Folktek

An early work that ended up in the hands of Allesandro Cortini of NIN.

from the archive;

"The key to unlocking any doorway The sound this device makes is very much unlike any other synthesizer on the planet. It is not at all an attempt at something that sounds familiar or comfortable. It is not played in conventional ways and is difficult as often as it is fluid. The sound is deep and rich and noisy - occasionally crystal clear metallics will manifest. The delay is gritty and dirty and creates endless dubs. There are chances at very glitchy-random sounds, but as a whole it is not completely random at all. Everything works from a certain set of coordinates like anything else to generate tones and effects. But it's how those coordinates may tend to travel in the direction of the fourth dimension that determines the result.

A sound object without history will recreate itself constantly. Aside from the power level of the 9volt battery you're using and how it effects the overall sound - you can basically recreate sounds with the appropriate patches and play the pitch/mod speed with the keys for brilliant glitchy orchestral tonal-noise. An external mixer is almost completely neseccary to adjust the levels properly and cut the sound completely. Used properly live it can create thick atmospherics and drones and swells. As a sample source it seems to be best for bass elements and depth. The optic eyes make this piece a pleasure to play - the craziest optical theremin responding to light waves. It is an art piece, and the synthesizer really is just one aspect - the sound is a part of the whole. History has provided the new ancient - acquiring the grease of the ages and regurgitating sounds that reflect it's color. Old and gritty, worn out with a load of time on it's back - can't keep a train of thought cause the tracks have collapsed - and been composted (aka- sent back) to the soil from which it's sprouted. Only this is the remnant of future elements - went and saw the sun set 9 years from NOW and came back to tell us about it. Missed it's cue and got unborn, had to be rebuilt with only missing pieces. These missing pieces had to be dug from the very depths of the tar pits of the conscious collective - and once collected - reassembled using the tar to give the creative inspiration injections - and the result is the direction.

The track below was done using only the skeleton keys as a sound source - it's about 5 minutes...In the beginning there is a straight recording being altered live, toward the middle is a beat made completely using samples from this device, toward the end is some straight recording with a slight filtering...This sound file was recorded first onto a multitrack tape recorder then sent into the computer and converted into mp3 (medium quality)..."