Electronic music productions: from WUR [1984-1993] to controlvoltage.org
controlvoltage.org is a studio and live electronic music project I started in 1984 initially under the moniker WUR (german translation of Karel Capek's drama "R.U.R. Rossum's Universal Robots"). First recorded outputs were influenced by the live electronic scene of the 1970s, contemporary avantgarde composers like Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luciano Berio and Luigi Nono or the industrial and EM of the early 1980s (Einstürzende Neubauten, Coil, Nocturnal Emissions and Test Dept in particular). Current all-analogue productions are filtered through a Düsseldorf-School and dark ambient attitude, reminding more on artists like Conrad Schnitzler or early Kraftwerk. Most productions are conceived in collaboration with visual arts artists and presented in art-related spaces such as museums and galleries or in unusual venues not usually designed for musical performances.
Releases & live electronics as WUR [1984 - 1994]
"Lob der Grausamkeit", C18, 1984 [distributed by ADN Records Milano and Calypso Now, Biel, out of print]; "Lacrimae Christi", soundtrack for a video by Lorenzo Bianda about the swiss artist Mario Comensoli, 1986 [out of print]; "Stahlruine", C26, 1986 [distributed by ADN Records Milano and Calypso Now, Biel]; buy an original on Discogs / listen / purchase on Bandcamp; "Kn", ambients for an installation of swiss artist Franco Lafranca, galleria Arteria, Locarno, 1987; Listen / purchase on Bandcamp; "Memorie Magnetiche 1>4", C40, 1987 [out of print]; "Natalis Solis Invicti", mixed-media performance, Liceo cantonale Locarno, 1989; "Induratio Penis Plastica", live electronics at the happening "Obliquo in tenda" with Pro Helvetia, Locarno, 1989; "Soft Sector 48 TPI", live with Walter Stolz, Bar Sport Locarno, 1989; "Klarismus", ambients for an exhibition of swiss artists Daniel Maillet, Gianmario Togni and Massimo Verzasconi, Museo Elisarion Minusio, 1990; Listen / purchase on Bandcamp; "Chant/Höhenstille" for flute and ring modulator, with Giuseppe De Giacomi and Sandro Marrama, Theatre of the Italian Embassy in Locarno, 1990; "All'inferno non bruciano" [hommage à Fortunato Depero], mixed-media performance, Teatro Paravento, Locarno, 1990; "Figurazioni siderali 1>9", for tape and live electronics, "L'Altro Suono 2" festival, Locarno, 1991; "Fecon MW 286", live electronics, Cantina del Negromante, Locarno, 1993; "Analog Technodelia", for tape and live electronics, at "Sabbione 1994", Val Bavona, 1994; "Kindertotenstimmen", for tape and live electronics, galleria "Sotto una buona stella", Locarno, 1994;
For current productions please visit my Bandcamp.
Instruments & sound sources 1984-present
Currently, vintage EMS and Moog instruments and a small Eurorack modular represent my main sound sources. Digital equipment is still used only for recording and sound editing.
Back in the 1980s my first home-studio was equipped with a small Roland Studio 100 M modular system, an OSCar monosynth and a Yamaha DX7 synthesizer. Recording was done with a Tascam M-208 8-channel recording mixer, a Tascam 234 Syncaset 4-track double speed cassette tape recorder and a Revox B77 reel to reel tape machine. For live electronics i almost exclusively used a small TMS modular system, a Serge Modular clone built in the late 1970s by Ernst Thoma (1953-2020), a very talented swiss avantgarde sound designer, composer and performer.
As in the late 1980s and early 1990s analogue synthesizers became affordable at very low prices, a lot of wonderful sounding machines were added to the studio (see list below), but only a few of these instruments were used for productions, in most cases they were later exchanged or reselled within the collectors circuit. Some of them are now showcased at the Synthorama synthesizer museum in Luterbach, Switzerland.
Studio gear as WUR [1982-1993]
Synthesizer & drum machines: ARP Odyssey Mk1, Quadra, Solina strings; Boss DR-55, DR-110; EMS Synthi AKS; Ensoniq EPS sampler; Korg MS 20, MS 10, Mono/Poly; MFB 601 sequencer; Moog Minimoog D, Polymoog, Source, Satellite; Oberheim Four Voice, DX drumcomputer; OSC Oscar rev. 7; PPG Wave 2.3; Roland System 100 (101 + 102), System 100 sequencer, System 100M (8 modules in 1983, 25 modules in 1990) with 4-CV keyboard, CSQ 100 sequencer, Jupiter 8, Jupiter 6, Jupiter 4, Promars, SH-02, VP 330 vocoder / strings, TR-808, TR-909; SCI Prophet 5 rev. 3.0, Prophet 600; TMS Modular, a Serge Modular clone built by swiss avantgarde composer Ernst Thoma; Yamaha CS 80, CS 60, CS-5, CS-30, DX7. Recording, effects, outboards, others: Aphex C aural exciter; Atari ST; Barcus Berry and C-Ducer contact microphones; Digitech RDS 1900 delay; JBL Control-One (4 units); Marantz CP 430 portable cassette tape recorder for field recording; Revox B77 and TEAC X-10R reel-to-reel tape recorders; Roland DEP-5 digital effects processor and RE 501 analogue tape chorus / delay; Roland PA-80 power mixer; Sennheiser MKE10 clip microphone, ME88 directional microphone; Tascam M-208 4-channel recording mixer, Tascam 234 Syncaset 4-track double speed cassette tape recorder; Tektronix 545B dual-beam oscilloscope.
From top: a selection of recent outputs available on Bandcamp; one of my two EMS Synthis, which I used extensively in the past and have since sold due to the inherent tuning problems with these instruments; the W.U.R. home - studio back in 1985; the "WUR robot", 8-bit artwork, 1987; Hal Borgnone & controlvoltage.org: live electronics at Casa Rusca Museum, Locarno, february 3, 2024, as part of the event "Un sass daparlüü ol fa mia fracass" curated by Noah Stolz.
