Derek Holzer PhD defense: 

“Reenactments: Engaging with Historical Electronic Audio/Visual Instruments”

THU 05 JUNE 09:00 GMT +2

KTH Royal Institute of Technology, room D2, Lindstedtsvägen 9 floor 3, Stockholm.

Email MACUMBISTA at_the_domain GMAIL dot COM for a Zoom link.

Dissertation PDF available:

https://kth.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1962328/FULLTEXT01.pdf

Opponent: Prof. Sally Jane Norman (Victoria Uni of Wellington). Committee members: Prof.  Margaret Schedel (Stony Brook Uni); Assoc. Prof.  Kristina Andersen (Technical Uni Eindhoven); Assoc. Prof. James Mooney (Uni of Leeds). Alternate committee member:  Assoc. Prof. Airi Lampinen (Stockholm Uni). Supervisors: André Holzapfel (KTH) and Henrik Frisk (KMH). Advance reader: Assoc. Prof. Kjetil Falkenberg (KTH). Defense chairperson: Prof.  Kristina Höök (KTH). Thank you everyone for your support!

This dissertation investigates methods and strategies for reenacting historical sound and image synthesis instruments. A reenactment is neither a physical reconstruction nor a digital emulation, although it may involve aspects of both approaches. Rather, a reenactment explores the agencies of the persons, things, places, practices and ideas which gave rise to a specific audio/visual technology, and to the expressive possibilities which its users discovered in it. The reenactment then seeks congruences between these historical conditions and expressions, and those of our own time. In practice, the reenactment of an audio/visual instrument works through its historical conditions using modern technological means to address contemporary concerns. The results of this process could take the form of an analog instrument, a digital instrument, a hybrid device combining technologies of both, or even as an instrument of the future which does not exist yet. Regardless of its final form, the reenactment itself is an ongoing action rather than a fixed object, to be completed by persons through the practice of playing.

Derek Holzer PhD defense concert:

PARADOXICAL POTENTIALS
06 JUNE 2025 19:00
Fylkingen, Gröna Stugans Väg 2, 127 35 Bredäng
150 SEK / 100 SEK Fylkingen members

Electronic audio/visual instruments are paradoxical. They move backwards and forwards in time all at once. This evening at Fylkingen presents a number of approaches to live performance using self-made, improvised and experimental objects. Each paradoxical situation connects an idea of the past, a practice of the present, and a possibility of the future.

All the performing artists tonight have been invited by Derek Holzer in connection with the defense of his PhD thesis, “Reenactments: Engaging with Historical Audio/Visual Instruments”, taking place 09:00 THU 05 JUNE at KTH Stockholm. Paper copies of the thesis will be available at the Fylkingen event.

DEREK HOLZER
Derek Holzer is an audiovisual artist, researcher, lecturer, and electronic instrument creator based in Stockholm. He has performed live, taught workshops and created scores of unique instruments and installations since 2002 across Europe, North and South America, and New Zealand. He is currently a PhD researcher at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, focusing on historically informed audiovisual synthesis.
https://macumbista.net/

MARGARET SCHEDEL
Dr. Margaret Anne Schedel forges vital connections between classical music, audio data research, and innovative computational arts education, cultivating new possibilities at the boundaries where disciplines meet. Her diverse creative output includes multimedia operas, virtual reality experiences, sound art, video game scores, compositions for classical instruments with interactive electronics, and the development of custom interactive controllers.
http://schedel.net/

HELENA LINDER
Helena Linder builds and researches musical instruments. Having a background in physics, she finds beauty in scientific explorations of sound and light. In her project “Sirenology”, she creates an acoustic synthesizer inspired by the mechanisms and historical context of sirens as tools in 19th–century acoustics labs. For this evening at Fylkingen, she will perform a piece on bespoke siren instruments designed and composed together with Ryan Packard and Malte Dahlberg.
https://helenalinder.com/

YANN SEZNEC
Yann Seznec will find some sounds and will destroy some sounds.
https://www.yannseznec.com/

KELSEY COTTON
Known for her chameleonic musicianship and fearless performance of new and experimental works, Kelsey Cotton is a vocalist from Australia currently based in Göteborg, Sweden. After wandering off the path of classical voice, Kelsey found her home in the world of experimental, avant-garde and contemporary music. She has a special place in her heart for timbral techniques, graphic scores and performative works.
https://kelseycotton.com/

VINCENZO MADAGHIELE
Vincenzo Madaghiele is a musician and developer working on improvisation with algorithmic techniques. He combines sound-generating processes from various sources into feedback systems focusing on dynamic and textural relations. He is currently a doctoral researcher in musicology at the University of Oslo, where he investigates the design and application of autonomous systems in music improvisation.
https://www.vmad.me/

LEONARD LUND
Leonard Lund has an interest in the past and future of music. In his Master’s thesis at KTH he has explored using machine learning to enable novel ways of interaction with the Benjolin synthesizer. Outside of academia, he is the driving force behind Stockholm metal band Lombolo, where he combines traditional Nordic folk music with metal.
https://lomboloband.com/

HENRIK FRISK
Henrik Frisk is an active performer (saxophones and electronics) of improvised and contemporary music and a composer of acoustic and electroacoustic music. He is professor of music at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm teaching composition at the department for electroacoustic music. /The other side of black noise/ is an improvised performance using mainly sound sources from modules of the Dataton 3000 series instruments dating from the early 1970’s.
https://www.henrikfrisk.com/

I am pleased to announce the Benjolin RM (Ring Mod) series. This new iteration of the classic Benjolin instrument adds even more features for processing external sounds from your voice or acoustic instruments via a microphone — or from your mixer, sound card or other electronic instruments — through the Benjolin.

I have been developing these Benjolins under a license from Rob Hordijk since 2012, and since Rob’s passing I have obtained the kind permission of his successor Biyi Amez.

You can check out a manual-in-progress for the RM Series Macumbista Benjolins here:

http://macumbista.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Benjo-cheat-sheet-1.2-mid.pdf

Please follow the Macumbista Instruments page on Instagram for demos and updates:

https://www.instagram.com/macumbista_instruments/

Info and Prices

The Benjolin V6 RM instruments cost EUR 665 for all customers worldwide, plus shipping. These are available in green, blue, grey, and (occasionally) pink “hammered metal” finish wooden boxes as well as natural wood finish boxes. See the bottom of this post for color samples.

You can read more here about the basic instrument (non-RM version):

http://macumbista.net/?page_id=4770

The Butterfly Benjolin V4 RM instruments combine two Benjolin circuits and two Ring Modulators within a single system, and cost EUR 1265 for all customers worldwide, plus shipping. These are available in natural finish wood only.

You can read more here about the basic instrument (non-RM version):

http://macumbista.net/?page_id=4956

All my instruments are made-to-order, with a waiting time of several weeks depending on work load. The next batch of Benjolin RM series instruments will be shipped in December 2024.

Please contact by email for availability:

MACUMBISTA at-the-domain GMAIL dot COM

What’s New in the RM Series?

The RM series adds a Ring Modulator circuit to the standard Benjolin, which allows you to modulate external audio sent to the Benjolin with the Benjolin signals (TRI, PWM, or XOR) before passing it through the instrument’s resonant low pass filter. Two three-position switches on the front panel select which signals are used as inputs to the Ring Mod and to the VCF Low Pass Filter:

Color Swatches

Benjolin colors: Natural finish and Green, Blue, Grey and Pink (not shown) “hammered metal” wood finish. Please note the Butterfly Benjolin is only available in Natural wood finish.

We are proud to announce the streaming program of the Vector Hack conference and open call screenings, which runs from 5-7 OCT 2022. Vector Hack is a biennial international festival devoted to experimental analog vector graphics.

Vector Hack gathers researchers, developers, and artists from around the world to investigate experimental audiovisual works using oscilloscopes, lasers, and a variety of other media-archaeological techniques and devices. In a true community spirit, Vector Hack participants share ideas and develop work together alongside a program of talks and performances.

All live streams will be available at:

https://www.youtube.com/c/vectorhackfestival

This YouTube channel also contains extensive archives from previous events.

Full festival and conference program can be found at:

https://vectorhackfestival.com/2022/programme/

Our evening program of live performances from the open call will not be streamed live. They will be recorded and archived on our YouTube channel later.

30 second trailer for my upcoming talk at SIGGRAPH 2022 in Vancouver

Scan processing is an analog electronic image manipulation technology, typified by the Scanimate (1969) and the Rutt/Etra Video Synthesizer (1973), which revolutionized commercial animation and inspired a generation of experimental video artists. This paper looks at the histories, functions, and uses of scan processing and proposes a contemporary reenactment.

TUE 9 AUG 2:15pm – 3:45pm PDT: Art Papers_Roundtable Session: Visions: CV and Image Capture

https://s2022.siggraph.org/presentation/?id=artpl_141

Derek Holzer 30% PhD seminar: 11th March, 11am (GMT +1)

Discussant: Professor Thor Magnusson, University of Sussex

Contact me at idholzer AT kth DOT se for a Zoom link

Title: Historically Informed Audiovisual Synthesis

Abstract: This project explores vintage audiovisual synthesis technology from the 1960s and 1970s used in Sweden at the Royal College of Music (KMH), Elektronmusikstudion (EMS), Swedish national radio (SR) and television (SVT), and in the private studios of composers such as Ralph Lundsten and Leo Nilsson. Specific examples of these technological artifacts have been archived by the Swedish Performing Arts Agency (Statens Musikverket) and the Performing Arts Museum (Scenkonstmuseet). A number of these instruments are unique specimens which represent visionary, idiosyncratic, and often commercially unsuccessful attempts to reinvent production methods of creative media according to specific visions of the future. Their uniqueness as heritage objects under conservation has also restricted public access to many of them. We propose that, if the original instruments no longer exist or cannot be maintained in usable conditions for artists and designers to work with, then contemporary re-enactments of these instruments can be produced. Through an iterative design process involving artists and designers, we hope to create instruments which renew historical creative visions and transcend the technical obsolescence into which many of them fell.

We aim to address the following research questions:

How can the ethics and affordances of a historical creative media instrument be re-enacted within a contemporary context, using contemporary technical means?

What does a user of these historically-informed instruments gain from such a re-enactment?

New Light 2022 from macumbista on Vimeo.

Dear friends and colleagues,

I am currently a year and a half into my five year PhD project at KTH
Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. My research focuses on
historical electronic sound instruments from Sweden and Finland during
the 1960’s and 70’s. I have included some work on visual synthesis
devices from the 1970’s as well, which continues the Vector Synthesis
project I began several years ago.

At the moment, my research is incredibly challenging, and it leaves me
little time for creating artworks of my own, so it was nice to take some time to make the video you see in this post. I hope that will change
over the coming months. I have also closed my electronic instrument
building business and will be passing production onto someone else’s
capable hands shortly.

The last couple of years have been challenging for everyone of course,
so I wish you all new light for 2022!

With warm regards from Sweden,
Derek

Henrik Frisk and myself are proud to announce a unique opportunity for students of KMH, KTH, and Konstfack to get involved with ongoing research into the history of electronic music in Sweden. The Sounds of Futures Passed workshop invites composers, engineers, and designers of sonic possibilities to investigate rare and unusual sound synthesis instruments formerly used at the Kungl. Musikhögskolan and Elektronmusikstudion EMS Stockholm.

We will speculate on what kind of aspirations for the musical future might have gone into the design and construction of these devices in the past, and on what sort of ideas about the use of sound instruments we can take from them into our own musical futures.

The workshop takes place over three ZOOM sessions (01 DEC, 08 DEC, 15 DEC), with team work taking place at KMH during the days between the meetings to compose with and analyze the functions of one specific instrument, the DATATON SYSTEM 3000 designed by Björn Sandlund in the 1970’s.

Students can send questions or register their interest in participating by email to idholzer AT THE DOMAIN kth.se and henrik.frisk AT THE DOMAIN kmh.se with the subject line: SYNTH WORKSHOP

This is the first in a series of investigations, each focused on a different historical device from the collected archives of EMS, Statens Musikverket, and the Scenkonstmuseet, with the goal of producing new, historically-informed sound synthesis instruments and interfaces. The project is supported by the Swedish Research Council/Vetenskapsrådet.

Over the weekend of 2-4 OCT 2020, I have been remotely co-organizing the Vector Hack 2020 festival in Rijeka Croatia with Ivan Marušić Klif and Chris King. This event is a result of my involvement in the areas of media archaeology and audiovisual synthesis, and features presentations and works by a variety of contemporary and historical figures in computer and electronic arts.

All talks have been live streamed as well as archived on YouTube for later viewing. There is also an evening streaming program of work screenings.

Featured artists and presenters include:

Francesca Franco, Tomislav Mikulić, Paloma Kop, Rue Bainbridge, Potar Anar, Skooby Laposky/Ben Laposky, Benjamin Heidersberger/Heinrich Heidersberger, James Nolan Gandy, Eric Lennartson, Charles Deluga, Anthony Elliott, Derek Holzer, Ivan Marušić Klif, Alberto Novello, Bernd Ulmann, Stefanie Bräuer, Ted Davis, Andrei Jay, Joseph Hyde, Michael Honeycomb, Shojiro Nakaoka, Miha Vipotnik, Tadej Droljc, Optokoppler, Sofy Yuditskaya, Branimir Štivić, Hrvoje Radnić, Antti Tenetz, David Francus/Hrvoje Nikšić, James Lehman, Dirk de Bruin, and David Françus

Please visit the following sites for further info:

https://vectorhackfestival.com/2020/

https://www.youtube.com/c/VectorHackFestival/

Image credit: Bernd Ulmann, “Analog Chaos”

with DEREK HOLZER and VASULKA KITCHEN BRNO

Tuesday, 20 October, 2020 – 18:30 to 20:30
Thursday, 22 October, 2020 – 18:30 to 20:30
Tuesday, 27 October, 2020 – 18:30 to 20:30
Thursday, 29 October, 2020 – 18:30 to 20:30

The Vector Synthesis workshop, led by audiovisual artist and researcher Derek Holzer, investigates the direct relationship between sound and image. It draws inspiration from the work of artists such as Mary Ellen Bute, Nam June Paik, Steina and Woody Vasulka, and Gary Hill; from the media archaeology of computer graphics; from obsolete technologies such as the Cathode Ray Tube monitor, the Scanimate, and the Rutt/Etra Video Synthesizer; and from contemporary laser display techniques. This workshop is ideal for musicians, sound artists, animators, and visual artists who want to work with oscilloscope and laser imagery.

DATES: OCT 20/22/27/29 2020

TIME: 18:30-20:30 Central European Time

MAX PARTICIPANTS: 12

COST: FREE

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Participants will learn how to draw Lissajous figures, render simple two- and three-dimensional shapes, and process photographs and video into vector artwork which can be displayed on oscilloscopes and ILDA laser displays using audio signals. These vector shapes can animated and further modified in real time using external audio sources such as voice, amplified instruments, or electronic synthesizers provided by the participants.

The core of the workshop will be ready-to-use examples written in the Pure Data programming language.

The language of this workshop is English.

The maximum amount of participants is 12.

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REQUIREMENTS

• No experience with Pure Data is required to participate, beginners are welcome. 
• A background with either digital audio or digital moving image is helpful.
• Participants are required to attend all four days of the course, and to complete three assignments in total between the sessions.
• Participants should have their own computers, with software installed according to pre-event instructions sent by email.
• Participants may wish to use an external audio interface or MIDI controller, however neither are required.

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TIMETABLE

All sessions from 18:30-20:30 Central European Time.

• Pre-workshop: participants should make sure all software required is installed and configured before the first session. Detailed instructions will be sent once participation is confirmed.
• TUE 22.10.20: Installation questions, introduction to Vector Synthesis principles (vector vs raster images), introduction to Pure Data environment, working with signals to generate sound and image, first assignment.
• THU 24.10.20: Viewing of first assignments, assignment questions, working with 2D and 3D image files, external audio inputs, second assignment.
• TUE 27.10.20: Viewing of second assignments, assignment questions, working with digital image and video files (scan processing), MIDI and presets, third assignment.
• THU 29.10.20: Viewing of third assignments, assignment questions, working with hardware (oscilloscopes, vector monitors, Vectrex consoles, ILDA laser displays), capturing with video cameras, conclusions.
• By the end of the workshop, participants will have written at least three Pure Data compositions, one of which will be chosen and recorded to video for public presentation on the Vasulka Kitchen website.

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HOW TO APPLY

Please write an email to Vasulka Kitchen vasulkakitchen@gmail.com with the subject line VECTOR SYNTHESIS WORKSHOP by the end of 04 OCT 2020 (23:59 CET). In this email, please describe:  

• Your artistic background.
• Why you are interested in taking this workshop.
• Any experience you have with the creation of sound, moving image, and/or interactive media on the computer.

We will make a selection to ensure the most diverse group possible, and inform the selected participants by the end of 06 OCT 2020.

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WORKSHOP INSTRUCTOR

Derek Holzer (USA 1972) is an audiovisual artist, researcher, lecturer, and electronic instrument creator based in Stockholm. He has performed live, taught workshops and created scores of unique instruments and installations since 2002 across Europe, North and South America, and New Zealand. He is currently a PhD researcher in Sound and Music Computing at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, focusing on historically informed sound synthesis design.      

http://macumbista.net

https://www.instagram.com/macumbista/

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FURTHER INFORMATION

You can see examples of what you might do here:         

https://vimeo.com/macumbista/

You can view the Vector Synthesis code here:         

https://github.com/macumbista/vectorsynthesis/

The homepage of the Vasulka Kitchen with a listing for this workshop can be found here:

https://vasulkakitchen.org/en/vector-synthesis

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There have been some big changes for me in the last few months, and soon I will be moving to Stockholm to begin a PhD focused on recreating historical synthesizers used in Sweden during the 1960’s and 70’s. Before I move, I will do one last batch of instruments in July, to be shipped by mid-August.

If you have any interest in one of the following instruments, please get in touch by email to macumbista@gmail.com before Monday 06 July.

Macumbista Benjolin V5

http://macumbista.net/?page_id=4770

The original Rob Hordijk Benjolin with some special modifications. They are licensed by agreement with Hordijk and lovingly hand made.

EUR 565 (incl. 19% EU VAT) / EUR 475 (for customers outside the EU), plus shipping costs.

Macumbista Butterfly Benjolin V3

http://macumbista.net/?page_id=4956

A double Benjolin with extensive cross-modulation possibilities including the ability to clock both Rungler control voltage generators from the same source.

EUR 1065 (incl. 19% EU VAT) / EUR 895 (shipped outside the EU), plus shipping costs.

Macumbista FuzzTone SoundBox

http://macumbista.net/?page_id=4372

A battery-powered, 1 Watt amplifier with Germanium transistor feedback and circuit bending touchpoints.

EUR 225 (incl. 19% EU VAT) / EUR 190 (shipped outside the EU) plus shipping.

A 50% deposit will be required to secure your order. All instruments ship from Helsinki, Finland.

This will be the final batch of instruments I sell within the foreseeable future. So if you have considered ordering something, now is the time to do it. Unfortunately, I do not have time for any custom work, nor for other instruments not on this list.

I wish you safety, health, and well-being during these wild times.
Derek