{"id":815,"date":"2019-04-10T09:58:46","date_gmt":"2019-04-10T16:58:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/slantedhall.wordpress.com\/?p=815"},"modified":"2025-08-12T22:22:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T05:22:12","slug":"synthplex-2019-burbank-trip-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/slantedhall.com\/blog\/2019\/04\/10\/synthplex-2019-burbank-trip-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Synthplex 2019 Burbank Trip Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Off to @synthplex<\/a> Burbank. Talk to me about music fonts+synth tools. Some gear I've been working with. @sequentialLLC<\/a> #ProphetX<\/a> #ProphetXL<\/a> @8Dio<\/a> @senselinc<\/a> @moogmusicinc<\/a> @keithmcmillen<\/a> @Five12Inc<\/a> @resynator<\/a> @AAS_News<\/a> @The_SCL<\/a> @ASMAClosangeles @iConnectMIDI<\/a>https:\/\/t.co\/2Kx4dJkPJM<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/dPzGrBAwxQ<\/a><\/p>— Jeff Kellem (@composerjk) March 29, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote><\/div>\nhttps:\/\/twitter.com\/nycmusicservice\/status\/1115971115237695489<\/a>\n

The first Synthplex<\/a>\u00a0(@synthplex<\/a>, @synthplex_burbank<\/a>) was held in Burbank, California, USA, 28\u201331 March 2019, organized by Michael Learmouth & Michael\u00a0Lehmann Boddicker (@MBoddInc<\/a>). Overall, a good event that will hopefully continue. It was great to reconnect with old friends, meet new folk (sometimes remembering we’d met previously at a past NAMM or some other event), and connect over the love of music with a focus on synthesizers.<\/p>\n[ This trip report got delayed since I was busy finishing up a font engineering collaboration project with composer, orchestrator, & engraver\u00a0Philip Rothman<\/a> of NYC Music Services<\/a> (@nycmusicservice<\/a>) & Scoring Notes<\/a>\u00a0(@scoringnotes<\/a>) to convert & create some music notation fonts based on Petaluma & Bravura from\u00a0Dorico<\/a>\u00a0(@DoricoOfficial<\/a>) to work in Sibelius<\/a>\u00a0(@AvidSibelius<\/a>). The project was announced and released<\/a>, today, 10 April 2019. ]\n

Starting off @synthplex<\/a> with Dave Smith of @sequentialLLC<\/a> talking about digital and analog synthesis. Demoing taiko drum on #prophetx<\/a> #prophetxl<\/a> to open. I used that patch for a #songaday<\/a> improv piece in Feb. #synths<\/a> #synthplex2019<\/a> #synthplex<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/UCy8v24HCF<\/a><\/p>— Jeff Kellem (@composerjk) March 29, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote><\/div><\/div>\n

I had to miss Thursday, and finally arrived on Friday afternoon after the drive from the San Francisco bay area. I had hoped to see the Alternate Controllers Panel with Roger Linn<\/a>\u00a0(@roger_linn<\/a>), Judd Miller<\/a>, and Cory \u201cC Pez\u201d Pesaturo<\/a>\u00a0(@CoryPez<\/a>), but arrived too late. Here are a few photos<\/a> of that panel.<\/p>\n

I stopped by the Sequential<\/a> (@sequentialLLC<\/a>) booth to say hi and then headed over for Dave Smith\u2019s talk on\u00a0Digital Through Analog, Then & Now.<\/em> He used the fun Prophet X<\/a> to demo some of the ideas he was talking about. One of his early demos used a Taiko drums patch that can be quite fun to play; then he adjusted filter envelopes, cutoff, etc., to totally change the the sound of the samples being used, just as you would with any oscillator sound source. I used that same base patch for an improv piece, Blind Cacophony,<\/em>\u00a0last month with my Prophet XL<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Tom<\/a><\/p>\n

Tom Holkenborg<\/a> (@Junkie_XL<\/a>) gave the Keynote. It was fun to hear some of his film score stories, including working on Mad Max: Fury Road<\/em> and Deadpool<\/em>. He\u2019s also scoring the upcoming Terminator<\/em> film. At first, George Miller didn\u2019t like the score for Fury Road<\/em>. Then, later, found he understood what Tom was doing and really liked it. (Aside: I had a similar experience catching up with a former bandmate at a gig last year when he commented that he originally didn’t get what I was doing on the keyboard part for a song we recorded ages ago; then, he had listened to it the other day\u2014it totally clicked and thought it was great.) Tom noted how important an organizing system is for film scoring and that he knows he can quickly locate a piece or cue among 3,000+ over the years. Agreed: organization is key.<\/strong> He also mentioned\u00a0Score: A Film Music Documentary<\/a><\/em> (@scoremovie<\/a>)\u00a0Still need to make time to watch it! Check out his Junkie XL tutorial and studio tour videos<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tom recently started up\u00a0SCORE Academy<\/a>, an intensive program to help grow complete film composers held over a single academic year (September to July) in Tom\u2019s studio. The program is free; students are responsible for their own living expenses in Los Angeles. Looks like a valuable experience for aspiring film composers. I\u2019ve already mentioned it to one future potential student. Tom has one of the largest collection of vintage synthesizers. It was good to chat with him the next morning, too.<\/p>\n

\"Drum<\/a><\/p>\n

Caught the end of Drum & Lace<\/a> (@DrumandLace<\/a>) and Ronit Kirchman<\/a> (@ronittweets<\/a>) talking about\u00a0Scoring for Film & Media.<\/em> Good stuff. Alas, I could not be in LA when Drum & Lace played a gig with Suzanne Ciani<\/a> (@sevwave<\/a>) at the Los Angeles Public Library this past weekend, 6 April 2019. I will get to catch up with Suzanne at The Mezzanine<\/a> in SF this Saturday, 13 April 2019. Let me know if you\u2019ll also be attending.<\/p>\n

\"Allee<\/a><\/p>\n

On the way to see Allee Willis<\/a> (@AlleeWillis<\/a>) on\u00a0Charting Your Own Path,<\/em>\u00a0I ran into songwriter Marie Kingsley (@marieisaking<\/a>) whom I had met at an SCL (Society of Composers & Lyricists)<\/a> event before NAMM 2018 and is now working for the SCL.<\/em> Marie had also met Allee when she helped with @The_SCL<\/a> seminar In It Together: The Music Team Behind The Color Purple<\/a><\/em>\u00a0 [musical]<\/a>. Fun to hear some of Allee\u2019s stories. She wrote many wonderful songs you would recognize, including\u00a0In the Stone<\/em> and\u00a0September<\/em>\u00a0(Earth Wind & Fire<\/a> [@earthwindfire<\/a>]), Neutron Dance<\/em>\u00a0(The Pointer Sisters<\/a> [@PointerOfficial<\/a>]), Theme from\u00a0Friends, What Have I Done to Deserve This?<\/em>\u00a0(Pet Shop Boys<\/a> [@petshopboys<\/a>]), and beyond. You can hear some of the songs by selecting each swirling record icon at the top of her website<\/a>. And, just in March 2019,\u00a0September<\/em> was added<\/a> to the Library of Congress (@librarycongress<\/a>)\u00a0National Recording Registry<\/a>!\u00a0As was noted, everyone dances to September.<\/em>\u00a0Learned that Allee didn’t really play instruments, but could communicate her song ideas. When she talked about how she’d describe a sound she was hearing in her head and wanted someone to create, her descriptions totally made sense to me. One example was the sound of a ping pong ball crushed under the flapping wing of a pigeon. I can see part of why there were fun collaborations with her.<\/p>\n

Allee will be receiving an award soon for most distinguished alum from the University of Wisconsin School of Journalism<\/a> (@uw_sjmc<\/a>). One of the quotes I liked was paraphrased from Maurice White when telling the ba-dee-ya story<\/a>\u00a0(@nprmusic<\/a> @morningedition<\/a>) of it\u2019s use in the song September<\/em>, \u201cNever let the lyric get in the way of the groove.<\/strong>\u201d She also told a story of Bob Dylan visiting and playing with the Prophet 10; somewhere there\u2019s a recording of him singing Prince songs of the day, possibly around the early to mid 1980s. That would be fun to hear.<\/p>\n

\"BT<\/a><\/p>\n

BT<\/a>\u00a0(@BT<\/a>) held a\u00a0Master Q & A Session<\/em> plus a performance later in the day.\u00a0He did a fun improvised performance with spoken word by @iainsthomas<\/a>. He also mentioned love of the old Voyetra Sequencer Plus Gold that ran on DOS. There were some good things in that sequencer. Someday, I should get some samples of their .sng file format and possibly get a copy running, again, to see about writing code to parse it. He mentioned liking the book Microsound<\/em><\/a> and other books by Curtis Roads<\/a>. BT also created music and sounds<\/a> for Shanghai Disneyland\u2019s Tomorrowland. Fun explorations in surround and how the pieces of music interplay with each other as one walks around Tomorrowland, too. Listen to a peek into the Tomorrowland music<\/a>, though not the same as being there and wandering about.<\/p>\n

Later, chatted with BT about possible options at various levels for playing improvised electronic music. The SF bay area has a long history of improvised music with BayImproviser<\/a>, SFEMF<\/a> (San Francisco Electronic Music Festival), and the long-running series at Tom\u2019s Place<\/a>. I\u2019d also consider collaboration with some of the orchestra music directors willing to explore.<\/p>\n

\"Harold<\/a><\/p>\n

Harold Faltermeyer<\/a> on\u00a0Axel F\u2014History of a Synthesizer SMASH.<\/em>\u00a0He had a demo of his song\u00a0Hot Stuff.<\/em> Donna Summer recorded it the same day as he showed it to her. That was his introduction to the U.S. A December 2013 interview with him<\/a> in @Dazed<\/a> covers a little of that story. I was reminded that he also scored the film\u00a0Fletch!<\/em> Possibly related to that film or just from other stories, he mentioned Doctor Click and the accidental delay it could cause, but sometimes worked out. You had to start the Doctor Click a beat ahead of the down beat. One of the fun things about listening to these stories is being reminded of gear I hadn’t thought about in a long time.<\/p>\n

Harold was using a CME Xkey<\/a>. I usually have one with me, so I can sketch out musical ideas wherever I am. And it even supports polyphonic aftertouch. Later, with someone else, I had a nice chat about future development of a keybed with polyphonic aftertouch.<\/p>\n

It was great to meet up with some more of the Sequential folk I hadn’t yet met, though had interacted with electronically. Always good to see Dave. He\u2019s put together a great team of folk at Sequential. With the Prophet XL, I\u2019ve been building some tools for my own sampling and sound design workflow that may end up being useful for others. It has had me writing MIDI parsing code, again, with flashbacks to writing similar code 30-odd years ago.<\/p>\n

Some of the performances<\/strong> I managed to see included:<\/p>\n

Gert Jalass of Moon Modular<\/a> playing his 5U modular synth. More photos<\/a>\u00a0of Gert\u2019s performance from Synthplex.<\/p>\n

\"Kurt<\/a><\/p>\n

Kurt Kurasaki<\/a>\u00a0(@peff<\/a>) nearly brought the house down, literally, as he found the resonance frequency of the room, especially the ceiling.<\/p>\n

\"Sarah<\/a><\/p>\n

Sarah Belle Reid<\/a>\u00a0(@sarahbellereid<\/a>) performed improvisational pieces with trumpets and the attached electronics controllers she designed and built, controlling electronics and synths using the trumpet. I had to miss her performance at Mills College (@MillsCollege<\/a>) Songlines<\/a> the other week, so it was great to get to see her perform at Synthplex. Here’s my @composerjk<\/a> Instagram set of photos for her performance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Interview<\/a><\/p>\n

Listen to the archive of the live interview<\/a>\u00a0(41 min) with Alison Tavel (@alisontavel<\/a>, daughter of Resynator inventor Don Tavel) and @TaraBusch<\/a>\u00a0of I Speak Machine<\/a>\u00a0on dublab<\/a> radio about the Resynator and the documentary<\/a>\u00a0(@resynator<\/a>) that Alison is creating. Tara demonstrated the Resynator live. The Resynator is a pitch tracking synth from the 1970s; use your voice, guitar, or whatever you have as input\/control.<\/p>\n

\"Mark<\/a> \"Mark<\/a><\/p>\n

The performance by Mark Isham<\/a>\u00a0(@markisham<\/a>) on trumpet, Vinnie Colaiuta<\/a>\u00a0(@vinniecolaiuta<\/a>) on drums, and Laura Escud\u00e9<\/a>\u00a0(@thelauraescude<\/a>) on violin & electronics was a highlight. All are amazing musicians. I recommend seeing any performance in which any one of them are involved. Perhaps they\u2019ll take this trio on tour. Even though the mix had issues, it was still a wonderful performance. Laura\u2019s playing was captivating. She also provided direction during the performance through her mic and Mark & Vinnie\u2019s earpieces. Additionally, Laura is the CEO of Electronic Creatives<\/a>\u00a0(@electroniccreatives<\/a>), leading a great team to \u201chelp artists realize their live shows.\u201d If you\u2019re putting together a tour, it may be worth talking with EC to see how they can help design and run your live show. They also organize\u00a0MasterTrack<\/a>, an intensive week-long music playback and performance design program, let by Laura Escud\u00e9. Great for music directors, touring professionals, and music school graduates. The 2019 week<\/a> finished the week before Synthplex. Keep an eye out for the next one!<\/p>\n

On Sunday, I focused on seeing the exhibitors<\/strong>, as I hadn’t made time to talk with them, yet.<\/p>\n

\"Industrial<\/a><\/p>\n

I managed to catch up with Scott Jaeger of Industrial Music Electronics<\/a>\u00a0a few times during the weekend. It’s always good to chat with him. Alas, I missed seeing Juliana, though. At their booth, Scott showed me a couple of his latest modules, the Hertz Donut Mark III<\/a>\u00a0(digital oscillators with phase distortion and frequency modulation) and the\u00a0Piston Honda Mark III<\/a>\u00a0(dual wavetable oscillators with 3-axis morphing). Both show waveforms as they’re being combined. From talking about that love and desire to have a reasonable oscilloscope, again, for creating & analyzing new samples and sounds in my studio, Scott mentioned the MORDAX Systems<\/a> (@mordaxsystems<\/a>) DATA module<\/a>. It does look quite interesting, though they were one of the vendors I missed. While Scott & I were chatting about learning, I suggested the book\u00a0Structures: Or Why Things Don\u2019t Fall Down<\/a> <\/i>(1978) [Amazon link]\u00a0by J.E. Gordon. An example of the author\u2019s style: subtitle for a chapter:\u00a0Soft materials and living structures\u2014or how to design a worm.<\/em><\/p>\n

While wandering about, I had some nice conversations with Kim Bj\u00f8rn and Lars Juhl of Push Turn Move<\/a> (@pushturnmove<\/a>) who are now on their third book\u00a0Pedal Crush<\/a><\/em> (pre-orders currently on Kickstarter<\/strong>, funded in the first 12 minutes; I might have been one of those who ordered, then). Their other two books are worth checking out:\u00a0Push Turn Move: Interface Design in Electronic Music<\/a><\/em> and\u00a0Patch & Tweak: Exploring Modular Synthesis<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(forward by Suzanne Ciani<\/a>, @sevwave<\/a>, whom I\u2019ll be seeing on Saturday, 13 April 2019, performing at The Mezzanine<\/a> in SF with some other Synthplex attendees).<\/p>\n

\"Jim<\/a><\/p>\n

It was good to see Jim Coker of Five12<\/a>\u00a0(@jimAtFive12<\/a>), again. The Vector Sequencer<\/a>\u00a0(video demo<\/a> from Superbooth<\/a> 18) I first saw at NAMM two years ago is now shipping! And there are stil some fun new additions coming along. I believe some of the Vector Sequencer work may eventually also end up in his software sequencer Numerology<\/a>. The Vector has some fun possibilities. Worth considering if you like sequencers.<\/p>\n

Jil Christensen (@jilchristensen<\/a>) showed some of the Synclavier Digital<\/a>\u00a0(@synclavier_digi<\/a>) iOS app Synclavier Go!<\/a>, a recreation of the Synclavier for the Apple iPad along with the Synclavier Knob<\/a> hardware. We talked some of what would be nice from a full hardware controller and considerations on interfaces that don\u2019t simply mimic the hardware. Jil will also be performing at Moogfest<\/a>\u00a0(@Moogfest<\/a>), 25\u201328 April 2019.<\/p>\n

\"Sensel<\/a><\/p>\n

It was good to see some of the Sensel Morph<\/a>\u00a0(@senselinc<\/a>) folk, again. I met Peter Nyboer and talked with others at NAMM. It\u2019s possible that Joe Caputo<\/a> (@computo<\/a>) and I had met at a previous NAMM and synth gatherings many years ago. Joe also runs Voltage Control Lab<\/a>\u00a0(@VControlLab<\/a>), a modular synthesis resource. I have some of the Morphs in my studio and some overlay plans to experiment with.<\/p>\n

Max Keene showed off the\u00a0Strange Electronic<\/a>\u00a0(@strangeelectronic<\/a>) Lightstorm Module<\/a>, synchronizing LED light strips and such via CV. The\u00a0Kickstarter<\/a>\u00a0for the module and the Eurorack case that lights up is going on at the time of this writing. Later, I dropped by again. Henry Strange<\/a>\u00a0and I chatted for a bit, including showing their upcoming\u00a0Strange Mic Controller<\/a>, in development: a microphone attachment with sensors and buttons to allow the singer to control remote resources, e.g., adjusting vocal effects during the performance.<\/p>\n

\"Max<\/a><\/p>\n

They shared the\u00a0iConnectivity<\/a>\u00a0(@iConnectMIDI<\/a>) booth. I\u2019d been looking at the mio10 for some MIDI routing without the computer acting as a relay. Al Joelson from iConnectivity was helpful in answering questions. Henry Strange also suggested considering the iConnectMIDI4+ (that includes audio pass-thru) and can quickly be expanded using the USB host ports.Good mention by both Strange & used by Electronic Creatives<\/a>\u00a0(@electroniccreatives<\/a>). I may still end up with the mio10 given the number of MIDI ports that may need routing at once to start.<\/p>\n

\"Voltage<\/a><\/p>\n

I stopped by the Voltage Modular<\/a> booth to see what they were up to and also because James Terris<\/a>\u00a0(@jamesterris<\/a>) was helping out. He helped with their sound design. Voltage Modular is a virtual modular synth with third parties also developing new modules. I talked a little about the possibilities and interest in allowing modules to be developed in languages other than Java. Of course, it also reminded me of VCV Rack<\/a>. Now, there are two options to send people to consider when interested in modular synths on the software side. James also designed some of the patches for the Sequential Prophet X.<\/p>\n

Missed talking with a variety of exhibitors I had intended to see, including Moog<\/a> folk (@moogmusicinc<\/a>), Earthquaker Devices<\/a>\u00a0(@EarthQuakerDev<\/a>), Roger Linn<\/a> (@roger_linn<\/a>), Keith McMillen Instruments<\/a> (@keithmcmillen<\/a>) and others. I had also intended to chat with the ASMAC<\/a>\u00a0(@ASCMAClosangeles<\/a>)\u2014American Society of Music Arrangers & Composers\u2014folk and finally join. At NAMM 2018, I had talked with Kim Richmond about music notation fonts I\u2019m designing; he also mentioned joining ASMAC. I did finally manage to visit @The_SCL<\/a>\u00a0(The Society of Composers & Lyricists<\/a>) booth, though had meant to drop by earlier. I am a member, but usually only get to physically attend an event near NAMM and watch others from afar. Had a nice chat on Sunday with Chris Wirsig<\/a> (@nocarriermusic<\/a>) for a bit about current television and scores. \"My<\/a>Alas, I missed talking with the Alliance for Women Film Composers<\/a> (@TheAWFC<\/a>) Women in Film Scoring but will pass them along to other composers. SST (Synthesizer Systems Technologies)<\/a> was also there and provided some of the loaner synths for presentations.<\/p>\n

For those with whom I didn\u2019t chat, I was wearing t-shirts with my Slanted Hall<\/a> (@slantedhall<\/a>) typeface designs. All of the fonts, including the in-progress music notation fonts, were drawn by me.<\/p>\n

Other posts about Synthplex:<\/p>\n