Elisabeth Schimana, Gregor Ladenhauf, Manon Liu Winter: Hell Machine

Title:

Hell Machine

Artist(s) and People Involved:

Performers:



• Elisabeth Schimana
• Gregor Ladenhauf
• Manon Liu Winter

Symposium:

• ISEA2010: 16th International Symposium on Electronic Art

Venue(s):

• Folkwang University of the Arts , Essen-Werden , Germany

Art Event Overview:

A journey into the depths of a unique machine, which is the legacy of the composer Max Brand; the ancestor of the Moog synthesizer, it is a monstrous instrument that took decades to develop. Played by a first-rate pianist, it bristles and rattles through the ether of subharmonic frequencies. A journey to hell with no return.

The first circuit diagram by Bob Moog is dated in 1957. In more than ten years the young engineer Bob Moog together with the composer Max Brand are developing this unic machine. The interface design bear traces of Max Brad, who used to play the machine and probably was one of the first studio musicians: 2 keyboards, 2 bandmanuals, 4 foot pedals! The heart are 2 master oscillator with frequency dividers generating up to 20 subfrequences, which can be regulated separately in three blocks by a matrix – and the first by Moog designed voltage controlled modules like VCA, VCO and VCF.

This machine is the result of a collaboration between a visionary composer and a genius engineer and force us to beat out its mighty sounds and elicit subtle vibrations from it.

Elisabeth Schimana: composition for the Max Brand Synthesizer; Manon Liu Winter & Gregor Ladenhauf: operators

Sponsors:

Sponsored by: Land Niederösterreich, Österreischisches Kulturforum Berlin, IMA Institut für Medienarchäologie, Bundesministerium für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur. Provided (lend) by Max-Brand-Archiv, Langenzersdorf (AT), Wienbibliothek im Rathaus, Musiksammlung

Category:

• Performances
• Concert - Audio