AES Chapter Events Open to all Sound Art students Roger Linn Designer, Electronic Music Products The Coming Revolution of Radical High-Tech Musical Instruments June 18, 2011 | 2pm–4pm | Meyer Hall Most expressive solo musical instruments—violin, cello, clarinet, sax, trumpet and more—are slowly becoming extinct because they are too difficult to learn and can’t play more than one note at a time. And though software synthesis can produce the sounds of these instruments, playing them from a standard keyboard removes all the subtle solo expression, making them sound static and lifeless. This is about to change with the arrival of radical new high-tech musical instruments that promise to capture a virtuoso’s subtle finger gestures as well as traditional instruments, but without their mechanical-age limitations. Join Roger Linn to learn about and see video of these revolutionary new instruments, as well as to see him demonstrate his forthcoming LinnStrument, a video of which has been viewed a quarter million times on YouTube. About Roger Linn Roger Linn is a designer of electronic music products, best known for his invention of the LM-1 Drum Computer, the first programmable, sampled-sound drum machine in 1979. Manufactured by his company Linn Electronics, the LM-1 and its successors the LinnDrum and Linn9000 provided the drums for countless hit records during the 1980s by artists including Prince, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Peter Gabriel, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Devo and Bruce Hornsby, and are considered a major influence on the music of the era. Linn also designed the innovative MPC60 MIDI Production Center, which gradually became the industry standard in the production of hip-hop, rap, dance, and related music styles throughout the ‘90s. Linn later released a groundbreaking guitar effects product called AdrenaLinn. AdrenaLinn transforms a guitar’s tone by using a variety of innovative rhythmic filtering methods, all in sync to an internal drumbeat. Used on hit recordings by artists such as John Mayer, Green Day and Red Hot Chili Peppers, the AdrenaLinn has won numerous international music product awards. In February 2011, Linn was presented with the Technical Grammy Merit Award by the Recording Academy. Ex’pression College for Digital Arts 6601 Shellmound Street, Emeryville, CA 94608 510.654.2934.