Counts (Dad & His Kids)

This great little video came to via one of my colleagues. All I can say about it is that brought a warm feeling to my heart and a big whopping smile too. You can bet I’m going home and sharing this with my 2 sons tonight. The fact that this was done with a few toy bits and some improvisation makes it all the more endearing to me. Anyway, its a super awesome little performance that should inspire the cynic in all of us. Don’t lie! You know it will Enjoy…

From dailypicksandflicks.com:
Colombian video artist Dicken Schrader and his kids, Milah and Korben, cover Depeche Mode’s Everything Counts on a xylophone, an old Yamaha keyboard and a bunch of homemade improvised instruments. The best thing you will see today, guaranteed!

Also check out another one by the same trio below. This one is chock full black regalia and some Gothic makeup too boot and a cool melodica performance too…

Is The Queen Is Dead The Greatest LP The Smiths Ever Made?

This past weekend I got to see my oldest and longest standing friend. He is my “brotha from another motha!“…that’s a long standing joke between us with a few dimensions, by the way! We laughed a lot. We ate some good Italian food at Brio in Las Vegas. We did some drinking and had an incredibly good time going through some of our current and all time favorite albums together. Between the two us we could fill an entire skyscraper with our music libraries and wide spanning musical taste! Needless to say, we had an amazing time together. Too bad our time together was so short though.

The Smiths naturally always make it into our conversations. You see The Smiths are one of the bands that heavily influenced us during our youth. Our youth filled memories had quite a lot of The Smiths as a soundtrack and therefore not a band we could ever forget. The truth is, I don’t recall a single time when the subject of Morrisey, Johnny Marr, Andy Rourke, Mike Joyce or The Smiths haven’t entered into a least one of our conversations.

That said, I was taken a back to discover that my good friend doesn’t list The Queen Is Dead as one the greatest Smiths albums. We brought up recordings like Louder Than Bombs, but that is a greatest hits/compilation of sorts. So, doesn’t count! He never quite gave me his choice though. Still, the prospect of it not being their best has caused me wonder if not The Queen Is Dead then which album then would be considered a better choice.

Exhibit A:

Track Listing

1. “The Queen Is Dead”
2. “Frankly, Mr. Shankly”
3. “I Know It’s Over”
4. “Never Had No One Ever”
5. “Cemetry Gates”
6. “Bigmouth Strikes Again”
7. “The Boy with the Thorn in His Side”
8. “Vicar in a Tutu”
9. “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out”
10. “Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others”

Leave your comments below and let me know what you think. This mind wants to know!