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What Was New - Prior Notes

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3.07.2009 - Nothing to get too excited about with this update. It was time to do some overdue housekeeping to the site, mainly to the photos page. A new Gold Leaf entry was added to the current open letter page. Even after all these years, it's surprising how many gremlins: typos, flubs, and outright mistakes manage to hide out for so long, despite careful repeated scrutiny by many sharp eyes. More notably for today, nearly half of the coronal images on the eclipse pages have been updated and improved (some obviously, others subtlety). They've also been edited for more consistent color and contrast than is possible when a wide range of disparate source material, created, then later digitized and posted over the years, are studied so close to one another.

9.29.2008 - This upload concerns only two existing pages. First is the lower half of our vocoder page, which underwent a non-trivial reworking and expansion, including a new list of patent numbers and descriptions of Homer Dudley's original inventions. Several subtle mistakes and typos were also caught, and sections which had been unclear were rewritten. Take a look at the revised page HERE. And in addition, there were a lot of out of date descriptions on our artwork page HERE, which were long overdue for reworking, especially those about our computer based and space probe images.

9.01.2008 - We thought it would be handy for you, besides being more consistent with the rest of the site, to add links to the recently created pdf and zip files about the Eltro machine to our regular pdf file collection (it's near the bottom of the pdf list, "from the archives") on the Resources Page, HERE. Also with this simple update, you may note that we've added some further information about the Eltro's internal preamp to our page describing the pioneering time and pitch shifting device HERE. Also reuploaded this go-round, revised versions of the photos 2 and artwork pages, which had some long overdue corrections made, plus some text updates for several image descriptions which had become dated by a few years.

8.06.2008 - This latest addition is simple but nice. We've just been given permission to share with you a recent photo of Bebe Barron and her husband, Leonard Neubauer. It was taken by Susan Stone for her definitive NPR Morning Edition interview with Bebe, which took place in 2007 at Bebe's home in California. We've also included a link to the online version of the program (for the photo and link, scroll down to the bottom of our new Bebe page HERE). Also several glitches on our latest entries were fixed, the usual drill on brand new webpage additions.

7.25.2008 - Good news for fans of obscure historical audio devices. We're uploading a brand new page about the nearly forgotten Eltro Mark II, an electromechanical processing device from the mid-60s, including a newly created pdf scanned from a well-preserved copy of the rare original brochure. The Eltro could change the pitch of audio, without affecting its duration, or more commonly, compress or expand audio, without affecting pitch. That's what was used by Stanley Kubrick on the voice of HAL in "2001", notably in the singing/dying scene as HAL gets lobotomized. Read about the device and this surprising story HERE. To complement that new speech processing addition, there's a new item #8 added to the end of our site's Vocoder Q&A Page HERE. Then you'll find a new addition to the bottom of the current Open Letter HERE that prefaces and links to the Eltro webpage, and some additional info and edits about Don Longmore, who wired the mixing console, on our first Photos page HERE. And finally, last week's new page on Bebe Barron has been fine-tuned and improved again in many sections, including an added postscript down at the bottom, which features some historical electromusical speculations: check Bebe's page out HERE. Happy browsing.

7.18.2008 - Continuing on this summer set of uploads, our new page on Bebe Barron has been reedited, bug-fixed and polished with a fresh point of view, and with the kind feedback help of a few sharp-eyed, blue-pencil wielding friends: see the new Bebe page HERE. And four new additions to the Wurly II have been documented with pictures and text, those being added to the third Wurly II page, right HERE. As with all such additions, several minor rewrites and moving things around were needed to maintain the narrative. Then, for better consistency, the individual borders and linkages for thumbnail images on all of the Wurly II pages now match those on the photos and artwork pages.

7.15.2008 - This upload includes a final edit-fix of the reworked discography page, HERE. Next, there's a new critter photo with descriptions, as "Charly turns 10" added to the Photos 2 page, HERE. More significant, there's a whole new page about the life and times of an important electronic music pioneer who passed away this past April, Bebe Barron. Read the story HERE about how she and her husband Louis, greatly influenced many musicians and composers in Wendy's generation, and why her life and work remains important to this day, along with both vintage and recent photos of her original studio location in Greenwich Village, NYC. There's also a new introduction, about another pioneer, author Sir Arthur C. Clarke (who died one month earlier) and Bebe on the current Open Letter, HERE. Finally, several pages were reworked to show a more visible color-coded outline on thumbnail images: which had been visited before, which not, along with some other boring but important sundry "housekeeping" activities and bug-fixes. Enjoy.

7.12.2008 - After hearing from several of you about recently developing problems with our "to audition or buy" links on our discography page, we discovered that B&N had changed their entire linkage system without any notification. We apologize for those of you who were inconvenienced by these suddenly "broken links." It today's uploads, we've replaced the earlier page with a new one containing all new linkages to Amazon, which are currently working fine for all the album titles. We've also changed the "Notes for auditioning and purchasing" that follows the album listing, to reflect the vendor change, and added several other convenient links for those who wish alternatives to learn more, audition, and purchase Wendy Carlos albums. The new page is available HERE. Thank you for your patience.

5.25.2008 - During the several months since the website has received any updates worth mentioning, we've been collecting a folder of good new material to add to our pages and upload for you. To start things off nicely, here are three new images, with detailed annotations, and another fine interview (thanks to Chuck Miller, of Goldmine, who conducted the interview and thoughtfully provided us with this recent pdf version), to check out. The first two photos, HERE, document a long awaited visit with an old friend and audio maven, Bob Schwarz, who with his delightful partner, Aggie, visited the studio early this year. The third new photo depicts a particularly irresistible moment with a much loved feline, HERE. You'll find the new pdf of this 2004 Goldmine interview on our usual Resources page spot, HERE. Also we've changed and updated our warning page, HERE, about pirated CDs and inferior older media often hyped for sale online. And there have been more than a dozen smaller changes, edits, bug-fixes and improvements throughout the site (like housekeeping, it's a task that never seems done...) More to come soon.

9.30.2007 - It's been a long, busy summer, and website time became suddenly very limited for all of us here. This update will set things going again, and contains four new items. First, a new Gold Star winner has been added at the bottom of our winners list on the current Open Letter. Next, a text version of Wendy's long and serious interview with Alan Baker for the American Mavericks series (along with a bit of the background story) has been added to the Resources Page HERE. Up third is another feature interview, this time a free-wheeling one by Jim Aikin (the full transcript) which was significantly shortened for the pages of Music & Computers magazine. (The print version has been available awhile in our pdf section from page scans from the original.) The final addition is an update of the address and info for Artisan Organs, on the 2nd Wurly II page, near the top (thanks to Bill Roberts for pointing this out to us), along with some small additions and edits to that section.

7.13.2007 - Having just uploaded several new additions, this was a good time to spend several hours to make a major maintenance site editing and updating. Many pages have had several long-standing font inconsistencies fixed and/or improved, while copyright notices, internal links and site icons have been better unified. Next, on the third of our Color Vision pages, at the end of the section on color deficiencies, we've added a link to a new short page describing standard "color blindness" test charts. Finally, yet a half dozen more text mistakes (found while performing these tasks) have been corrected.

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7.11.2007 - For this update today, we have two additions to sections that have not been touched in awhile. First up, there are two new photos with descriptions documenting the "Tower of Remembrance" in New Jersey. It's a fitting memorial to the victims of 9-11, and is therefore included in the Aftermath pages, a sort of Post Postscript, and it's on Aftermath Page Five. The other additional upload will be found on the Wurly II section Page Three. We're adding a photo with Wendy's descriptions of a last-minute visit to her studio last week by the well respected British organist, Simon Gledhill. And finally, we've added a new Gold Leaf winner to the currently newest Open Letter, besides making several more housecleaning edits and corrections to several typos and fluffs which had surprisingly hung around the site for far too long. Enjoy.

6.18.2007 - Here are some timely new additions to the site to check out. First off, the new Puzzle Photo has been solved, only a few weeks after the initial posting. Check Wendy's newest comments at the bottom of the Miscellaneous photos 2 HERE, and learn what that odd device is. But the major newest additions will be found on the Resources Page, the new section of pdf files. There we've just posted the result of two weeks of painstaking work to create four more scanned and cleaned magazine articles for you to read online or download to read or print later. The four consecutive articles are related to the release of Beauty in the Beast, and were originally published in Keyboard magazine in 1986.

You'll find a broad ranging, pro/con lead interview conducted by Dominic Milano on the state of the electroacoustic arts in the mid-80s, a page of descriptions with audio files for five special tracks made especially for a soundsheet included originally in this issue of the magazine (here converted into clean mp3 audio files) which you can listen to. Then there is a guided tour of Beauty in the Beast itself, with some background story and comments on each piece. And finally, there's an interesting, unusual discussion of some of the exotic alternative tunings which Wendy used throughout the album. We're pleased to expanding our collection of archived articles, and hope you enjoy the latest, in optimized and more convenient form than the original published pages.

6.09.2007 - Although this is not a normal update, in this evening's mail bin there was another Gold Star winner (added to the the top of the current Open Letter) for identifying the single Moog note in S-OB2000, and also two suggestions for the odd structure on top of a few factories, seen in the newest images at the bottom of our Miscellaneous photos HERE. Let's add the three names and mentions to those two pages without further ado (you may have to scroll down slightly to find newest entries).

5.30.2007 - Let's return to some additions to the Photos page. The new images uploaded this time, with descriptions, appear in the Miscellaneous section of photos HERE. Included are two photos (from July '05, and this past evening) of what fairly can be called: Manhattan-Henge, an overly neglected close-relative to England's famous Stonehenge, which you may enjoy, especially if you've not heard of it before. Then there's the rare and dramatic way the sun snakes it's way deeply into Wendy's studio for a few evenings every year. And finally, we present a new Photo Challenge, something rather unusual, depicted in pencil sketch and photograph, which we hope triggers recognition from a few of our faithful, alert web-mavens. And finally, we've just received another winning entry (#24) of the Gold-Leaf Awards, as is announced in the Gold Leaf section found at the top of the current Open Letter.

5.05.2007 - For today's additions, take a look at another group of comments Wendy's just added to the newest Open Letter 7, HERE. The newest comments include authentic Carlos albums versus look/sound alikes, the halls of academia, serendipitous internet connections, musical and mathematical tools new and old, and beloved pets, which as you can see makes up a pretty eclectic collection. The second thing we've just added is a new higher res version of the top photo on our index page, of Wendy with Pandy cat, along with an amusing description. It's the newest entry to the first Photos page, HERE. You'll want to scroll down slightly, as like all newest additions, it's near the bottom of the page. (And don't forget to reload or trash your cache, if you don't see the newest versions of everything.)

4.24.2007 - This is just the usual editing update of the newest additions (which are never perfect the first try), yesterday and today. In particular there is the video/text NMB interview description and links on our News Page. We've also added text and video links for the interview to the table of pdf interviews on our Resources page, where it makes logical sense to be included with past interviews, even though the formats this time are html and streaming video, not pdf. If you'd like, you can copy the text from within your browser, and paste it into a new blank word file, if you want to save a copy for reading or printing offline. Also, to keep these update comments complete, numorous other maintenance edits were taken care of and uploaded, including this very "what's new" page, adding more sectionizing breaks with "top of the page" arrows, and moving the oldest batch of update comments over to the top of the What Was New page.

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4.20.2007 - For this latest update, we offer you two surprises, one small, one large. The former consists of a photo and text description of the latest home-brew addition to Wendy's Wurly II setup. It's a replacement box for adding improved Sostenuto and Sustain functions to the instrument, read all about it on page three of the Wurly II site, HERE. And the second new feature can be found on our News Page, the first addition to that page in awhile. It's a major, in-depth interview between Wendy and Frank Oteri, of New Music Box. There's even a video of excerpts from the full interview which we know you won't want to miss (we said it was a surprise), even if you don't read all the text. Speaking of that, we have added our own shortened concise version of the full interview to the site, perfect if you want to get a very good idea of the whole thing, but don't have the time to read it all right now. Take a look!

4.02.2007 - Only one change in this upload, but it's a notable one. The index page for our site has been rebuilt, as it was long overdue. The new one contains a cheery replacement cover photo taken just last week, a brand new wendy carlos banner title based on our prior design, but somewhat larger and with more graphic snap, some new staff-line pinstripes graphics, and a reworked layout and slightly darker background. The new titles are also reflected in the new small logo on the top left of each page on the site. There are also two styles, one with staff lines, one without. (BTW, the cheeky cat sitting on Wendy's shoulders is Pandy, who's featured in many of the critter snapshots in the photos page.)

3.16.2007 - On the newest addition, you may be pleased that we've finally gotten back to the Open Letters, which were long overdue for an update. They've been reedited to include the newly created next page to the set, letter number seven. The Gold Leaf Awards are as usual to be found at the top of the current newest page, Open Letter 7. And below that, in chronological order running downwards (the latest additions are always to be found near the end) there's a good collection of new replies and comments to the more generally interesting of your thoughtful messages, sent to the website. Take a look.

12.12.2006 - Some browsers seem to have occassional difficulties in either viewing or downloading the several new PDF files we have posted in the past two months. In order to provide an optional way around such problems, and for those who simply prefer it, we've now added companion ".zip" files for each PDF. All instances in which PDFs are linked now have alternate links below each to download the new zip versions. This mainly affects the top of the expanded Resources page. At the same time several minor edits and corrections were made to the affected pages.

12.09.2006 - For those of you who've often written to ask what musical and audio tools Wendy uses or would recommend to other musicians and composers, you may want to take a look at the new pages about a few of her current favorites. Here's one on a mono and stereo audio editing program, BIAS's Peak, and here's one on the Garritan Corp.'s library of acoustic instrument emulators, GPO and J&BB, plus the new Stradivarius Wendy's especially excited about.

12.01.2006 - In this small update, we've added more information about the Bosanquet microtonal harmonium, its current location, plus some links for a few choice books on tuning and timbre, to our Photos 2 page. (Also several small edits and corrections were made to the current open letter, the index page, the Venus Transit page, and the resources page.)

11.21.2006 - Four additional travel photos which Wendy had planned to include in the new Italian travel section, along with full descriptions below each thumbnail view, have been added to the Venus Transit page photo section in this small upload tonight.

11.12.2006 - We have several image additions to make to the website tonight. These, with extended descriptions of each, appear on the Photos II page. You'll find another cheery shot of two cats enjoying the warmth of a computer monitor (a rare moment together), a color photo of a fascinatinng historic microtonal harmonium, and right below that, a high quality simulation of a rarely discussed scientific optical phenomenon dealing with polarized light.

11.06.2006 - Okay, the uploads this time include several edits and enhancements to the most recent magazine pdf descriptions, both on the expanded Resources page and the last page of the Wurly II section which features organist George Wright. There's a new "BTW postscript" further down that page about some near-vocal organ sounds which seemed too good to be true (they were). We've added a few more "Neo-Gold Leaf" winners added to the NH restaurant wall-plaque puzzle, too, lower down on the Resources page. The Open Letter, part six has been given a few improvements at the top, including the 23rd Gold Leaf winner, and some additions and fine-tunings down below. Many recently uploaded pages have further been edited for greater font display conformity between platforms (we'll probably do this thoughout the site eventually, as part of html good housekeeping).

But the main addition tonight is a photo section to the Venus Transit page. You'll find several travel snapshots with descriptions, taken around the time of the Transit, which Wendy observed very well from Italy. And if you've not seen the documentation with many photos of the Transit, you may want to linger to take a closer look at those, too. It may not have the drama of a total solar eclipse, but this much, much rarer astronomical event is still fascinating and elusive.

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10.30.2006 - This modest update includes further additions to the bottom of the page on Bob Moog, with cross links between PDF files and the newly expanded Resources page, in addition to links to several recent additions about Bob Moog at the bottom of the page about the Circon. There have also been a few changes and edits to the Metapage, the Index page, and some other housekeeping tasks and edits.

10.25.2006 - On the heels of the large upload five days ago, here are some new and timely additions and expansions. The new PDF section at the top of our Resources Page. now has a third bonus pdf file added to it. This time is a very rare and in demand magazine interview with George Wright, that amazing 20th century organist. The last page of the Wurly II section has been expanded to include more information about Wright and his Bombarde magazine interview, and other improvements, edits and additions were made at the same time. In a similar way the Circon description page has been expanded to include more information on the newly rediscovered magazine article and the Circon history which were inspired by "The Wobble Organ" descriptions so many years before. There's also a new, easier way to navigate to the pdf itself.

10.20.2006 - It's been a very long time since any new uploads were made to our website. We apologize to those who began getting concerned and kindly wrote to ask what might be the matter. Wendy explains a little of what's been on her mind in a new addition to the Open Letter, part six. Even so, Wendy has continued to gather a lot of good material to add to the site. Today our entries include: scores, drawings, letters, and most important, several newly created PDF files. The latter contain the original complete contents for several of her major magazine interviews, plus a couple of bonus surprise files. It's an ideal way to read these classic articles, either online, or to download for later browsing or printing your own copies. We expect that many of you who've been requesting more such material will be pleased. You can find the new PDF section at the top of our Resources Page.

Added to the MIDI and Music section of Resources is some commentary with a high res scan of Wendy's first full score to "City of Temptation", heard on "Tales of Heaven and Hell" And in the "Interesting Miscellany" section at the bottom of the page, you'll discover three new scans. One is a vintage newspaper clipping from a 1964 concert, then there's a sketch of possible home studio equipment from shortly after that, in 1965, and third is a trial schematic of Wendy's first Sel-Sync panel, for the home assembled 8-tk Ampex tape machines.

The page on the Circon controller (for the Moog synth) has been expanded and given a major reworking and edit. Our updated version of the page includes a letter from Bob Moog and his own hand-drawn schematic suggestion, which Wendy followed in building the device in 1978. You can hear the Circon on several tracks from her score to Kubrick's "The Shining", and again in the music on "Tales of Heaven and Hell." Some tracks on last year's compendium, "Rediscovering Lost Scores" volume one, also contain Circon performances. And finally, note that the Resources Page has a link to the MIDI score for "Heavenscent", from TH&H. Note that the interview by Connor Freff Cochran has also been updated in this upload session, and several other smaller edits were made. We've got a mess of other material we plan to upload soon, please stay tuned, and thank you sincerely for your patience and thoughtful inquiries of the past year.

9.21.2005 - Today there are a few short additions: three new Gold Leaf Award winners added to the top of the most recent Open Letter, along with a short note down below linking to the new page on Bob Moog, which has also been edited for clarity and content in many places. And we wanted to acknowledge the first correct solution sent us of of a word puzzle that's been on our Resources Page for several years now, so a "congratulations" has been added there.

9.19.2005 - Finally we have our new page on Bob Moog posted. Wendy reports being very much overwhelmed by the candid and touching comments from many of you who were kind enough to write shortly after Bob's death was announced. Thank you all, most sincerely. Wendy only had the time (and perspective) to add a temporary placeholder on our index page, with her new pencil sketch of Bob, hastily finished and uploaded the evening of his death. This has now been replaced with this thoughtful page dedicated to his memory.

We've also just updated the discography page with appropriate links to the second volume of Rediscovering Lost Scores, which can be found in stores and via web music vendors as per the rest of our ESD catalog. You may recall that there were problems at first for vol. II, so that ESD was forced to sell initial copies directly through their web site. But now that's over, and all the albums consistently link as they ought. Thanks for your patience.

6.08.2005 - We're marking the exact first anniversary of the June 8th 2004 Transit of Venus in this posting. There's a new page with photos and texts linked from our solar eclipse pages you may want to take a quick look at. This report is long overdue, and we hope those of you interested in matters of nature and science will enjoy the capsule descriptions of one of our planet's rarest of astronomical events.

Also now that the first volume of Rediscovering Lost Scores has been released in fact, we've updated the discography page as promised, with a new link to audition and purchase that title, as we have online for all our currently available albums. We've also learned that a new DVD of the British film Wendy scored, "Woundings", is finally available for region one equipment, and have updated the discography page down below with more information about it.

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4.24.2005 - A task long overdue has been to update our News Page. That's now been extensively reworked and uploaded. You'll see it includes the announcement (with complete track listings) of the new Lost Scores albums, the recent new edition of Switched-On Bach 2000, and more notably, a surprise award just presented to Wendy by SEAMUS, the Society of Electro Acoustic Music in the United States -- their 2005 Life Achievement Award. Wendy comments about the the happy surprise on the bottom of Open Letter Six, and our new addition about it is found near the top of the updated News Page.

We've also revised the Biography Page to reflect the changes in the past two years, including the new award. Many other replies by Wendy have been added to the Open Letter Six, for those who have been waiting to read some new feedback to their e-mail (newest replies are added to the bottom, as usual). Also a couple of small edits and bug fixes have been made to both new pages for Rediscovering Lost Scores.

4.17.2005 - Check the Open Letter Six, which has been reworked to include the Gold Leaf Awards (plus a new winner's name has been added!), and some appropriate updating. Those latest additions have been added down toward the bottom, as usual (for starters, there's one on Wendy's supposed "demise" in tongue in cheek spirit, and another quite serious about some other artists Wendy worked with in the '70s). We've also nailed a few glitches on the reworked discography page and brand new Lost Scores pages, linked below.

4.14.2005 - Finally we're pleased to announce the completion of two long-anticipated new collections of filmscore music never before available. The albums are Rediscovering Lost Scores volume one, and Rediscovering Lost Scores volume two. It was an example of what well could be called "Quintessential Archeomusicology" to search through stacks and shelves full of master and submaster tapes, to locate and assemble the most interesting selections, most of it not heard in years. The final extensive (a total of 61 tracks!) deluxe CDs are about to be released on EastSideDigital, vol. 1 in May 2005, and vol. 2 in June. Fans of "Clockwork Orange", "The Shining" and "TRON", will be able to follow the evolution of the music to these films (with revealing liner notes for each track), a behind-the-scenes story seldom revealed for most well-known feature films.

Just as enjoyable is the music for several films which aren't so well-known, including two British films, "Woundings" and "Split Second", and a collection of fine documentary films created by Dick Young Productions in the '70s for UNICEF. The sound of all the tracks is amazingly clear and impressive in their carefully optimized new 20-bit Hi-D transfers. The Lost Scores albums were created over a period of several months, in response to your many website questions and requests about the film music by Wendy Carlos (for which interest we extend you our sincere thanks). Our Discography page has been updated extensively to reflect the new titles and status for several films. Note that volume 1 covers the period from 1971-79, and volume 2 from 1980-1999.

11.16.2004 - There's good news for "Switched-On" fans. We've added links and description to our Discography Page for the latest ESD CD: Switched-On Bach 2000. The first edition of this the 25th Anniversary sequel album appeared on Telarc, but has been unavailable since 2002. Now sporting a subtle new cover which compliments the original album, additional new notes and bonuses, enjoy this deluxe edition's newly tweaked and polished audio tracks, sounding better than ever before.

10.18.2004 - Long time no see... Yes, it HAS been many months since our last update, far too long. Our apologies. Sometimes the real world interferes with one's best-laid plans. Wendy has added a new Open Letter (part of our Write Wendy section), which will explain some of the reasons for this longest gap ever in our website activity. There's also an attached small new metaporical page of photos and text (about "balance") which you will see from within the new letter. Upcoming soon, the next new ESD release news, plus a few surprises.

12.08.2003 - Happy Birthday to Wendy's father! Clarence J. Carlos came very close to marking today, his 97th. So it's an ideal day to post a new page with photos of her parents, photos of some of her dad's artwork, with Wendy's commentary, on this quite personal new addition to the website. Click HERE to visit the homage to her father, a new photo essay addition to our main Photos page.

12.05.2003 - At long last we have some good news for those of you waiting so patiently (thank you for not giving up hope) to hear that "By Request" was remastered and released on ESD. So if you take a look on our discography page you'll see BR at the top of our CD listing (yeay!). And right below it is our new optimum edition of a favorite among music savvy people and musicians: "Secrets of Synthesis," available on CD in 20-bit Hi-D sound. There are links also to audition and buy for these newest two titles, as well as all our other titles now available again. Meanwhile, we trumpet the news about completing the CBS/Sony album remasterings on our News Page (which in turn links to the discography page).

For fans of behind-the-scenes commentary, you'll be pleased that the Enhanced-CD files for "By Request" include a stack of actual score page scans of the album's featured work, Pompous Circumstances, in addition to a comprehensive musical analysis. The story of that piece's being banned in Britain (no kidding) is also revealed for the first time.

The Enhanced-CD files for "Secrets of Synthesis" includes the original cue cards for one of Wendy's lecture demonstrations (this one at Ars Electronica in Linz) which eventually lead to this album, and you can read all about that. Our new web pages for these two latest titles will give you a better idea of their bonus features, which also include some studio related images not seen before.

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5.29.2003 - Here's a first for our site. We've uploaded a new section to our TRON page which included a high res scan of Wendy's original sketch for two of the film's main themes. She also describes the way these important sections came to be, how the solution fell into place at a most inconvenient time -- when she was about to drift off to sleep! Musicians and composers will also appreciate the musical analysis and composing insights described in this latest addition. For something completely different, there's also a brand new photo of pipe organ expert and performer, Mark Andersen, just added to the growing section on the Wurly II. Give it all a look!

5.26.2003 - We've just added two more photos to the recent Wurly II pages, one of Clark Ferguson at his 5m instrument, and one of Wendy practicing on the new rig. Thank you for the many of you who have written with excellent ideas and feedback for this new section. Due to several savvy suggestions the text has now been edited to include the touch sensitivity of tracker action. Sorry for the oversight. Also on the pages of this new section, the Gulbransen company, which makes the excellent optical pickup devices mentioned in many places, has now changed its name and refined its product line, so we've updated our links to reflect the latest available info.

Our website's mail drop has become preposterously swamped by SPAM (feh!) during the past several months, which will not surprise most of you out there. It's become a growing, chronic problem that needs some legal controls before it wipes out our powerful new communications network. Trusting on the consideration and ethics of everyone just isn't working. In that spirit, we've modified the Write Wendy page by the substitution of only image versions of a brand new e-mailing address (big thanx to Mike Burg for getting us connected). We'll be trying other methods of handling this as well. Help us to fight SPAM: please simply type in the new address as you see it, into your e-mail software when you drop us a note with your thoughts and comments.

5.16.2003 - This time we've performed a several day long maintenance mode of editing and updating many pages from our site, mostly involving the discography and related pages, including individual titles, and notes to each album. These should be in pretty decent shape now (for awhile...).

2.14.2003 - In rapid succession to adding the definitive new section on the WurliTzer II instrument, we've modified our index page to include that new addition. Recent and Older News have been updated into a one-line pair of links: "News" / "Old News", making room for the Aftermath section to have it's own new spot with the other links. The oldest items on the current News page were moved to the top of the Old News page, in a long-overdue maintenance edit. Several new items were added to the top of the News page to bring it up to date. During the editing a few obsolete links on the continuing Open Letters were fixed. The Biography page was updated and is now current again. Finally, the new Wurly II section was reworked and given yet another two polishing edits, so it is much smoother than the original version, a cycle all of our newest additions go through.

2.11.2003 - Here's another major addition to our site with this upload. This particular project has been well over a year in the making. Even the web page took several weeks to create. We're pretty excited about it. Look at the new hybrid instrument HERE, made up of something old, something new, and investigate the story behind the scenes. It's even got a name, The WurliTzer II (or Wurly II), which is explained during our new cook's tour. You can expect to hear a lot more about this interesting assembly in the months and years ahead, including examples of music and sounds from it. We also hope it may inspire others to investigate alternatives to the cliches of music studio design and use.

2.01.2003 - This update is mixed. First off, Jay Pasachoff asked us to edit the new eclipse 2002 report slightly to reflect his expedition to Australia. Done. He also sent us three more eclipse links which we added to the others. There's quite a bit of web information currently available on these events, as you'll discover.

Next, something completely different, we added four more photos to our second photo page. If you take a look you'll find two new critter shots, and very new to our site, some space-buff photos, the launch of the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Mission. Since today, horrifically, we lost seven more courageous astronauts, including Israel's first, when the Shuttle Columbia tore apart on reentry, it is apt timing to consider both sides of space exploration, the painful and happy parts of our grandest adventure. There truly are mixed emotions on this web addition.

1.04.2003 - Let's start off the new year right with another major addition. This time we'll cover the latest total eclipse which occurred on December 4th of last year, exactly one month ago. While Wendy was unable to attend, her frequent collaborator, Jonathan Kern did, with great success. The next day Jon telnetted his wife's digital images from their site in South Africa to Wendy in NYC, who began their latest composite collaboration immediately. The day after that Jon's new negatives were scanned and sent off the same way. Read Wendy's full report right HERE. You'll also see some of the steps involved in creating these newest "naked eye" views of totality (including something novel: a visual comparison of the lunar limb's actual shape with the best predicted values, right HERE).

11.20.2002 - This will be one of the shortest webpage additions in awhile, due to a time crunch, but we've just added another Gold Leaf winner plus a brief update note (the newest additions always are placed at the bottom) on current work progress, to the ongoing Open Letter #5.

9.26.2002 - With the anniversary of the attacks of 9/11/01 upon us, Wendy added a short update section to our Aftermath page. This is a candid, and cautionary look at what has occurred since that dreadful day, and what we may face if wisdom does not prevail.

There has been an increase in the mail from you about Vocoders, which may be fashionable once more. Trying to address that interest, and several misconceptions and urband legends, we've added some additional information to the Q&A with Wendy about vocoding, conducted by Kurt B. Reighley. Editor at CMJ New Music Monthly.

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7.29.2002 - A small upload tonight. The newest Open Letter Number Five has been expanded and cleaned up. This seems to be the way with all new pages: do the best you can initially, post it, learn of some gaffes from the fans and friends who take the time to write, fix those, discover other things that can be improved, catch the outright typos and mistakes, spend hours fixing it all over several days, and finally repost. We've also edited these "What's New" pages, adding more convenience "go to the top" arrows and buttons, and moving the oldest info at the bottom to the "What Was New" pages at the top, preserving the chronology.

7.22.2002 - Since the last update we've been collecting a great many smaller edits, corrections, and rearrangements throughout our site. In the process several broken links have been repaired. The revised pages are now online. The good news is that we've also added at long last a new Open Letter Number Five to our Write Wendy page. Many of you had recently worried that this section had been growing quite stale, and will wish to take a look at some replies to your mail. Thanks for your patience.

5.22.2002 - Finally, as we've just displayed on our Discography Page, our long-term goal of releasing a uniform edition, 20-bit remasterings of ALL the Bach and Baroque Moog Synthesizer series, has been reached! Last Fall we released the first two single albums: "Switched-On Bach" and "The Well-Tempered Synthesizer" (in its first CD release ever). Now ESD has just released, for Spring 2002, the third and forth single albums,: "Switched-On Bach II", and "Switched-On Brandenburgs".

Finally, those of you who desire ultimate CD versions of the individual LPs you remember, can make your selections. Note that the Brandenburg new release includes all six concerti, just as the first Masterworks gatefold LP edition did, in a deluxe two-CD set. At the same time, the collected "Switched-On Boxed Set" remains available, too, with its many special bonuses, all in one place. There's now an ideal version for everyone!

5.6.2002 - Thanks to several of you for pointing out a few problems in the links on our Discography Page, to audition/purchase CDs. These have now been fixed, and the page itself has been updated with a new TRON entry, and edited to reflect the most recent changes.

2.2.2002 - Some additional material was just added about the new Disney release of the TRON soundtrack music on CD. We updated the cover image with a direct scan of the final booklet's cover, and added the additional notes down below. Yes, it's out in stores and on music websites now!

1.8.2002 - We've just started off the new year with some corrections and edits on several pages, and by adding a few recent reviews to the pages for Switched-On Bach, The Well-Tempered Synthesizer, Digital Moonscapes and Beauty In The Beast. At your request, we've also added the final track listing for the upcoming Disney release of the TRON soundtrack music on CD. Note that it's *exactly* like the LP and Cassette, including the same ordering, more accurate timings, nothing missing, but with three newly added bonus tracks as well. (We just found and added a Disney web image of what the new CD looks like...)

12.18.2001 - Surprise! -- you're scarcely gonna believe this -- we just remastered TRON for Disney, a new deluxe CD to be released by them, with an in-store of January 29, 2002. This is the first CD of the soundtrack ever available, taken from the original master mixes, preserved in 20-bit Hi-D audio, just like on our ESD remasterings. There are many never before heard bonus tracks, and some new liner notes, too. Read all about it here!

10.20.2001 - Finally the promised individual editions of all of Wendy's Bach and Baroque albums have been released. Since this includes the ultimate editions for Switched-On Bach and The Well-Tempered Synthesizer, let's see some smiles out there! Well, those first two albums have just come out this month, now shipping. Nearly finished are S-OB II and a 2-CD Brandenburg set, which will follow at the start of 2002. Four new web pages have just been created and uploaded for each of the four titles. Check out our discography page for all the details, and to order your own copies.

On our artwork page you'll also find two more color pastel drawings, long thought to have been lost or destroyed. One is a somewhat impressionistic outdoor shot in Central Park, the other is of Princess Grace of Monaco. There's a story to be told on each, along with some decent color scans for you to puruse when you get a chance (as usual, click each thumbnail for the big version). We've also just uploaded Wendy's latest revision of the FAQ Page (replies to you most frequently asked questions). Some fine tuning and editing has also been done to our new Aftermath Report. More postings to come soon.

10.02.2001 - The attack on the Pentagon and World Trade Center has been on many of our minds and haunting our dreams since that awful morning of 9.11.2001. As a long time resident of New York City, Wendy has been deeply affected by the destruction to life and neighborhood, and has compiled a detailed report, in words and pictures, of what it has been like to live through this. You will want to read her complete Aftermath Report, which was just uploaded.

Read all older "What's New" notes.

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