I ventured out last night to check out a HEARding Cats Collective event at Washington University in St. Louis’ Tietjan’s Hall.

Rich O’Donnell, Mike Murphy, and Kevin Harris improvised on DIY & euro-rack synthesizers solo and ensemble. You can see in the photo above, the performers spread out in the room. They each had their own speaker channel positioned in different corners allowing sounds to mix in the room.

I was intrigued by this device in the setup of dr. mabuse (aka Mike Murphy.) It was a small Arduino based touch screen MIDI sequencer which was later converted to CV by a 0-COAST stashed behind his gear. It says something about his DIY ethos that the 0-COAST was tucked behind a home built rack, relegated to MIDI conversions.

After the show, Rich O’Donnell took us on a tour of the electronic music studio at Wash U. Above you can see an ARP 2500 and 2600. In the corner is a Buchla 258.

The studio also holds a Moog modular. I quite like the hand written guide, ‘Moog Helps + Suggestions.’

Strange Synthesis in St. Louis

These events fill my head with thoughts, weird noises, and inspiration. I love that things like this are regularly taking place in and round St. Louis. I will definitely check out another event soon. Thanks HEARding Cats!