Recently we had an order from a guy called Tom Rowlands who was after a Range Switch and Pot Pourri to fit into his Emu Modular system. At first glance it was another name at the bottom of an email we received. Tom put in a request and asked if we would go to his studio to fit the modules and it was only after a bit of digging that we realised who Tom actually was – one half of the very successfull Chemical Brothers. If you are not sure who they are you might like to look on YouTube at a video of the “Horsepower’ track by the Chemical Brothers.
Tom has a very enviable collection of analogue synthesizers in his studio, enough to keep any ‘electro-musician’ occupied for ages creating interesting sounds. His Emu modular system was one of the late versions with the improved large VCOs allowing Hard Sync and Linear FM but interestingly the modules were not organised in a ‘classic’ manner and there was no pre-patching at all. After discussing the options with Tom some modules were moved around and the new Range Switch and Pot Pourri added. Tom liked the added functionality the Range switch gave to the VCOs and he agreed that the normal arrangement of having a single turn pot for the Course (10 octave) frequency control on the Emu was not ideal. On the EA VCOs we’ve fitted a 10 turn high quality pot for the Course frequency control which makes life easier. Having the instant, and accurate, octave shifting that the Range switch gives makes life even easier.
The Pot Pourri, with the two LFOs, Noise source, Sample & Hold, and 2 Inverters was fitted between Tom’s two Dual Transient Generator modules so that the inverters were readily available to invert the DTG outputs for use on things like the Universal Active Filter. An inverted envelope is really good on High Pass or Band Pass filters especially if they are resonating slightly. Quite a few synthesizers don’t offer the option to invert the envelope but it was one of the first things that was included in the design of the Aviator.
After a quick look at Tom’s Emu we identified a few things that needed repairing and we’ve also suggested a bit of re-organising of the modules as well as the addition of the pre-patching. If this work goes ahead, and we hope it does, it would be great to think that the Emu system we’ve worked on might feature on the next Chemical Brothers album.