ModCaf, May meet-up
These events come around quickly and I am excited to tell you more about what goes on at a ModCaf. It has got me even more interested in Synths than I was before and that is nuts.
What is it? Where does it happen? Who performs?
The event takes place on the first Thursday of each month at Aldershot's West End Centre, a fantastic arts venue with a history of over 20 years. I exhibited my photography there around 2005, alongside some other people, we got in touch with Barney Jeavons the Creative Director and we hosted the event there in conjunction with our now defunct website called Nfolio.
ModCaf is a group of people who all share a passion for electronic music, especially synthesisers and all of the other devices that accompany them. That’s not to say acoustic or other instruments aren’t allowed, far from it, drummers, guitarists and didgeridoo players have dropped by from time to time.
I’ve only been a member for under a year but feel welcome there, as I’ve slowly got to know people and this is the thing, I find socialising hard. I’m an introvert until I meet like minded souls, I slowly emerge from my shell.
Have I performed at an event yet? Short answer no, longer answer when I am ready.
The thought of twenty people or more watching me perform a piece of music, terrifies me but I feel I need to do it. After all I’ve performed in front of you in the recent editions of my vlog I share here, especially the last two. There is 101 of you as I write this!
I’m excited about reaching that milestone by the way but back to the topic;
Tonight’s meetup was as great as ever! People always bring something along either to do a show and tell with, a performance or just to jam with or show other members. I took my Syntakt in for the jamming section but I ended up just listening in, nonetheless I let a couple of people try it out, as one guy is thinking of buying one for his studio. Likewise everyone is welcome to try out other gear and learn along the way. The environment is friendly and people know stuff.
We saw some interesting instruments up there last night, some vintage gear, popular as ever plus modular racks and groove boxes.
Oxford Synthesiser Company - OSCar
The OSCar that was made by The Oxford Synthesiser Company in the 80s was a fantastic instrument. Produced some phat sounds. We were amused by the fact its serial number was written in biro on its base. Only 800 or so were made (I believe, will double check this) and Rod’s was number 148.
More information about the OSCar can be found in an old article from Sound On Sound magazine in 1999 (thanks Ant of ModCaf for sharing this).
Korg Triton
Akira had previously swapped her Korg Triton for another instrument owned by the Westie and borrowed it back for the night. I remember seriously considering buying one when they were new but possibly couldn’t afford it at the time and time passed by. So was fun to have a little look at one tonight decades later.
SeqTrak
We also had a great demo of Yamaha’s latest product the SeqTrack, kind of, let’s say, Teenage Engineering meets Elektron and has a baby, this is what the little bambino would look like! It only costs £350 and I’m sorry to say I’m tempted by it. No no, you promised yourself no more music gear for the next 6 months, weeks or days. Moving on.
Drones
Alan performed a great piece on his modular rig, I copied this from our Discord in order not to misspell it.
I have a couple of Maneco Labs Dark Grone Drone modules that might be of interest (or not!)
They were brilliant and Alan knew them intimately, and as such a very strong performance in the experimental vein.
So glad that the above performance was recorded on the night, it was a real treat. You can enjoy it too.
Random thoughts, notes made from last night and wot-not
Instrument repairers in the UK, especially for vintage synth gear are few and far between. Rod had his OSCar serviced but had to take it down to Suffolk, as some of the more local engineers have retired or about to wind up their businesses.
I want to explore more Modular after seeing various interesting setups last night. I’ll write more about this in the next edition of this newsletter.
Sample everything, you never know when a sound might come in handy, even Henry, the Hoover product that is. That reminds me I had started creating a sound library of my own and then that kind of dwindled somewhat, as all great ideas do!
Related YouTube content etc
Rod has been busy and shared this Bandcamp link with us on our Discord server, thinking you'd enjoy listening to it as well.
Catch up on previous ModCaf event recordings
There are many more up on Soundcloud, I will sharing more of them in future issues.
Test Chamber
Sadly I missed this event as I have only recently got involved with ModCaf but from what I’ve seen and heard since, it must have been amazing to have been involved with it. There was a lot of excitement last night as we got to see the LP that has been produced with the recordings taken from the event. It will later in the year be available to purchase from the Bandcamp page and since I missed it, I will definitely buy a copy.
Thanks for stopping by and if you want to come along to ModCaf, you are welcome, check out the events page for more information, dates, times and how you can get involved. If you have some interesting synths, then definitely come along, the more esoteric the better!