I was a little bit slow into figuring out how to do these posts and use GitHub, so I am going to write about what I was doing in the first two weeks of research.

Beginning Summer Research

Because my advisor was out of town, and because I was egar to start research, I began by reading… a lot on my own. From May 20-31 I was beginning to situate my project and contextualize it within other research. I didn’t know it then, but I would call it somewhat of a Literature Review.

Building a Modular Synthesizer

On Monday May 20 and Tuesday May 21, I built the Teenage Engineering Pocket Operator Modular 400 Modular Synthesizer with Sequencer and was toying around with all of the modules and patches I could create. I didn’t really make anything that awesome but it was such a great opportunity for learning to be able to sit infront of the synth for two days by myself and figure some thigns out.

Sources

The rest of the week and next I did some reading and research. I created a Zotero to keep track.

Tactile Workbook

Furthermore, I did some planning for what a potential tactile zine or workbook could look like. I think it would consist of information provided in the TE 400 book and information about modular synthesizers in general.

Interest in the Project

The group of us at FMDG music school think the students would be really engaged with this project especially if the skills resulted in them being able to make some electronic and more contemporary music. When Matthew did a little demo of the teenage engineering modular synth the students were really engaged, entrigued, and excited about it. I think something to keep in mind and a project to work on later would be some kind of “meow” or cat filter to run the synth through. I think this synth could be a really interesting and engaging way for beginner students to engage with basic ideas in music technology and electronic circuitry.