In recent years, he’s jettisoned the trumpet (at least temporarily) and has worked primarily with analog electronics. Playing a modular synth in concert presents a challenge, since unlike its eminently predictable digital counterpart, it’s by nature a capricious instrument. And Karel chooses not to use a computer to control the modular system, preferring what he describes as a “got-to-play-it-to-get-sound-out” method of analog synthesis. “Part of the charm is the unpredictability, but it’s also part of the frustration. The few times that I’ve performed using a computer, it’s amazing what a relief it’s been, simply because things go exactly as you think they will. But that [unpredictability] is part of the roughness of the sound that I like.”
THREE LEGGED RACE + CABOLADIES + KEITH FULLERTON WHITMAN + ASTRONAUT + ERNST KAREL | P.A.’s Lounge, 345 Somerville Avenue, Somerville | December 18 | 617. 776.1557
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