On June the 3rd and 4th fourtyfive Nord Modular musicians gathered in a former Royal Palace in The Hague. Today this palace houses the collection of acoustic, electromechanic and electronic musical instruments of the Gemeentemuseum The Hague. What better place for Nord Modular enthousiasts to meet!

Music Palace

For two days the participants enjoyed workshops about synthesis on the Nord Modular, could try out the 'vintage' analog synthesizers of the museum collection, and... had the special opportunity to talk with Magnus Kjellander, one of Clavia's programmers, who has done a hell of job designing the Nord Modular. The history of the Nord Modular as told by Magnus was both entertaining as informative and the audience listened carefully not to miss any word from the grandmaster himself.

The lecture on monosynth architectures inspired the audience to explore the more 'unusual' connections and patchings. 'Unusual' to many who are relatively new synth musicians, but all the tips and tricks presented find their roots in the synthesis techniques developed in the seventies. So for some it was an audible retrotrip.

The lunch was an excellent time to meet other Nord Modular musicians from all over the world.

The evening was spent eating and drinking in genuine old fashioned 'Burgundy style', read plenty of good food and even more plenty drinks.

The second day people were remarkably fresh, inspite the drinks of the night before. But then, this was the day that everybody could check out the 'vintage' synths and compare them to their Nord Modulars.

Tweaking the Nord Modular

Jan Henriët and Una Schurer of the popgroup Mercurey checking the Prophet with Jan Punter listening

Kees v.d. Maarel and Åke Danielson with another old geezer...

Any specific posture required to program a Nord Modular patch, Chris Lyon?

Or an Arp 2600 patch, Roland Kuit?

Tommy Lindell and Johan Schurer intensely submerged in the VCS3

David Peck's true love?

Magnus Kjellander and Rob Hordijk discussing part of the old studio setup from the Dutch Institute of Sonology

and the Korg P3200

Paul Klaui checking out the Nordlead3

The second day ended with a presentation of work participants had taken along to the event. Especially the video from Hans W. Koch from

Cologne, Germany, gave a totally new perspective on computermusic. The end of the Event came all to soon, although it had been an exhausting experience for many of the participants...

Next year we all hope to see you again and continue where we left off. The organisation likes to thank everybody involved, especially the Swedish Embassy by making the attendance of the Clavia people possible, the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag for providing such an excellent location and the Electronic Musical Instruments Foundation. Photo copyrights Gemeentemuseum Den Haag.