Author: andrew.levine

I am very happy to announce the founding of the duo THE-ORG with Kerstin Petersen and myself.

Here is our first release.

And here is number two 🙂

Video premiere on October 19, 2025…

Enjoy the clip filmed before the 188th edition of the series at Wallfahrtskirche Gottsbüren, near Kassel.

We set up on Saturday afternoon to evening and fine tuned things on Sunday morning, then played one short set before the concert.

The electronics: #MoogSynthesizers  Etherwave Plus connected to two Eurorack modular synthesizers, one featuring the Eagan Matrix Module by #HakenAudio  and the other built around #afterlateraudio  Brooks + #intellijel Bifold and a #makenoisemusic Spectrafon ; #somasynths   FLUX; STEIM Cracklebox / Kraakdoos; #landscape Stereo Field.

In this clip I showcase the electronics used:

Audio recorded with a Zoom F8. Video captured with two Blackmagic cameras in 4.6k & 6k. Montage in Davinci Resolve.

One day before the concert I traveled from Hamburg to Weimar with 11 bags and 75 kg of equipment. We then added two large PA speakers from EFIM, a few mic stands, a bunch of XLR cables and power cords to the cache and brought all of it to the beautiful Lutherkirche in Apolda.

This is my setup in front of the altar.

From left to right, top to bottom: STEIM Cracklebox, Eurorack patch cables, “Symphonic” skiff, Landscape Stereo Field and SOMA Pipe.

My recording setup was under the table and another station up at the organ.

From left to right: SOMA Flux, Moog Claravox and my table for more electronics.

The first clip from Apolda will be released on July 23, the birthday of Theremin virtuoso and film music composer Samuel Hoffman.

Michael von Hintzenstern at the Sauer-Organ from 1894.

The organ was miked with a close XY setup (Rode NT-4 XY) and wide AB (two LOM Ucho Pro). I had also set up a nearfield monitor for Michael von Hintzenstern.

Here are some nice photos from the evening’s concert, all shot by Britta Rehder-Geßner, the chairwoman of the Förderverein Lutherkirche e.V.

On Wednesday, July 09 you can experience Duo LufftStrom live at the Lutherkirche Apolda at 19:30 CET / 07:30 PM.

Michael von Hintzenstern will be playing the magnificent romantic Sauer-organ from 1894 and I will be introducing my latest instrument, the «Symphonic» Eurorack modular configuration, played with the Moog Claravox Theremin.

Serge Tcherepnin, legendary modular synth developer and the inventor of the seven-voice «Medusa» that is central to my rig wrote…

«Many ships named Medusa sailed the seas and many sank […] Thanks for making mine ride the waves deserving of your comment 🙂»

Also present: SOMA Pipe, SOMA Flux, Landscape Stereo Field and STEIM Cracklebox. We hope to see you all for a singular, unforgettable sonic deep dive 🙏

The concert with Peer Schlechta suggested a segmentation into eight pieces which will be released successively beginning on June 06. The premieres each start at 22:00 / 10 PM CET.

Please enjoy, like and subscribe 🤗

In November 2024 I traveled from Hamburg to Chicago, then to Champaign, IL to accompany my Continuum Fingerboard to its maker’s lab.

Biking through the campus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign–on a racing bike of Lippold Haken’s–I came across expansive lawns, historical buildings,…

…and chanced upon the School of Music.

Some research taught me that this building was the home of the renown Experimental Music Studios and I immediately contacted Maxwell Logan Miller, the head of the EMS.

Thankfully Max got back to me on very short notice and arranged to meet up and give me a tour of the facilities, founded in 1958 by composer Lejaren Hiller, Jr.

Onward into geek central 🤓 Here is a vintage Roland Studio System 100M.

Next up a large Buchla system.

Early MIDI…

And an EML-200 mystery box I had never even heard about.

Most of the acoustically treated rooms are equipped with a high end stereo or surround monitoring system (one stereo, several 5.1 and one 8.1) and one had a speakerdome for immersive content, Ambisonics and 3D-audio projects.

Occupying the sweet spot 🤓

I even got the chance to meet the EMS’s director Eli Fieldsteel for an informal chat. Looking forward to a return and the possibility of doing a lecture in this amazing space 🙏

Yesterday was a blast! The idea of placing a speaker for the SOMA PIPE into the “Rückpositiv” / organ registers placed distant from the main body of the instrument, usually behind the back of the organist, worked out beautifully.

I did place a speaker close to the ground and next to piano for a soft but more direct listening aid and added the low frequency component of the PIPE’s signal to the main PA. Loved the low end! Check it out on May 25, 2025 here:

For the concert proper I captured a total of four camera angles so there will be lots of fun closeups in future releases. Stay tuned and feel free to subscribe to my YouTube-channel 🤗

I will be performing with Peer Schlechta again today (05/23, 2025)…

…and just completed the trilogy of selections from last year’s concert.

This time I bring along the SOMA FLUX for it’s concert debut. I am excited play it in front of an audience 🥳

I will also be playing the SOMA PIPE, which I brought along last year but ended up not using. As a new idea–for me–the PIPE will sound through a speaker placed within the “Rückpositiv”, the group of registers mounted apart from the main body of the organ and overlooking the nave of the church.

Only the low frequency component, of which there is a lot with the PIPE will come from the main PA (2 x RCF TT-808-AS + TT-515-A) at the altar. Let’s see how this works out in a live setting.

I am very happy to have been asked to join TonArt Hamburg e.V. as a permanent member of Hamburg’s oldest (founded 1989) free improvisers collective.

My connection with the ensemble goes back to April 2008 when I recorded “Im Schlauch”, a great performance at KuBaSta, a subterrean complex of interconnected tunnels. The great showcase for immersive audio was presented at Tonmeistertagung 2008 in Leipzig.

May 2011 I realised an Ambisonics recording of Phil Corner and TonArt at Hamburger Kunsthalle and some years later I performed with TonArt as a Thereminist on the MS Stubnitz and at Künstlerhaus FAKTOR…

Looking forward to being a regular with this wonderful group of musicians 🙂