Serge Modular Music System
The Serge synthesizer aka Serge Modular Music System or Serge Modular system is an analogue modular synthesizer originally designed by CalArts professor Serge Tcherepnin, beginning in 1974.
History
In 1992 Serge production and intellectual property were taken over by Sound Transform Systems (STS) of Oakland, California, founded by Rex Probe in 1984.[1]
Paperface
The original Serge panel was pre-drilled aluminum with panel art on paper glued on and covered with protective mylar film.[2][3]
Intention
Unlike other synthesizer systems with components designed to control the basics of musical sounds, such as pitch, duration, amplitude envelope, timbre. The intent of the Serge system is that the electronics speaks for itself. It makes interesting (although "un-musical") functions such as positive slew, negative slew, peak and trough, comparators, processors, wave shapers, etc. available .[4] Typically Serge modules are multipurpose, e.g. the Serge TKB is a touch activated keyboard, analogue programmer and sequencer, while the Serge Universal Slope Generator can serve as an envelope generator, slew processor, LFO, VCO, frequency divider, lowpass VCF, trigger/gate delay, or envelope follower.[1]
Patching
Serge uses banana jacks for patching.[1] The Serge connector color scheme is more about the type signal than its function but with some flexibility e.g. some CVs can go negative. Many black inputs are AC coupled, but most black outputs are not.[5][6]
| Signal | Color[7][8] | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Audio or signal | black | AC coupled signals |
| CVs | blue | DC coupled signals |
| Pulse in/out | red | Trigger signals |
| Sync | purple | Pink noise out on the Animal panel[9][10] |
| Special uses | yellow , orange , green [10] |
See also
References
- ^ a b c Vintage Synthesizers: Groundbreaking Instruments and Pioneering Designers of Electronic Music Synthesizers by Mark Vail, Backbeat Books, 2000, ISBN 0879306033
- ^ What and Why Paperface?, coa-modular, 3 Jun 2012
- ^ Classic Serge, CGS
- ^ Foreword by Serge Tcherepnin, A guide to the Euro-Serge Modular Synthesizer by Laurie Biddulph.
- ^ Serge Maintenance Info, Muff Wiggler forum, Nov 2010
- ^ If you could color code your inputs...., Muff Wiggler forum, Apr 2010
- ^ Serge Fans FAQ
- ^ Serge Guidebook by Rich Gold.
- ^ The Serge "Animal" - a massive modular in 4U
- ^ a b Best of CGS Build Thread, Muff Wiggler forum, 1 Jul 2011
External links
- A guide to the Euro-Serge Modular Synthesizer by Laurie Biddulph, in eight parts. Updated and expanded from An introduction to the Serge Modular Music System by Rich Gold with Darrel Johansen and Marina LaPalma.
- Egres – The Unofficial Serge Page
- Carbon111's Serge Modular Index
- Serge Modular Music System information collated by Ken Stone
- Buchla, EMS & Serge forum on Muffwiggler
- COA (archived)
- Serge synthesizer, Wikipedia
- Serge Series 79 catalogue
- An early Serge catalogue