Welcome to the Snake Pit: World’s Largest Modular Synthesizers Collection

In the so-called “snake pit,” some of the biggest modular synthesizers in the world line the walls of Ed Brock’s Park City basement. Built over the last 10 years, an insane amount of colored wires run around and behind tall electronic machines with hundreds of input and output ports. They make sound by generating, processing and shaping different audio signals, allowing Brock to create sounds, melodies and textures.

These large machines are Brock’s instrument of choice. Collaborating with his partners, Fezmaster, Mafic Pulse and the

SLC Synth Alliance, Brock recently showcased his synth-made music with sci-fi animations at Brewvies.

“I wanted to be something that [an audience] probably never heard before.”

This included two films with improvised scores, sometimes featuring other instruments or mixing organic sounds like waves and birds. It’s difficult to describe all of the sounds created with these machines; it can sound like whale calls, an organ, strings, alarms or even sharp microphone feedback.

“I wanted to be something that [an audience] probably never heard before,” Brock says. He also says it’s fine for people to have any response, even an uncomfortable or unpleasant one, as long as they take the time to be curious about their reaction.

The poster art for Brock’s films matches the unconventional and psychedelic vibe of the performance. Brock says his projects usually start with the album cover and poster art, sharing that he has thousands of these collages stored.

This screening featured the hour-long films Garitang Keshi, The Kunlun System and Manvantara, 43% human. The “43%” was a random number Brock chose, inspired by something he read about humans being “made up of a large percent of bacteria and viruses.” Brock also changes his band name (like Alliance For Radiation Safety) every 5 to 10 songs across his roughly 50 albums to whatever titles he finds in his “backlog of millions of names [and] ideas.”

Some songs in the films are more beat-driven, with an improvised call-and-response with his musical partners. The effect is this kind of ‘80s video game soundtrack, complemented with moving animations that take you through different planets and galaxies. The space-like animations are overlaid with footage of things from humanity, most often vintage videos of ads, government propaganda, biology/anatomy drawings and PSAs.

The other tracks are much more abstract, with layered sounds following no real rhythm or phrasing. Sometimes it sounds like a ‘70s slasher villain theme, other times a soundtrack for a nature documentary, but mostly it gives you this feeling like you’re lost on a long trip. The animations simultaneously take you on a stream-of-consciousness journey.

Brock generates these animated “worlds” using fractals and self-similar geometric patterns that resemble things found organically, like the branching of rivers, lightning, roots or snowflakes. He inputs fractal formulas to create these worlds, rendering them year-round on a half-circle of several thick, constantly humming laptops.

“It’s really a lot of luck of the draw to be able to get it, ‘cause you can have a great combination of formulas but not have the right parameters for how the formula creates the iterations for the world,” Brock explains.

“I find that there’s a connection to the music-making if I know how these things work.”

The experimental trial-and-error, as well as the meticulous custom art, are what originally drew Brock to modular synthesizers. From the development of early synthesizers in the 1960s, experimenting with these electronics required a do-it-yourself, resourceful attitude, because the equipment was so expensive and inaccessible.

“I find that there’s a connection to the music-making if I know how these things work,” Brock says. “It’s almost like a musical partner.”

“I feel you don’t really understand the music until you really dissect it.”

His aspiration is not to gain a following but rather to invoke curiosity and deep listening in others. His next project involves a spoken word element to his music, including a variety of voices speaking random prose. “I’d love it if people would take more of a risk than listening to the things that they listen to every day,” Brock says. “I feel you don’t really understand the music until you really dissect it.” Brock is affiliated with the @slcsynthalliance. Follow or reach out to them to discover more of his work.

Read more about Salt Lake’s synth-made music:
Local Review: SLC Synth Alliance – Dream Variations Vol. 2
Localized: Runestomper

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