EMS Synthi 100
Project Duration
01/01/2020 – 31/12/2026
Contact
Summary
In 1978, IPEM acquired an EMS Synthi 100, and after 40 years it is still fully operational, depite the many times it was moved about, not always in good circumstances. Thanks to the good care by its technician and best friend Ivan Schepers, today the legendary soundmachine is still attracting a wide audience. The release by Soulwax of an album and book, with new compositions and documentation, as a tribute to the Synthi 100, is certainly illustrating this.
Lately IPEM and it’s Art-Science-Interaction Lab [ASIL] has integrated the artistic heritage within a digital culture and science context of new inventions with new technology, notwithstanding AR/VR/XR approaches. Combining ‘living heritage’ [Cultural heritage can only persist when there is renewal and interest in it from a younger generation, creative and connecting!] with diverse art-science approaches, a new network developments are offering new immersive experiences.
DEEWEE – EMS Synthi 100: listenening session in 4DSound (December 2023)
David & Stephen Dewaele (aka Soulwax/2manydjs) have always been fascinated by collecting instruments and recording gear. Their passion hasn’t been born by completism: simply every new item inspires a world of new possibilities. The one item that always eluded them was the EMS Synthi 100 – a huge and rare analogue/digital hybrid synthesizer that can create a near infinite array of sounds.
The album sounds simultaneously futuristic and retro as it highlights the versatility, uniqueness and warmth of the Synthi 100. Remarkably, a synthesizer that was first launched in 1971 continues to excel in 2020, aided only by patient restoration and fresh creative input. Each side of the vinyl features a long piece of music, each of which is divided into three movements. While they can be heard separately, David & Stephen Dewaele, urge people to listen to the entire experience from start to finish.
Especially for Ocean Of Sound, DEEWEE created – with the help of studio wonder Pim Gombeers – a 4DSOUND version of this already legendary album. For this they went to Berlin to mix the composition in MONOM’s 4DSOUND studio. Immersive composition created in 4DSOUND. The artist is not playing live.
Credits
Composed, recorded, produced and mixed at DEEWEE by David & Stephen Dewaele | This album was created with the help of and in collaboration with IPEM, Gent | Photography: Younes Klouche | Art direction: III-Studio | Spatialized and produced by Monom Studios, commissioned by STUK – House for Dance, Image & Sound, for Ocean Of Sound 2023 | In the context of: New Horizons | Dieric Bouts Festival, an initiative of KU[N]ST Leuven | Special thanks to: Pim Gombeer
https://www.diericboutsfestival.be/nl/agenda/deewee-ems-synthi-100
Paul Pignon Creatures Talk Global s
This is a project involving three Synth 100’s in different parts of the globe communicating over a peer-to-peer internet connection: Athens, Beograd, Gent. On each of them I created what I call a Zoetic Engine, consisting of several “creatures”, patches which are autonomously active, alive I like to say, or one could just say “automata”, but also responsive to sound input from the outside world.
Evening on Klara (classical radio) about the EMS Synthi 100
Late Night Shift stelt op donderdag 28 mei graag de nieuwe plaat van David & Stephen Dewaele aan je voor. EMS Synthi 100, het resultaat van hun verkenningstocht op de legendarische EMS Synthi 100 van het Gentse IPEM, het Instituut voor Psychoacustica en Elektronische Muziek. En met Ivan Schepers, Pieter-Jan Maes en Bavo Van Kerrebroeck van het IPEM gaan we ook dieper in op de geschiedenis van het IPEM en deze unieke synth. Klara, Blijf Verwonderd!
