After a long social distancing break, let’s get back together again in person!
January 14, 2023 from 2-3:30pm Downtown Ann Arbor District Library’s Secret Lab (343 S 5th Ave)
Local experts and educators will share their advice and knowledge about how to get started with creating electronic music. Bill Van Loo will teach a brief introduction to electronic music production with examples and demonstrations, and a short live performance by Alvin Hill will be accompanied by informal social time for people to get to know each other and ask questions. Open to all ages; Free; bring your curiosity with you! Brought to you by North Coast Modular Collective and Ann Arbor District Library.
Image: A photo from the January 2020 “Getting Started” meetup.
Our public North Coast Modular Meetup for June 2018 took place on Saturday, June 23, 2018. It was held at Menlo Innovations in Ann Arbor. The theme of the meet up was Programming, which was interpreted in different ways by each presenter.
Presentation #1 – Bill Van Loo
Bill Van Loo of North Coast Modular Collective explored a variety of sequencing options, including Novation Circuit and Arturia Beatstep Pro (hardware), Patterning (iOS), and Ableton Live (Mac/PC). A sneak peak of the upcoming Patterning 2 beta was used to demonstrate this exciting musical tool.
A video of the full talk and demonstration is linked below.
Presentation #2 – David Minnix
David Minnix of North Coast Modular Collective presented on euclidean rhythmic sequencing and explored several ways that the euclidean algorithm can be used to compose. Patches in Pure Data (PD) were used to demonstrate the techniques and example that David described.
A video of the full talk and demonstration is linked below.
Presentation #3 – Teresa
Teresa Sevonty presented on the basics of DSP engineering. She talked about the basic concepts of digital signal processing, and how these are applied day-to-day in commercial applications.
BONUS Presentation!
As an unexpected bonus, Andrew Belt, creator and lead developer of VCV Rack, came to the Meetup! Andrew graciously shared some background and news about the development of VCV Rack. A video of his talk is linked below.
Our first public North Coast Modular Meetup took place on Saturday, March 10, 2018. It was held at A2 STEAM in Ann Arbor. The theme of the meet up was Maker/SDIY (Synth DIY).
Presentation/performance #1 – Joe Bauer
Joe Bauer of North Coast Modular Collective presented his DIY Challenge rack, which is a 2-row system of all modules he either built or completely designed and built himself. Joe gave a short overview of why this system is conceptually interesting, gave a short performance, then spent time answering questions about the system and how he used it.
Steven Curtin showed and talked about his “Drone Boat” system, which he has been developing for a number of years. Steven talked about how his system is “post-modular”, in the sense that it took a patch idea he had been building for years in his Serge, Buchla, and other modular system, and “froze” it as a fully-realized system, which includes custom built PLL circuits, a Moog Werkstatt, and more.
