schools with modulars

botstein · Post by **botstein** » Tue Mar 12, 2013 12:05 pm

CalArts has been mentioned before, but we also have a big Serge here at Bard.

Backroads · Post by **Backroads** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 2:04 pm

The University of Iowa has a Moog modular and an Arp 2600. I just talked to the TA and I'll be visiting some time soon!

Selador · Post by **Selador** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 4:42 pm

I transferred to Sarah Lawrence for the strict purpose of utilizing their studio. We put in an order for a brand new Music Easel, as well!

home_listening · Post by **home_listening** » Fri Mar 29, 2013 8:13 am

University of Melbourne has an EMS Synti100 in a box somewhere, and a VCS3 in a room somewhere. Latrobe Uni in melbourne used to have an 8 panel serge IIRC.

senecio · Post by **senecio** » Fri Mar 29, 2013 11:19 am

I use to teach at Middle Tennessee State Univerity and they have a famous recording industry program and have a room called the midi lab with an arp 2600 as its heart and a bunch of moog stuff and tons of old effects, electric pianos etc.

I gave a lecture at Alfred once and they have lots of stuff including a Sandin image processor (analog modular video synthesizer)

but people at alfred seemed a bit grumpy.

cal arts seems like it would be paradise to me if I were a student.

CF3 · Post by **CF3** » Fri Mar 29, 2013 2:37 pm

CCSF in San Francisco has a 3 panel Serge + the Touch Keyboard just sitting in a room unused. I was told it was "broken"... which is bullshit. I offered to buy it... they(he) said no. So it just sits there collecting dust.

Pyramid in SF also has an unused Serge (3 panels). I walked in there and saw it sitting on a shelf. I asked, "what's up with the Serge?" dude says, "oh, somebody gave it to us, probably doesn't work". I'm all like, "how much?".... They wouldn't sell it to me. They'd rather it just sit there "broken" Looks really cool tho.

Moral of the story.... if there's one sure way to guarantee that the least amount of people with play a synthesizer... give it to a school.

traveler · Post by **traveler** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 11:18 pm

SAIC in Chicago has an awesome sound dept program and they have a massive modular system in which a whole class is taught on it by Bob Snyder. I took a few sound classes there, pretty fun and worth it.
http://www.saic.edu/admissions/grad/apply/mfasound/[/img]

moogboy · Post by **moogboy** » Thu Mar 27, 2014 8:59 pm

Waz wrote:Wayne State University has a really big polyfusion rig and an arp 2600

I went over to Wayne State tonight to hear the electronic music ensemble's performance. They used a bunch of Yamaha/Korg/Roland digital keyboards and had horribly unimaginative sounds (probably stock presets), sadly. But I did stick around and talk my way in to see the Polyfusion and 2600. They're gorgeous. I desperately want to go in there sometime and just play with them. The Polyfusion has one straight case and an angled case, 3 oscillators, white noise, VC reverb, a couple of dual envelopes, a formant filter, and a couple of VCA's. There are holes where it looks like there should be modules but I wasn't able to ask about what went there (if anything). It also has a CP style row at the bottom of each cabinet with a bunch of interfacing things. The 2600 is in immaculate shape.

Will report back (possibly with pictures) as things develop.

cartoonbomb · Post by **cartoonbomb** » Thu Mar 27, 2014 9:25 pm

George Mason University in VA has a very impressive collection of modular and vintage synths. A huge Serge, a huge Euro (mainly Doepfer and ASys), a huge dotCom, a smallish Wiard system, a large Modcan, a Polyfusion system, Oberheim xpander, some variation on the SEM (I'm not very familiar), various Moog synths, Korg MS trio, Polymoog, and lots more. It was pretty unreal walking in there. Apparently most of it was donated by the estate of the deceased owner. Wonder if he was a wiggler.

Non-Digital Tom · Post by **Non-Digital Tom** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 8:09 pm

My high school had an EML Electrocomp 200 for their electronic music class. This is going back a ways. Not exactly a wall of modular, but pretty cool for a high school.

Non-Digital Tom · Post by **Non-Digital Tom** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 8:13 pm

They also had those little orange Wurlitzer electric pianos that were all connected together in a row for the piano lab (now I'm really dating myself).

acidicfeces · Post by **acidicfeces** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 1:29 am

I've been meaning to look into the music department at UC Berkeley for some modular and whatnot.
Anyone know if schools let people with no affiliation fuck with their music equipment?

home_listening · Post by **home_listening** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 10:21 am

home_listening wrote:University of Melbourne has an EMS Synti100 in a box somewhere, and a VCS3 in a room somewhere. Latrobe Uni in melbourne used to have an 8 panel serge IIRC.

Ta Da!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-19/r ... ed/6145180

calaveras · Post by **calaveras** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 10:35 am

dude wrote:kent state university had a nice medium polyfusion and a fucking prototype moog modular. the moog was defunct when i was there and the have no electronic music department to speak of. but the stuff was there around the year 00'. the studio was in the midst of getting lost to the ages. it was nice in the 70's and 80's i think. that polyfusion changed my life for sure. my first modular experience.

year zero event

Correct me if I am wrong but I am pretty sure Mark Mothersbaugh wiggled on that Moog Modular, back when Devo formed in the early 70's at Kent State. I think some of it may be in the 'Devo Hardcore' recordings like 'Booji boy's funeral'.

as far as UC Berkeley I'd be surprised if they hadn't tossed or sold any old modular they once had. Me and my ex gf once found a whole dumpster full of 16mm films they were just throwing out. We filled her car with as many as we could grab. My buddy Steve goes to their bimonthly (?) auctions and picks up all kinds of crazy deals that he ebays usually. Stuff is often mislabeled and he has picked up Tektronix and HP o-scopes for pennies on the dollar of their value.

botstein · Post by **botstein** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 2:05 pm

I have been instagramming some stuff from the Bard College Serge system. We've also got an ARP 2600.

I also spoke to Clay at CalArts - there's of course a Serge there, but also some frac, an Oberheim SEM, and the beginnings of a euro system.

MrNovember · Post by **MrNovember** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 2:56 pm

I really wish I was into synths when I started school 5 years ago. I've taken so many electrical programs that I didn't take seriously until now. I regret that so much. I actually had a class where I built a theremin with optical sensors, but I basically just went through the motions and never really tried to understand what I was doing.

It would have been so cool to have actually gone to school with a synth lab, but that being said I'd listen to sgnelson's advice. I'd rather go somewhere where I can learn more from talented people, than somewhere where I have access to vintage synths

IR · Post by IR » Thu Feb 19, 2015 3:15 pm

acidicfeces wrote:Anyone know if schools let people with no affiliation fuck with their music equipment?

Maybe they would if you're a friend of one of the professors, but I guess that would count as affiliation.

moogboy · Post by **moogboy** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 3:44 pm

IR wrote:
acidicfeces wrote:Anyone know if schools let people with no affiliation fuck with their music equipment?
Maybe they would if you're a friend of one of the professors, but I guess that would count as affiliation.

If you figure out who is in charge of it and email/call them, they're usually pretty open to you at least checking the stuff out (in my experience at least).

intuitionnyc · Post by **intuitionnyc** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 5:14 pm

Not sure how much it counts, but my old college Mary Washington College (now University of Mary Washington) had an Arp 2600.

I took a course Introduction to Electronic Music. A great course at the time for me. I just wish I paid more attention and understood some of the concepts better.

Flohr · Post by **Flohr** » Sat Feb 21, 2015 11:46 am

cartoonbomb wrote:George Mason University in VA has a very impressive collection of modular and vintage synths. A huge Serge, a huge Euro (mainly Doepfer and ASys), a huge dotCom, a smallish Wiard system, a large Modcan, a Polyfusion system, Oberheim xpander, some variation on the SEM (I'm not very familiar), various Moog synths, Korg MS trio, Polymoog, and lots more. It was pretty unreal walking in there. Apparently most of it was donated by the estate of the deceased owner. Wonder if he was a wiggler.

Damn that's where I went to undergrad! I never knew. I wasn't involved in any music department so that probably explains it. Oh shit, maybe if I'm back in the D.C. Area I can arrange a visit because I'm technically alumni. Philosophy is a related field right?

onurkalaycioglu · Post by **onurkalaycioglu** » Sat Feb 21, 2015 10:02 pm

Yea saic has a great collection of synths. But most gear is only available to sound department graduate students. I learned synthesis on the huge emu system with Bob Snyder. The class is great because most of class time is broken up into groups where you analyze tracks made on the emu and try to recreate them by patching it up. He's a great teacher, but old fashioned in some senses. The department has a decent sized motm system, arp 2600, ms20, and a 12u+ euro system filled with mostly doepfer but also some make noise too.

clarke68 · Post by **clarke68** » Tue Feb 24, 2015 5:11 pm

CF3 wrote:CCSF in San Francisco has a 3 panel Serge + the Touch Keyboard just sitting in a room unused. I was told it was "broken"... which is bullshit. I offered to buy it... they(he) said no. So it just sits there collecting dust.

Headboggle recorded a couple of albums there, including his most recent Serge Modular in Hi-Fi:

...so it's gotten some use over the years. With the CCSF accreditation fiasco I don't know what will happen to the Music Lab or the Serge...definitely wouldn't suggest anyone move here for the Serge (besides the fact that you could just about buy your own Serge for what you'd pay in rent in the city for a few months).

acidfeces wrote:Anyone know if schools let people with no affiliation fuck with their music equipment?

No idea what it's like now (so I don't know if this is helpful, but) I was an art major at San Jose State in the '90s, and Allen Strange let me take his class on intro to synthesis. I'll never forget going in to meet with him to ask if he let non-music majors take his class, and if so what kind of audition I'd have to pass to get in. He just kind of grinned and said, "come to Jesus in whole notes." 8_)

I didn't really know what he meant but the implication was clear enough. He was a really great teacher.

memes_33 · Post by **memes_33** » Tue Feb 24, 2015 6:31 pm

GrobbingThistle wrote:Oh, Evergreen also has a stupidly impressive stash of Buchla shit, although their music easel was stolen a year or two ago.
http://www.evergreen.edu/media/musictech/

i went there and cut my teeth on the buchla!

memes_33 · Post by **memes_33** » Tue Feb 24, 2015 6:32 pm

cluster wrote:i went to school at Alfred University in Western New York. They had several doepfer systems there which became my first introductions into modulars.

wow, never knew. i'm from there, aka a towny! (moved in 1999)

Dave Peck · Post by **Dave Peck** » Tue Feb 24, 2015 7:50 pm

Ah, memories. When I was in college (Cal State Dominguez Hills in Carson, CA) we had a massive two-cabinet Emu modular with the polyphonic keyboard controller, a total of FOUR Arp 2600's, an EML 101 and the 400+401 sequencer, and various other things. I spent a LOT of time with the Emu.

Of course that was around 1980 and none of that stuff is there anymore so this doesn't help the OP, it's just me reminiscing.

MOD WIGGLER

MOD WIGGLER

schools with modulars