Schedule
The schedule is US Pacific Daylight Time.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2020
Opening Reception
4:30 — 5:30 PM
Join us as we kick off SYNTHBOOTH with a welcome reception. Grab a beer, homemade cocktail, wine, or a beverage of your choice and partake in a casual social gathering (online of course). The welcome reception is open to all (attendees, makers, speakers, and performers), so you will have a chance to meet a variety of people face-to-face and chat in breakout rooms while enjoying a tasty beverage.
Performance by The Galaxy Electric
5:45 — 6:10 PM
Check out the first performance of the weekend by The Galaxy Electric, a husband/wife duo who are obsessed with early electronic music that utilized magnetic tape to create new sounds no one had ever heard before! Together, they blend influences from 60s Psych pop and Retro Sci-Fi to make "Cosmic Tape Music.” Using Buchla style synthesizers, Reel to Reel and Cassette tape machines, a Mellotron, and various effects devices sprinkled with ethereal vocals they take their listeners on a cosmic journey.
Performance by Bana Haffar
6:25 — 6:50 PM
Join us for a special by the extraordinary lifelong expatriate, Bana Haffar, who played an integral role in the conception and growth of Modular On The Spot! Bana explores sonic disintegration and coalescence into new forms and synthesized experiences. Listen as she engages with the materiality of sound, the essence of cloth, and the symbiosis of the machine and handmade by transposing weaving draft notation into graphic scores and rhythmic sequencing.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2020
Virtual Expo Hall is Open
9:00 AM — 10:00 AM
Visit virtual exhibitor booths to learn more about your favorite modular synthesizer manufacturers or discover new makers and products. Check out videos, live-stream demos, and featured products, meet their team and chat one-on-one or schedule a video call to connect face-to-face. Be sure to sign up soon as spots will fill up fast!
Opening Remarks
10:00 — 10:10 AM
Welcome! Grab a cup of your fave coffee or tea and get ready for a fun-filled day of exploring the virtual maker expo, joining live sessions, talks and music performance, and connecting with other modular synth enthusiasts. We’ll kick off the day with tips and tricks on how to make the most of your experience and all ways you can interact with speakers, vendors and other attendees throughout SYNTHBOOTH. Seriously, you don’t want to miss this!
Presenter: Anna Zamir, Event Organizer — SYNTHBOOTH
Build Your Modular Synth Community
10:25 — 11:00 AM
SYNTHBOOTH is all about community, so we have invited a group of modular synth societies, collectives and educators who are united through a shared love of modular synthesis and electronic music and helping their communities thrive! Discover how they are creating inclusive modular synth meet-ups, talks, live music pop-ups, showcases, festivals, workshops and education programs, and how you can get involved and build your modular synth community.
Panelists
Allert Aalders — Dutch Modular (Co-Organizer) + Sonar Traffic (Co-owner)
Anna Martinova, Founder — Modular Moon + Modular Synthesis School
Ben The Glorious Bastard, Co-founder — New York Modular Society
Ben Wilson, Founder — DivKid + Modular Meets Leads
Bill Van Loo, Core Organizer — North Coast Modular Collective
Bradley Millington, Co-founder — Modular Seattle
David Soto, Founder — Colorado Modular Synth Society
Johno Wells, Creator + Host — Modular World
Trovarsi, Co-founder — SoCal Synth Society
Virtual Expo Hall is Open
11:00 AM — 1:00 PM
Visit virtual exhibitor booths to learn more about your favorite modular synthesizer manufacturers or discover new makers and products. Check out videos, live-stream demos, and featured products, meet their team and chat one-on-one or schedule a video call to connect face-to-face. Be sure to sign up soon as spots will fill up fast!
Performance by DesertF!sh
1:00 — 1:25 PM
Embark on a journey through various Electronica music formats and sounds as DesertF!sh showcases elements of Industrial, DUB, Minimal, Tech, and Deep vibes. Multi-instrumental artist and producer, Nasser Alshemimry goes by the alias DesertF!sh, representing his Najdi roots and life on the West Coast of Saudi Arabia. He identifies with the limited Electronic Music scene in the Kingdom and is always in pursuit of quality sound in the studio and on the stage as a DJ and live performer.
How to Get Started in Modular
1:40 — 2:15 PM
Have you always wanted to get into modular synths, but didn’t know where to start? With a variety of formats, analog vs. digital, and DIY and pre-built systems, and an overabundance of online articles and Reddit threads, it can be overwhelming. That’s why we are bringing together industry experts to talk about what inspired them to started in modular and share insights, recommendations and resources to help you and find your way through the noise and get started with configuring and building your modular system.
Panelists
Abraham Ingle, Owner + Founder — AI Synthesis
Max Ravits, Product Specialist — Moog
Walker Farrell, Instrument Specialist — Make Noise
Performing Live with Modular
2:30 — 3:05 PM
Performing live with modular synthesizers can be complex and daunting. That why we are hosting a roundtable with accomplished performers to discuss their experience and tips for performing live with modular. Ann Annie, Bana Hafar, Marcus Fischer and Trovarsi will talk about their gear, share the ways they prepare and incorporate modular synths into their live performances, and the importance of improvisation to create interesting listening experiences.
Panelists
Ann Annie — Artist + Film Composer
Bana Haffar — Artist + Composer
Marcus Fischer — Sound + Visual Artist
Trovarsi — Producer + Live Performance Artist
Virtual Expo Hall is Open
3:05 PM — 5:00 PM
Visit virtual exhibitor booths to learn more about your favorite modular synthesizer manufacturers or discover new makers and products. Check out videos, live-stream demos, and featured products, meet their team and chat one-on-one or schedule a video call to connect face-to-face. Be sure to sign up soon as spots will fill up fast!
Performance by Aqeel Aadam
5:00 — 5:25 PM
Electronic musician and producer Aqeel Aadam began his journey as a teenager making bedroom beats with his friends before falling down the hardware synthesizer rabbit hole. Today, his music blends hip-hop post-rock and alt R&B roots with modern electronic music styles and brings modular synthesizer textures into a new light. With a focus on self-exploration and self-acknowledgment, he invites the listener to discover their own experience within the narratives he shares through his music.
Performance by Frae-Frae Daughter of Drexciya
5:40 — 6:05 PM
Award-winning and internationally acclaimed multi-instrumentalist, Frae-Frae: Daughter of Drexciya (a.k.a LaFrae Sci) is an educator and composer. Bedrock to her artistry is the roots and the fruits of the blues from spirituals to afro futuristic soundscapes. Her creative range spans immersive and ambisonic music, blues, various ethnomusicological traditions, rock, pop, hip-hop, and her own brand of subaquatic deconstructed techno soul.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2020
Virtual Expo Hall is Open
9:00 — 11:00 AM
Visit virtual exhibitor booths to learn more about your favorite modular synthesizer manufacturers or discover new makers and products. Check out videos, live-stream demos, and featured products, meet their team and chat one-on-one or schedule a video call to connect face-to-face. Be sure to sign up soon as spots will fill up fast!
Modular Technology + Sound Innovation
11:00 — 11:35 AM
Modular synthesizers have evolved tremendously over the last six decades. So, what is the next phase of modular technology? Joins us for an exciting discussion with Eurorack modular synth manufactures, engineers, musicians, and visionaries who will talk about their approach and vision for the future of modular technology and sound innovation.
Panelists
Alex Anderson, Sales + Marketing Manager — WMD
Andrew Ostler, Owner + Founder — Expert Sleepers
Girts Ozolins, Owner + Founder — Erica Synths
Ólafur Bogason, CEO + Co-founder — Genki Instruments
Performance by Afrorack (aka Bamanya Brian)
11:50 AM — 12:15 PM
Performing his unique home-brewed techno, acid, African rhythms, and complex poly-rhythmic compositions under the name Afrorack, Bamanya Brian is an experimental artist from Uganda. One of the people pioneering the making of electronic music instruments in Africa, Afrorack has appeared at several local and international festivals in Morocco, Uganda, Germany and France.
Virtual Expo Hall is Open
12:15 — 2:30 PM
Visit virtual exhibitor booths to learn more about your favorite modular synthesizer manufacturers or discover new makers and products. Check out videos, live-stream demos, and featured products, meet their team and chat one-on-one or schedule a video call to connect face-to-face. Be sure to sign up soon as spots will fill up fast!
Synths + Social Change
2:30 — 3:05 PM
Join Emmy Parker (music + tech entrepreneur) Frae-Frae: Daughter of Drexciya (Willie Mae Future Sounds) and Leah King (Women's Audio Mission) as they share about the needs they serve through their work, afrofuturism, and how synths, social justice and electronic music are a perfect formula to usher in social change.
Panelists
Emmy Parker — Electronic Music + Tech Entrepreneur
LaFrae Sci, Director of Artistic Programming — Willie Mae Future Sounds
Leah King, Director of Education — Women’s Audio Mission
Keynote ‘Buchla Then and Now’ by Suzanne Ciani
3:15 — 4:00 PM
Join us for a very special keynote talk and demonstration by Suzanne about the historic Buchla 200 series, on which she played in the 1970s, and the current Buchla 200e, which she is using today in performance, investigating performance techniques in the two systems and what was gained and what was lost.
Keynote Speaker: Suzanne Ciani, Composer, Sound Designer, Recording Artist + Electronic Music Pioneer
Closing Remarks
4:10 — 4:20 PM
Phew! What an adventure! Join us for our final remarks, thank you’s, updates and takeaways as we close out the last day of SYNTHBOOTH before the final performances of the event.
Presenter: Anna Zamir, Event Organizer — SYNTHBOOTH
Performance by Trovarsi
4:35 — 5:00 PM
Gear up for an acid techno and house set by Trovarsi — a talented LA based music producer and live performance artist — featuring her unique electronic music sound that is equal parts technical and melodic. With hybrid blend of analogue synths, modular, drum machines and Ableton, she builds a pulsing atmosphere to any set she plays. The use of electronic software combined with the raw sounds of drum machines and modular synths are what make her music so captivating.
Performance by Ann Annie
5:15 — 5:40 PM
Join us for the final SYNTHBOOTH performance and let yourself be transported by ambient artist and composer Ann Annie as he uses modular synthesis to create lucid, textured atmospheres, and soothing ambient soundscapes. The jazz trained artist impeccably fuses organic and natural compositions with electronic swirls and streams to create arrangements that feel vast, introspective, meditative and empowering. Enjoy this special performance and get lost in his disarming and mesmerizing explorations of contemporary ambient sounds and dreamlike sense of space.