Reconnections: Emulation, Aesthetics & The Modular Synthesizer

Physicality is a key component of the synthesizer yet traditional protocols such as MIDI and programme banks / pre-sets provide a somewhat restricted exploration of sound. Musical interfaces such as the Modular Synthesizer (MS) allow for far more interaction and can produce a more unrestrained sense of sonic exploration approach to electronic music making. This paper considers the modular synthesiser as a conduit, as a reconnection to electronic musical instruments, interfaces and approaches of the past. The paper shed light on ‘Phonogene’ (1954), a multi-headed tape instrument, used by both Pierre Schaeffer and Iannis Xenakis at Radio France (GRM) during the late 1950s. Considered and discussed in parallel, Make Noise’s ‘Morphagene’, a modular synthesizer module, one utilised extensively by the author, which emulates the processes and aesthetics originally developed via the ‘Phonogene’.