In this video, Make Noise founder Tony Rolando discusses his history with tape music, sampling, and microsound, which led to the development of the Make Noise Phonogene and Morphagene.

Topics covered:

0:00 Intro
1:01 Tony’s first encounters with tape music by John Pfeiffer, Barbara Kolb, and Mario Davidovsky
2:24 “Composing with Tape Recorders” by Terence Dwyer
3:21 The Superba tape machine
4:56 The Mystery of tape music
6:32 The difficulty of making tape music with just one device
7:28 The Casio SK-1
8:48 Tony’s tape music process ca 1995
9:58 Musical Interlude: “I’d Like to Make Communication W/ U”
12:00 The Ensoniq Mirage
13:52 Tony’s Mirage Sample Bank
14:48 The Wall of MIDI
15:32 The Akai S612
17:45 The Wall of MIDI (again)
19:18 Tony’s time in bands
19:57 Getting back into electronic music
21:44 Reaktor
22:39 Granular ensembles and computer struggles
24:38 Another Brick Wall and the feel of instruments
26:18 Other granular software of the time
27:57 Curtis Roads, Josh Kay, Richard Devine
29:09 “Microsound” by Curtis Roads
29:43 Outro

Rolando’s new album, Breakin’ Is A Memory, is available via Bandcamp. You can preview it below: