Skop
«electrica»

Leonard Schaumann and the group Skop based electrica on the plugin Beatnik. Five different interfaces enable impressions of various locations to emerge. A deserted power station in Jena, Germany, was the atmospheric source of inspiration. Noises and musical manifestations of electricity supplied electrica with sound material.

The component systems Transformator, Elektrophone, Theremator, Netzbrummen and Resonator allow listeners to generate percussive, ambient and industrial sound fields as well as play with visualisations of various noises. Finished arrangements can be saved on the server and can be made accessible to others. Players come across the behavioural characteristics of five different interfaces, all of which are easy to learn. After first discovering things, the interfaces can then be played, with the help of the mouse, much like instruments would.

In the end, however, the five areas are more like audiovisual spaces or environments than musical instruments, conveying an atmosphere of a particular epoch (that of electrification) and the logic of a technology (electrical machines). At the same time, a spatial orientation based on acoustic elements emerges from music making.

Source: Golo Föllmer: Netzmusik, CD-ROM for Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, 165/5, Sept./Oct. 2004