_ _ _ | |_| |__ ___ __ _ _ __ ___ __ _| |_ | __| '_ \ / _ \ / _` | '__/ _ \/ _` | __| | |_| | | | __/ | (_| | | | __/ (_| | |_ \__|_| |_|\___| \__, |_| \___|\__,_|\__| |___/ _ _ __ ___ ___ _ __ ___ _ __ ___ | |_ _ | '_ ` _ \ / _ \| '_ \ / _ \ _____| '_ \ / _ \| | | | | | | | | | | (_) | | | | (_) |_____| |_) | (_) | | |_| | |_| |_| |_|\___/|_| |_|\___/ | .__/ \___/|_|\__, | |_| |___/ _ _ _ (_)_ __ | |_ ___ _ ____ _(_) _____ __ | | '_ \| __/ _ \ '__\ \ / / |/ _ \ \ /\ / / | | | | | || __/ | \ V /| | __/\ V V / |_|_| |_|\__\___|_| \_/ |_|\___| \_/\_/ ____________________ _____ | |\ /_____\____ | o o o o o o o o | \ ___________ / \ | o o o o o o | | /| | / \ | o o o o oooo | | / | o oo o o | | . . | | ____ | | | | o o o,__ | | ) | | / ,==' o o o o o | | | | == \ | ___ | | /__/ o o o o o o | | | | o o o\_\ \ _____ / / / o o o o | / | | o o o \ \___| |____/ / ________________|/ MONO-POLY AND THE ART OF NOODLING Hidden somewhere in the shadow of the brand new colossal cathedral-esque Rotterdam Central Station there is a cosy room with probably one of the most amazing collections of modular synths in Holland…or maybe even europe… maybe even the world. It is the modular synthesizer studio of Dennis Verschoor, better known by his artist names Mono-Poly and Zond3. In his windowless sweaty modular synthesizer studio he drones away on countless new and ancient machines. Some dating from the very earliest pioneering times of electronic music. Endless Infinite loops of ever changing sounds, bleeps, drones…from dreamy ethereal pads to harsh industrial noise. He has released a number of albums on various labels such as the cult Japanese Doppelgänger records, based around the Japanese avant garde dark ambient scene of Koichi Watanabe and Seiji Nagai. Miles of wires are intertwined on the modular synths, wires that remind us of endless infinite threads of noodles. Dennis calls himself jokingly "chef noodle" sometimes, like the muppet's swedish chef cooking up the modular canapés frolicking around…but such a name might be too light hearted: With a little imagination Dennis could also be a fiendishly genius villain trying to fabricate evil giant drones to take over the world. Shadow Wolf investi- gated to seek out whats cooking in Rotterdam… Q: I guess most readers will know what a modular synthesizer is, but just for fun and those 3 people that don't know...could you explain very shortly in your own words what it is and why you particularly like it so much? Dennis: A modular synth is basically something like a custom car. You can choose what kind of wheels you want, what type of engine, what exhaust etc.... So basicaly in synthesis language you can build it up with vco's, vcfs and vca's etc from all different kinds of types and brands. But you can also add exotic stuff like ring-modulators, wave-shapers etc. That is also for me the main reason why I like modular synthesizers that much. Q: You call your creations Noodles. Can you explain what Noodling is? Dennis: Noodling, basically, is patching and playing modular synthesizers. I often call patches noodles when they are self playing patches without any hand manipulation or computer control…and not sounding like a looping 16 step sequencer…something that keeps evolving by itself. Q: Is there a difference between Noodles and Drones? Dennis: Well a noodle could be a drone actually and a drone a noodle. But basically a noodle for me is an automatic continuous changing patch which could be rhythmic or melodic…or a combination of all above. But a drone is basically a one note tone or chord which slowly evolves due to a vcf filter, pulse width or wave-shape modulation for example. Q: Why is the term Noodling used and not Spaghetti-ing for example? Just because it is easier to pronounce or is there another reason, maybe even a more sinister one? Dennis: I think spaghetti somehow sounds more like a mess and noodling cooler. Noodles are nicer to eat then spaghetti anyway! Q: How did you get involved with the mysterious Japanese Doppelgänger label where you did your first release…can you tell us a bit who is behind it and have you ever played there or want to in the future? Dennis: At the time i contacted Koichi Watanabe i was using some Buchla 100 VCO's and a bandpass filter together with my Wiard. I was doing some deep spacious drone stuff and i had some stuff done. So i was looking into labels and doppelgänger was one of the labels i did email. In the email i had an example of the stuff i did and Koichi Watanabe replied me that he wanted to release it on his label. So that's basicaly how i got a release there. Q: What is the oldest machine you own? Dennis: My oldest machine is a Rhode & Schwarz Abstimmbarer Anzeigeverstärker UBM. Well actualy i currently own 6 of them. These were made from 1955 until somewhere halfway the 1960s. Official these aren't "real" instruments but made to test telephone-lines. They are bandpass filters with resonance and build with tubes. Karl Heinz Stockhausen used them probably first in a musical way in his compositions in the end 50s. The oldest "real" synth piece i currently is i think my Oberheim SEM. But the oldest i owned in the past was a Buchla/CBS modular from 1968. Q: Your alias, Mono-Poly seems a bit odd as this is not a Modular Synth, was this one of your synthesizers? How do you compare that synth nowadays with the stuff you have now? Dennis: The Korg Mono/Poly was the first monophonic analogue synthesizer i ever owned. And i think the 3rd synthesizer i ever owned. The first one was a Crumar Bit One (bought because it had midi) And the second one a Roland JX3P with a PG-200. I think the Mono/Poly is still an interesting synth and the voicing switching and modulation possibilities are pretty good! Q: Do you use scales at all or do you embrace the total freedom of stepless frequencies that modular synths can provide? Dennis: It depends, but for the past years i've been using quantizers quite often to keep notes in minor or major scales. (A Quantizer is a module that automatically quantizes a "wild" untuned pitch into a pitch of a musical scale) Q: Do you see yourself as a explorer of sound…if so what have you discovered so far (in terms of sounds, music and the influence it has on the mind, did you ever have a mystical experience with sound? Dennis: I think i'm an explorer of sound but also of patterns. I'm not really sure how to describe discoveries but i think sounds and soundscapes really play with your mind. Sometimes people come up with complete story-lines when they listen to stuff. And i think we all do. Don't we? I think it works really well when you're a painter. Because i am a painter too. But i don't use paint but sine and square waves. Q: And where do you want to take your exploring, are there any unknown, un- mapped areas in sound you want to seek out? Dennis: I want to discover new worlds. Q: Are you aware of any frequencies that can influence the brain? Like for example certain low frequencies around 19HZ make people feel uncomfortable, scared that something is around them…like they are being haunted…did you ever experience something like that? Or plan to do some experiments? Dennis: Well offcourse frequency's work on your brain. Everyone knows…and there are even goverements doing research experiments to break or make people with sound/frequencies. Like torturing people at Guatomale Bay while playing Skinny Puppy! I never experimented with it yet but i will for sure! Q: You have been playing abroad quite a few times now with your modular synths at festivals and stuff…? Dennis: I am a resident at Freerotation Festval in Wales (going 4th year now). Last year was actually super fun and at Sunday i did a jam sesion with Cary Grace which is an amazing Woman. She's an awesome musician, singer and she builds Wiard modular synthesizers. Further more i play a few times each year in Brussel which got a good and nice modular scene. I also played in Kuru, Estonia last year. Q: When you travel with your modulars, especially when you travel by air- plane, I can imagine it can be difficult at airports, have there ever been any problems with security? Dennis: When i fly back from Berlin, Tegel they always take me out of the cue into a seperate room for further investigation. The best thing i learned is tell them you're a DJ. Mostly there aren't any big problems at airports. But last year when I flew to Tallin, Estonia to play at Kuru. I got there without a problem. Got picked up at the airport went to the festival in the middle of the woods, about 2 hours from the city. On Saturday i wanted to power up the modular and it didn't work at all. This kind off stuff happens always happen. But after some further inspection i noticed that the powersupply's were broken. A coil on the pcb was broken off and the housing of the Coil was broken. There i was in the middle of nowhere and only 50% of the modular was working. At first i was focused on getting a new power supply. But i realised that wasn't possible....we were in the middle of nowhere. So somehow I got this very old rusty soldering iron from a farm and we arranfed some super glue. We didn't had solderpaste or anything but I managed to get it working! The rest of the weekend in Estonia was amazing and I ended up doing a last show a few hours before my flight back somewhere in the Harbor of Tallin. Q: Apart from doing your music you also have been doing the noodle bar events which have grown as an interesting get-to-together for many dutch modular freak and enthiousast…can you tell us a bit about these nights? Who have played so far etc.? Dennis: In 2012 i was struggling with being annoyed that there was not really a good electronic (modular) experimental scene here at all. In August 2012 I started with the first Noodlebar on a Sunday at the old BAR at the West-Kruiskade in Rotterdam. It was just a bit of modular fun in the back of an old bar. January 2013 BAR moved to their current location and things got better. We also could play a bit louder and we got more organized as a Noodlebar team. At the end of 2014 i decided to leave BAR and in Januari 2014 we started doing our events at Roodkapje. And we're still doing shows at Roodkapje now every month. But also sometimes party/festival organizers come to me because they have a room or a day when they want me to program a Noodlebar and bring some artists and organize it. So far we had a few well known artists like Das Ding and Stefan Robbers from the Acid Junkies... Also lots of Artists which aren't that well known but really deserve to be mentioned: Gein, Rip-It, Rumatov, Ruistuin, Jenamu6 with Jenoer and Stanislav, Zenn, Falafelbiels and all others i've forgotten! Newsupdate just in: The noodlebar is going to move from the roodkapje building to a new more permanent location which will also include a workshop Check out the Noodlebar homepage here: http://noodlebar.org! Thank u Dennis Mono-Poly for this interview. MONO-POLY SELECTED GEAR LIST: ----------------------------- BUCHLA MUSIC EASEL BUCHLA 100 & 200 series FENIX XL (prototype of the Fenix 1 & 2) SERGE/CGS 5 panel suitcase Lots of 1960s/70's laboratory equipment like filters, oscillators and weird stuff. HARRY PLOTTER - this is an intriguing machine, sort of a printer that directly prints sound into graphical waveforms on paper, creating little artpieces which you can actually purchase here for very modest prices: http://www.harryplotter.nl MONO-POLY SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY: ------------------------------- Zond3 - Proton K (Doppelganger Records CD 2008, Japan) Mono/Poly - Atlantic Storm (Strange Life Records CD 2009 Holland) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH9Cjxs5vbk Mono/Poly - AniTsalagi Svnoyihi (205 Recordings CD 2011 Sweden)