[13.09.2011]

My grandfather died last week, while it would be inappropriate to say too much in this context, his passing gave me cause to rake over some happy memories from my childhood. He lived to an immense age and packed a lot in during his time on the planet: a father of ten children, I came to know him in his dotage, a sweet and lovely man. He was restlessly inventive, a trait inherited by my father (and to some extent myself) - I recall visiting in the early 1980's when garden strimmers were an emerging technology, he'd built his own from an unshielded AC motor and a blade cut from a tin can. It remained largely inoperable as it sent local TV reception haywire.

Among his many hobbies was an electric organ, one of those old geezer affairs with a split-level keyboard and heavy plastic rocker switches spelling out instrument selections such as Trombone 16 which sounded nothing like a trombone. In addition to this Stonehenge of organs he had a little Casio keyboard on which he could tap out doodles, the monophonic VL-1 in all its plastic glory, 'The keys are unreliable and cheap soft buttons with absolutely no natural feel, response, aftertouch or velocity'.

This thing was like catnip to me, I was obsessed with the Rock-1 rhythm preset which formed the basis of German pop band Trio's 1982 hit Da Da Da (incidentally, Rock-2 can be heard on The Fall's The Man Whose Head Expanded - 'Turn that...Space Invader off'). I would let the rhythm cycle over and over, face bursting with the simple motorik pleasure of having that sound in my grasp until it was swiftly wrenched from my hands. During later visits I think the keyboard was discreetly hidden away.

As a tribute to its limited charms I thought I'd try and use sounds from the VL-1 for a short piece. Although it's almost impossible to disguise, the Rock-1 rhythm provides the source for the cascading layer that emerges around 3:09.

A tribute to the VL-Tone (and, obliquely, my Grandfather).