Time to drewl: museum exhibition

[Jeroen Bruintjes]

Hi all,

I just visited the renovated gemeentemuseum (municipal museum) 
in The Hague, Netherlands. Of course, one could admire its 
beautiful 1920's architecture. Or you could go there for looking at 
some of the priceless paintings (Mondriaan, amongst others). And 
there's always the antique costume exhibition.

But what could possibly interest you more than the musical 
instrument collection? In a corner of this museum they've put up 
part of their synthesizer collection. Not just for viewing, but for 
listening also. There's a complete, working installation that 
consists of a Moog Modular, an ARP 2600, an ARP Sequencer, a 
Synton modular, an EMS Synthi A and Synthi II, Moog Phaser, 
Korg MS10/20/50/sequencer, a Bode ringmodulator and some 
other nameless stuff I'd never seen before.

Everything is connected in one GIANT modular setup. You can't 
touch it, which is too bad, but the guy that put in the patch cords 
and adjusted the machines has done a superb job, making the 
whole thing really generate *sounds*. All the sequencers are 
running, triggering each other and the different synths along the 
way. Several speakers are connected to different outputs and 
placed around the room. I stood there for about 30 minutes and 
listed to a *great* cacaphony of beeps, blops and wooshes. The 
sounds go on and on, forever changing: whining, moaning, distant 
hoots and bubbling and sizzling ringmod-effects, all fading in and 
out, left, right, front, back. Everything is done in a nice, moderately 
complex mix and at a limited volume, so that the sounds you hear 
won't knock your ears off your head. It's like on big, airy analog 
painting.

Ah well, I'm getting a bit carried away. But if you ever visit the 
Netherlands, don't forget to visit this museum. The Hague is not far 
from Amsterdam - if someone needs directions to the museum, 
just mail me.

Bye,

Jeroen




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