Authors & Contributors

Craig Anderton

Musician/author Craig Anderton has written 12 books and appeared in five videos about musical electronics.  An internationally-recognized authority in his field, he is also a recording artist who has played on, produced, or mixed 10 recordings including his solo CD, “Forward Motion” (distributed by MCA).

Because of his ability to demystify complex technology and present a practical, hands-on approach to getting a great sound, Craig is a popular lecturer in the United States as well as in Europe, South America, and Canada.  He is currently Technology Editor for EQ magazine, Consulting Editor for Guitar Player magazine, and a monthly columnist for Keyboard; he also hosts “Craig Anderton’s Sound, Studio, and Stage” area on AOL (keyword: SSS).

Jules Ryckebusch

Jules Ryckebusch is finishing up a 20 year career in the Navy.  He has spent 10 years on three US submarines and is now involved in Deep Submergence Research and submarine rescue.  Jules has designed and built analog audio circuitry for 15 years.  He has been a recording engineer, live soundman and a DJ.  Jules now lives in Southern California with his wife Sheryl and their son Evan.  There are many projects brewing in his brain if only he can find the time to get them out!

John Simonton

John Simonton designed hundreds of products including the Gnome MicroSynthesizer, the SMPL System SMPTE / MIDI / Machine synchronizer and the PAiA Programmable Drum Set, which is credited with being the first commercially available user-programmable percussion box.  Many Artists got their first exposure to synthesis with PAiA modular systems designed by John and many engineers, scientists and technicians had early exposure to their professions through his articles.  His work with starved tube circuitry produced the TubeHead series of preamplifiers and his most recent project was PAiA’s Theremax theremin.

John was the founder of PAiA Electronics, Inc. and High Technology, Inc. (the first distributor of Apple Computers) and Polyphony Publishing Co.  He was also the founding publisher of Electronic Musician magazine.

Larry Fast

Larry Fast has been a friend of PAiA for many years.  He is best known for his series of pioneering electronic music albums recorded under the project name SYNERGY.  “Electronic Realizations for Rock Orchestra” is a 20th anniversary re-issue of the first of the nine SYNERGY albums.  Larry has also worked extensively with Peter Gabriel, as well as with many other top recording artists.  He has composed scores for movies and television and now serves as a supervising music producer for feature films.  Larry Fast has recently formed Third Contact, an Internet distributed electronic music label.  He has also developed an infrared audio transmitter for the hearing disabled which is currently being manufactured.  Here is Larry’s Home Page.

Don Lancaster

A Guru who needs no introduction…  At last count Don was managing columns in five magazines, had over 30 books to his credit (including the near biblical “CMOS Cookbook” and “The Incredible Secret Money Machine”, the partly biographical handbook for the enlightened entreprenuer), and was Sysop for the Post Script Round Table on Genie.  But as any Don-phile knows, even these don’t provide adequate outlet for all of his interests, which range from spelunking to tinaja questing.  You can count on unusual ideas and links on his home page.

Barry Klein

Barry Klein has been building and writing about electronic musical devices for over 20 years.  His book “Electronic Music Circuits” has many useful circuits and design ideas presented in an easy to understand format.  Photocopies of this out of print classic are available directly from Barry at barry.l.klein@wdc.com and it is highly recommended for the intermediate to advanced experimenter.  The companion EM IC Databook has data sheets for all Solid State Music and Curtis ElectroMusic chips as well as Synthesource application notes.

Thomas Henry

Tom was a frequent contributor to Polyphony magazine, Electronic Musician, Electronotes and others and has over ninety Published Papers and Articles on astronomy, electronic design, music synthesizers. and microcomputers.  He’s the author of “Build a Better Music Synthesizer” (Blue Ridge Summit, PA:TAB Books, Inc., 1987) and his latest book “The Electronic Drum Cookbook” is a treasure available from Magic Smoke Electronics.

Hal Chamberlin

Hal Chamberlin is the author of “Musical Applications of Microprocessors”, a timeless reference work that ranges way beyond the subject of the title.  In over 650 pages and as many illustrations Hal touches on nearly every aspect of sound synthesis and processing using purely Analog, purely Digital and hybrid designs.  Owners of MAM will not part with their copies of this out of print classic for any amount of money, but Hal is offering photocopies for us$30 (you will never find a better bargain).  Hal reads mail at halc@ycrdi.com but asks patience with slow replies.

A limited number of Hal’s “Musical Applications of Microprocessors” are available from Jeff Dec who writes “… I’m offering them for sale for $50 US plus shipping.  These are NOS (New Old Stock), 2nd edition copies, with dust jackets and are in MINT condition.”  If you’re interested in a copy contact Jeff directly at jdec@mindspring.com .

John Blacet

John Blacet has been writing construction articles since the late 70’s and has contributed to seminal publications such as Synapse and Polyphony.  He is the designer of several classic devices including the Syn-Bow and Time Machine.  John still developes products for his company Blacet Research.  One of his more recent projects is a redesign of the Dark Star (Dark Star Chaos), which explores noise modulation with voltage controlled functions.

Grant Richter

Grant built his first 2700 in 1972 from the articles in Radio-Electronics.  In 1974 he was admitted to the tape music program at the University of Wisconsin, because he had a modular synthesizer and the University did not.  Later he built up a P4700J system which was customized for the use of the seminal noise band F/I.  It was used prominently on the “Split LP” and “Space Mantra” albums (RRRecords).  Today, he makes steampunk analog modules that answer the question “What if the synthesizer had been invented in Victorian England?” at Wiard Synthesizer. (http://www.wiard.com)

Scott Lee

Scott Lee is PAiA Director of Tech Services… Well, in fact, he is PAiA Tech Services.  He is a truly remarkable guy who knows every quirky thing that any PAiA kit has ever done.  Scott frequently is responsible for tweaks and mods that make what worked great on the lab bench work just as well in the real world.  Did I mention he has the patience of a saint?  Don’t get me started.  Check out Scott’s trouble shooting tips and Scott’s Vocoder Clarifier Mod.

Brad Martin

Brad is working with Scott Lee to redesign a number of older PAiA products, and develop new kits for the TubeHead line and 9700-series products.  Brad started out working for PAiA in high school and then went out to help Apple Computer back in 1978.  In 1984, he started designing digital signal processors, microprocessors and other integrated circuits, including op amps, comparators, amplifiers and noise-reduction circuits.  Brad still designs ICs for a number of companies through his consulting partnership, North Shore Circuit Design L.L.P.