The full performance begins in earnest at the two-minute mark, but I recommend starting at the beginning. This is an ambient set, veering into the realm of space music, from the Amsterdam-based [Little Ambient Machine channel on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIYEEb3quBQ&t=2s). I’m posting it as a follow-up to my [interview](https://disquiet.com/2021/01/09/instruo-vcv-rack-jason-lim/), this past weekend, with the founder of the Instruō manufacturer of synthesizer modules, Jason Lim, who talked about how the company, based in Glasgow, ported its physical modules for use as virtual ones on computers (using the free VCV Rack software). The reason I chose this Little Ambient Machine video is it centers on a module called the Cš-L, a voltage-controlled oscillator from Instruo, as its primary audio source. This means that, for the most part, all the other cables connecting, directly and indirectly, to it are creating variations and treatments on its sounds. In addition, those first two minutes provide a glimpse, with annotation, of how the patch itself came together. (The Cš-L is the module clearly labeled “Instruō,” the sole here with a black faceplate, one module in from the lower left.)
13/16 on 01/10
A Jamuary track from Electric Kitchen
Mark Lentczner, who jams as Electric Kitchen, has been jamming through Jamuary one live video at a time. Jamuary is the annual music-making project where people make a new piece of music each day of the month, kicking off the new year in productive style. In this appealingly noisy, off-kilter track, Lentczner combines a richly throbbing rasp with an admirably peculiar beat, which he identifies it as 13/16.
Video originally posted at [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6AsUz6KPxk). More at [electric.kitchen](https://electric.kitchen/).
Current Favorites: Police Scanners + Waterphone + Saxophone
Heavy rotation, lightly annotated
A weekly(ish) answer to the question “What have you been listening to lately?” It’s lightly annotated because I don’t like re-posting material without providing some context. I hope to write more about some of these in the future, but didn’t want to delay sharing them. (This weekly feature was previously titled Current Listens. The name’s been updated for clarity’s sake.)
▰ Gorgeous live performance of saxophone being reworked in real time (layered, pitch-shifted, looped) from Kin Sventa, who is based in San Francisco, California.
▰ Beautiful [three-track set](https://soundcloud.com/dance-robot-dance/sets/sines-cosines-tangents) of gently glitching, quavering tracks from Brian Biggs, the accomplished children’s book illustrator (and an old friend). The Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, police hover just below the surface on occasion, in the form of just-shy-of-intelligible scanner recordings.
▰ Three tracks are up currently from [*Waterphone II*](https://edgetonerecords.bandcamp.com/album/waterphone-ii), an album of eerie music made with the title instrument. The musician is Toshiyuki Hiraoka, a prolific film composer (*Naked Cannibal Campers*, *Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance*). The full release is on January 26, 2020.
▰ Also spending a lot of time with [*Fall* by Tulpa Dusha](https://disquiet.com/2021/01/08/tulpa-dusha-fall/) as well as with [a live organ performance by Claire M Singer](https://disquiet.com/2021/01/04/claire-m-singer-union-chapel/).
How Instruō Went Virtual
The story of how the Glasgow-based hardware company ported its synthesizer modules to VCV Rack software
Just as December 2020 was coming to a close, and the year’s surprises, both good and horrible, were seemingly behind us, a new surprise — quite the former — popped up for modular-synthesizer enthusiasts. The hardware manufacturer Instruō, based in Glasgow, Scotland, announced that it was making almost all of its modules available in software form, 17 total, and better yet: entirely for free. The modules run on the free VCV Rack software platform, which is available for macOS, Windows, and Linux. (Visit Instruo at [instruomodular.com](https://www./), and VCV Rack at [vcvrack.com](https://vcvrack.com/).)
The response was immediately enthusiastic. At [cdm.link](https://cdm.link/2020/12/free-eurorack-holiday-all-these-instruo-modules-are-now-on-vcv-rack-full-guide/), writer Peter Kirn said, “It’s got just enough of the sorts of tools that let you get adventurous with sound design, while remaining accessible and balanced.” The [gearnews.com](https://www.gearnews.com/instruo-saves-christmas-by-releasing-their-modules-on-vcv-rack-for-free/) website praised the originals for their “beauty, depth and innovation,” and pondered whether the free versions would disincentivize hardware sales (its verdict: “I don’t think so”). Discussion boards quickly started chiming in, paying particular attention to the Instruō hardware modules that weren’t ported over, including Arbhar and Lúbadh.
I reached out to Instruō founder Jason Lim to learn more about the process and decision-making. Why weren’t those few modules included? How did the company manage what must have been a considerable undertaking? Why had they opted to make them free, since VCV Rack has introduce “premium” (aka paid) modules from a range of developers? As many of the original Instruō modules are analog or analog hybrids, what was the experience of porting them to the purely digital domain? How did the company approach the differences between the hands-on, knobs’n’sliders originals and the software versions? Lim graciously agreed to be interviewed via email, and below is the discussion, along with visual examples of both the original modules and their virtual offspring, as well as the process involved in bridging the gap.
*The Instruō modules in hardware (above) and VCV Rack software (below)*
Marc Weidenbaum: How did this project come to be, making the hardware modules available in digital form on Rack? Were you or anyone else at Instruō using VCV Rack before initiating the process of porting the modules to it?
Jason Lim: There were a few factors that led to this project, but it was very much a case of very fortunate timing. The planets aligned, so to speak, and allowed for this to become a reality. For a bit of background, I quite regularly have internship placements ongoing here at Instruō. Some positions have been coordinated as more formal partnerships with various educational institutions. In many cases meetings are more personal, friend of friend introductions and the like. I’ve been extremely fortunate to have Instruō develop so rapidly. At first it was me alone in the spare bedroom. Since those days I’ve been able to grow the team quite quickly with a really creative group.
I am Glasgow-based, and there are a number of very good universities and colleges here. My friend and collaborator, Dr Sebastian Lexer (co-dev of the Arbhar and Aithēr modules with myself), teaches at Glasgow University in their Sonic Arts department. He splits his time between education and working at Instruō. He gave recommendation to me for a couple of Master’s students last year who were approaching their final years of study. Their program requires an industry work placement in which they would work on, document, and develop a project within the field of music technology. This was of course all put in place pre-COVID and their start dates were planned for mid-June 2020. As the time approached, we had to rather quickly shift gears and figure out a new project that would be better suited for remote working.
I’ve followed VCV as a platform since its release, with great interest. What Andrew Belt has brought to the community is huge! It’s the sort of thing you’d read in forums as speculation and pipe dreams. It’s an immense undertaking and I think he’s built something truly groundbreaking. I occasionally teach a synthesis/sound design course here in Glasgow at subSine | Academy of Electronic Music ([subsineacademy.com](https://www.subsineacademy.com/)). (This is my friend’s music school, and we operate from the same premises in the Southside of Glasgow.) Several years ago I developed a curriculum for a 10-week course, which I have taught there semi regularly. I have since reformatted it as a shortened weekend-long intensive workshop. Modular synths are the primary tool I use, but it is a broader look at synthesis in general. Working from the modular building blocks really helps build a strong foundational knowledge.
twitter.com/disquiet: Andorian Opera, Email Overload
From the past week
I do this manually each week, collating the tweets I made at [twitter.com/disquiet](https://twitter.com/disquiet/) that I want to keep track of. For the most part, this means ones I initiated, not ones in which I directly responded to someone. I sometimes tweak them a bit here. It’s usually personally informative to revisit the previous week of thinking out loud, and yow what a week this has been.
▰ Someone likes an old tweet of yours, so you check the date, and it’s 2010, and you’re like, “How long have I been doing this?” (June 2007)
▰ “Andorians have the best singers. Their antennae increase resonance. This particular soprano was discovered on the street corner. If you hear her live, in the right hall, you can hear four layers of overtones.” (Hostage-scene dialog from *Star Trek: Discovery*, which I’m digging)
▰ Yes, I’m enjoying Joe Country, the sixth book in Mick Herron’s Slough Horses series. After much drama between the two in the past, this sliver of a scene is all that a main character and his granddad share in the book. (Well, so far. There’s always memories. And intrigue.)
▰ 2020: I’ll vote for anyone who abolishes Daylight Savings Time.
2021: I’ll vote for anyone who abolishes autoplay.
▰ First Tuesday of the new year, the noon void as barren as ever. The Tuesday noon Outdoor Public Warning System siren, a true soundmark of San Francisco, is on a two-year hiatus as of December 10, 2019. [Here’s what it used to sound like](https://soundcloud.com/disquiet/siren-san-francisco-tuesday):
▰ I can only imagine what it would have taken to earn a 24-hour suspension.
▰ Deep breaths. Deep. Today was numbing.
▰ Listening to Albert Collins very loud. Typing. Clearing my mind. What a day. (Trying to sort out the next song to [try to] learn in guitar class.)
▰ For my family’s sake, I am announcing that I am throwing out this moldy apple that’s in my fridge. It’s been moldy for weeks (actually a little over a month — OK, four years) but today I’ve decided it’s too moldy. I can no longer abide by its moldiness. Enough is enough.
▰ Very happy that the first Disquiet Junto track in the first project of the new year was by a first-time participant.
▰ Latest from an occasional series on why I haven’t replied to a given email about an upcoming album:
▰ Best rendition of 4’33” yet