Category: News

Introduction 

The idea for the eurorack synth meet up this summer came from our initial summer jam session at the Operator Foundation in Austin, TX where we hung out with Jeremy and Brandon. When we had that event, even though we hung out for 3 hours, it just wasn’t enough and we ran out of space. 

 

So we decided we should have another hang with more time and more space.    We chose a date based on everyone’s availability and then I began thinking about a space and chose to host it on campus.  But then I thought about it and wanted it more community based, so I spoke with Victor over at rountree market in central Bryan and booked the A/C side of his space from 11am – 6pm to really give us some time and space to mess with our synths and try some visuals. 

Then the planning began, I started promoting the event in terms of getting the word out making an FB event page and spreading the word.  

Around this time it hit me that I should really work with Will on making a central Texas FB group based around the concept of having events like this, building community and putting happenings and shows together to build up a scene beyond just one city.  

So that started a whole other project, but I digress.  For this event we had a low response, which didn’t phase me as for me, even though we had a huge venue in terms of it just being four of us, plus whoever from the public wanted to join us, I knew the event was scalable and the amount of equipment we would have and the depth of the equipment would fill the time we had for the day.  And it did!  We were on our feet the whole time.  So let’s get into it!

I (joey) will admit it takes a lot to put these events on from a personal level.  In addition to self funding (Will and I) a lot of these events, we also literally bring the party, we bring the PA’s, chairs, various supplies and show up early and are the last to leave.  So if you ever wondered what being a facilitator is like, I shot some videos documenting that process.  

And I want to be clear, I am not complaining, I am happy to do it, if I ever burn out I will stop, but it’s been over 20 years that I have loved being a facilitator and meeting Will going on fours years ago was just the craziest thing in terms of making it so easy to just get an idea and make it a reality.  

Let’s Make Some Noise and Visuals!

So for this event we really wanted space to be able to bring a large amount of equipment, have tables to set it all up and for at the very least time for, Jeremy, Brandon, Will & I to mess with it all demo and possibly record.  

While that was the plan, we had some minor changes, Brandon ended up not being able to make it, though Jeremy was able to bring his gear which was cool.  For a moment as we started we thought maybe it would just be the three of us in a big space playing sounds and messing with gear.  But sure enough, people began showing up, and from around 1-6pm, Jeremy, Will & I were all on our feet showing our gear to attendees and letting them jam and create their own patches and mixes.  It was truly a TAZ (Temporary Autonomous Zone) where attendees who never saw themselves as musicians were creating amazing sounds and pieces, and those who were musicians were wowing us all with their thrashing on our synths.  We were all able to get to see our gear in action in a way that was very rewarding for us.  And we also got to jam on our gear as well, which was fun.  But as facilitators I noticed we all realized because we had so many people present we weren’t going to be jamming together and recording, instead we were going to be sharing our love of synths and visuals.  

And the visuals is one of my favorite parts and something that wasn’t as big as I was hoping, but still very cool and after a very simple mistake I figured out how to get the projector going with my laptop and some visuals going.  My hope is that the next event we are do even more visuals.

And that was a big overtone, we had people wanting more, more time to play, more time to learn, people kept mentioning their brains getting a “full meal,” after hanging. 

A small note I will share is that I showed a local producer “DJ Daryle” my Behringer Edge and he made a patch that I was just wowed by and I got it home and took a photo to save the patch and have been messing with it while writing this blog post.  

And for me, that’s what this event became, a time for people from all walks of life coming around, jamming on an art form and sharing a passion for learning, creating and performing.  

Jeremy was able to show off some really great projects, such as the Operator Synth & Songbird.  He showed off a bat detector and also a light detecting system that converts it to sound and used a laser that he modded to put out information so when you put the detector by it you could hear sound through the laser!  It was a fun demo and one that really got people thinking.

Will brought a slew of synths, 5 tables worth!!!!  And what came from this was a tour de force of demos and really cool experiences for the attendees who got to play synths that literally only exist in small batches and are pieces of art in addition to being instruments.  He brought so much, it would be an honor to have him give an explanation of what he brought:

“Insert 3 page quote here” 😛

When’s The Next One?

People had an amazing time and we were definitely encouraged to have another.  At this point with the level of effort to put on such an event my hope is that we have at least 3-4 a year with other smaller events filling in monthly meet ups.  While we went into this event to jam out, what came out of the event was bigger in my opinion.  We saw a happening where a greater community was introduced to synths and visualization and got hands-on experiences with them.  We as facilitators made connections with other musicians and artists who are down to do more happenings.  I would like to thank everyone who participated and came to hang out, Will invited his electronic music class to visit and we had a good number of them drop by. Victor of Rountree helped us get the word out which was also greatly appreciated.

We have been fortunate to build the Convergent Media Collective network through multiple university initiatives (UIW, UT, A&M) and through those networks we have a lineage of of academics and professionals spanning decades of experiences. One such network is through the Operator Foundation, co-founded by Dr. Brandon Wiley who is part of the ACTLab network, the program that proceeded the Convergent Media Collective.

“The Operator Foundation was founded in 2014 in Austin, Texas. Our purpose is to promote internet freedom, open communication and global internet security through technology development, deployment, and education. We develop technologies to facilitate access to credible and relevant information and open communication around the world.”

We have visited the Operator Foundation lab multiple times and always have had a good time. This time Jeremy Zunker, a CMC member and employee of Operator invited us to come and jam with him and Brandon on some electronics they have been developing, specifically the Songbird and a MIDI hex keyboard. Corina, jojo, Will and myself (joey) made the journey two days later on Wednesday June 24th, 2026.

First we loaded the car up with the synthesizers I have been developing out, which is a story in and of itself and really deserves a write up all of its own. I guess all in time for that one. But yeah, I have developed a main acrylic synthnesizer module, an acrylic vocoder synth module and combined them with Behringer Edge synth.

Will brought along his SOMA LABS Enner to jam with, as this was a last second event for him, having just gotta back from Germany the night before! I will say we can’t wait til Will can bring more of his tasty equipment next time.

So we headed over and I will admit it took us some time to get setup and comfy. Durning setup a good number of small awesome things were brought up and discussed. The first was Brandon giving jojo a Zelda D&D book for his bday! This book looks amazing and jojo was knee deep in the next day!

Operator Foundation Terminal

Then as we setup jojo and I got a demo of a battery-powered VT100-style hardware terminal developed by the Operator Foundation for use cases all around the world where people need open-source developed solutions hardware and software they can trust. I hope to do a video just about their terminal development in the future.

Another device we got to demo by Operator Foundation was the Abelhita Melogica, a midi controller based around a hall effect buttons and a hexagonal key arrangement. I have to say, in person the device looks and feel so cool. The hall effect sensors use magnectic buttons to have an analog feeling key stroke and so the device just feels neato. As mentioned in the video below, I got to hold on to this and will be doing a bunch of testing and demo’ing of the device over the coming months.

Operator Foundation Abelhita Melogica

Operator Foundation Synth Jam Setup

Then we were setup! Jeremy had finished up some work and we were good to go, so I went ahead and did a small video just about the equipment we had and what everyone was up to. We already went over the equipment Will and myself brought, Jeremy used a Moog and Brandon had a whole spread of modular units in various configurtions as well as a songbird and Abelhita Melogica. As you see in the video they all show a bit of their setup in action.

Operator Foundation Jam Session

So after about two hours of setting up and chatting and in general nerding out, we finally decided to jam all together. This was a new experience for me, unbeknownst to them I had never jammed with anyone else other than jojo ha ha ha with our synth. So to say the least, it was a fun adventure. I did ask Will before starting how he thought we should approach it and he gave some great examples of the different ways he tends to jam with others. Because for me, as an anthropologist, I know there are infinite ways for us to play these devices and interact with each others performances. So it was great to have someone reaffirm that it really is like that and then we worked away on our grooves and interactions.

Reflecting and until next time!

Reflecting on our jam session I see room for some much more exploration, it would be neat to also have us each play solo throughout the jam session and then have times we work our way back together and also do pairing performances. It is endless the directions you can take such a jam session. I will say it was amazing using the Tascam Model 12 mixer as it allowed us to all patch in and at the same time, record to the computer and hear ourselves on some mini monitors I brought.

While what we all considered too short of a visit, it definitely packed a punch, we all loved it and wanted more, that said we still didn’t get back to Bryan til past midnight.

That was also due to our ACTLab linage and ritual of getting food after such a jam session, and so a trip to Kerby Lane was made where we almost all had pancakes, actually, I think we did all have pancakes.

So instead of this story ending here, it is definitely to be continued. Brandon has invited us back to do some synth jamming, but also peaked my interest with having us come and document more of their work, both the hardware and also hear about the groups they have been working with and various initiatives they have been a part of as the Operator Foundation.

I left the jam exhausted and at the same time rejuvenated. I am excited to document Operator Foundation and all the work that has been done and to also work with their new hardware and see where we can find musical collaborations and beyond!

And lastly, thank you to Jeremy, Brandon, Will, Corina and Jojo for jamming and helping us make what I like to call ACTLab Magic happen for a day and open the TAZ back on up!