SergeModular

No worries. One tell tale sign about Touch - you can hear high pass filters
all over the place - only the 100 had high pass.


kirkdegiorgio wrote:

>
> Hi Peter
>
> I stand corrected re: Touch.. thx for clarifying that -I always tended to see
> Touch -
> Sidewinder - 4 Butterflies - Until Spring as a Quartet, but now I will view
> the latter 3 as a
> 200 Series trilogy... awesome sounds and control nonetheless... and I repeat -
> I'm not a
> huge bug music fan...
>
> KD
>
>
>> OK, now that we're (read: I'm) walking down memory lane here, let me
>> complete the story, there are some funny parts to it.
>>
>> Mort borught a few people with him from the East when Cal Arts was formed.
>> They were: Ingram Marshall, Charlimaine Palestine, Serge Tcherepnin and
>> Barry Schrader. He also brought in Don Buchla on staff, but Don was never
>> there much.
>>
>> When the school first started, it had an abundance of $$. They bought tons
>> and tons of equipment: they pre-ordered two 200's, and bought a 100 for the
>> school and another 100 expressly for Mel Powell's home studio. One of the
>> 100's was from the red-faced San Fransicso Tape Music markings days and
>> those modules I guess are worth more now because of those faceplates. They
>> also bought tons and tons of tape decks, including many Revox's and some
>> Ampex three channels machines. They had so many Revox's that Barry said
>> they'd use them to prop doors open!
>>
>> Mort was the assistant dean of the school of music at the time and had a lot
>> of say to where the spending went. So, naturally there was a ton of music
>> equipment. What he didn't buy though - intentionally - where chairs Yes
>> folks, the Cal Arts School of Music had no chairs, anywhere their first
>> year. Classes where held on the floor. Not sure how cellists got along.
>> Even the 200's spend their first year held low to the floor by bricks. It
>> was total anarchy: Barry Schrader's tech class, where he taught students how
>> to use the 200 was held at midnight. Serge and he did a live concert once
>> at the Ambassador Hotel downtown. Barry shlept'd the 200 and Serge played
>> violin believe it or not. There's another story that's a riot --> Serge
>> once asked to borrow Barry's car for an hour or so and didn't return it for
>> three days - leaving Barry stranded at school!
>>
>> Man, those were the days. I wasn't around yet but I remember the stories
>> vividly. In any event, this was all after Touch was completed!
>>
>> - P
>>
>>
>> Peter Grenader wrote:
>>
>>> Nope! Touch was made while Mort was at still at NYU and on the 100.
>>> Actually, the cut up/spliced human voice saying 'touch' at the beginning and
>>> other places is his secretary/assistant he had there. Touch, the LP at
>>> least, I don't believe had a picture. It was just the computer graphic of
>>> the woman's face morphing into a rectangle (I think it was a rectangle)?
>>>
>>> Anyway, Touch was done in 1969 and Cal Arts didn't exist until 1971. I
>>> don't think the 200 was introduced until 1971 if I'm not mistaken.
>>>
>>> Here's the story: The first piece Mort used the 200 was Sidewinder. It was
>>> one of the systems that was intended for Cal Art's B303, but it was
>>> delivered to Mort's house instead (whoops!) because the Cal Arts facility
>>> wasn't completed yet and the school was still operating out a place called
>>> Villa Cabrini which was a former catholic girls school in Burbank. The 200
>>> stayed at Mort's for a while waiting for the Valencia campus and the studio
>>> installation to be completed - the sound system, tape decks, etc.
>>> Unfortunately (not!) that took longer than expected because of delays from
>>> the 1971 Selmar earthquake, so Mort had it for a while and didn't Sidewinder
>>> in the meantime.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> kirkdegiorgio wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>>> One can't judge the merits of the Buchla 200 on Subotnick's Touch - that
>>>>> piece was done on a 100 system which is a completely different animal. I
>>>>> was
>>>>> talking to
>>>>>> Guido the other day, who was telling me that "Touch" by Subotnick
>>>>>> exemplifies the sonic virtues of the 200. If that is so, well, it's
>>>>>> not that impressive.
>>>>
>>>> actually Peter I thought Touch was made with the 200 Series - likewise
>>>> Sidewinder, 4
>>>> Butterflies and Until Spring. They are all early-mid 70's recordings and
>>>> have
>>>> 200 series
>>>> photo's on the sleeve credits, etc. I thought it was Silver Apples and Wild
>>>> Bull that used the
>>>> 100 Series.
>>>>
>>>> Now, I'm no bug music fan but I find the sonic virtues displayed on these
>>>> albums to be
>>>> highly impressive! They have an organic timbre and controlled level of
>>>> chaos
>>>> that I find
>>>> superior to other attempts at this type of music.
>>>>
>>>> I don't own a Buchla but the 200 series designs and the examples I've heard
>>>> make me
>>>> think it would be a nice system to get into regardless of the fact that I
>>>> have
>>>> a Serge/
>>>> Modcan system. 200 series used prices are too high for me to justify and
>>>> I'm
>>>> worried
>>>> about maintenance so the new 200e modules appeal even more to me. Again -
>>>> on
>>>> this list
>>>> as on others people are being misleading in stating it costs $20k to buy
>>>> the
>>>> system. Its a
>>>> MODULAR system and modules are available individually. So its as expensive
>>>> as
>>>> you want
>>>> it to be - many will just want to buy a few modules to add to their
>>>> existing
>>>> 200 series
>>>> systems - some may just want a small system based around the sequencer,
>>>> etc.
>>>> The $20k
>>>> system is just a suggested example.
>>>>
>>>> Personally I'm waiting for actual user reports on reliability and just how
>>>> digital some of the
>>>> modules are...
>>>>
>>>> KD
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Keep on Patchin'!
>>>>
>>>> Yahoo! Groups Links
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Keep on Patchin'!
>>>
>>> Yahoo! Groups Links
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>
>
>
>
> Keep on Patchin'!
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
>