Bundle: Joel Chadabe CDs

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Joel Chadabe is familiar to many synthesizer enthusiasts as a pioneer in his field, conceptualizing and commissioning the legendary CEMS (Coordinated Electronic Music Studio) System, which was built in 1970 by his life-long friend and colleague Bob Moog, and his company, R.A. Moog Co. He is also the author of "Electric Sound: The Past and Promise of Electronic Music". 

Details about the products included: 

CD: CHADABE & MOOG

At the time of its development,  the mighty CEMS was the largest integrated Moog system in the world, and probably the largest integrated Moog sequencer system ever.  The main system was completed around 1970, but it was constantly in a state of flux.   Essentially, the idea of the CEMS was that it had many sequencers that were all controlled either independently or by a master clocking system.

Joel used this new programmable synthesizer, an innovative novelty in its day, to delve deep into sonic exploration, creating a palette of previously unheard sounds. Music from that time, as well as many others, are included in his "Chadabe and Moog" CD, featuring "activities" created between 1966 and 1970.  Generous liner notes are included, detailing the concept behind each composition. 

CD: ELECTRIC SOUND

In "Electric Sound", the sequel CD to "Chadabe and Moog" Joel offers more recent compositions oriented towards interactive performance, created from 1972-1987. These musical works draw from a variety of instrumentation including vibraphone, percussion, synthesized orchestra, theremin-based antennae controllers, and more. Generous liner notes are included, detailing the concept behind each composition. 

CD: INTELLIGENT ARTS

Intelligent Arts is a compilation of recordings from 1973 through 1997.

In 1977, thanks to the Rockefeller Foundation, Joel was able to buy the first Synclavier, a digital synthesizer/computer system built by Sydney Alonso and Cameron Jones at New England Digital Corporation and, with the help of Roger Meyers as his working partner at the time, began to write programs for it. He composed Solo, Scenes from Stevens, and Follow Me Softly with the Synclavier. He asked Robert Moog to build two antennae, as modified Theremins, to control the Synclavier as a conductor. His antennas were more than five feet tall and half-inch in diameter.

In 1986, Joel began to work with a MIDI system consisting of a Macintosh computer, Yamaha synthesizers, and software developed at Intelligent Music, a company that he had formed with some friends, among them David Zicarelli who developed M, a group of algorithms portrayed graphically on a computer screen. Many of the songs in After Some Songs, as well as Spring Drum, were composed with M.

CD: DYNAMIC SYSTEMS

Dynamic Systems is a compilation of recordings from 1997 through 2012.

"In 1998, I was asked by Keyboard Magazine to write a review of Kyma, a new digital hardware/software system created by Carla Scaletti and Kurt Hebel. I purchased Kyma after writing the review. I composed Many Times …, One World 1, Micro Fictions, and Different Cities with Kyma. And I still use it."

"From that time to the present, when people ask me what I do as a composer, I explain that I do not compose pieces, I compose activities. A 'piece', whatever its content, is a construction with a beginning and end that exists independent of its listeners and within its own boundaries of time. An 'activity' unfolds because of the way people perform; and consequently, an activity happens in the time of living; and art comes closer to life." - Joel Chadabe