SergeModular

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'!

Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Address AutoComplete - You start. We finish.