Esoteric Modulation
Esoteric Modulation was a podcast delving into the creative expression of modular synthesis, standalone synthesizers, Eurorack, and unconventional esoteric electronic instruments — including Buchla, Ciat-Lonbarde, Soma, Folktek, and much much more!
Between 2019 and 2020, we explored the creative intersections of electronic music and the arts, conducting in-depth interviews with musicians, artists, and innovators. We regularly featured inspiring guests discussing their creative process, instruments, and art projects.
From esoteric gear to experimental soundscapes, our conversations tried to uncover the unique and inspirational! Hopefully, our musings on all these topics added to the rich tapestry of creative ideas we wanted to champion to our audience. While we're not currently producing new episodes, Esoteric Modulation may return in the future — so stay tuned! Keep an eye on our website and socials for any updates. In the meantime, we hope you've enjoyed the journey so far! Stay creative and stay inquisitive. All the best, Ed & Ben.
Episodes
22 episodes
EP23: ‘From Baroque to Buchla!'
In this months show, we have the mighty Todd Barton gracing our podcast. We talk about his album metaScapes and the inspiration behind the album, the MetaSynth. We chat about the compilation Buchla cassette he has been involved with, and we tak...
EP22: Patch C.V!
In this months show, we have a great conversation with David Elliott Johnson the creator and Director of Patch CV! We talk about his creative rebirth through modular equipment and the community. How he was inspired to create Patch CV. We talk a...
EP21 'redstripedown'
In this months show, we talk to Cory Sterling aka (redstripedown) We talk about his background, starting with the bass guitar before finding the freedom of electronic music. We talk about his deep dive into modular and hardware integration in h...
EP20: ‘The Nervous Squirrel!'
In this week's show, we have Dave Cranmer a mechanical sculptor and freelance engineer that has his roots firmly in sound. He is truly an adventurous multimedia artist, designer and builder that has created all kinds of beautiful, bizarre and e...
019: 'For The love Of The Magnétique!'
On this week's show, we have Scott Campbell, a musician, sound designer, instrument-maker, & graphic designer based in New Orleans, LA. We talk circuit bending in the ’90s and his history. Of course, we talk all about the OM1. Then we move ...
018: 'Machines of the night'
In this week's show, we talk to Cologne based artist and Youtuber Felix, the man behind 'The Tuesday Night Machines' Youtube channel. We start off with giving him a little grief about selling his Ciat Lonbarde equipment :-) Then we get down to ...
017: ' A Suitcase of Drone'
In this week's show, we talk to Portland base sound and visual artist Amulets. We have a great conversation on his journey of tape! We talk tape equipment, artistic approach, his lineage of visual art and how his music has been part of his ther...
016: 'An Audiophile Hangout'
In this week's show, we have a great conversation with an amazing guest, Mr Jamie Lidell! A man that is so easy to talk to that we cover a lot of ground! Looping journeys, creative expression, his Modular journey and philosophy, all this is wra...
015: ‘Touched by a H9'
In this week's show, we talk about what we have been up to and talk about gear that we have been playing with over Christmas. Jamuary, Eventide project and more! Show Timings Intro: 000What Ed has been up too w...
014: ‘A Festive Roundup'
In this week's show, we have a festive round-up and some gear chat with Signal Sounds Jason Brunton! We talk about the move of signal sounds, Ben's new module release, the 'ochd'. We then get into the top-selling modules and interesting e...
013: 'Over 20 Years of Tape Hiss!'
In this week's show, we talk to the Portland-based Inter-disciplined artist and musician Marcus Fischer. We talk favourite equipment, tape, OM1 and his wonderful Journey on the way to the Whitney Museum of American Art. We stop off along the jo...
012: 'A Veneer of Coco'
In this week's show, we talk to Brighton based Ebcidic, aka Phil Bilsby. Phill is synonymous with well-produced live Modular Techno. We dig into his production concepts, his latest album ‘Mosaic’ that steps away from beats and into dark, ...
011: ‘It’s Like Porn For The Magnetically Attracted!’
In this weeks show we talk about our obsession for tape and Ben’s ‘West Coast Adventure’ over in Seattle at Patchwerks for the Velocity event. We focus on some of the artists at Velocity that have included tape within their set up with some gre...
010: A Podular Baptism
On this weeks show we have great fun talking to fellow podcaster Tim Held of Poduler Modcast! We talk about how Pod Mod came to be, with some interesting stories along the way! Then we talk to Tim the musician, and take a deep dive into h...
009: A Shaw Way to Bananas
In this week's show, we talk to multi-creative Matthew Shaw about an esoteric bunch of banana equipment! We chat about the wonders of Serge Systems, the Ciat-Lonbarde Cocoquantus and Plumbutter (of course, I get a royal ribbing from Ben about t...
008: The Anatomy of a Live Modular System
In this weeks episode, we run over Ben's Eurorack Case set up he put together for a live performance at the Deer Shed Festival. We break it all down. We talk performance set up philosophies, zonal methods, sound examples of those zones, effects...
007: From HAINBACH With Love
In this week's Esoteric Modulation we talk to Berlin-based electronic music composer and performer HAINBACH. We talk the beautiful world of test equipment and its creative flow, limitations and minimalism, we all lust after the Cocoquantus and ...
006: The Art of Scanner
In this week's Esoteric Modulation we talk to Robin Rimbaud AKA Scanner. We have a great in-depth conversation about his music practises, how he traverses multi-faceted projects, his career journey, and the importance that visual art takes with...
005: Effects & Improvisation
In this week's Esoteric Modulation we talk about effects, the implications of different DSP's, Whether to go in the rack or out and using effects as an instrument. We take a look at a Tate podcast that talks about art and music improvisat...
004: Esoteric Engineering The SOMA Way!
In episode 004 we talk to Vlad Kreimer, head of Romantic Engineering at SOMA laboratory. We have a deep dive conversation on what is esoteric engineering, we then go on to talk about the his creative processes in building instruments.&nbs...
003: Quad in LA and the Evening Hopefuls!
In episode 003 We take a deep dive into quantising with the Analogue Solutions Generator. Then we turn our attention to the mighty Haken Continuum, we go through the feel of the instrument and its sounds. For our ‘Arts Segment,’ we turn our att...
002: SUPERBOOTH and The Dark Sparkler
In our first full-on episode, we say hi and talk to our uber-guest Kyle Swisher aka Dark Sparkler. We talk Superbooth, Belin, The Impulse Command, Wrong Sound Stage, DPW - Shape, Metro Modular - Buchla format modules, Buchla Quad, and the Soma ...