Where does musical material come from when all you have is one oscillator? What do you do once you find one sound you love? How do you turn a single oscillator into enough musical material to build a whole piece?
In this class we will learn patching techniques that turn one voice into many. We will use VCAs (voltage-controlled amplifiers), envelopes and filters, and we will explore placement in the stereo field, all on the Moog Mother 32 and the Doepfer system. You really can’t have enough VCAs!
CLASS DETAILS
The class meets Thursday, November 12, from 6:30 to 8:00pm in the Community Synth Studio at AMLA/Esperanza.
This class is ideal for someone with a basic understanding of synthesizers or musical rhythm who is ready to go deeper. This class is 18+. Class size is limited to 10.
Advance ticket reservation is required to attend.
QUESTIONS
Questions? Email SoundLab@bowerbird.org.
PART OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD SOUND LAB
This class is one part of the Neighborhood Sound Lab, a Bowerbird project that also offers a free community synth studio, classes, workshops, and community events. See the project page for an overview of the program and a list of classes and events.
ABOUT THE TEACHER
Christopher Sean Powell (aka Pow Pow, aka Pay Pow, aka Powserati) is a self-taught rhythm scholar, producer, and electronic music-maker living in Philadelphia, PA. He has collaborated, recorded, and toured worldwide with a diverse spectrum of artists and musicians, including the Sun Ra Arkestra, Yoko Ono, and the Boredoms, and works in the Philadelphia band Man Man. Together with Griffin Rodriguez, Powell explores popular music based on jazz and non-Western rhythms as the Los Angeles production duo Icy Demons. His latest music projects include Adventuredrum, a conceptually-based performance Powell composes for an ensemble of drummers, GRANT$, a hip hop duo with artist Tim Fite, and Modular On The Spot, a worldwide synth collective which performs improvised musical sets on modular synthesizers in various outdoor locations. Powell’s body of work has most recently expanded to creating instruments for NYC/Philly based synthesizer company Critter & Guitari’s Organelle keyboard.
ADDITIONAL LOCATION INFO
From October through December 2026, our Neighborhood Sound Lab will be located in AMLA Studios on the first floor (lower level) of Esperanza Arts Center, in the Hunting Park neighborhood of North Philadelphia. The street address is 4261 N. 5th Street, but the entrance is on Bristol Street, near the corner of 5th and Bristol. Enter through Esperanza’s main doors.
Parking. Free parking is available on the Esperanza campus. The lot is on Bristol Street between North 3rd and North 5th Streets, at 4th and Bristol.
Public transit. Esperanza is on SEPTA bus routes 47, 53, and 4. For the 53, get off at 5th and Hunting Park. For the 47, get off at 5th and Bristol. For the 4, get off at 9th and Hunting Park.
ABOUT AMLA
Artístas y Músicos Latinoamericanos (AMLA) seeks to promote the development, dissemination, and understanding of Latin music and culture throughout Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley. AMLA is based at Esperanza Arts Center in Hunting Park, North Philadelphia. For more info, visit amla.org.
Major support for NEIGHBORHOOD SOUND LAB has been provided by the William Penn Foundation with additional support from The Presser Foundation.
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