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« The shop in Hollywood really was an incubator for so many of us starting out. I took as little in hourly wages as I could, instead taking as much payment as I could in modules as did many of the people who worked there. So many of us were fresh out of CalArts, we met interesting people who would come into the shop and we talked about music all day long every day. We played in bands at night and took time off to do film sessions in Hollywood. Serge was completely supportive of our musical lives, of course being a musician himself, his shop was an extremely creative crazy place. In addition to building systems for other people, we built the machines that launched our careers and spent every day completely immersed in music. Serge created that environment and it was wonderful. »
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2. |
Batchas - Chûu
03:43
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« Looking back at my life during the Serge Modular years in Los Angeles and San Francisco is certainly not easy after 40 years. As I previously mentioned in my “Easy Teeth” interview for a Modulisme session, I first became aware of Serge in 1977. At that time, I was making my living selling hi-fi at various audio retail stores in Los Angeles. My first system was a 6-panel paper-face system. When I started working at Serge in 1978, my first job was stuffing PC boards. Eventually I was running production. The shop was originally located in Hollywood at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Western Avenue in Hollywood. It always felt like an adventure ascending the stairway to the shop. Serge attracted quite a diverse group of artists that all worked there at some in the careers including Jill Fraser, Gary Chang, Kevin Braheny Fortune, Chas Smith, Scott Gresham-Lancaster, Anne Graham, and Darrel Johansen who was the general manager.
When Serge relocated to San Francisco on 1980, Darrel convinced me to relocate with them. At first, I said I would go for a year and then come back to Los Angeles. Well, one year ending up turning into three. After the last Captain Beefheart tour in January 1981, I asked band member Eric Drew Feldman to come up to San Francisco to join Snakefinger. Eventually Eric came to work at Serge as did composer Richard Marriott. I am sure there are many others who passed through the halls at Serge Modular and my apologies if I don’t remember them all at this time.
To save money on rent, I was living in the back of the San Francisco shop in what was once the dining room and kitchen. I had my system set up to do demos for our customers. During that time, I rebuilt my system to its current configuration as described in my session. Living in the shop allowed me the added gift of time and access to change and adapt my system to fit my own creative needs.
As always when you are in the middle doing something you love and working with incredible people, you have no idea of what the future may have in store. Looking back, I now know that the Serge era was truly an incredible time for all of us. I was so very fortunate to participate in this adventure.»
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5. |
Benge - A Serge Study
05:18
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« I first became acquainted with the Serge modular system in the late 1990s when I managed to pick up a pair of very early ‘paper face’ sequencer modules which were being sold on eBay. I subsequently added various other panels over the years, all but one of which were from the same era (early/mid-70s) and one STS era panel (early ‘80s)
Later on I built a sloping wooden cabinet to house them all in, with a new power supply. I put the dual sequencer panels at the bottom and the other 6 panels rising upwards from them
There is something so enjoyable and rewarding in patching the Serge, mainly due to the use of banana cables all through the system regardless of type of signal (either control or signal). It allows for utterly complex and unconventional sound and composition creation. In fact, the way it works, especially with a large system, is that it intertwines the practice of creating sounds and composing music with those sounds into one homogenous process, more so than any other system I know of. »
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« These pieces are all very recent, and are the result of improvisational approaches to a new instrument I put together over the last year or so. It is a 3-tiered XL-boat Serge system built mostly from Random Source components, including a TKB, a Mantra, and an Edelweiss Mk 1. Also heard are Hordijk and Bug Brand instruments. “Krell 1” has the live addition of vibraphone sounds. All pieces are single-track stereo takes.
I am of one mind with Serge when it comes to ‘letting the circuits speak for themselves,’ rather than putting together Bach preludes or visionary math-rock or whatever, although my open-ended, polyrhythmic sound constructions might suggest a kind of electronic free jazz. »
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“Serge built a small system for me around 1978, capable of forming 2 linear FM voices, each that could act independently or be partially correlated to the other. The « Serge Study III » is my first exploration of that technique. I was very happy that day! Eventually I formed a generalized patch for this via multipin telco connectors so that I could configure the instrument in about 10 seconds.”
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8. |
Ian Boddy - Serge Krell
04:48
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« I first got into Serge after working with Greek musician Bakis Sirros aka Parallel Worlds on their 2011 album Exit Strategy (DiN37). He used a lot of Serge soundscapes on this project and I was drawn to the analogue, organic tones of that system. Within a short period of time I built up a 6 panel STS system which I find a total joy to use. It has such a logical, consistent interface that I can take it in any direction from experimental to structured and melodic. What appeals to me most though is the pure analogue sound which with my musical heritage is very important to me. It simply sounds like nothing else I have ever used. »
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9. |
Tom Djll - Krell1
07:30
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« French Fried Minds of Walruses and Caterpillars was a piece in 3 sections. Part 1 was a Serge Patch full of glissandi and subharmonic pitch relations. Part 2 was a noise study made with the Daisy Sysetem, solo. Part 3 was a tone cluster in 18 tone equal temperament made on a Scalatron Microtonal Organ processed through the Serge. There's a tiny coda of almost inaudible waves at Lake St Mary's, Arizona at the very end of the piece. »
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« I gravitated to unusual music since my encounter with 2001: A Space Odyssey and Morton Subotnick’s Silver Apples of The Moon when I was around 11 years old. Somewhere along the line I discovered that there was Serge Modular in San Francisco and on a trip there in 1982 I stopped in to the Haight street location and had a tour of a very huge system, I bet it was at least 24 panels. Unfortunately I did not buy it or any modular synths until 2011. I was fortunate to get some panels in 2013 from Muffwiggler forum Buy/Sell marketplace for a good deal, including a Modcan A system & Modcan 58B double sequencer fitted with Banana jacks. A perfect match for the serge with modules that are missing in the serge system, like quad LFO, Flanger, Scanner, digital delay. I call it the SergeCan System, and If I use the Low-Gain Audio UTL-1, a passive 10 channel bi-directional Banana Jack <=> 1/8" format jumbler, it’s the SergeUeroCan System. The Serge is great to work with, I love the workflow & simple industrial layout and it sounds great. The headroom is something to respect, my ears often ring for days after.»
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« Forgotten Memories dates back from 1978 and was written for the Electronic Explorations Concert. Originally composed for live performances on my 1976 Serge system, this particular realization was the first piece that I realized on my Random Source EuroSerge, July 13, 2018.
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19. |
PRFRK - Oblivion
09:00
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« I met Serge at that Haight-Ashbury collective, it was a magical time, a magical place. The Serge Modular Music System that I performed on was the one that the Serge team built for me in 1979. »
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Modulisme Marseille, France
Modulisme (translates Modularism) is a media supporting leftfield Electronic music (giving priority to Modular Synthesis but not only). Providing ressources/interviews, a radio program aired via 7 antennas, and above all label-like streaming music for you to listen to… ... more
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