Performers

Always Free! No tickets required 🙂

Have you ever wanted to take some gear to the park or camping? Wondered how you might get power, or how you could mix and record those nature inspired performances? Paul Stillwell is going to talk about this topic and the design of his evolving battery operated jam rig. He may even perform something with it while running on battery power, of course!

Derek Simmons will also do a little talk on modular synths and performance. Focusing thoughts on module selection and module placement in a performance case.

Performing this month:
Matt Nish-Lapidus fresh off an awesome Album Launch performance at Handlebar on Jan 31 and Les Hartai who was last heard at the December workshop in a memorable duet with Angus Tarnawsky. Derek Simmons who returned to FF last month after being MIA for a while due to work responsibilities is also going to perform

Check out some of Les’ sound here: https://greenheavycanvas.bandcamp.com/

Check out Matt’s new album here: https://sm-ll.bandcamp.com/album/batch-0008 and older stuff here: https://newtendencies.bandcamp.com/

Check out Paul’s music here:
https://paulstillwell.bandcamp.com/

Check out some of Derek’s music here: https://soundcloud.com/rezzn8r

This month we have Biologik talking about The Beauty of Random – Using Randomness to develop melodies.  We also have Not Your Average Worker Bees performing a short set to introduce the newest Bee.  This set will combine live improvised electronic music with live, improvised digital and analog visuals.

There is always room for more music!  Bring your gear, show it off, ask questions, get answers, play a short set!

Not Your Average Worker Bees is an interesting project as it has come together as a direct result of Frequency Freaks!  Their music finds it’s roots in both experimental electronic music (avant-garde, Musique Concrête) and traditional Berlin School offerings (Tangerine Dream, Node, etc.).  The members feel that the addition of live visuals has taken their live creative dialogues to new heights!

Biologik is a man with a long history in the underground dance scene. Part of the trio of musical visionaries responsible for the foundation of the Proton Radio concept in 2002, the Canadian has gone on to become a leading figure in the world of music production. A man whose talent centres upon the use of outboard synths and modular equipment, the Biologik sound has seen the Toronto resident flourish in both the live and studio environments. A self-proclaimed love of “lush pads and crunchy beats” has seen Biologik develop a distinctive production style that encompasses elements of progressive, deep and tech house with a smattering of techno thrown in for good measure. Live personal appearances in North America and Europe have become a staple of the Biologik sound as has an enviable production career. Three full-length albums for Proton Music and Silk Sofa are the centrepiece of an extraordinary body of work that includes a Beatport “Album of the Year” in 2013 for “Two” and a collection of downtempo offerings in “Dreamcatcher” that offers music from the Biologik soul. Alongside, a half-century of production credits for Black Hole Recordings, Pure Trance, Pure Progressive, Particles, Proton, Stellar Fountain, Sleepless Nights and ICONYC tell the story of a man full of passion and talent. Biologik also produces soundbanks for various synthesizers including the Elektron Analog Four and has a forthcoming pack for the Moog Sub-37.

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Happy New Year!!!

Hope you have all received some nice, noisy gifts over the season or been able to take advantage at some of the awesome sales that have gone (and are still going) on!

We have a pretty cool workshop lined up for the first one of 2018!

For those who haven’t heard, there is a new manufacturer in town making some pretty cool modules!  Matthew Skala from North Coast Synthesis is going to join us to talk about his current offerings, and future plans.  Check out https://northcoastsynthesis.com and his bio below.

Back in November, some of us went to see our own Android Dreams perform at The Cavern in downtown Toronto.  It was a very cool show!  One of the other acts on the bill was jefftheworld.  Jeff Alyanak does device hacking and circuit bending to create his synthesizers and then uses them for performance.  After talking with Jeff for a bit after the show we thought it would be cool for him to come and show us how he does that.  So, Jeff will also be coming to share some cool stuff with us and maybe do a little performance!  You can check out his web site at https://jefftheworld.com and his bio is also below.

Bio’s

Matthew Skala got his start in hobby electronics in the 1980s, spent some time in amateur radio, and even completed one of those NRI electronics correspondence courses that they used to advertise in magazines, before the Internet hit and digital computers became the big thing. Then he pursued computer science for a while, earning a PhD from the University of Waterloo. He specialized in high-dimensional geometry and its applications to such fields as security, database search, and computational linguistics. He spent about 15 years in academic research and teaching at universities in Canada and Denmark. In 2017 he left the academic world to start his own business in Toronto. North Coast Synthesis brings the fine art of handmade electronics to Eurorack modular synthesizers. North Coast products are meant for serious hobbyists and do-it-yourselfers, with a focus on top-quality components; excellent technical openness and documentation; and long-term maintainability.

Jeff Alyanak is an avid gamer, programmer, hacker and DIY fanatic.  He grew up as the son of a music studio owning father and a singer/songwriter mother, so it’s no surprise that he put all of those elements together and began using his old game boys & nintendos to make crazy music with antiquated programmable sound generators.

“Heavy basslines, frantic rhythms and airy leads. With an arsenal of antiquated hardware and software – Game Boys, Atari computers, DOS software – coupled with cutting edge and homebrew technology – Kaoss Pads, circuit-bent keyboards, Guitar Hero controllers – jefftheworld pumps out some seriously fun music.