![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tyondai_braxton.jpg\")
Tyondai Braxton. Photo by Bill Kopp<\/p><\/div>\n
Make Noise grew from there. The first module was eventually put into regular production, and its success led the way toward development and marketing of other modules. Today, the company has about a dozen employees at its West Asheville facility, and the Make Noise product line features more than 20 modules and several synthesizers.<\/p>\n
Innovative, groundbreaking experimental musical artists like Tyondai Braxton are among those deeply immersed in the world of modular synthesis; Braxton was one of the featured performers at Make Noise\u2019s 10th-anniversary showcase concert. The co-founder of art-rock group Battles, Braxton\u2019s compositions include HIVE1 <\/em>from 2015,<\/em> a work that premiered at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.<\/p>\n Speer says that the celebration\u2019s musically diverse lineup focused on \u201cartists who we\u2019re excited about. And the work to which we at Make Noise tend to be drawn is all over the map in terms of style; it\u2019s more about intent.\u201d Other performers at the Diana Wortham Theatre show included Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe (known for his spontaneous arrangements of modular synthesis and voice); Los Angeles-based Bana Haffar, creator of shimmering analog compositions; Meg Mulhearn (an Asheville-based songwriter who also composes for film) and thump\/techno innovator Moe Espinosa in his guise as Hypox1a.<\/p>\n The Make Noise celebration weekend extended well beyond that showcase. On Saturday, Ambrose West hosted four panel discussions, all free and open to the public. Artists from the Friday concert led a discussion on performing and composing with modular synthesizers, and other panels explored related topics, including building community through modular synthesis.<\/p>\n Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center hosted a sonic sculpture by Richard Devin; while at the Asheville Movement Center, an endless loop of films by Sean Patrick Curtis was displayed. In conjunction with the All Go West Festival, Make Noise partnered to host a dance party and concerts at Black Cloud and The Mothlight. Make Noise\u2019s anniversary celebration concludes with a series of modular synthesis performances, a free event billed as Modular on the Spot, and held at French Broad River Park.<\/p>\n \u201cPart of what we do at Make Noise is based in the engineering of these things,\u201d says Speer. \u201cAnd part is based in the celebration of the art that these things help create.\u201d<\/p>\n In fall 2012, Make Noise unveiled its first complete modular unit. Dubbed the Shared System, it features \u201cthe majority of what we had at the time in terms of oscillators, modulators and controllers,\u201d Speer says.<\/p>\n The Shared System was unveiled in a unique manner: Initially, there was only one unit, and it was put to use by several artists in succession, \u201ceach of whom would compose on it,\u201d Speer explains. \u201cIt was mailed from one artist to the next,\u201d crisscrossing the country.<\/p>\n In 2012 and 2013, a series of 7-inch vinyl discs was released on Make Noise Records. Each showcased the results of one artist\u2019s work with the new Shared System. To date, the label has released a handful of titles, all featuring artists who employ Make Noise modular gear. The latest releases are titles by two of the artists featured at the June 15 concert: Haffar and Hypox1a.<\/p>\n While Make Noise has its foundation in traditional analog synthesis, Speer says that the company \u201cembrace[s] a lot of the digital possibilities\u201d as well. Make Noise\u2019s product offerings include several digital modules. Some of these, Speer says, make multiple digital techniques \u2014 additive synthesis, phase modulation and noise-based synthesis \u2014 available simultaneously. While that claim might not mean much to the casual observer, in the world of synthesis it\u2019s something of a breakthrough.<\/p>\n Through close cooperation and interaction with artists, Make Noise has been able to remain responsive to the wants and needs of synthesists. And Speer has a good handle on what lies behind the enduring appeal of modular synthesis, a concept that was pioneered in the early 1960s by Don Buchla in Berkeley, Calif., and Robert A. Moog, then working in upstate New York.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of people are drawn to the customization,\u201d Speer says. Users enjoy the freedom to effectively create the instrument as they see fit. \u201cWhen you pull the cables out, [a modular synthesizer] doesn\u2019t make a sound,\u201d he points out, \u201cso it appeals to people who like to have a certain amount of control and agency to experiment with new sounds.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Asheville, N.C.-based inventor Tony Rolando founded Make Noise in 2008 to develop and sell analog synthesizer modules. The company has thrived and grown and moved into development of complete modular […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14895,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,26,41,44],"tags":[237,3498,2286],"class_list":["post-14894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avant-garde","category-electronica","category-interview","category-live-shows","tag-asheville","tag-make-noise","tag-tyondai-braxton","cat-7-id","cat-26-id","cat-41-id","cat-44-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14894"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14898,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14894\/revisions\/14898"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/makenoise_shared.jpg\")
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