I Dream of Wires

bitflipper
 
Digital equivalents may be cheaper and more accessible, but they will never have a lickable module.

And probably won't need to be tuned before using either! 

Added to my list.
 
But not for "nostalgic" reasons. 

bitflipper
This documentary just popped up on Netflix this morning. It's a history of the modular synthesizer, and although there are gaps in the story it's still very interesting to anyone who's nostalgic about the early days of synths. Highly Recommended.
 

Hmmm looks like this is US only for the time being ... not listed on Austrian netflix yet ...

The film was only released on July 26th, so I'm a little surprised that it showed up on Netflix so quickly. I see that you can already buy it on Amazon, though.

Gee, I'm sorry about getting your hopes up only to find it's not yet available in your countries. Austria, I can understand. It's probably EU red tape. But Canada? Really? Cheese and hockey!
 
I know there is an active group of modular enthusiasts in the Seattle area, as I ran across a meetup announcement a couple years back. Unfortunately, it had been scheduled for a week when I was to be out of town, so I missed it. I'm going to keep an eye out now and try to catch the next one. If any of you guys who are local to me find out about one, please give me a shout. The last one I know about was held, IIRC, at North Seattle Community College.

bitflipper
I know there is an active group of modular enthusiasts in the Seattle area, as I ran across a meetup announcement a couple years back. Unfortunately, it had been scheduled for a week when I was to be out of town, so I missed it. I'm going to keep an eye out now and try to catch the next one. If any of you guys who are local to me find out about one, please give me a shout. The last one I know about was held, IIRC, at North Seattle Community College.

You have to be a member for the "Gatherings, Events & Meets" subforum, but this is the place you seek for all things modular.
 
https://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/index.php

bit, thanks for sharing. I just watched and enjoyed it.
 
When I was young, my brother played Switched on Bach a lot for me. I loved that album. I purchased it as an adult (digital media) but still sounds good to me.
 
While I am not into that kinda stuff, it is interesting to see the resurgence of the concept.

maximumpower
When I was young, my brother played Switched on Bach a lot for me. I loved that album. I purchased it as an adult (digital media) but still sounds good to me.

There were enormous gaps in the history presented in the film. Perhaps the most egregious omission was Tomita's Snowflakes are Dancing. That album actually predates Switched on Bach but could not be released until SoB demonstrated that a market existed. Snowflakes is vastly more sophisticated, both musically and technically. SoB sounded mechanical and dull by comparison, while Snowflakes oozed lushness and expressiveness and showed that the synthesizer could be much more than a novelty.
 
I still like Switched on Bach and its sequel, mainly because I am a fan of J.S.B. But I can't think of another synth-only recording that has held up as well over the years as Snowflakes are Dancing.
 

Snowflakes are Dancing is the only thing I have from Isao, I'm guessing he must have done other things, but I don't have them.  I suppose I'll have to do some research! 

bitflipper

maximumpower
When I was young, my brother played Switched on Bach a lot for me. I loved that album. I purchased it as an adult (digital media) but still sounds good to me.

... 
I still like Switched on Bach and its sequel, mainly because I am a fan of J.S.B. But I can't think of another synth-only recording that has held up as well over the years as Snowflakes are Dancing.
 

The only one I can think of, is Tomita's Firebird Suite, which is astounding, and fits the imagery so much better, and deserves another listen. I have a version (not complete -- missing first few minutes) where my roommate in Santa Barbara played the album on the radio ... he used to play two of them at the same time in many cases, to get that swish feeling and wobbly imagery in your head ... and let me tell you ... that is above and beyond "music" ... and totally out of this world! Makes synthesizers ... be more than just synths!
 
His version of The Planets is also excellent. But yeah, Snowflakes are Dancing is a magnificent album, and I'm not sure people know what it means nowadays, but it was a RED LABEL album, which means it got special treatment along only a handful of classical music albums at the time!

Moshkito

drewfx1
... 
Also - Beagle take note(!) - they seem to have an odd "cat fancy" thing there for some reason.

Sometimes it's too much dog ... thing ... around here! We need some cats!

 
It's just that they have a cultural idiosyncrasy regarding cats there for some reason.
 
 
Though I have (at least - can't remember off the top of my head) Tomita's Planets and Firebird, I tend to prefer Wendy Carlos' works.

bitflipper
So I've been cruising around the muffwiggler site, testing the waters to see if it's a place I'd want to spend any time in. 
 
The logical place to start seemed to be the "Your Tunes Here" subforum, the equivalent of our Songs forum. I wanted to see if forum members' stuff was the ear-grating random noise of early experimental electronica, the mind-numbing repetition of techno, or if it had progressed to something more musical.
 
I found examples of all three, but for the most part the typical submission consisted of interesting sounds in excruciatingly uninteresting musical contexts. Does anybody really want to listen to slowly-modulated white noise for 10 minutes?
 
 

I don't really understand the electronic music stuff, so...
 
 
But I do know that many folks over there seem to want things like EG's and LFO's with time frames of tens of minutes or even hours. Personally I don't get it. 

I suppose the purists use tape and razor blades, like their heroes of yesteryear. Like I used to do myself.
 
Before discovering MIDI sequencers (Cakewalk 1.0, c. 1988), the simplest arrangements would take me days to assemble. Keep in mind that a 3-note chord requires 3 separate tracks with a monophonic synthesizer, and I only had a 4-track machine. There was always a sense of accomplishment at the end of the process, regardless how mundane the composition.
 
This is a big part of what makes Tomita's Snowflakes are Dancing such a monumental feat. It took him 2 years and lots of splicing and bouncing. And he didn't have a technical guy on hand like Carlos did; Tomita's was the only synthesizer in all of Japan at the time, and he the only (self-taught) expert. 
 

Ah, that will be something good to watch while eating lunch.  You also are bringing back fond memories of being in Frankfurt in '81 for me - lol!