Scott Rider, aka "Crow"
Fairmont, WV
Embedded systems and industrial power systems hardware design engineer
BSEE, West Virginia University, 1986
MOTM: thus far, a 110, a 120, a 300, two 320s, a 410 and a 900.
Other kbds, in order of year obtained: ARP Odyssey (gold/black), 1978;
Paia P-4700j kit, 1979 (didn't complete the build until April 1980!); Korg
Polysix #1, 1984; DX7 Mk1 #1, 1984; KX88, TX216, 1986; RX5 drumbox, 1987;
a pair of Voyetra-8 units and a VPK-5 keyboard, 1991; Korg Polysixen #2 &
#3, 1995; Korg Trident Mk2, 1999; SCI Prophet-5 rev3 & P600, 1999; three
TF1 modules for TX rack, 1999; DX7 Mk1 #2, 2000; DX7IIFD, 2000. Oh, and a
Paia Oz, 2000.
A bunch of audio processors, mixers, etc. All studio stuff, not meant
for gigging even if it is all mounted in Anvil 19" rack cubes.
The redundant kbds are for experimentation. The 2nd DX7 Mk1 and the
DX7II are to study/resurrect old add-on boards that replaced the stock OS
ROMs. The Polysixen, aside from the fact they are one of my favorite
machines ever, serve as Guinea pigs for all sorts of evil experiments.
The Prophet-5 I bought "all blowed up" for cheap last year. A few 3340s
and a shorted power supply cap later, runs great save for a chwerpy OTA
somewhere and the need for an endless supply of J-wires. I have a secret
project in mind for the P5, though..heh heh.
The little Paia Oz I grabbed off ebay because I want to make a little
18-note MIDI controller+CV/trig to drive the MOTM. An 18-note keyboard
with full-size keys is pretty cool.
Musical styles: Jazz, classical piano, jazz, atmospheric space
music/film score stuff and jazz. I studied/competed in recitals for piano
for 12 years, ending when I went to college. Played (and still play)
T-bone from junior-high on up. I tend to be more of a synthesizer
designer/tinkerer than musician these days, but I have a few tracks from
years gone by that can be found at:
http://www.oldcrows.net/~oldcrow/synth/tdot/ These and several other
tracks comprise the CD I authored in 1994. (Though I need to put a file
of production notes on the site).
As far as synthesizers go, I like analog and digital platforms, though I
of course tend to favor the former. The only thing I really don't care
for very much are samplers. I have nothing against the technology, but
rather against the ways it can be (ab)used.
Favorite artists: The late organist Virgil Fox, who I saw in concert in
1969 as a child (and later in 1978 as a teen), and probably the one most
responsible for my long affair with keyboard music. Heavy influences
during the formative years in the 70s were: Larry Fast, Erik Satie, Sergei
Rachmanninoff, and John-Michel Jarre's 70s albums. In the 80s, it was
Vangelis and Tangerine Dream, more specifically Christopher Franke, with
whom I have had several lengthy talks about tinkering with modulars,
normalized analogs, and the like. (This by way of him appearing at a
media convention to promote his soundtrack for the first Tenchi Muyo
movie, a Japanese animated film, a few years ago). In the 90s and today,
probably the most influential musician/composer to me is a woman named
Yohko Kanno, whose literally has Mozart's gift. She has created a wide
range of albums (a fair number of them soundtracks to animated Japanese TV
shows and movies) from ∗excellent∗ jazz to gorgeous classical to
as-acid-as-it-gets techno. And some great space music, of course.
Other stuff I'm into: Animation. Probably the 2nd-most expensive hobby
I have. I have hundreds of LDs of domestic and Japanese animation dating
back to the late 60s. (Of course the early stuff was reissued later when
LDs actually existed ;) My specific interest in animation is
pre-production oriented: I am interested in the writing and directing and
aspects. I authored a short film project in 1994 and hope to get another
project done in the next few years.
I like to bicycle and snow ski. Oh, and have been married since July
97.
Crow
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