M.E.M.E. Gatherings
Serge-fest May 10, 1997
Grant getting off on my rig
This meeting of M.E.M.E. consisted of six members: Michael Firman, Darwin Grosse, Ken Stoll, Stewart S. Walker, André Stordeur, and Grant Richter. We again convened in Milwaukee Wisconsin (on 5/10/97). By prior arrangement, we agreed that this meeting would last for two days, and be in a workshop format (orchestrated by André). Almost everyone brought some of their gear, hence things quickly transcended the philosophical into the concrete. This was indeed an interesting crew of people whose age group ranged from their early twenties through their early fifties (with representatives from all four decades). André coached us through several of his event clusters, which employed a conducting technique developed by the composer Pierre Boulez in the 1960's. With enough time (and patience on André’s part) the sound began to jell (as we got more comfortable with the technique and each other). Several tactical problems were isolated (e.g. it was discovered that the equipment arrangement that we had adopted did not lend itself to watching a conductor while simultaneously reconfiguring patches) and solutions for the next meeting were discussed.
André also came with an extremely interesting and very complex patch to demonstrate. The patch was a completely self-contained (i.e. totally realized within André's Serge panels), representation of a North-Indian classical ensemble. The sequences were designed to give the piece an "organic" time feel (André is fond of clocking sequencers with the output of continuously varying envelope generators, instead of gates, effecting subtle time modulations).
Ken and Stewart graciously informed us about newer developments in the popular electronic music scene (dance music of various types) and Stewart provided me with a list of some CD recommendations (thanks Stewart!)
André manipulating knobs while Grant looks on. |
 Darwin at the Grunge controls while Stewart and Ken cringe in horror |