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As we prepare for the broadcast of the final Tone Generation episode on Resonance FM tomorrow at 19.30 GMT I am still unable to upload show 9 and it looks like I am going to have problems getting the final show available for online listeners. Odeo are still having technical problems and not offering any kind of explanation as to why. If anyone does know whats going on please feel free to let me know.

The end of the series has been a bit bumpy on the scheduling side with Resonance broadcasting the wrong show and then celebrating their birthday and changing their Friday evening line up. This means that there has been a 2 week gap in new shows being available and the Odeo technical problem is only going to increase the wait for online listeners.

Please hang in there as the last two shows are well worth checking out. We will probably take a little break once the series is over and then come back with something in the Autumn.  In the meantime shows 1 through 8 are available here.

I’m pleased to announce that the Odeo technical problems that were holding us up are now fixed. Show 8 of The Tone Generation is now online and available as podcast or MP3 download.

This show is packed and to be honest we couldn’t even scratch the surface. I know Ian has enough material to do a whole series on American composers. Who knows? Maybe we might just do that!

Thanks for your patience in waiting on this latest episode and of course part 9 will go live tomorrow.

Show 4 was broadcast on Resonance on Friday and is now available as a podcast alongside the first 3 episodes or you can download an MP3 here. The show is proving really popular and thanks to everyone who has commented. Its a pleasure to explore the early days of electronic music and Ian Helliwell is introducing me to lots of composers I’d never heard before.

The Tone Generation show 3 was broadcast on Friday evening and is now available to download.  Ian visits Germany and plays music by Stockhausen, Kraftwerk, Walter Ruttmann and Gyorgy Ligeti. We are getting good feedback on the series and enjoying making it. With a number of pioneering composers passing away recently it seems like the right time to reflect on their work and consider how it has, mostly subconsciously, inspired current production techniques and music.

Next weeks show focusses on Italy and is broadcast on Resonance FM at 19.30 GMT. Podcast and download will be available shortly after.

Last year I made ‘Expo 67 - A Radiophonic collage’ with Ian Helliwell. The programme celebrated the anniversary of the Montreal Worlds Fair, and we dedicated it to Tristram Cary who featured heavily and also helped out by supplying material. Tristram went spirit side last week so now seems a good time to make the Radiophonic collage available to download. It has already been broadcast around the world in Paris, New York and London but in case you missed it here it is.

You can find out more about Expo 67 at Ian’s web site and lots of Tristram coverage here.  Tristram was an experimental composer who worked at EMS studio co-designing the legendary VCS3 (Putney) synthesizer. He wrote music for films including Quatermass and the Pit, The Ladykillers and composed music for early Dr.Who episodes. He composed all of the music for the British Pavilion  at Expo 67 and you can hear lots of this in our montage.  He was a true pioneer creating fantastic sounds using hand built equipment left over from WWII. His music is stunning, sometimes challenging but always original and his experimentation paved the way for the current electronic music scene.

This Friday sees the launch of a new simonsound produced radio series looking at the history of electronic music as a worldwide phenomenon. The 10 part series called ‘The Tone Generation’ is presented by electronic musician and film-maker Ian Helliwell. Starting in Europe and finishing in the Southern Hemisphere Ian will be playing vintage tracks - some celebrated, many obscure and overlooked, to give an overview of electronic music. Part one starts with Great Britain and features music from a number of BBC Radiophonic composers including Daphne Oram and Delia Derbyshire.

The series will be broadcast every Friday evening at 7.30 on Resonance 104.4 FM. Subscribe to the podcast by clicking here (the podcast feed now seems to be working) or download an MP3 of show 1 here.

Other radio news - Expo 67 was transmitted on BBC Radio 6 last week and has been broadcast in Paris, New York and Bristol over the last 5 months. The complete programme will be available to download here shortly.

Been spending some time going through old music that I produced with my brother in the mid 90’s. We produced music under a number of different guises for labels like Skint, Bush and Magnetic North. I’m going to add some of it on the website somewhere but for now here is a 11 minute megamix that I created in 2000 (I know it says 2001 but that was when I got round to doing something with it).

I hadn’t listened to it for ages and I was pleasantly surprised when I heard it with fresh ears. I guess the mix of music goes some way to show the varied styles of music I love. From weird covers of Doors tracks through to Dick Hyman, Information Society and Carl Craig. It is part live mix part megamix with the tracks cut up and extra beats and samples added. It is also interesting because I made this at a time when the first computer based ’studio in a box’ software packages were becoming available. Its easy to take for granted how easy we’ve got it these days, we really are spoiled. Listen to the mix below.

On the 29th of September I’ll be performing a live sound track to the 1920’s film ‘The Cabinet of Dr Caligari’ as part of the Radio Reverb Orchestra. The 20 plus strong orchestra will be conducted by Grant Newman the images and the performance will be pretty much free form with little rehearsal. I’m not sure which instrument I’m going to use but I think I can pretty much take anything along. I think its all electronic but don’t quote me. Expect to see lots of weird and wonderful sound making devices. This event is also part of Brighton Live the free music festival taking place between the 24th and 29th of September.

The Radio Reverb Orchestra event takes place at the Duke of Yorks cinema on the 29th of September at 23.00.

UPDATE: I went along to the first (and only) pre show meeting last night where I found out a bit more about the event.

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I went in to Edgeworld Records in Brighton (one of the record stores mentioned in the Yamaha press release) today to check out the Tenori On. As you can see from my picture they have a very nice stand and they even have a Tenori On in a box, but as the owner of Edgeworld records told me “no one from Yamaha has been in to set it up”. So for now it stays in the box. I did try some gentle persuasion to see if he would let me take a closer look but to no avail.

As soon as I get my hands on one I will let you know all the details. I’m sure there will be some news from the main launches in London and Manchester somewhere on the web over the next 24hrs.

Thanks to Curtis for the photo.

Yamaha release the much anticipated Tenori On, a musical interface based around a grid of touch sensitive buttons/LED’s which can be seen from the front and back, in the UK next week and I for one will be keen to try it out. I’ve followed Toshio Iwai’s work since his Elektroplankton sound ‘game’ for the Nintendo DS which offered every DS owner the opportunity to create some underwater inspired electronica. Whilst Elektroplankton was a lot of fun it was always hampered by the fact you couldn’t save your work. The Tenori On solves this problem and adds a lot more functionality.

Update: Official Tenori On website is now live. Some cool videos of the different modes, interviews with musicians and all the specs confirmed (no infra red). I also heard from a friend who is performing at the Manchester launch today. He’s had a Tenori On since last week and confirms that it is easy to use, immediate, spontaneous and great visually.

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