MORTON SUBOTNICK • SIDEWINDER • re:VOLT LIVE FROM TOOL'S STUDIO (4K) @PeterGrenader

Uploaded April 2023 | Updated September 2026, 37 minutes ago

MORTON SUBOTNICK'S SIDEWINDER:

Part 1 : in four movements (9 minutes 45 seconds)

Part 2: in three movements (6 minutes 45 seconds)

Performed live from Tool's studio Hollywood, CA by Jill Fraser, Shiro Fujioka, Peter Grenader, Thomas Klepper (aka re:VOLT).

Filming/Editing: K. David

Recording Engineer: Tim Dawson

Title Graphics: Hyejin Sunwoo

Produced, arranged and mixed by Peter Grenader

Morton Subotnick's seminal 1971 electronic work Sidewinder performed on March 26th, 2023 at the invitation of Joan LaBarbara, in celebration of his 90th birthday.

The idea of an adaptation of Sidewinder has been on the radar of zZyzx Society's Jill Fraser and Peter Grenader - both CalArts alumni who worked with Subotnick, for years. The process began with an abridged orchestration drafted by Peter Grenader, where the quartet was encouraged to both replicate his soundscapes and develop more interpretative timbres for the individual parts. With that, two general rules applied:

1. Following the original gestalts using more interpretive timbres.

2. Closely replicating Mort's original timbres but taking the progression in our own direction.

The performance consisted primarily of modular synthesizers, plus previously recorded samples from those instruments triggered in realtime. Along with these electronic instruments, two stopwatches were fitted with contact mics to replicate Subotnick's original rattling timbre which begins Part 1 and Part 2.

The ensemble convened for a single 4 hour rehearsal on March 24th prior to taping two days later at Tool's studio in Hollywood CA. which afforded access to Danny Carey's 1975 vintage Buchla 200 and massive E-mu. It was recorded in multi-track through an API 2488 desk by Tim Dawson, Tool's primary technician and studio engineer. This console was originally owned by Rick James and used in the "Super Freak" sessions.

A wav file recording of this performance is available on Bandcamp at:

povmusic2.bandcamp.com/album/subotnick-sidewinder-live

INSTRUMENTATION:

JILL FRASER: Prism Circuits Quasar Serge, Abelton Push II

SHIRO FUJIOKA: Eurorack Modular, E-mu Modular, Elektron Digitkat, Elektron Digitone

PETER GRENADER: Analog/Digital Eurorack Modular, Stopwatches

THOMAS KLEPPER: Buchla 200, Buchla Music Easel, Toolbox Modular

SPECIAL THANKS

Danny Carey

Joan LaBarbara

Skyler King/Prism Circuits

Aaron Higgins and Steve Joslin/1010 Music

Kyle Terborg

James & Elisabeth Lewin/Synthopia

Matrixsynth

Elektron

Tim Dawson

Blair Blake

Hyejin Sunwoo

Kristi Pollard

Mort Subotnick: In profound appreciation for his historic contribution to art and music

LINKS:

Original Sidewinder technical notes/patch analysis by Morton Subotnick:

mortonsubotnick.com/pdfs/sidewinder.pdf

Bob Gluck's analysis of Sidewinder:

newmusicusa.org/nmbx/morton-subotnicks-sidewinder

Essay on Sidewinder by Snows Ov Gethen:

snowsovgethen.com/journal/morton-subotnick-sidewinder-1971-cbs-masterworks

The Secrets of Control - Peter Grenader's paper on Subotnick's use of control tracks:

web.archive.org/web/20080929184757/http://www.buzzclick-music.com/mort_lore.html

Jeffrey Hanson's thesis on control tracks:

https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4861&context=etd_theses&httpsredir=1

Library of Congress listing of Morton Subotnick papers:

findingaids.loc.gov/exist_collections/ead3pdf/music/2022/mu022014.pdf

Morton Subotnick's official site:

mortonsubotnick.com

zZyzx Society official site (Jill Fraser/Peter Grenader):

zzyzxsociety.com

Shiro Fujioka's webspace:

instagram.com/voltagectrlr/?hl=en

Thomas Klepper's webspace:

facebook.com/musicbyThomasK

MORTON SUBOTNICK • SIDEWINDER • re:VOLT LIVE FROM TOOLS STUDIO (4K)

DIY solution: Signal routing into two independent 3 ch monitoring systems

Nebulae/uBursts (Clouds) + 2Hp ARP Experiment

Van Dusen Green from POV 2 feat Peter Grenader, Steve Roach, Martin Shellard

#Fakeation, last film cue: Peter Grenader

EAR Model 13 Mini Vactrol Lowpass Gate • Demo 1

$I built an eBay Bryston BP26 Preamp Clone. I decided to build the Bryston BP26 Preamp clone from the bare board sold on eBay. If youre interested just search BP26 Bryston on eBay, Im sure they are still available. I did this because I own a Bryston 4B SST power amp and given my current preamp (Acurus) was 25 years old, I felt it was time for an upgrade and the idea of having an fully balanced, all Bryston monitoring system was too hard to resist. In the end, it was a long process - made longer because of delays in parts due to COVID restrictions, my unending search for perfect feeling rotary switches, my addition of a balance pot which is not part of this boards architecture and my decision to design my own +/- 24 VDC supply. The only thing you get with the kit is the bare, unstuffed preamp board. Everything else is up to your system/mechanical design chops and of course, your imagination. Some patience is required decoding some of the parts listed on their BOM and if youre like me - Google translate (from Chinese) REALLY comes in handy here. I designed a faceplate and had one made by Front Panel Express. Im never going to sell this, and as such dont feel bad for duplicating the Bryston logo (which I did in Illustrator, calling upon my past life as an art director). This unit ended up being a bit more complex than it needed to be, mainly due to my (wise) decision to keep the AC transformers out of the box as Bryston does which eliminated the need for hours of RFI suppression voodoo that I would have had to deal with, AND my insistence on using the rotary power on switch which i specd, which was not designed to handle the amplitude AC voltage i would have had to put through it, so it required four added relays to engage power to the 24 volt supply and +5 and +12 reference voltages needed by the preamp board. The relay board is a pre-assembled unit designed for Arduino projects. This is also why i had to duplicate the +5 +12 volt DC normally on the preamp board itself. I go into these details in the video. I did not use the other 24 VDC kit intended for this preamp. The BOM was dodgy and didnt spec the transformer the one i got was 56 VCT, much bigger than required. It was less expensive for me to design my own supply, given i had all the parts/perf boards to do it. Oddly, my supply isnt that much different than the one Bystron originally designed for their 1B Preamp (schematics are online (linked below) and why i assume this preamp board was made as the schematics for the entire unit are also online, published by Bryston themselves). After my final 24 VDC supply was mounted notice a large single cap hung an a 90 degree angle on the end that faces the relay board (theres a real good shot of it around 8:00). This is the 4700uf filter cap for the bridge rectifier on the small +5 and +12 volt supplies that hang off the back of the power switch assembly. It was too big to hang locally on that tiny little perf board, so i did it by routing the wires from/to the PSUs to the isolated capacitor which converts the AC to DC leading to the two switching regulators. A little kludgy, but this is to be expecting with the number of engineering decisions/solutions required to take a bare board to a completed unit designed for years of daily usage. The board comes ready for XLRs (balanced) and RCA (line level) connectors. I hate RCAs, and decided to use TRS 1/4 inch phone jacks for all of them, including the balanced I/Os. As a safeguard, I incorporated twisted pairs in all cases (highly recommended). Note: when i mention wallwart, its actuly a homemade box contaning the two fused AC transformers tht connect to the wall on one end and my 5 pin XLR connector which brings the secondary transformer voltage into the box itself. As reference - before you start - know that this preamp as you see here ran me about $500 all things said and done. Sorta/kinda pricey, yet still only a fraction of what a store bought BP26/Power system would run. Theres a reason for this, above and beyond Bryston exercising its full right to charge a premium for their products - which i say is justified . The real BP26 has many more input selection options, including a RIAA rated phono input, a remote control and a myriad of additional monitoring mode. This clone however does have the benefit of Brystons legendary discrete D0433 op amp design (six in total). Also take this as certification that the PCBA, when completed, is 100% functional. The art is good. If your unit isnt working, its due to an error you made along the way. The unit is done, this video documents the journey, including the stupid mistakes i made along the way. Highlights can be found at 6:45 when i apply full system power, 9:16 when i do the initial audio tests and 11:25 when its completed and demod in my rack. I cant see anyone sitting through the whole thing, but best of luck trying. Bryston B1 Preamp schematics online: https://www.manualslib.com/manual/355786/Bryston-1b.html#manual$

Plan B Patching techniques: Creative Syncing

Firmware update to Plan B Model 28 demonstration - external sync

i built an ARDUINO TRANSPORT FOR LOGIC PRO