Aphex Twin's Old Synth

[@AlexBallMusic]

Thanks for the kind comments, I've stuck that end track up on bandcamp. alexball.bandcamp.com/track/theis-modular-jam Cheers

[@GuyGamer1]

Imagine being so talented that you just shit out a track that puts half of Richards catalog to shame. (Not that Aphex Twin makes bad music, but he makes a lot of music, and not all of it is good)

[@christopherhenry3194]

As always you killed it again! Also what did aphex say when you got a hold of him???

[@Unifono2012]

digital love Imagine you’re so talented that you just invent a style many people trying to get close to but never really nail it like you do. Still really like the track no offense 🙃

[@rossbrown8640]

@@GuyGamer1 what is your good music i musty havs it

[@geoffweeg]

Really like this track, would love to hear a whole album in this vein

[@gonzofernandez]

I love how richard has legend status around electronic music. To the point where a previously owned synth seems like holy relic.

[@lunarballoonistxo]

Yes.... Yes it is

[@TheInternetIsDeadToMe]

It makes me think that Jesus Christ might have been someone having a laugh.

[@Alkatross]

I'm printing those labels for all the gear I want to sell.

[@Boojakascha]

We worship Dick

[@gonzofernandez]

@@greenie2600 yeah I get what you mean, elevating a artist to god like status seems a bit fan girly or occult

[@andrewhuang]

Real banger at the end there!!

[@AlexBallMusic]

The man himself. Glad you enjoyed it. Many thanks for dropping by.

[@evanbarnes9984]

Dude seriously, is that available for download somewhere?

[@AlexBallMusic]

@@evanbarnes9984 Yes. alexball.bandcamp.com/track/theis-modular-jam

[@SHINdanny]

Ancient Juan!

[@ek999]

Agreed, that was dope!

[@andrewj2761]

When he said 20 years ago I was thinking 1985-1990.............2002, oh well then.

[@AlexBallMusic]

Haha. Sorry to be the one to break it to you...

[@lunarballoonistxo]

Right? Time flies

[@ToTheGAMES]

That feeling when you're getting older and realising life is... what it is.

[@alphanumeric1529]

I acknowledge the standard psychological time deviation encountered by all through natural aging, but there is something else going on. I don't know if it is merely the internet and its inherent ability to create time consensus ripples and pockets, naturally occurring time (our consciousness exists in a half of a single dimension, the unidirectional experience of a single dimension of time) echos propagating in the other half of the single dimension of time we experience, the echos of a near future event of profound magnitude reflecting back at us from that near future event, possibly 7 years away, or potentially the worst scenario, man's artificial manipulation of time in other potential dimensions or axes, off of the unidirectional single dimension of time we traditionally experienced in the past. Any of these can lead to very strange outcomes, and may explain some of our more outstanding misperceptions, or difficultly, perceptions of time that some of us are experiencing. Food for thought. Drink Orange Fanta, very cold and undiluted by melting ice. I recommend a stainless steel, double walled container and a ratio of ice to Orange Fanta of 3:1. Oh, also only Orange Fanta from a 2 liter plastic container, no cans or bottles.

[@dillonjohnlane]

@@alphanumeric1529 Terrance McKenna talked about the phenomena of time speeding up in his last interview. It's available on KZbin, very interesting stuff.

[@stevoofd]

Aphex Twin in the title is what lured me in, but what you create is very creative and amazing on its own merits. Playing with that Synth seems like a ton of fun

[@AlexBallMusic]

Thank you. Glad it wasn't a disappointment. :)

[@drain9920]

You did amazing in the contextual demo, and the video as a whole was extremely enjoyable aswell !

[@AlexBallMusic]

Thanks very much!

[@erfling1]

Obviously the phone call would’ve gone like You: Richard Aphex Twin: Yeah?

[@AlexBallMusic]

Pretty much.

[@gribo.9543]

Holy fuck how does he do those fucking snare rolllssssssss

[@AlexBallMusic]

@@gribo.9543 One way is by getting a digital delay to self oscillate with a fast delay time so you get a stuttered, glitchy sample. I show the principle at 6:20 in this video and then do it with a TR-606 at about 7:00. kzbin.info/www/bejne/o5-ydHekrZp1msU

[@feeelet]

@@gribo.9543 This is also a pretty wicked machine: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oYKpepeDoteMh5I

[@animanoir]

Lol

[@huck_nyc]

The ending track is so sick. Would love to see it on streaming

[@arpmuless_official]

Yes! Alex a lot of your tracks are great, you should post them on KZbin

[@AlexBallMusic]

Thanks. I'll stick it on Bandcamp when I get a moment.

[@arpmuless_official]

@@AlexBallMusic That's great man.

[@AlexBallMusic]

Done: alexball.bandcamp.com/track/theis-modular-jam

[@benoosh1011]

@@AlexBallMusicSpotify too please :(( Great track

[@bowser8817]

Amazing how flawlessly replicated his sound, not an easy thing to do at all. Great work mate

[@NoirEtBlancVie]

Fantastic man! Any Aphex lore is phenomenal! I love the contextual use of it, you know Aphex’s music well!

[@AlexBallMusic]

Thanks mate. Yeah, he keeps things very private, so any little glimpses like this are very interesting.

[@Doctormix]

uhhh niiiiiice!!!

[@danarves7452]

PLEASE release the track and preferably a whole album in this style!

[@paulmanningremixes6408]

I met Richard a couple of years ago. A true gentleman

[@kubzone95]

A Man of Honor.

[@stu7720]

A national treasure.

[@MonsterDubClub]

An absolute window licker

[@gbreal8391]

The holy grail of gratitude and good greetings upon arrival & exit

[@marcosalmistraro7869]

a splendid astral entity

[@Digiphex]

Don’t rub eyes after touching that.

[@mauriciogalazcampos4023]

Or do...

[@reecedeyoung6595]

Is it acid dipped like a buchla?

[@abesirevic]

that track at the end is amazing

[@AlexBallMusic]

Cheers

[@arnoldorodeo]

I totally agree ! 👏

[@cortical1]

I like how your jam had a polyrhythmic aspect to it that felt like a weird time signature but really only had a five-beat measure feel in the middle of it and was actually just 4/4 with funny "phrasing." Cool.

[@AlexBallMusic]

Thanks, yes all in 4/4 but I sampled the Juno chords and then moved them around into something unexpected so it has a falling-forward kind of vibe.

[@Unifono2012]

Great outro track 👏👏

[@DavidLee07]

Yeah, it was outstanding! Good job, Alex!

[@AlexBallMusic]

Thanks very much!

[@mmrva]

+1 to that!

[@SeidGibbons]

Another winner, as always. A big fan of aphex twin, so your demo track particularly ticked my boxes, you nailed his style of sound very well indeed. Respect Mr Ball :)

[@AlexBallMusic]

Cheers Bobby, glad it was passable.

[@grandtheftautocj]

That tune at the end sounds like something straight out of the Analord series.

[@AlexBallMusic]

Cheers

[@zackspreitzer2872]

Every time I go into one of your videos I just expect history, but I'm always pleasantly reminded that you're quite the composer/keyboardist too. Great stuff!

[@AlexBallMusic]

Thanks Zack, much appreciated.

[@Magnus_Loov]

Love that atmospheric sound the DX7 does in the end track. It sounds warm with that reverb on it.

[@ionianechoes]

Richard dropping by here to check his old gear. I'd be happy to see that robot still making tunes.

[@purplism4857]

the song you wrote at the end is such an amazing creative piece that could go down in music history if it were ever fair. well done

[@absoluteunit8628]

That music at the end must have been super satisfying to make. Good job man.

[@AlexBallMusic]

It was. Thanks

[@neonblack211]

The bassline to the end track is so good its like jazz I loved it

[@TheFretzone]

I love this video dude, and you totally nailed it with the song at the end

[@liquidamusica]

Alex Ball + Aphex Twin = Infinite bliss

[@AlexBallMusic]

Thanks. 🙂

[@lullatone]

The track you made rules. And, I think it gets overlooked by people watching KZbin sometimes, the way you massaged the colors on the video to match the tone of the track and synth is rad too. Awesome!

[@AlexBallMusic]

Thanks!

[@johanmalm8378]

That sounded lovely, -the synth and your jam in the end

[@Pepijn_a.k.a._Akikaze]

Hi Alex, I immediatey recognised this synth after watching another fine video of yours. I have owned a four cabinet Theis Modular Synthesizer System for eleven years. I had it custom made in 2009 (the front was available in two build qualities) and picked it up at Horst Theis' place in Duisburg. His business was managed by a friend (Tronique on KZbin). He has no website. I was particularly keen on having this system for its voltage controllable envelope generators and interesting lfo waveshapes. The price was, let's say, competitive. The original vco's used CEM 3340 chips. Mine has discrete components because when I bought it, Theis had run out of these chips, so he had to design his own vco, which according to Theis, sounds much better. If you want to see a picture of my system, read through my musical biography in English on my website, where I posted one, and if you want to hear the music I made with it, buy any cd of mine from "Sense of Urgency" to the latest, called "Deadlock". Website is www.akikaze.nl I use the TMSS, as any modular system, with few exceptions, for sound effects that can not be made with my hardwired synths. Yes, some shameless promotion of my music in return for this background information.

[@AlexBallMusic]

Hi Pepijn, thanks for dropping by and giving me the backstory. It seems quite a niche club of people who have owned and used these synthesizers and there isn't much info online (no website as you mention) so this is very interesting. I'll have a listen through your tracks and try to look out for it in action. Have you sold it now then?

[@Pepijn_a.k.a._Akikaze]

@@AlexBallMusicThanks for your reply! Ask me anything you want to know and I'll try to answer your questions. No, I will never sell it if I don't have to though I was asked once to sell it by the artist Cosmic Force.

[@AndersEngerJensen]

Great Aphex Twin homage! 💖💖💖 Wicked!

[@AlexBallMusic]

My Aphex spin. ;)

[@BeakFoundry]

I love all of your jams, but god damn did you nail this one!

[@AlexBallMusic]

Cheers. :)

[@Synthshop]

Thanks for giving the world another great Aphex Twin tune. Well done on those classic hooks.

[@SyncdAlien]

This was wonderful to see, quite fascinating! Thank you!

[@AlexBallMusic]

Cheers

[@annabelle6861]

I'm surprised you can still play cause this thing must have cost you an arm and a leg at the very least

[@AlexBallMusic]

It's borrowed. ;)

[@NirSharma1]

@@AlexBallMusic Damn you lucky :)..theres something about these modular synths...like classic cars

[@Aquatarkus96]

@@NirSharma1 So if this is something like an old sporty compact, what would Emerson's wall of moog be ;)

[@russellzauner]

@@AlexBallMusic I have mentioned more than once to people who get trusted to demonstrate gear that could or would never own that if they have people that want them to exercise things andor see them demo'd a lot then they should get together with their other assumed investor buddies (because who can afford such things) and get curators set up with tone museums where we can have a living custodianship of events in musical history, as well as the significance of other art related things/tools. I mean, imagine how inspiring it would be, for a painter, to paint with picasso's actual brush? How inspiring would it be to merely *see* that on the internet, for other painters who for whatever reasons didn't have access and believed they probably never, ever would?

[@THETBRETT]

@@russellzauner Look Mum no Computer has a video od such a place, head to his channel, is a must watch

[@adrianbennett3914]

You made it sing Alex, what a beautifully wonky and warped lump of primitive modular madness. Great tone and depth, sure Richard mangled some melodies with this.

[@ChrisDragotta]

The piece at the end sounds just like something Richard James would have done. And the video really was good as well. Excellent!

[@Cybersyn]

holy shit the outro track is the best music I've seen in a video like this

[@ThisIsTheInternet]

Would really love to see you break down Boards of Canada's production techniques

[@AlexBallMusic]

That would be cool. I'll be honest I've only listened to a handful of their tracks so I'd have to do a lot of research.

[@iTomAnks]

@@AlexBallMusic Well worth getting into if only to nerd out about their techniques. Geogaddi is a masterpiece. Would be great to do similar with Autechre's synths.

[@grahamphillips3099]

@Alex Ball there's plenty to enjoy, Music Has The Right To Children is timeless. The pre-MHTRTC unreleased stuff is worth tracking down to see where they were coming from, the so-called "Old Tunes" and "Tape for Marcus' Uncle" stuff is easy to find - at times its like a 1990s Vaporwave. DJ Food did a mix a while ago as a tribute to their early style, starts with the O is for Orange and Aquarius samples that were used in Aquarius off MHTRTC, then with bits of BOC and other random stuff chucked in for fun... DJ Food mix: vimeo.com/69721622 ...the bass and voice sample in Aquarius: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pKmlqqylgt6hkKM a couple of worthy mentions... Left Side Drive kzbin.info/www/bejne/bqDXZaN_r8dqjMU Nlogax kzbin.info/www/bejne/jZ69koCjfN2GjNE For me MHTRTC was the highpoint though, full of gems: Open The Light kzbin.info/www/bejne/bGWWn4uAfK17bac Anyway pardon the fanboy transmission and thanks for another great video. Met and had an odd conversation with Mr Twin once, quite a character.

[@ThisIsTheInternet]

@@grahamphillips3099 Never heard the DJ Food mix, but this is mint, thanks!

[@squishmusic]

@@AlexBallMusic tracking down their gear list....just go to a local carboot and look for Casio''s :P

[@graphene1487]

That outro song will truly lovely. Thank you for that :)

[@AlexBallMusic]

Cheers

[@timburdsey]

Really enjoyed your test sequence. That was proper.

[@Ferrichrome]

That Aphex style track at the end is amazing

[@GR1MM_REAPER]

Feels more like his Tuss and syro projects combined

[@martinheath5947]

Cool synth. I could imagine David Sylvian singing over the outro!

[@markusfuller]

wow what a gem and a great piece of history.

[@NedBouhalassaVideos]

Cool video and even better song! Really enjoyed the Aphex/Squarepusher vibe!!

[@AlexBallMusic]

Cheers Ned. :)

[@greatheightsu]

Damn dude. I would listen to your Aphex Twin styled IDM album. That was sick.

[@AlexBallMusic]

Cheers

[@neonblack211]

same

[@neonblack211]

the chromatic part in that bassline in the end song just makes everything gell so well

[@dankro279]

Ooooh, that ontextual demo was very aphexy twiny but also kinda alexy bally. Thanks for the treat!!!

[@comfysynth]

Thanks for another interesting and well put together vid Alex. Enjoyed the demo, the history and another great outtro.

[@yareshs]

I love this video! A video on how you approach programming the kind of drums that you created for the full song would be very cool, I think

[@TDRKB]

As usual an awesome track from someone totally dedicated to the craft. Some of those edits must take forever. You must be bored! Last track = pure gold.

[@AlexBallMusic]

Cheers Kevin. :)

[@carlosserrano3985]

What a rarity you have there, probably have a interesting history too, good music as always! PS: The screaming zombie has a heavy distorted LFO, VCF and White Noise, LOL!

[@AlexBallMusic]

Definitely no VCF on that zombie. Full spectrum. 😉

[@dwaynecarroll6098]

Fantastic video. Fascinating subject!

[@darkpolution468]

lovely made as allways. Thank you for that

[@abstral66]

that is a really nice track Alex !! keep the good vibe lucky you!

[@andrewlienhard6758]

Such a great piece of music at the end, especially those cool chordal accents.

[@marsmediapro]

Another great Alex Bell Synth video!

[@SanderAnderon]

best (whilst somehow also cheekiest) gear vids on utube. love it

[@AlexBallMusic]

😉

[@benjiarias9599]

I only can dream of sounding like this. Awesome.

[@Thewithewitchproject]

The best demo that I ever heard

[@ryanbmd7988]

This is the best synth demo I’ve seen this year, if only a deeper dive into every part of it, maybe one sleazing bored day we can indulge your wizardry to go long form min 30 minutes on each part of this creature cheers!!

[@AlexBallMusic]

Thanks. I find the shorter and tighter the videos, the more views and interaction they get. As much it is fun deep diving a synth.

[@gael44444]

@@AlexBallMusic yeah that's fair and true, but I really would appreciate a longer video as well if you're ever up for it haha

[@admatlydian]

That song you made was truly off the shelf. Damn.

[@herbertschmidt1719]

Lovely tune at the end, even though it's really hard to tell what sounds the TMSS was in charge of. Amazed to see that one of these ended up in the possession of AT but then again, there was the occasional TMSS popping up in some auction. I have known Horst for almost 30 years, witnessed his very first attempts at building a (modular) synthesiser based around Curtis ICs salvaged from a broken Sequential Sixtrak, and -- of course -- he was a member of the infamous commune at Ruhrorter Strasse 59 in Duisburg, together with Klaus "Cosmic" Hoffmann-Hoock (the man behind the Memotron) and the unforgettable Herbert Schmidt, of course. BAH!

[@emix7409]

Great vidéo ! I love all part of it, it make me laugh, make me feel the music, and the historic of the instrument !

[@midnightsocean2689]

So I'm assuming shortly after finishing this video, a black tentacle monster slithered out of the thing and proceeded to chase you down the hall, till you were forced to extinguish it with a fire axe and home made flame thrower. On a lighter note: Love the chill ambient you had playing in the first bit. The end piece was really cool as well. Always neat to see odd historical bits of kit.

[@purplezoid1]

Great tune Alex!

[@Synth2000]

I see you finally grabbed the RM80 ... very cool unit, cool looking at as well. Great work!

[@Pichuscute]

That song at the end is gorgeous. The type of stuff I'd just listen to as a major electronic release. Amazing work!

[@mathieusteyer8291]

The demo at the end is sick !!

[@danialta9621]

Holy damn. I've been a fan of AFX for years and it feels so refreshing to see a new video about him in the middle of a pandemic. So fucking cool.

[@discodave6153]

Love your videos. Closing track is really great Alex 👌🏻

[@AlexBallMusic]

Thank you

[@RetroPlus]

Incredible, that is a beautiful machine. Thank you for sharing it with us!

[@iSapien1956672]

Your track at the end is superb, reminds me a lot of B12 and The Black Dog.

[@LaBeatrie]

This is pretty awesome man. That track really has that AFX touch, bravo !

[@AaronWelchMusic]

I did not expect you to be this good at Aphex Twin-ing, holy heck.

[@AlexBallMusic]

Thanks Aaron. :)

[@ther0cketz461]

How is this channel not over a million subs yet?????

[@jaybird8748]

That "Contextual demo" is better than anything I've ever done with my life. Damn!! 🔥 👏

[@neonblack211]

same except for me its the "Raw Demo Sequence"

[@electronictiger]

Another great video Alex. And a lovely tune! Sure channels some of Aphex Twin's spirit. Well done.

[@Andonchoto]

This video needs to be ennough to have earned you this synth. You got the vibe and the attitude. I accept you as you are.

[@beloyaraistov8007]

Contextual demo - amazing, great theme & arrangement

[@hunterbeatbilly9836]

This is something that should belong in a museum. I mean the way it was structure it's so futuristic. I believe he uses this synth around the analord EPs and during the time banding with the tuss. And i may think he uses this way earlier before it was finalized.

[@dkba52]

the outro demo was excellent. make more please

[@jonathonkiner7415]

Sweet video man!!

[@proudsnowtiger]

"I... WANT YOUR SYYYYNTH" It's not actually a modular synth, it's a Holy Relic. Although I'm a little surprised you didn't get a contact high from tweaking the knobs. Very creditable Aphex pastiche, too, you should have just put it out on Soundcloud under a weird name and watched the WATMM crowd go nanas (are they still a thing? Is WATMM still alive? Was it ever?).

[@AlexBallMusic]

Maybe I am Aphex Twin? I mean, have you ever seen the two of us in a room at the same time?

[@alanmaxwell6649]

@@AlexBallMusic I used to know J Majik and his Mum told me that Richard often came over to their house so pretty sure he's not you!

[@natbvm1880]

Did you read that article about the guy who was fixing an old synth and then an hour after getting his hands in there started tripping balls on acid 😂 like damn who had this thing

[@DerekPower]

WATMM is still alive

[@AllenSmithe]

@@natbvm1880 it was an original Buchla that had been in storage at a university for decades. He found the red panel 🙃. Unwittingly he's one of the few people on the planet to experience 60's era San Francisco acid. There's a news interview with him out there somewhere.

[@blackmateriaofficial2383]

Nice,that is one lush track! great work

[@liudas5377]

Brilliant mate!!

[@noiselessfox7618]

Man the Track at the and just has the VIBES

[@lusv4316]

that last track made me feel confused but very very happy and keen to listenn

[@moket808]

this Track is a Killer Alex, love it !!

[@steelcannibal]

Big Aphex Twin fan for year's, I loved this! cheers from California!

[@AlexBallMusic]

Thanks very much

[@odinmp5]

Dude... Thank You. Amazing video

[@AlexBallMusic]

Thanks for watching

[@ezeiansignal]

the demo is sick

[@joerg721]

Btw, the build quality of the later models was more than ok. The TMSS was never a truly commercial effort in the first place, but Horst Theis' private project, to build a modular synth the way HE likes it. If you own one of the few out there, you are lucky. ;-)

[@tronique]

joerg721 we shouldn‘t defraud this example of the Theis Sound: vonhallgath.bandcamp.com/album/intersection 😉

[@AlexBallMusic]

Thanks for the info and the link to your system in action. Looks much sleeker this old prototype.

[@tronique]

Alex Ball The briefly told history of this system is that I asked Horst in summer 94 if he could bild an analogue filter box for one of the outputs of my casio fz1. Horst had built some analogue synths for himself, built Midi-CV Interfaces and also repaired synths. So he created a filter and also built an adsr. And he did it directly in that format. Thats how the tmss was born. It was more a friendship-business 😉. He built four different filter types: three different Lowpass (Softsound, Hardsound, Moog :-D - SSM, Curtis, discret) one Hipass (with a switch between 12/24 dB) You know the digital retriggerable LFO, but another interesting module is the Octave-Ranger - with CV-In for controlling octaves and also intervals. A Trigger-Seq. wich allows independent resets of the tracks. A feature wich was rare 15-20 years ago in analogue Sequencers. A Dual Skip Sequencer with different types in functionality. And as Joerg said, the building quality over the years has clearly improved.

[@tronique]

Alex Ball Fun fact: Yesterday evening I spoke to Horst on the phone as I saw your video in my yt timeline with the tmss Synth on it. And I said to him: „Hey, one of your synths was used by Aphex Twin!“ He answered: „Fine, who is that?“ 😁

[@AlexBallMusic]

@@tronique This is gold. Thanks so much!

[@pomegranatetv2222]

That end jam is awesome!!! Had to buy it on bandcamp.

[@billyruss]

The contextual demo is just beautiful :-)

[@AlexBallMusic]

Thanks

[@compositecone92]

Damn you nailed that closing track.

[@Quants0]

The ending song legitimately sounds like something Richard would make. Probably Tuss-era or later.

[@tutturu9313]

What a beautiful track at the end

[@katerspam]

Aphex Ball

[@AlexBallMusic]

Aphex Spin 😉

[@pdxfunk]

That track is fire. Viva Juno! Them chords is lovely.

[@AlexBallMusic]

Juno - old faithful. Just always works.