The Daytona State College Music Production Technology program has received new equipment that allows music students to experiment with analog synthesizer sounds. On February 7th, the DSC MPT Instagram page posted a six-photo carousel of one of the two pieces of equipment.
In the post, Professor Aaron Swihart is seen connecting wires and twisting nobs on the school’s new Moog Model 10 Modular Synthesizer along with the Moog Compliment B Sequencer. The Model 10 was received on January 25th and is the 35th unit made in the recent release of the famous machine.
Also on February 7th, DSC received another machine, the Buchla Skylab 10-module System.
Following the creation of the original Moog synthesizer, the Buchla Skylab was created as a direct response. Having both of these machines means that the professors will be able to teach the differing schools of thought that came from each one’s creation in a more in-depth way.
Professor Scott Velazco wants to stress the importance of the history of electronic music to students. He said, “One of the things we wanted to do was greatly develop the history and hardware aspects of the entire world of electronic music.”
With the addition of these synthesizers, the professors can now expand on many musical and audio engineering lessons that were previously taught almost exclusively on software. Students will now fully understand why and how the sounds from said software originated by actually using the hardware.
Intro to Electronic Music Production, a new course which was formed in the spring of 2022, will be the first course to utilize the synthesizers in instruction, followed by the MPT sound engineering classes later in the year.
“We wanted to be able to own and demonstrate some of those early tools that made the genre of electronic music possible,” said Velazco. “This is the genre that basically dominates American and western music in popular culture.”
Check out the Daytona State College Music Production Technology Instagram page by clicking the link here!
Steven Wease
Staff Writer / Staff Photographer