Saturday August 21 * Noon-2pm * outside at Rhizome * PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED
Introducing the EyeTron, another small, yet surprisingly complex little light-sensitive noise maker from VF designed for weirdos, STEM evangelists, musicians and other folks who just aren't all that into the weekend sports routine. So what is it? Well, it’s obviously an optical synthesizer. And its obviously related to our other synth, the Eyecillator. In fact, its actually three Eyecillators on one board. However, unlike the Eyecillator, instead of using some wacky phone ringer chip to add extra chirpy-ness we went another route – in this case eschewing a traditional mixer section in favor of a CMOS-based pseudo ring-mod chip, heavily inspired by Korg’s MS synths and (probably even moreso) the world of Tom Bugs. The sound is… thud-like.
For those looking for more or a description on the mechanics of it all beyond a random Captain Beefheart quote, dig this: the first two Eyecillators are modulated together. Then, that output is modulated by another Eyecillator. The result – a quite angry mixture of square waves, rage and chaos. And we all love those, right? And if you don’t, hey, there’s a cute penguin on the back to make up for the shortcomings. And everyone loves cute. Everyone.
A la logistics: the workshop will go from 12 PM – 2 PM and all materials will be provided. No prior electronics experience is needed and yes, you get to keep this synth at the end of the workshop. Price is $60 and since it’s an autonomous noisemaker, no guitar, etc is needed unless you really, really want to share something. As with VF workshops from before the bug, we strive to keep the atmosphere casual, informative and friendly – and SAFE. Speaking of, for those wondering what precautions we’ll be taking, the workshop will be outdoors, we will be practicing social distancing, all tools will be sanitized before and after use, masks will be encouraged and your intrepid instructor is fully vaccinated. A small VauxFlores pop-up shop will also be on-site for anyone interested in nabbing something without having to solder it themselves, as per tradition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rKvNv_BweE&t=46s