The passing of Isao Tomita : The earth has become quiet

[tarkus]

For the KC tribute I was working on a piece inspired by Emo's modular themes and sequences. With the passing of Tomita I will probably expound on that theme with the two Moog Modulars and the gear of the giants communicating to each other as their masters have left the physical realm.

The first time I heard Tomita was Snowflakes are Dancing. It was strane and amusing. a few years later I was gifted a vinyl copy of Tomita's Pictures at an Exhibition. A fond memory of that awesome album was playing it through a PA system before an outdoor gig in NJ as the sun was setting. While the band wanted to go on, the crowd was enthralled by the music. We let it play and Tomita received an ovation after it ended. It was a tough act to follow even though it was a recording.

My two favorite Tomita records are the Ravel album and The Planets especially fr his trademark synthetic vocalizations.

 

 

Thank you Master Tomita.

[hardware]

I have everything he ever recorded according to the collectors in Japan.

What an inspiration in performing too.

His concepts and isolation from knob twisters was just so out there.

 

Beautiful life.

[David Emm]

There is much to admire about Tomita, but what makes me grin the most is that it took a Japanese man to make a synthesizer *whistle* for the first time. Others did sine-wave-y and sampled pan flute things, but his whistle had its own lungs.

[Baldwin Funster]

Funny how electronic and experimental synth music hasn't really progressed after him. Some got weirder and wilder but mostly just unlistenable beeps and boops. At least Tomita took you somewhere.