I'm
not at all sensitive about passing out information about me or the gear.
I'm usually pretty good at getting a feel for folks so I don't collect
a bunch of crazies....with the exception of Rex of course!! LOL...
I have a hard enough time dealing with myself : ) and I do love
talking with other musicians as long as they understand that I'm not
a technician. That's why Rex and I get along so well. I was right upfront
with him about my limited technical ability and he seemed to be OK with
that. Plus we're both guitar players with a love for jazz and 50's rock
instrumentals. Especially stuff from the Northwest. He has come up to
visit a couple times and he was even good enough to help me calibrate
my system and teach me about "gain staging" back in the days when the
Fist was of manageable size LOL.
Now of course
the Fist is totally out of control.!! HAHA..just the way I like it.
At one time I did have a "vintage panel" that used to belong to Dave.
He had Rex put a new face plate on it and after awhile it just kinda
made it's way over here. Can't remember what kind of trade we worked
out. I had it for about a year then sold it to Juergen in Switzerland.
I'm not sure why
I have so many panels except to say that I'm a little obsessed. Music
is my life and passion although I'm never "totally" focused on it
for long stretches. There ARE other things aren't there??
LMAO!! For me, the Serge is the complete electronic Orchestra.
I like to have as few overdubs as possible so getting many things
going at once is the way for me.....hence many panels for many different
elements at once. Also, I didn't realize how badly I would get hooked
on this method. I never thought I would have more than 5 or 6 panels
but it just kept on snowballing. As a result the first 7 or 8 panels
are kind of a mishmash of stuff with no clear layout philosophy. Indeed
panel #4 is a train wreck. LOL I also realized that you can never
have too many Osc's. As a result of poor planning and ignorance I
have more generators than I need and not enough Osc's (28) However
the system is very flexible and I can get 6 complex discreet elements
going at once. It can handle 3 composers in a pinch but functions
best with two people playing at once.
I first saw a
two panel system when I took my Oberheim OB-Mx down to Oakland to
get it serviced about 5 years ago. I had some time to kill and I had
been seeing this little ad for Serge in one of the music rags. I stopped
in and of course Rex and Rox just blew me away. I told him I was a
novice and he said "here, play this for awhile" After about 20 minutes,
although I had no idea what I was doing. I KNEW I could make music
with this thing. So 6 months later I took the plunge and I've been
drowning ever since!!! LOL
No, I didn't win
the lottery. Just forces beyond my control have seen fit to make it
so that I can pursue my musical vision. I guess at some level you
could say I'm lucky or whatever but that's just on the surface. For
a couple of years I worked with this thing for about 4 hours a day.
Then I decided that if I didn't get a job (part time only) I would
probably get totally disconnected from everything so I got this funky
little part time gig at a local pro audio shop which keeps me supplied
with cool toys for cheap. Works for me : ) but I think
in a few more years I'm just going to retire from the whole thing
and drift off into Oscillatorville.
Dave says
some of my stuff is brilliant....I say he's full of shit. LMAO!!!
but who cares?? I like it and that's all that matters. I work
with the
system just about everyday except weekends. I don't get to put long
stretches in but I find that if I just keep at it a little everyday
I get enough done to keep me happy.
Why Serge??.......Why
not?? hahaha Yes I do lust after the Moog filters but I'm not going
to spend that kind of money on a system that old cause I'm not a engineer
and I can't spend that time or cash keeping the thing running. I want
to work....not trouble shoot. I had a 4 frame A100. To small...not
flexible enough. But I did keep the Trigger Sequencers. I did this
'cause no matter how hard I beat Rex over the head he wouldn't resurrect
the old Serge design. The Wiard system looks really COOL!! and if
I had the physical room for one I'd go for it. But I'm maxed out at
the moment. I do have four of the Synthesis Technology (MOTM) filters
which I love . Dave turned me on to them. I will probably add to this
frame from time to time. I also have a barley functional MiniMoog
that I'm going to have SE strip one of this days and rack mount so
I can finally have those luscious filters in the system. Or maybe
I'll just get a Mutator.....who knows.
I've been talking
to Rex for a couple years now about redesigning the filters but it's
going to be a long time...he knows he has to do something in that
area. I also gave him a nudge a couple years ago to improve the sequencers
with LED's and stage select ins. So now I'm one of his Beta testers
for some crazy ideas.
I've decided to
play out and go around to other studios so I ordered a portable system
which should be showing up here any day. It will have a "blue and
red" panel and 3 custom panels plus a TKB I ordered back in Sept.
and it's been along time coming 'cause Rex had to let Roxanne go and
he's been training a couple other guys to do her work..... I'm not
sure that's possible....Rox was one of a kind as you know.
What
does it have..........??? well,
 |
28
Osc..... 6 are NTO's |
 |
4
PDIV |
 |
2 TWS |
 |
4 VCM |
 |
4 N COM |
 |
5 COM |
 |
8 MIX 2 |
 |
14 XFAD |
 |
2 AMX w/phase
switch |
 |
8 VCFX |
 |
4 VCFS
|
 |
2 VCF2 |
 |
3 EQ |
 |
2 UAP |
 |
2 DCSM
|
 |
3 QVM |
 |
1 MAX |
 |
11 QUO |
 |
5 DSG |
 |
1 WAD |
 |
9
DTG ( 4 bi-polar/4 sig. in/1w/sig in +trig button |
 |
3
SSG 1 with S/H switch + W&P noise internal gen
tied to DTG |
 |
3 BLOG |
 |
1 Freq Shift
|
 |
1 RING |
 |
8 ACPR |
 |
4 BUFF |
 |
1 Freq Shift
2PHA |
 |
3 SPRC |
 |
1 PRC |
 |
2 CVI |
 |
2 CMX |
 |
1 2ASR |
 |
3 ASR w/input
atten. |
 |
1 RVG |
 |
2 2RVG |
 |
4 VC CLOCK |
 |
2 ADSR |
 |
3 SEQ
8, 7, 4 |
 |
2 TKB |
 |
1 Quantizer |
 |
2 CM |
 |
1 Preamp
Detector |
 |
1 ENV2 |
 |
1 STR |
|
|
 |
The
ASM1 panels have 2 Osc 2 ADSR's VCF /a Glide /Scale/LFO
and 2 VCA's
each. |
I think this
answers all your questions. Ask Dave for a scan of the current setup
although it has changed a small bit since that picture was taken.
I had difficulty taking the pictures 'cause the flash reflects off
the panels and I don't have a fisheye lens to get everything in the
shot.
Anyway, all for
now. Let me hear from you.
Kind regards
John
Oh yea, one more thing.. as to what I play. Suppose just about
everyone could hear a little bit of someone else in my stuff but after
listening to electronic music for more than 30 years I'd have to say
that I sound pretty much like myself. I know that's lame but I don't
know what else to say.
Sometime it has rhythm
? ( never could spell that word)...sometimes not but I tend more toward
the ambient/soundscape genre ( hate that terminology) As a reference
point I'd give a nod to TD (Phaedra) Walter/Wendy (Sonic Seasonings)
and of course Stockhausen. I'm also a devoted(but not fanatical) fan
of the Dead. I also love the Ventures and Surf music. ( go figure).
What all this means is, is that I'm not much for the "stare and drool"
(as Dave calls it) stuff that seems to be dominant in the Ambient
field. A good piece has to have at least one of the two basic elements
of a good piece. It has to have either a melody or repeating theme
or it must paint an aural picture or emotion. And it should be mysterious,
exotic,scary or whimsical. So that's what I strive for. I have hours
of tapes with nothing but wanking on them LOL. But that's where it
stays.....on tape. A lot of folks seem to get off on releasing this
stuff....oh well : ) Damn !! I went off on a rant!! LOL.
Enough of this
post script.
LOL= Laughing
out loud
LMAO= Laughing my ass off.
Yes, you can quote me on all this stuff
The Dual VC clock
is based on the DTG AND the DSG..it's a combination of the two. Instead
of the rise and fall knobs there is a pair of Frequency pots with
rise/both/fall switches with VC in jacks at the bottom with + and
- rotaries. At the top there is a cycle switch and a gate switch.
Cycle serves the left half and gate serves the right half on the module.
The usual output jacks appear at the top.
The Random Voltage
Generator has the noise source built into it. It has the usual pink
and white noise output plus trigger in. I'm not sure how the dual
Random generator is set up but they don't have the noise outputs or
the trigger in. Just the two stepped and smooth outs and pulse out.
One of the Randoms and one of the BLOGs have Blue LED's on them.
There are
3 Smooth and Stepped function generators in the system. One of which
is pretty unique. This isn't listed in the catalog and I think he's
only making these on a custom basis. He laid this thing on me just
to see how I liked it and if he should make up some more. What it
does is hard to say... I haven't gotten into it that much yet. What
it is....... a Smooth and Stepped alongside a DTG but it's one module.
Crammed in-between
the two is a white noise and pink noise output jack with a Sample
and Hold switch. It's like an inset between the two and overlaps a
little into the graphics of each. The DTG has a signal in jack and
a "gate" pushbutton. Pretty crazy huh? You can make your Oscillators
go wild or get some pretty strange envelopes when patched to the ADSR.
I don't claim to even begin to understand the thing but it's fun.
I think Rex is offering this in a panel that goes with the Fun Station
as he calls it. The rest of that panel contains a NTO, PVCO, VCM ,single
space audio mixer with "phase" switch on the output. A VCFX and a
UAP.