via Trevor Pinch: "This Saturday March 30 at Cornell Schwartz Center for The Performing Arts we are putting on a cool event which we are calling a 'DIY Electronics Music Symposium'. It will feature panel discussion on DIY electronics (starts 2pm), workshops where you can build your own gear, and a concert (starts 8pm) featuring, Silver Apples, Malcolm Cecil with TONTO, Electric Golem (with Trevor Pinch on DIY Modular [see this post]) plus more.
I know it's short notice but any synth heads in the area might want to check it out. As far as we can tell TONTO and Silver Apples have never been on the same bill together."
Details:
"DIY ELECTRONICS SYMPOSIUM:
SATURDAY MARCH 30
An afternoon and evening celebrating innovation in electronic media,
///TOGETHER FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER:
the legendary Simeon Coxe of Silver Apples and Malcolm Cecil of Tonto's Expanding Head Band,
The afternoon symposium will commence with a panel discussion led by Science and Technology Studies professor Trevor Pinch followed by demonstrations of various home made electronic instruments including the largest synthesizer in the world, The Original New Timbral Orchestra. Doctoral candidates Taylan Cihan (Music), Laewoo Kang (Information Science) and Owen Marshall (Science and Technology Studies) will then lead a DIY Electronics workshop allowing participants to create and keep their own small electronic instruments.
~challenge the politics of expertise~
~explore motivations for innovation~
In the evening from 8-11 a musical and visual 'happening' will be put on with Tonto's Expanding Headband, Silver Apples, The Electric Golem, First Atomic Lunar and more to perform.
__S_C_H__E__D__U__L__E_
2PM-3PM
Panel Discussion Chaired by Trevor Pinch
featuring: Malcolm Cecil, Simeon Coxe, Jeff Perkins, Park Doing.
3:30pm-5:30pm
DIY Electronics Workshop and Demonstrations
-Circuit hacking, bending and creating your own instruments from parts. All materials provided for limited number of participants
provided by Cornell Electroacoustic Center, led by Taylan Cihan, Owen Marshall, and Leo Kang
____________________________________
8PM-11PM
MULTIMEDIA PSYCHADELIC PERFORMANCE
*Silver Apples
*Tonto's Expanding Head Band
*Electric Golem
*First Atomic Lunar
*100% Black
feat DJ Andris Balins
Visual media provided by Jeff Perkins, Park Doing, Leo Kang
The events are free and open to the entire Cornell Community.
Contributions are encouraged to support opening acts.
Made possible by The Cornell Council for the Arts, The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The Cornell Electroacoustic Music Center, The Society for the Humanities, The Science and Technology Studies Department, and the SAFC."
See the TONTO & Trevor Pinch labels below for more including videos and pics.
via Inverse Room, via Muff's:
"You guys will dig this.
Some of you probably know Trevor Pinch from his book Analog Days [Amazon hardcover & paperback, preview on Google books], about the history of the Moog synthesizer. Trevor's a friend of mine--we both teach at Cornell U.--and he recently restored his moribund DIY modular that he built in the seventies. Last night he and our friend James Spitznagel (together they are Electric Golem) played a show here in Ithaca, with Trevor on his synth and Jim using a Mopho, Evolver, Orb, Nintendo DS and various iPhone apps.
Oh BTW sorry these are not better photos. I should have brought a DSLR for this but I had a digital rangefinder camera with me that is not so hot at high ISO. Full set is here (for now): http://inverseroom.creotia.com/golem/"
I contacted Trevor Pinch and he had the following to share:
"Hey Matrix:
I built that synth in London in 1973. I used it til 1975/6 in a collective band/scene in London and then in Manchester - we also had a VCS3 and various gizmos from EMS as one of our band knew Tristram Cary, one of the founders of EMS. By the way anyone interested in EMS should check out the half hour documentary Matt Bates made for Australian TV - 'What the Future Sounded Like'. I was a talking head for that movie. It's got tons of info in it and great clips of Hawkwind, music of early Floyd etc [below].
My synth was kinda in storage before being shipped to the States in 1990. It was smashed up badly in the move and I only started work on it again a few months ago when Park Doing here in Ithaca persuaded me to get it going to jam with Johnny Dowd, Richie Stearns, Brian Wilson, and others for a 'Requiem for Analog TV' show we did at Cornell. Since then I've played out with it a couple of times with Park's band, the Atomic Forces, and once with The Electric Golem with Jim Spitznagel.
The schematics come from the hobby magazine Wireless World August 1973. Tim Orr did the design (he was the same guy who designed the EMS Vocoder). I built it 1973. The Voltage Control filter is online [link]
VCO 1 has square, triangle, sine , and variable mark space (I think in the US they call it duty cycle - adjusting the width of the top of a square wave). It turns out the variable mark space is one of the most musically useful controls I know.
It has three frequency ranges from very low to way up there! There are two VCO inputs with 1 K pots to control the voltage in.
VCO 2 has square, triangle, sine, ramp, and pulse outputs. There are two VCO inputs with 1 K pots ditto.
VCO 3 is a six-step sequencer with an incredible frequency range, with each step selectable and tunable. This is the awesome guts of the beast. There are two VCO inputs with one K pots. You feed the sequencer output as an input into the VCO1 and VCO2 and away you go.
There are also the following modules:
2 voltage control amplifiers
2 exponential converters
A keyboard module for operating a resistor chain monophonic keyboard - I abandoned the keyboard as I could never get it in tune and it sounded better out of tune!
I voltage control filter - band pass or low pass output - band pass only is working
I mixer with three channels and two virtual earth mixers for summing and reversal with three channels each,
White noise source and blue and red noise (variable) outputs
Spring reverb.
Envelope shaper. Not yet working
Two preamps. Buggered.
2 very low frequency outputs. Not yet working.
Sample and hold - Never worked!
Joy stick control and circuits with two pots providing variable X and Y voltages.
The joystick is home built by using three pots (design based on the first one that David Cockerell made for VCS3) my killer control for live performance (think Brian Eno and the way he used the joystick on the VCS3 (Putney)). The joystick was beat up terribly in the move and was the hardest single thing to get working and nicely balanced. Read the story of how the pitch and mod wheel were designed for the minimoog in Analog Days! Having a controller that feels right when you play is for me half the battle.
There is an onboard power supply for 240 volts in and 15v plus and minus and 5 volts plus out. Useless in US! So got new power supply built.
The modules are mainly built on plug in breadboards made by a UK company called Electrokit. So when I blow out transistors - happens all the time - I can unplug for easy access. Also I like to leave it open so shaking the instrument shakes the modules and affects the sound and of course the reverb. Opening the black box is my aesthetic.
Housed in hand machined painted aluminium case (wise choice in hindsight as it is sturdy, light and didn't rust!)
Patch bay is banana plugs, wires and sockets (what we used to call banana plugs or Wonder plugs in the UK). US banana plugs are too big - anyone know where I can get the UK banana plugs from as I need more?
If anyone is interested in my early experiences in playing the synth, they are written up in a chapter in a book by Sherry Turkle, Evocative Objects - the reflection is online at a awesome exhibition, "Remix, Rewind and Replay" at Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art which I was on a panel for. http://www.rewindremixreplay.org/pdfs/pinch.pdf
By the way, that essay was written before I got the synth working again. In that essay I said the synth had no name. When I unearthed the old schematics to start soldering work I found I did give it a name, "Stray Capacitance". That's what the synth was like - full of capacitance.
The synth truly has a unique sound : the sonic energy is simply amazing. It can cut through like a chain saw on magic mushrooms - everything sort of feeds back on everything else in various unpredictable ways. Its like a live bucking beast to control. Park Doing says I shouldn't call it a synth and I agree. It's more a sometimes controllable sound and noise maker. John Robert Lennon (aka Inverse Room) on seeing and hearing it in action the other day - said how come it just doesn't explode. It's a miracle that it works at all! Its industrial sound is awesome in a punk band and when playing alongside someone with more varied and sweeter sounds (like Jim Spitznagel can produce) it can cut through and complement and attract attention. With the spring reverb it sends you into space. In the early days we also used to use huge tape loops as well.
That's it!
Trevor"
I'd like to give a huge thanks to Trevor Pinch for taking the time out to share this with us and of course Inverse Room for sending this our way.
YouTube via inverseroom — April 25, 2010 —
"Inverse Room interviews Trevor Pinch, author of "Analog Days" and other books about the history of technology, who demonstrates the DIY modular synth he built in the 1970's.
The thing I find really cool about this design is the step sequencer that can be run at high enough speeds to create, in effect, a new oscillator with primitive custom waveforms. And of course there's the total lack of sides to the case--gotta love that, too!"
"For the 2018 JBS Haldane Lecture, The Department of Science and Technology Studies at UCL is proud to present Prof. Trevor Pinch (Cornell) discussing The Moog Synthesiser as a Technological and Sound Object.
Sound Studies is a newly emergent interdisciplinary field which studies the material production, transmission, storage, and consumption of music, sound, noise, and silence and how these have changed throughout history and within different societies. In this lecture Trevor examines how a new electronic soundscape came into being with a new instrument, the Moog Electronic Music Synthesizer. He tells the story of this invention in upstate New York in 1964-9 and places it within the context of wider developments in electronic music and the counter-cultural sixties. His approach uses work in Science and Technology Studies to better understand the history of musical instruments as sounding objects, documenting how certain sounds stabilized as part of a new electronic soundscape and how other sounds failed to do so.
Professor Trevor Pinch's main research centres on three areas: the sociology of technology and how users engage with technology, sound studies and music and in particular the development of musical instruments and sound objects, markets and the economy with specific attention to the study of selling and persuasion."
A search on Trevor Pinch on the right of the site will bring up numerous posts featuring Trevor here on MATRIXSYNTH. Don't miss his vintage DIY modular and numerous performances, both solo and with James Spitznagel in The Electric Golem.
Top: "Malcolm Cecil [portion of TONTO in background], James Spitznagel and Trevor Pinch Jamming. Trevor is playing an analogue synth which he himself built in the early 1970s." [see this post for details & pics]
Bottom: "Simeon Coxe of Silver Apples"
Description for the set:
"On March 30th, 2013, Cornell University and The Fanclub Collective sponsored a day-long electronic music workshop. It included a panel discussion with Professor Trevor Pinch, Malcolm Cecil, Simeon Coxe and Jeff Perkins (a veteran light-show producer) and a hands-on DIY synth-circuit-building workshop. The final events were performances, first by regional acts (First Atomic Lunar, members of Atomic Forces & First North American Lunar), 100% BLAKK), then by Ithaca synth ensemble Electric Golem (Trevor Pinch and James Spitznagel). Malcolm Cecil and his vintage mega-synth, TONTO (that's "The Original New Timbral Orchestra") played an incredible set, as did half of the sixties electro-rock duo Silver Apples, Simeon Coxe.
I would highly recommend any of these acts' recordings!
"I record a couple of Electric Golem sets in the studio. Trevor Pinch on Moog Prodigy and DIY modular, Jim Spitznagel on Evolver, Mopho, iPod, Nintendo DS, and Tenori-On."
See this post for more info on Trevor Pinch's modular.
"Wanted to share this photo with you of me playing my home made modular synth with the Atomic forces in Brooklyn the other night. See how it lights up!!!!!"
"Trevor Pinch, a professor at Cornell University and the author of Analog Days, a documentation of the early days of electronic music, is shown here playing with an Ithaca, NY band on the Commons last may."
"OTP is both honored & thrilled to present An Evening In the Company of the Joy Circuits featuring TONTO’s Expanding Head Band pioneer Malcolm Cecil, in his first U.S. performance in over 30 years, along with aural sculptors Spitznagel & Trevor Pinch...
For his OTP debut, Cecil will not only bring a number of the original TONTO synth modules but his trusty upright bass as well, all of which to bring forth a stunning hybrid of keyboard virtuosity, 70s synth-jazz, and his own brand of post-classical-flavored electronic music."
See One Thousand Pulses for the full details. If anyone makes this, send in some pics.
via Tevor Pinch of Electric Golem: "Most of you know this already and please forgive this mass email. The Electric Golem will be performing tonight Saturday, May 3, in a free concert at the Tompkins County History Center (bottom of 79 on the left) as part of the 'Switched On Moog Exhibit' which just opened. We will play two pieces 'Scarecrow Outage' and 'Theater on the Sun'. Jim will have his theremin and I will have my Moogs and home-made modular synth."
See this post for info on Trevor Pinch's DIY modular synth as well as the Trevor Pinch label below.
The Electric Golem - STS Morrisville - 4-21-2011 - Part 1 of 2
YouTube Uploaded by KurtKarsin on May 26, 2011
"This video (Part 1 of 2) features The Electric Golem, an electronic improvisational synthesizer duo from Ithaca, NY. Here they are performing a piece titled "What Watson Doesn't Know" at Morrisville State College (NY) at the fifth annual Science, Technology and Society Symposium, titled "Technomusia: Science, Technology and Music" (more at www.morrisville.edu/sts). The program also featured Roy "Futureman" Wooten the synth drummer from Bela Fleck and the Flecktones.
The Electric Golem is composed of Trevor Pinch and James Spitznagel, who yield generative, modern psychedelic mindscapes thanks to Pinch's command of his Moog Prodigy and homemade modular synths, and Spitznagel's battery of similar devices like the Evolver, Mopho, Tenori-on, Nintendo DSi, iPod Touch, and Orb Sequencer. During his daylight hours, Pinch is Professor of Science and Technology Studies and Professor of Sociology at Cornell University, and the coauthor of perhaps the definitive book on synthesizer technology, Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer. Spitznagel is a true techno-polyglot, a digital computer artist, photographer, and sonic provocateur who has released all manners of twisted electronica on his Level Green imprint, and continues to raise the bar for circuit-based music as he craftily wrestles with the vagaries of tone, glitch, frequency, and pulsation."
The Electric Golem - STS Morrisville - 4-21-2011 - Part 2 of 2
via Trevor: "our new CD “Sky Snails" has just been released by Periphery records www.otperiphery.com [link]:
The CD was endorsed by our ginger cat, Mango, who loved Sky Snails – unfortunately the day after the record came out Mango vanished from this Earth!
Sky snails is also available on iTunes for downloading. It consists of three tunes: the melodic “What Watson Doesn’t Know”; the Space Noise medley, “Sky Snails Part One”; and the cosmic “Sky Snails Part Two”.
Shortly also to be released on Periphery is one track of our live collaboration with Macolm Cecil of Stevie Wonder and Tonto’s Expanding Headband fame. That CD comes out August 5
We plan a CD release party/concert on Saturday August 20 in Ithaca at The State of the Art Gallery – so mark that date in your diaries if you're in or near Ithaca
Meanwhile have a great summer. We are back in the studio working on our third album. And if you see a big ginger cat anywhere who likes electronic music please let me know! We miss him terribly!
"Trevor Pinch is the co-author of the amazing book Analog Days. If you are a fan of synths, or just have a passing interest, this book is a must read. After interviewing so many people for the book I thought it would be great to interview Trevor."
You can find the full interview on VICMOD (direct link in case you find this in the archives)
"James Spitznagel and Trevor Pinch (author of Analog Days) performed in Ithaca's State of the Art Gallery. Audio is taken from a live recording in the gallery. Commentary by James Spitznagel and Ithaca art critic, Arthur Whitman."
The Electric Golem released their second CD last weekend and are working on a third. They will be performing at Castaways in Ithaca Saturday August 27 with the Atomic Forces. Trevor Pinch will have his modular synth with him.
"Saturday, February 5 · 5:00pm - 7:00pm State Of The Art Gallery 120 W. State Street Announcing the CD and Digital release of The Electric Golem's debut album. The Electric Golem are: Trevor Pinch & James Spitznagel. Come join us for a mini-concert of electronic/ improvised/ experimental music featuring The Electric Golem (of course) and Laika and the Luddite Machine. We are hosting this event at the fabulous State of the Art Gallery in downtown Ithaca." See the Trevor Pinch label below.
"I record a couple of Electric Golem sets in the studio. Trevor Pinch on Moog Prodigy and DIY modular, Jim Spitznagel on Evolver, Mopho, iPod, Nintendo DS, and Tenori-On."
See this post for an exclusive on Trevor Pinch's DIY modular.
Pictured to the left is Professor William Hoskins (via). What you see there is not the mystery Moog, but his Moog modular system. This post is about another Moog synth, one most likely based on the Sonic VI. If you have any information on what this synth might be after reading this, please feel free to leave a comment or contact me directly. My contact info is on the bottom right of the site. I have already contacted Michelle Moog-Koussa and Brian Kehew author of Kaleidoscope Eyes A Day in the Life of Sgt. Pepper, as well as Trevor Pinch, author of Analog Days [Amazon hardcover & paperback, preview on Google books], and featured in this exclusive post. I also contacted James Husted of Synthwerks, George Mattson of Mattson Mini Modular, Steven Jones of Synthwood, and Carbon111, all of whom know their synth history. None were familiar with what the synth might be.
The story: I was recently contacted by a Paul Rego with the following:
"I've been searching the Internet for over a year now and have not been able find a specific synth. Since you seem to know and work with every type of synth known, I thought I'd ask you...
Around 1973 - 1974, I took private synthesizer lessons at Jacksonville University (Florida). The instructor was Professor William Hoskins and the synth was a custom Studio Moog assembled by Professor Hoskins.
One day, Professor Hoskins showed me his personal, portable synthesizer. He brought out what looked like a brown suitcase. When he opened it, I saw a Moog Sonic VI.
This is nothing new. I've seen lots of images of this synth on the Internet. The one aspect of this particular synth, that I cannot find anywhere, is that it had a touch-sensitive keyboard. The keyboard was made of plastic and had a gray / brown color. Outlining the keys (showing the location of the 'white' and 'black' keys) was an almost medium blue color (about an eighth-inch thick). (He and I tinkered with this synth for about a half-hour to an hour.)
Professor Hoskins passed away several years ago, so I can't ask him about it. I did contact his family but they don't remember anything about this synth.
I do remember Professor Hoskins telling me that he and Bob Moog had 'gone to school together'. I think he was referring to electronics school but I never asked him more about it. I thought I had read somewhere that Professor Hoskins and Bob Moog had briefly worked together on a Sonic VI prototype but I don't know if that's true. (Even if what I saw was a prototype, someone has to own it now and should be proud enough of it to post some photos somewhere.)
I thought the background story might help in your own research on this.
Basically, I'd just like to know if this synth ever existed or am I just not remembering it correctly.
Thank you for your time and attention."
My first obvious guess considering the blue was the Buchla Music Easel or separate Buchla touchplate keyboard modded into the case of a Sonic VI. I sent Paul a couple of links to various images.
Paul replied: "the synth I saw didn't look like the Buchla Easel. Good call though.
The 'blue', which outlined the keys on the Sonic VI I saw was a bit lighter in color than the blue in your photos and maybe had a bit of green in it (closer to turquoise). There was no red or other color on the keyboard (that I can remember) and the entire keyboard seemed to be one piece of plastic with only the blue / green outlines separating the 'keys'.
I also read a story recently about the time when Musonics bought Moog and had a synth ('Sonic V'?) of their own, at that time, but I haven't research this too much yet. One thought I had was the synth I saw was something from Musonics but was never officially released (until it had the 'Moog' name placed on it). I'm pretty sure the synth I saw had the 'Moog' logo and the word 'Sonic VI'. (Not 100% sure but it seems clear in my memory.)"
I also sent Paul images of the EMS Synthi AKS. Paul replied it was the closest, but definitely not it.
I contacted Michelle Moog-Koussa and Brian Kehew to see if they knew of anything. Michelle replied: "...I can tell you that we have several of William Hoskins reel-to-reel tapes in the archives, so there was obviously a significant professional relationship between he and Bob.
I don't ever remember reading anything about the Sonic VI, but maybe Brian does. One thing I can tell you for sure is that Dad began working with John Eaton in 1970 on the Multi-Touch Sensitive keyboard [left via]. The main component of the MTS was the touch-sensitive keyboard, of course. It's not out of the realm of possibility that Dad would have used his work with John to push boundaries on another project."
Brian replied: "Bob didn't design or build the original Sonic V (from Musonics before they bought Moog) that was Gene Zumchak: The Sonic V did have a brown wood style. It's even unlikely Bob did much on the Sonic Six as it was the same thing with a new outer case.
The Sonic VI was the version Moog made in 1972 and later, in a plastic suitcase version. Many of these were made vs the very few Sonic V's. So one might think they saw a Sonic VI when it was the V (same front panel and features). But the brown suitcase and colored keys and touch sensitive thing are ALL unusual. I know a little about Prof Hoskins from the paperwork of the past, but no mention of this synth. Definitely unusual to have keys like that anywhere, anytime!" Followed by: "And there IS touch (velocity) sensitivity on Wendy Carlos' synth by 1971 for Clockwork Orange, but it's used under the normal keyboard. THIS velocity was very possible, but would not make the keys look different. Again - maybe a Sonic V was retrofitted with a cooler keyboard later in the 80s, but why not do so on a BETTER synth!?" :)
On a separate thread, Trevor Pinch got back to me with the following: "Bill Hoskins was important in that he was one of the first people David VanKouvering approached about minimoog reiail sales etc. I have a good album of his somewhere! I think he may have been Bob's favorite composer for a while.
I have no idea about the touch key board but I'm in touch with Gene Zumchak the guy who designed the Sonic Six, so I'll ask him. (I guess you know the joke that the Sonic Six was known by Moog engineers as the Chronic Sick!)
Actually its story might be kinda interesting - Zummy (as he is known) told me that it was made with 741 op amps and in many ways was more advanced than the minimoog.
Maybe it has had an unfair press. I never heard one or saw one for real."
James Husted sent me the image of Professor Hoskins at the top of this post. I sent it to Paul to see if maybe it brought back any memories that might help.
He replied: "The custom Moog modular in that photo is the same one I took lessons on. However, this is an early photo and when I saw that Moog modular, Professor Hoskins had already added a top layer to that cabinet — which included a Moog sequencer. (I have a photo of it, that I took around 1990, but the top part of the photo, showing the upper section, is cut off.)
The reason you didn't see Professor Hoskins' 'Sonic VI' is... I'm guessing that he didn't bring it to the university very often. When I saw it, I was at his home. He had invited me over one Saturday afternoon to see HIS custom Moog modular. It was in his garage, which he had made-over into a nice studio. It also had a two-manual organ, at least two reel-to-reel tape decks and LOTS of recording tape. Later, during that same session, he said 'There's something else I want to show you. Come inside.' We went into the living room and I sat on the couch. He said 'I'll be right back.' After about a minute, he came back carrying a brown 'suitcase'. He set it on the coffee table in front of me and sat down on the couch. He opened it up and... Whoa! I had never seen one of these and it was the first time I had seen a Ring Modulator!
---
I remember seeing Professor Hoskins play his Sonic VI during a live performance of his album 'Galactic Fantasy / Eastern Reflections'. The Jacksonville University orchestra played most of his composition but at one point his Sonic VI was brought out and he played it while at center stage. I could see it clearly from my seat but, of course, I could only see the back of it, which simply looked like the back of a brown suitcase.
---
Sorry it took so long to get back to you. Since I think this is important, I thought I'd try to recreate the 'Sonic VI' I think I saw. I 'Photoshopped' a production Sonic VI and attached it to this message. It's the best image of what I think I saw.
Modifying the image forced my memory to go into more detail. Here's what I'm fairly certain of:
• The outer color of the "suitcase" was almost dark brown.
• The outer shape was more square than the production Sonic VI.
• The thickness of the top and bottom sections was thicker than the production Sonic VI model.
• The keyboard was made of slightly textured plastic, otherwise completely flat, was brown / gray in color and had a vibrant blue outline between the keys. (I'm not 100% sure if the "black" keys were outlined or solid blue.)
• The background color of the back panel and the area surrounding the keyboard was almost dark brown. It looked like it was made out of either pressed cardboard or thin wood. It really reminded me more of the thin 'wood' used in old, tube televisions and radios (during the 1960s).
What I'm not 'fairly sure' of:
• I can't remember if it had a Mod Wheel.
• I think there was more space between the modules.
• I think it had two speakers (placed on the left and right side of the back panel). Each might have been the size of the center speaker-grill in my photo.
• I can't remember if there were any connectors, switches or knobs on the keyboard section."
Update: via Aaron aka theglyph in the comments: "Holy shit! That's the guy from JU. There was an electronics repair/pawn shop here in Jacksonville called Active Electronics that had a bunch of synths back in 90's. The owner had a sign in the store explicitly stating that the synths were not for sale and that customers were not allowed to walk up and look at them or touch them. I walked in day and walked close enough to notice that the MiniMoogs had very low serial #'s. It wasn't until I read Analog Days that I found out that the earliest Mini were sold here in Jacksonville. There so much more to this story that I don't know where to begin but I can say that I did an obscure Moog at the store that I've never seen photographed since and I simply thought I was loosing my mind recollecting it. WOW!
Cheers,
theglyph"
Update: Above, Brian originally mentioned Bill Hemsath as the person that designed the Sonic V. He meant to say Gene Zumchak. This has been updated.
Updates: via Dorothy in the comments:
"HI, as a Hoskins kid, I watched Dad perform on the synthesizer and I know we had the Sonic but I thought it was a "V". Dad had several custom modules built for him by Bob Moog. They were friends but didn't go to school together -- Dad went to Trumansburg NY to work with Bob on the synthesizer that they got for Jacksonville University (in 1969, I think). I will have to go digging in the Will Hoskins letters that I have. Those of you who knew Dad know that he was very meticulous about writing up the components that he bought and what they were for.
Late in Dad's life, when he was basically letting go of most composing effort except for revising existing scores, Bob helped Dad find a collector (in Germany, as I recall), who bought all of Dad's big home synthesizer. I think some of the smaller units were in the hands of Steve Smith, who was Dad's right-hand man at the JU studio for some years. Whatever happened to them, I don't think Dad would have cared as long as someone was using them to create music. He wouldn't have collected synthesizers as museum pieces, he actively used everything he got from Moog until he was ready to let it go."
Followed by: "BTW, that last time I spoke to Bob Moog was after Dad died, when Bob came to Rochester NY http://www.esm.rochester.edu/news/?id=132 which is near where I live now. Bob spoke very fondly of working with Dad, because Dad cared as much about the science of music synthesis as any composer Bob knew. Dad did some work with him on modulators and other components for JU and the Hoskins home studio."
Followed by: "Hoskins synth photo --not a Sonic -- in news article 1970 [link]"
Update 6/6/2010:
Some more interesting bits of Moog history:
Trevor Pinch checked with Gene Zumchak who had the following to say:
"I am not aware of a touch sensitive keyboard on the Sonic V or 6. It did have a two-note keyboard and the highest key pressed and lowest pressed could be routed to Osc 1 and Osc 2.
They removed the keyswitch bus and superimposed a highpitch (100KHz?) tone on the voltage string. This might have been the source of a whine that some users complained about that wasn't present in the Sonic V."
via Josh Brandt: 'Okay, I did hear back from David Mash [VP of IT at Berklee and friend of Bob Moog], who says that the story he was telling me several years ago was about a keyboard Bob was building for John Eaton. I asked about the story he'd told me and if the pictures you posted could be of the instrument he'd been talking about, and he said:
"The story I was no doubt telling was definitely about the keyboard Bob built for John Eaton [middle pic above]. Bob was going to show us the completed instrument (which my friends Jeff Tripp and Paul Derocco helped complete), but we never got to see it due to the way the conversation turned over dinner. I did see the instrument several times during the design/build stages and again later after it was complete.
The keyboard was simply a controller and not a synth, so definitely not the portable synth the blog is referring to. I know Brian, and was involved briefly with him and a bit more with Michelle Moog on the NAMM Museum exhibit, and they used a couple of my photos for the exhibit. They're great people and working hard to preserve Bob's legacy.'"
Update via WmJHeart in the comments:
"Thanks Matrix, for hosting this page. I own a copy of Will's Galactic Fantasy & Eastern Reflections (my personal favorite) recording on vinyl. But I also discovered and listened to the entire album on YouTube recently! Here:"
Galactic Fantasy - Eastern Reflections (1979)[Full Album]
video upload by
Published on Jul 12, 2017 TheHomecoming
"Rare electronic/synth/moog private pressing LP
TITLE 'Galactic Fantasy - Eastern Reflections'
William Hoskins, "Galactic Fantasy, Eastern Reflections" [CP-158]
TRACK 01 AUDIO TITLE "Overture : Stars Are Suns" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 00:00
TRACK 02 AUDIO TITLE "Intermezzo : Interplanetary Communique" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 06:39
TRACK 03 AUDIO TITLE "Star Nocturne" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 08:11
TRACK 04 AUDIO TITLE "Scherzo : Comets" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 16:35
TRACK 05 AUDIO TITLE "Beyond Beyond" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 18:54
TRACK 06 AUDIO TITLE "Prolog : Theme and Variation" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 23:40
TRACK 07 AUDIO TITLE "Lower Heterophonie" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 27:55
TRACK 08 AUDIO TITLE "Song : Open Skies" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 31:22
TRACK 09 AUDIO TITLE "Drum Chime" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 35:28
TRACK 10 AUDIO TITLE "Upper Heterophonie" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 39:41
TRACK 11 AUDIO TITLE "Epilog : Processional" PERFORMER "William Hoskins" INDEX 01 41:30
A1
Overture: Stars Are Suns
A2
Intermezzo: Interplanetary Communique
A3
Star Nocturne
A4
Scherzo: Comets
A5
Beyond Beyond: An Entropy Study
A6
Eastern Reflections
Eastern Reflections
B1
Prolog: Theme and Variation
B2
Lower Heterophonie
B3
Song: Open Skies
B4
Drum Chime
B5
Upper Heterophonie
B6
Epilog: Processional
Criminally under-rated set of Early American Moog Modular Synthesizer Music - the sole release by composer William Hoskins, the 'Director of Electronic Music and Composer-in-Residence at Jacksonville University in Florida.' Issued in 1979 by the Harriman, NY-based Spectrum - a 'Division of UNI-PRO Recordings, Inc.' the LP consists of a pair of discrete pieces, with each taking up a side of its own."
Update via Kimberly S Beasley in the comments:
"Hello, everyone. I am the current chair of the Department of Music at Jacksonville University and I have the original Sonic VI manuals and one of Hoskin's Moogs....happy to share photos tomorrow."
Kimberly sent in the images with the following:
"This has been in the possession of our Professor Emeritus Dr. William Schirmer as it was given to him by Hoskins. Hoskins' granddaughter Dorothy is also aware of the instrument. We also have a large collection of manuscripts of Hoskins.
There is also a mini-Moog we just refurbished in our recording studio."
You can see WM. Hoskins written on the top right of the manual. Note "Home Copy" on the blue cover. It's kind of neat to think of him perusing through the manual in the comfort of his home.
"Switched-On: The Birth of the Moog Synthesizer, comes to a close this month after a successful year-long run at The History Center in Tompkins County in Ithaca, New York. The exhibit celebrates the seminal creation of Moog modular synthesizer over 50 years ago. On Saturday, May 16, 2015, a week before what would be Moog’s 81st birthday, The History Center and the Bob Moog Foundation will honor Moog’s life and legacy through the Bob Moog Birthday Bash, which will include a day of performances, discussions and presentations by notable musicians and Moog experts.
The celebration begins with a special screening of the Moog documentary at Cinemapolis in downtown Ithaca at 5pm on Friday, May 15th. Trevor Pinch, co-author of Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer, will introduce the film. Michelle Moog–Koussa, Executive Director of the Bob Moog Foundation will lead a questions and answer session afterward.
The following day The History Center will host several presentations featuring unique insiders’ perspectives including those by: Roger Luther, former General Manager of Moog Music in Williamsville, NY and creator of Moogarchives.com; Michelle Moog-Koussa and Herb Deutsch, who will host a listening party exploring the 84 minute audio letter that Moog sent to Deutsch in 1964 with the prototype of the Moog synthesizer; and legendary producer and technician, Malcolm Cecil, co-founder of TONTOs Expanding Band and co-producer of four early Stevie Wonder albums. Sean Michaels, author of Us Conductors, a novel based on the life of Leon Theremin, will round out the day of presentations.
Nighttime musical performances include Electric Golem featuring Shueh-Li Ong on theremin and Malcolm Cecil on synthesizer, followed by Mother Mallard with legendary Moog synthesist David Borden, and concluding with a performance by Herb Deutsch.
Birthday Bash attendees will also be able to partake in the featured exhibit, which closes at the end of that day.
A complete listing of happenings as part of Bob Moog’s Birthday Bash, can be found at bobmoogbirthdaybash.splashthat.com and on The History Center in Tompkins County’s Facebook page."
"I’ve been reading Trevor Pinch and Frank Trocco’s excellent book, Analog Days. Apparently, when Don Buchla unveiled his prototype Buchla Box at the San Francisco Tape Music Center in 1965, the most enthusiastic witness was Terry Riley, the pioneer of minimalist music. 'I think I’ll do some music on that,' Riley said.
Sadly, there’s no recording or other evidence of Riley playing the Buchla (at least that I can find). But given that they crossed paths at the Tape Music Center, I thought it would be appropriate to use the Buchla Music Easel to do a cover of one of my favorite Riley pieces: “In the Summer” (1974).
Composed for the soundtrack of art-house film, Lifespan, this piece was reissued in 2007 on the CD, 'Les Yeux Fermés & Lifespan.'
Listen to the original: [below]
On using Disting and Low-Gain Format Jumbler to interface Easel with Eurorack: [previously posted here]"
In the Summer - Terry Riley
video upload by hydrogenbomb
"Track 6 from the album, Les Yeux Fermés & Lifespan, by Terry Riley."
