Big news at the top: Workshop System Batch 2 is finally available to buy HERE with global shipping from Thonk
I’m writing this from Calamansac, just outside Falmouth in Cornwall. It’s the second Dyski Sound Maps retreat, so I’m surrounded by people collaborating, experimenting, making music with many Workshop Systems, graphic scores, field recorders, tape loops, an ad-hoc quad system, three melodicas and an out of tune piano.
It’s amazing for me to see people using the Workshop System in ways that I couldn’t have imagined. Oren & Dan performed an bit of Stockhausen’s Mantra with the house’s old upright piano running through the Ring Mod and my battered Genelec speakers. It sounded immense and alien and I couldn’t stop grinning.
Meanwhile, a lot of other things have happened over the last month:
IF you’re a new Workshop System owner, it’s great to have you here.
1. How to build it 2. How to use it 3. How to join the community
What an honour to get an in-depth review of the Workshop System in Sound on Sound this month, thank you William for being so positive and concluding that the system is “Fabulous in almost every way”.
Suren played another fantastic short set with Workshop System and Kaoss Pad at the Synth Expo in Hackney. Thanks, Suren!
I made a little zine called “What Would Someone Like Me Do With A Tiny Modular Synth?” for the Synth Expo - you can download a copy here - and I’d be interested to know if it successfully answers the question for you.
If you’re in London or Brighton and want to learn to Solder or improve your skills, Simon at Synth Shed in Croydon runs brilliantly friendly regular workshops every few weeks.
A really exciting crop of new work-in-progress Program Cards have been released over the last few weeks:
BYO Benjolin is a clever toolkit for building chaotic instruments from the designer of the brilliant Goldfish. Demo video. Documentation.
OD, from Dyski alumni Matt Mills, is a loopy chaotic modulator with fantastically deep documentation. Project page.
Compulidean is a very fun Euclidean Sequencer which also features the Workshop System’s first drum machine, with gnarly 808 samples. Project page.
Glitter is a stereo granular looper with a very cool video demo featuring a Yamaha Remie. Project Page.
This epic video from Chris Johnson is a DEEP dive into designing and writing Workshop System program cards. I found it very inspiring — like watching a master craftsman turning a raw log into an elegant chair, and the complete opposite to my own vibe coding efforts. Also - here’s the program card he’s making in the video.
The new 16mb blank program cards are currently in stock at Thonk. There aren’t any 16mb-exclusive programs at the moment (Backyard Rain comes in 16mb and 2mb versions), but more space will make it possible to experiment with samples. Let me know if you make anything you want to share.
If you bought a Workshop System Kit but haven’t put it together yet, do get in touch if you need any advice, support or help. I might run an online build workshop if that would be useful.
I’m currently working on a ‘how everything works’ demo video - a detailed talk through all the ins and outs of each video. Let me know if there’s anything specific you think I should include.
Thanks for reading this far,
Tom