An infinite symphony of musicians can be made in a laptop. Digital domain.
The analog electronics maker movement is going another direction.
They have adopted the tactics of musique concrète, a room full of analog oscillators and filters, on through to a rack full of miniatures of the same, which characterized the Moog era. These analog modules have knobs, switches, sequencers and colorful patch cables, sometimes even a chromatic keyboard.
A common format for all these today is the Eurorack. There are dozens of companies all over the world making Eurorack modules, including Portland's MiniGorille.
MiniGorille has a new species of hybrid digital-analog module, the Geometry Synthesizer. It has switches, dials and patchpoints to participate with the other sound modules in the patch. But it also talks by Bluetooth to laptop software, in this case, Grasshopper and Processing, generative visualization tools.
The music from the analog synth controls the generation of the visuals in real time.
I'm sure there are hybrid analog synth-laptop synth hybrids possible with the technology too!
You can see and hear the Geometry Synthesizer tonight. Geometry Synthesizer demonstration www.facebook.com/events/312810955568651/ at Control Voltage www.controlvoltage.net 3742 NE Mississippi 6:30PM Free
