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TWO SYSTEMS
MUSIC BY MODULAR SYNTHESISERS

Featuring sounds made exclusively on the Moog Modular System 3C and the Formant Modular Synthesiser. Performed by WRANGLER and SCANNER.

Since the electronic synthesiser was invented, its usefulness to civilisation has been limited more by the imagination of man than by the capability of the hardware. Accepting the possibilities opened up by such devices has been the great challenge put to the modern composer. Here, two such machines have been made available on which to create two new pieces of music.

First, composer-performers Benge and Winters [AKA Wrangler] perform on a 1968 Moog Modular 3C. On the other side of the record renowned electronic composer Scanner [real name Robin Rimbaud] performs on the 1978 Formant Modular Synthesiser. Both these systems are subtractive analogue modular synthesisers, which require the manipulation of patch cords, various knobs and switches, sequencers and event generators to create their sounds and rhythms.

It is hoped that the music contained on this disc demonstrates that these electronic machines are not to be regarded merely as ancillary tools but as essential components in the complex process of generating auditory signals that fulfill a variety of new principles of a generalised aesthetics. The ideas advanced here may well lead to exiting and publicly accepted music of the future.

Side A '1968 Moog Modular' by Wrangler >br />Side B '1978 Formant Modular' by Scanner

See also: Benge 'Twenty Systems 1968-1988', a further exploration of the development of electronic synthesisers manufactured during that 20 year period.