THE M.E.M.S. TEAM

Chip Flynn

Circuit specialist, builder, mechanical design

CHIP FLYNN began his career as an electromechanical artist in 1988, when, as a high school graduation present, he received a plane ticket to join the infamous San Francisco group Survival Research Laboratory, led by electromechanical pioneer Mark Pauline. He studied robotics for three years before leaving his home state and moving to San Francisco in order to work with S.R.L. full time. Seeking more artistic freedom, he formed a parallel group to S.R.L. named Peoplehater in ‘92. Peoplehater retained strong ties to S.R.L. and was the only collective ever to perform alongside the original group with even billing.

In 2002 he returned to Detroit to embark on a new creative path that focused on more aesthetic design of the machines coupled with expanded multi-media accompaniment of the shows. Some of

Chip’s many notables include: Ars Electronica in ‘96; the Car Hunt ‘95; a profile in Spin Magazine; a stint as lead mechanical with M5 Industries (the sfx shop which transformed into the television show MythBusters); Eric Orr’s Electrum Project; and numerous small and large gallery and festival shows.

Mark Milanovich

circuit board generation, Graphic design, circuit specialist

MARK MILANOVICH has been modifying and deconstructing electronics since the age of 15, when he taught himself how to read schematics, solder and design small circuits. Circuit bending and chance music was a main focus, which culminated to the point where a company had materialized from it: Vektor Electronics. Mark sought to merge gaps between synthesis and guitar effects. Circuit boards were hand etched, hand labeled and laid out utilizing processes that were nostalgic nods towards the 60s and 70s.

With Vektor, Mark designed guitar effects with experimental musicians in mind. Notable owners of Vektor guitar pedals include Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth and Steve Albini, prominent producer and engineer at Electrical Audio. As a design student, he also has provided graphics for multiple guitar pedal companies including the Chicago based ProAnalog Devices.

Mark currently is a founding member of the NEON_SEA collective group, a band of musicians with experimental electronic composition as its modus operandi, centering all compositions around improvisation - no performance can be duplicated. He has designed and built many electroacoustic and electronic instruments for the group.

M.E.M.S. ASSOCIATES

Listed here are the many “associates” that have helped the project thrive and grow. We wouldn’t have been able to get this far without the assistance and guidance of these great minds.

Dave Brown

CIRCUIT DESIGN SPECIALIST, ELECTRONICS WIZARD, OWNER/OPERATOR of modularsynthesis.com

“I got the "bug" in 3rd grade when I received an electronics experimenter's kit. I began devouring electronics books from the library and started my own electronics repair business prior to high school. I worked on amplifiers, tape decks, stereos and radios, both tube and transistor. As a musician I had exposure to organs, ARP synthesizers, Mellotrons, and amplifiers. This repair income helped put me through college where I received my BSEE degree and went to work for Tektronix as a design engineer. My first design was an 8080 processor system and my interests quickly turned from music to computers (although I did music on my 8080 home computer).

Tektronix put me through graduate school where I received my MSEE but soon moved to management where I had careers as a VP in Engineering and Manufacturing/Service. After 20 years of computers I returned to my music roots and began building my 5U modular and documenting my work on my website modularsynthesis.com

I was often asked while working to do repairs but didn't have the time. Once I retired I started taking on repairs focusing mostly on synthesizers and helping DIY'ers with their module builds. I've experienced hands-on a number of rare and interesting instruments. The predominance of DIY repairs have been Buchla format and I also would sometimes build when requested, including my own Buchla format system. I also document nearly all of these instruments and modules on my website. Besides direct repairs I mentor numerous people by email to do their own repairs and have a pretty good success record.

Since retiring I volunteer at the vintageTEK museum where I am President. Another of my many hobbies is vintage radios so I regularly work on nearly a 100 year span of electronics.” - Dave

Lon C. Diehl

Photography

Lon C. Diehl is a photographer based in S.E. Michigan, formerly a founding member of 1980’s Industrial/Noise band, Hunting Lodge.

Lon is responsible for all of the research photographs of the Stearns Collection’s CBS 100 Series system at University of Michigan.

Chris Pottinger

VIDEO

Chris Pottinger is a musician and visual artist residing in the Metro-Detroit area who creates music using modular synthesizers, saxophone and other electronic instruments. Performing solo under the name Cotton Museum, Chris’ project began in 2002, developed from his interest in experimental electronic sounds. His recordings have been released locally under his own label, Tasty Soil Records, and through various labels in countries such as Italy, United Kingdom and Egypt. Chris was awarded a “performing arts” fellowship in 2012 from Kresge Arts in Detroit and has performed in many cities throughout the USA and Europe. His visual work is inspired by nature, melding strange creatures and body deformities together with his detailed ink drawings. Chris’ artwork has been exhibited at galleries in the USA, Japan, Australia and Germany.

Kyle Swisher

Manuals, video and patch notes

Kyle Swisher is a guitarist and electronic musician based in the suburbs of Seattle. Since 2017 he has been performing, recording, and composing music for dance with a Buchla modular system under the name DARK SPARKLER. His album "Are You Working With Me, Or Against Me?" was recently released on Behind The Sky Records. Having such an affinity for Buchla modular instruments, in 2019 Kyle co-founded the Source Of Uncertainty podcast that explores the history and modern use of the instrument.

Seth Cluett

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Seth Cluett is a composer and visual artist who creates work that explores everyday actions at extreme magnification, examines minutae by amplifying impossible tasks, and tries to understand the working of memory in forms that rethink the role of the senses in an increasingly technologized society. Ranging from photography and drawing to installation, concert music, and critical writing, his “subtle…seductive, immersive” (Artforum) sound work has been characterized as “rigorously focused and full of detail” (e/i) and “dramatic, powerful, and at one with nature” (The Wire). The recipient of grants from Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Fund and Meet the Composer, his work has been presented internationally at venues such as The Whitney Museum, MoMA/PS1, Moving Image Art Fair, CONTEXT Art Miami, GRM, and STEIM. His concert work has been commissioned by ensembles ranging from the Hong Kong Sinfonietta and the International Contemporary Ensemble to So Percussion, Catch Guitar Quartet, and Clogs and is documented on Line, Sedimental, Notice, and Winds Measure recordings. Cluett is the Assistant Director of the Computer Music Center and Sound Art Program at Columbia University and is Artist-in-Residence at Nokia Bell Labs where he maintains a studio and is active in research on virtual and augmented reality acoustics and multi-sensory communication.

Ezra J. Teboul

BRAVE AND INTREPID RESEARCHER

Ezra J. Teboul is an artist and researcher documenting the labor in and around electronic sound, currently living in Tiohti:áke.

(Note from MEMS: Ezra helped in documentation with a red paneled 158 at Columbia, even with the fear of the brown acid at his coattails).

Andrew Northrop

FILM, BOLEX ENTHUSIAST, UNIVERSITY INSIDER, BRITISH HUMOUR

Andrew works as a Film and Media Technician at the Slade School of Fine Art at UCL in London, and as a freelance film journalist for publications including MUBI Notebook, Senses of Cinema, BOMB Magazine, and more. He has initiated a project with MEMS around the Buchla 100 system held at the Library of Congress, and is working on a film about the 200 series at EMS in Stockholm. He is a keen researcher with a penchant for archives, and is particularly interested in the wider visual arts history surrounding Buchla equipment.