Synapse Magazine [sdiy] REPOST: SYNAPSE old issues

[Cynthia Webster]

on 12/12/03 2:32 AM, Yves Usson at yves.usson at imag.fr wrote:

> This is a repost since the previous post was unsuccessful.
> 
> Hi list
> 
> Here and there I find mentions to some interesting articles published
> in Synapse.
> 
> Is there a place where these old issues of Synapse can be found ?
> Has someone scanned these ?
> 
> Cheers
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> Yves Usson
> 

Hi Yves!

I guess that I must be the one best suited to answer this
because a million years ago I started it!

Yes, back in the mid 1970's right out of the Boston School of
Electronic Music I was inspired by reading all of the schematics
in Bernie Hutchins ElectroNotes Newsletter and thought it would
be a cool idea to develop a sense of community amongst us
and created the International electronic music magazine called
Synapse.  

It was more for actual musicians than for circuit builders,
however we had did have do it yourself articles contributed by
one very talented Mr. John Blacet, as well as Serge Tcherepnin
under the pseudonym Arpad Benares.

Those who looked closely might have noticed other pseudonyms
for writers including the very cleverly named "Sue Denim"
< wink! >

The very first issue was an either an interview with Morton
Subotnick or Alan R. Pearlman, (I've forgotten) but we did
some fun things like including a large fold out poster of the
graphic score for Bryce Robbley's piece "Black Noise".

I was the Founding Editor (using my middle name) at the tender
age of 19, and pasted the layouts together on white cardboard
sheets on my Parent's kitchen table.  LOL!

(A far cry from today's digital Quark X-Press!)

They were printed in Hollywood on an offset press machine.

Eventually I went on to attend San Francisco State University
and thus passed the torch on to my good friend Doug Lynner who
was a Cal Arts friend with one of the early Serge systems
and a member of LEM (Live Electronic Music).

Shortly after we started, a second magazine appeared called
"Polyphony"... Doug did a truly magnificent job of building
Synapse up into a major publication, before there was a
"Keyboard Player" or an "Electronic Musician" Magazine.

In San Francisco I was part of a Live Electronic Music
Group called TRIODE and we performed all over town using
our own quadraphonic sound system connected to a
KB WaveMaker synthesiser with the wonderful Voltage
Controlled Kincaid Quadraphonic Panner!

(if a solo performance, we were known as ANODE,
only two of us performing, then the band DIODE, and so on..)

When MIDI arrived and the pre-patched Japanese manufactures
began to dominate the synthesizer market, I moved on to
work in the film business working as a Sound Mixer / Location
Recordist, and in the world of motion control Special Effects
with Douglas Trumbull and others.  My effects work won two
Emmy Awards (1985), and eventually I became a Hollywood Union
Director of Photography having shot 43 obscure low budget
feature films.

I actually had a full set of all the Synapse issues up until
about ten-years ago where they were lost while moving house.
(really Sad I know...)

Now I have only one issue that I purchased on eBay for about
thirty-dollars, (Ouch!) I recently xeroxed it for a list member,
but will be happy to scan it and make it available in the Goodies
section of my Cyndustries.com website.

If anyone else would like to contribute to this project
I will be glad o scan their issues or simply host their files.

I think there are some reprints of John Blacet's articles available
on-line at Blacet.com but as far as I know that's it?

After some twenty-years, I connected with Doug Lynner and we
had lunch and talked about the good old days.  He still has his
synth, but has moved on to the world of advertising.

It was great to see him!  (BTW, If anyone has a CD rip of the old
LEM album titled "Machines" (chrome robot & graffitti on the cover)
*Please* contact me!! I highly recommend this album)

>From our conversation, I can safely say that neither Doug nor I
have any interest in clutching to any sort of copyrights...
rather instead, we would both heartily welcome any form of
preserving the magazine and making it freely available to all!

This is a very busy time of year for me, (pre Xmas) however
sometime after the holidays I'll start posting all the back
issues that I can find.

Anyone with more info please contact me privately through
cynthia.webster at gte.net

or...

http://www.cyndustries.com/

Best Wishes!

Cynthia












> Lab. TIMC UMR5525 CNRS
> Institut d'Ingéniérie et de l'Information de Santé (IN3S)
> Faculté de Médecine
> Domaine de la Merci
> 38706 La Tronche cedex
> 
> email : yves.usson at imag.fr, yves.usson at ujf-grenoble.fr
> 
> tel.  (+33) (0)456 520 074
> fax.  (+33) (0)456 520 022
>