Speakers
Keynote by Suzanne Ciani
Sevwave
Suzanne is a five-time Grammy award nominated composer, electronic music pioneer, and neo-classical recording artist whose work has been featured in countless commercials, video games, and feature films. Over the course of her 40+ year career, she's released 16 solo albums, including "Seven Waves," "The Velocity of Love," and most recently, her comeback quadraphonic Buchla modular synth performance recording “LIVE Quadraphonic.” She's been recognized as Keyboard Magazine's "New Age Keyboardist of the Year" and was inducted into the first class of Keyboard Magazine's Hall of Fame alongside other synth luminaries, including Bob Moog, Don Buchla and Dave Smith. She’s provided the voice and sounds for Bally's groundbreaking "Xenon" pinball machine, created Coca-Cola’s pop-and-pour sound, designed Atari’s sound logo, played concerts all over the globe, and carved out a niche as one of the most creatively successful female composers in the world. A Life in Waves, a documentary about Ciani’s life and work, debuted at SXSW in 2017 and is available to watch on all digital platforms.
Abraham Ingle
AI Synthesis
Abram Ingle is the owner of AI Synthesis, a DIY modular synthesizer company based in Portland, Oregon. Abe's obsession with modular synths started in the year 2000 when he was in college. He could barely afford to eat and didn't have funds to invest in expensive systems. While he knew it was possible to build your own synth, there wasn’t anyone or anywhere to turn to for advice. In the past decade, more information has been published online, and in 2013 he started down his path to DIY modular. Even with all of the information available, there still lacked a single simple, comprehensive guide for those looking for DIY options. AI Synthesis was founded with the intention to be that guide. Before building his own synth, Abe was a dreamer, but afterward, he felt like he had awoken. With Ai Synthesis, he wants to help others do the same.
Abe designs his modules to be the best DIY Modules in the world. All modules are wiring free, have free schematics always, full how-to build videos, feature easy to solder pads, and the instructions provide insight as to the workings of the circuit, so you learn as you go.
Alex Anderson
WMD
Alex Anderson is the educational guru at WMD. He has been the sales and marketing manager there for over 4 years and is very involved in the design and development process of new products. You may recognize him from their YouTube Channel, as he is the face of their product demos and announcement videos. Anderson is a vintage and modern synth enthusiast, and has been using Eurorack for 8+ years in many different musical projects. He performs under the name Nasty Nachos, making house, techno, and pop styles of music. His experience of playing live and recording contribute to the innovation at WMD, where he gets to work alongside an amazing team of designers and engineers.
Allert Aalders
Dutch Modular + Sonar Traffic
Allert Aalders is one of the organizers of Dutch Modular Fest, an annual two-day festival focusing on modular synthesizers, and co-owner a of synthesizer studio Sonar Traffic in Utrecht, the Netherlands. He started working with synths at age 16 and hasn’t stopped since. In the 90’s he was part of techno act Human Beings, in the zero’s he started touring as a live sound engineer for ao T.Raumschmiere and Nobody Beats the Drum. Today he runs Sonar Traffic - a synth-filled recording studio and a sound library that also offers synthesis education, designs presets for various plug-In and hardware synths, organizes the bi-monthly modular synth event “Modulation" in Utrecht’s Kytopia, and spends a lot of his time experimenting and playing with his extensive modular system.
dutchmodularfest.com | soundcloud.com/allert | @sonartraffic
Andrew Ostler
Expert Sleepers
Andrew ('os') Ostler runs Edinburgh, UK based Eurorack manufacturer Expert Sleepers, which since 2009 has provided solutions for integrating analogue (particularly modular) synthesizers with computer DAW environments. As well as making musical software, he also makes music. Andrew’s main musical project for some time has been Darkroom.
Anna Martinova
Modular Moon + Modular Synthesis School
Anna Martinova is a Latvia-born Dutch resident, an electronic music composer, and a DJ of dark progressive and dark psychedelic trance music for about 20 years. Martinova was introduced to modular synthesis when she started to perform under the name Tulpa | Dusha - two audio projects; Tulpa audio stories with dance-oriented psychedelic techno improvisations, and Dusha music and compositions. She completely switched to recording and performing live with her modular system in 2017, and, a year later, established Modular Moon and Modular Synthesis School initiative, which functions as a sound synthesis school and a platform for sonic exploration in Amsterdam. The project supports the modular community, organizes and leads modular workshops and performances, and runs a synthesis school curriculum. Most recently, Martinova published a book on eurorack sound synthesis, that was written in collaboration with Pete Johnston.
Ann Annie
An ambient artist and film composer based in Portland, Oregon, Ann Annie 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. Let yourself be transported by his disarming and mesmerizing explorations of contemporary ambient sounds and dreamlike sense of space.
Bana Haffar
A lifelong expatriate, Bana Haffar was born in Saudi Arabia in 1987 and spent much of her childhood in the GCC. Through her switch from 10 years of electric bass to modular synthesizers in 2014, she is attempting to dismantle years of institutional conditioning in Western systems of music theory and performance. She is interested in exploring sonic disintegration and coalescence into new forms and synthesized experiences. Bana played an integral part in the conception and growth of the Modular On The Spot platform, which has become popular in modular synth communities across the country. She is currently engaging 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.
Ben The Glorious Bastard
New York Modular Society
Ben The Glorious Bastard is a music producer, beatmaker, audio engineer and sound designer from Paris, France. He currently lives in Brooklyn, NY. He has worked with artists and producers including Kanye West, Damon Dash, Jim Jones, Cam’ron, Juelz Santana, Dipset/Diplomats, Ski Beatz, A-Trak, Jadakiss, A$AP Rocky, Wiz Khalifa, Smoke DZA, Murda Mook and many more. As a long time synthesizer enthusiast, he has written many reviews and in 2016 he was endorsed as a Sequential artist. During the summer of 2019, he co-founded the New York Modular Society - a NYC-based collective dedicated to sharing love and knowledge about modular synthesizers - with Jon Bohm and Jason Lazzara. He now runs “Across the 8th Dimension”, a livestream series dedicated to chill beats and spaced out grooves on the New York Modular Society’s Twitch channel.
Bill Van Loo
North Coast Modular Collective
Bill Van Loo is a maker, teacher, musician and photographer. He is one of the Core Organizers of North Coast Modular Collective, helping with events, instrument development, and community organization. He constantly seeks out projects that allow him to work at the intersection of art, design, and engineering. Van Loo writes and performs electronic music in a variety of styles and venues, using a hybrid setup of computer, hardware, and Eurorack modular.
northcoastmodularcollective.com | @northcoastmodularcollective |chromedecay.org
Bradley Millington
Modular Seattle
Bradley is an electronic music hobbyist in Seattle, WA. He started MOTS shows in Seattle parks in 2016 and has since been collaborating w/ Josh Lim and Justin Benjamin as Modular Seattle. Modular Seattle is devoted to electronic music, art, and community in the Puget Sound area, focused mainly on modular and hardware-based synthesizers and the people who create with them. We provide monthly performance events, educational lessons and workshops, and access to music-making technology. Last October, we produced VELOCITY, a trade show, educational conference, and artist performances at Substation in Ballard. COVID forced us to virtual events, which we have been hosting on Twitch each month on the /modularseattle channel. Bradley and Modular Seattle support Black Lives Matter and voting Trump out of office before we all die of this thing.
David Soto (aka Sine Mountain)
Colorado Modular Synth Society
David Soto is a modular synth artist known as Sine Mountain and the head of the Colorado Modular Synth Society. He organizes online (in person pre-COVID) monthly events, online forums, and a yearly festival that celebrate modular synthesis and the community of synthesists centered around voltage-controlled instruments. His mission is to create an inclusive and inspiring space for artists, designers, and hobbyists. He is currently working on his first full-length album and teaching his two daughters about synthesizers.
coloradomodularsynthsociety.com | @coloradomodularsynthsociety | @sinemountain
Ben Wilson
DivKid
With a background in acoustic performance, recording, and sound technologies, DivKid is a project by UK-based Ben Wilson. DivKid quickly became involved in a variety of sound design projects with globally commissioned compositions, and TV and film music production, and creating tutorials and video demonstrations. He is revered for his YouTube channel, which documents his journey through music technology and collaboration with others to teach synthesis and sound design techniques through the creation of in-depth product demos. DivKid is the driving force behind Modular Meets Leeds, a popular modular event that features modular manufacturers showcasing their gear and discussing the finer points of control voltage and modulation, and extraordinary modular performances. Modular Meets was designed to rally the modular synth community, creating opportunities for enthusiasts and beginners to connect, learn and explore new gear together. Striving to fulfill needs in the Eurorack marketplace, he launched a collaborative series of DivKid modules in 2019.
Emmy Parker
Music + Tech Entrepreneur
Emmy Parker an electronic music pioneer. For almost a decade, she was an esteemed creative force and innovator at Moog Music as their Chief Marketing Officer and Brand Director and Creative Director of Moogfest. Emmy is an activist and advocate for social change and diverse and equitable representation in sound community. As a result of Emmy's influence, Teenage Engineering, which makes sleekly designed, retro-sounding machines adored by dance-music producers, will soon begin sharing sales revenue with a set of Black musicians and other artists of color in the United States in recognition of their role in popularizing the company’s products.
@black.computer | teenage.engineering | nytimes.com/music-industry-black-lives-matter
Girts Ozolins
Erica Synths
Girts Ozolins’ interest in electronics, electronic music and synthesisers developed when he was only twelve years old. Now he is the founder and visionary of Erica Synths - a successful Latvian company that develops, manufactures and exports electronic music instruments. Erica Synths is behind a huge number of beloved Eurorack module offerings, not to mention its famous Fusionbox and Acidbox units as well as more recent developments like the SYNTRX. Erica Synths instruments are used by thousands of people around the world and played in every corner of the globe covering every continent perhaps except Antarctica
Johno Wells
Modular World
Johno Wells created and hosts Modular World, a global modular synthesizer community and event with performers from all over the world. He also created and hosts Dotwave, a podcast dedicated to featuring genre-defying musicians and creators. Johno is a life-long musician, composer and sound designer from Southern California, and releases his music through Errorgrid Records, and also independently.
youtube.com/channel/UCo48MtGBhftvYhqxQWHG8Jw | @modular.world | dotwave.fireside.fm
LaFrae Sci
Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls
LaFrae Sci (a.k.a. Frae-Frae: Daughter of Drexciya) is the Co-Executive Director/Dir of Artistic Programming at Willie Mae Future Sounds named after Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton. W.M.F.S. is a year round program that teaches afrofuturism, critical thinking and leadership, using music technology through the lens of the blues tradition to girls and gender non conforming youth in New York City. Frae-Frae is also an award-winning and internationally acclaimed multi-instrumentalist, educator, and composer. Bedrock to her artistry is the roots and the fruits of the blues from spirituals to afro futuristic soundscapes. As a composer, she writes for film, theater, and large and extended jazz and classical orchestras.
groovediplomacy.org | @groovediplomacy | williemaerockcamp.org
Leah King
Leah King is the Director of Education at Women's Audio Mission, a touring member of electronic arts network female:pressure, and the co-founder of GLTTR Collective in San Francisco. As an arts education specialist, King creates innovative educational programming with a focus on culturally responsive education, women's empowerment, and youth advocacy to build professional development seminars, facilitate progressive organizational dialogue, and transform company culture to promote more equitable professional spaces. As an electronic musician, she has also performed throughout New York City and in Brazil, Peru, Germany, England, Austria, France, Italy, Czech Republic, and was a recipient of the Converse Rubber Tracks studio series fellowship in Berlin.
Marcus Fischer
Marcus Fischer is a first generation American sound and visual artist who creates, collects, and transforms audio into immersive, layered soundscapes that accompany performances/installations. Site-specific assemblages of exposed speakers, tape loops, and found objects are characteristic of his installations, paired with melodies of restraint and tension. He has composed music for independent films and experimental multi-media installations. His music has appeared on the award-winning public radio program Radiolab, on mobile applications, in documentaries, and in interactive games. He has released numerous recordings—both solo and collaborative —on 12k, a label that has decisively defined and developed its own concept of minimalism in the realms of experimental and ambient music. In 2017, he was an artist-in-residence at the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation / Rauschenberg Residency where he completed “Loss," his most recent solo album. He contributed two sound works and two performances to the 2019 Whitney Biennial as the sole artist from the Pacific Northwest included in the edition. As an installation artist, he is interested in engaging with the audience’s experience of time and space in unconventional and unexpected ways.
Max Ravitz
Moog
For over a decade, Moog Product Specialist, Max Ravitz has been obsessively working in his home studio, crafting electronic music under various guises. His primary solo project, Patricia, has been a mainstay in New York's DIY electronic music scene, with releases on labels such as Ghostly International, Opal Tapes, Acid Test, and L.I.E.S.
Ravitz is a life-long musician with a passion for collecting, studying, and using all types of electronic music equipment. This focus on hardware lays the foundation for both his recorded music and live sets — two distinct entities with a similar flavor. He is a process-driven artist who values creative constraint, improvisation and collaboration with others. Over the years, his numerous collaborative projects include Inhalants (with Jahiliyya Fields), Masks (with Arp), DSR.MR (with Cloudface), and Ociya (with Tin Man). Ravitz's love of synthesizers has recently led him from Brooklyn to Asheville, North Carolina, where he has taken on the role of Product Specialist at Moog Music, getting to further immerse himself in the world of sound synthesis.
Ólafur Bogason
Genki Instruments
Ólafur Bogason is CEO and co-founder of Icelandic technology company Genki Instruments. Genki's first product, Wave—a smart ring that controls sound with gestures—was first developed when Ólafur was an electrical engineering student at the University of Iceland. Since then Ólafur has led a team of brilliant designers, engineers and makers on a quest to make technology feel natural.
Trovarsi
SoCal Synth Society
Trovarsi is one of the founding members of the Southern California Synth Society, whose purpose is to educate and facilitate interest in electronic music through synthesizers, modular diy builds and community events. Trovarsi is also the founder and curator of Transduction Signal on Fnoob Techno Radio, which showcases global DJs/artists as well as up-and-coming electronic artists. She is also a member of FORWARD (an electronic musician duo).
As an LA based music producer and live performance artist, Trovarsi brings a unique sound to the world of electronic music. With a hybrid blend of analog synths, modular, drum machines and Ableton, she builds a pulsing atmosphere to any set she plays.
facebook.com/socalsynthsociety | @socalsynthsociety | trovarsiofficial.com | @trovarsiofficial
Walker Farrell
Make Noise
Walker Farrell is Make Noise's Instrument Specialist. He works on instrument development, writes instrument manuals, helps train the production crew on procedures, and represents Make Noise at events and on the Make Noise YouTube channel.
Make Noise was founded in 2008 by Tony Rolando, a self-taught electronic musical instrument designer. What started as a re-visioning of jettisoned music technology has grown into a crew of folks working together in Asheville, NC, to design and build some pretty strange, but thoughtful modular synthesizers. We see our instruments as a collaboration with musicians who create once in a lifetime performances that push boundaries and play the notes between the notes to discover the unfound sounds. We want our instruments to be an experience, one that will require us to change our trajectories and thereby impact the way we understand and imagine sound. Also, we think what we do is fun and we hope you like it, too.
makenoisemusic.com | @makenoisemusic
