Machina Bristronica

>>LIVE STAGE________

For this year’s Live Stage line-up we’ve left no stone unturned, bringing a smorgasbord of expert performance patchers, sonic scientists and sound system troubadours!

An aural, optical and haptic feast running throughout the day where wizened synth heroes intertwine with a new generation of performers – experimental systems clash with traditional hardware and audio-visual alchemy is conjured before your very eyes. 

You can find everything from sparkling synthetic electro, DIY kraut-punk rhythms, subtle shifting ambient textures, cable-laden modular excursions and everything in between!

>>SATURDAY________

>>SUNDAY________

>>2024 EXHIBITORS________

• 3rd Event Technologies
• Ableton
• Acid Rain
• AJH Synth
• Apollo View
• Archaea Modular
• Arturia
• Ashun Sound Machines
• AtoVproject
• Audio.Computer
• Auza
• Bastl
• Beepboop
• Befaco
• Bela
• Bitwig
• Bjooks
• Bleep Klub
• Blukac
• Body Synths
• Boredbrain
• Bristol Communal Modular
• Buchla
• Chase Bliss
• Circle Instruments
• Circuit Happy
• Clacktronics
• Clatters Machines
• Componental
• Cong Burn
• Damaru
• Decksaver
• Doepfer
• DPW Design
• Dreadbox
• Drift Dj Industries
• Elektron
• Emute Lab
• Endorphin.es
• Enjoy Electronics
• Eowave
• Erica Synths
• Error Instruments
• Euterpe Synthesizers
• Eventide
• Expert Sleepers
• Expressive E
• Feed Me Synthesis
• Finegear
• Frap Tools
• Flowfal
• Forge TME
• Fully Wired Electronics
• Future Sound Systems
• Gammalite Systems
• Half Time Modular
• Herbs and Stones
• Hikari Instuments
• Instruo
• Isotonik Studios
• Jolinlab
• Joranalogue
• Knobula
• Laine
• Landscape
• Love Synthesizers
• Making Sound Machines
• Midicake
• Melbourne Instruments
• Modular Perfection
• Mordax Systems
• Morphor
• MRG Synthesizers
• Music Thing Modular
• MyVolts
• Neutral Labs
• Neuzeit Instruments
• Node Audio
• Noise Lab Sweden
• Novation
• Oaka Instruments
• Oberheim
• Officina Del Malista
• Olivella Modular
• Orgeldream
• Patching Panda
• Plankton Electronics
• Play All Day
• Pushpin
• PWM Music
• Raw Yaw Media
• Rides In The Storm
• Rossum Electro-Music
• RYK Modular
• Schlappi Engineering
• Sequential
• Shakmat Modular
• Sleepy Circuits
• Song Athletics
• Soma Laboratory
• Sonocurrent
• SoundForce
• Steady State Fate
• Stochastic Instruments
• Stylophone
• Supercritical Synthesizers
• Synth Cables
• Syntonie
• Teaching Machines
• Teenage Engineering
• Tenderfoot
• Thawney
• Thonk
• Torso Electronics
• Tubbutec
• U.D.O Audio
• U-He
• Velocity Press
• Verbos
• Vermona
• Vostok Instruments
• Winter Modular
• WMD
• WORNG Electronics
• XOR Electronics

>>DIY WORKSHOPS________

Roll up, roll up! All ye wielders of the solder wand, bedroom builders and hardware hackers – we’ve got you covered at Machina Bristronica this year! Join us in the DIY AREA where you can build top notch hardware with assistance from the designers themselves. With everything from desktop noise machines to eurorack modules and tape loop workshops.

>>DIVKID STAGE________

Pull up a bench outside the Machina Bristronica warehouse where you’ll find the DivKid Stage – with everyone’s favourite modular aficionado, gear reviewer and all-round top bloke DivKid. He’ll be hosting interviews with top designers from across the synthesizer galaxy all weekend!

Serious knowledge to be found here, deep dives on the design process and maybe a few cheeky exclusives from this stellar lineup… 

>>Escher Music Connection________

The Escher Music Connection Showcase sees DJ legend Hodge playing a 2 hour set of tunes made by Escher Music Connection group members – a monthly producers meet up and listening session run by Elevator Sound. The showcase is running from 19:00 – 21:00

You’ll also find the majority of food/drinks traders outside with plenty of seating so you can take a load off while soaking up the chat.
And if thats not enough the Saffron Music crew are on the decks between the Divkid interviews all day Saturday, with We All Play Synth & Bleep Klub hosting the Sunday slots.

>>AFTERPARTY________

In need of some post Machina plans? Maybe an invigorating full body electro workout or some spaced out electronic oddities to wind down after a long day on the buttons?

We’ve got you covered with the OFFICIAL MACHINA AFTERPARTY on Saturday night at Strange Brew. More live sets than you can shake a stick at including electro luminaries DMX Krew, London Modular Alliance and Ben Pest, eurorack-attack techno bounce from Trovsrsi b2b ALX-106 and Andy & Grace and everyone favourite kooky synth wizard True Cuckoo!

Tickets for both, or either, days are available from Resident Advisor HERE.

Tickets to the DIY workshops running on the Saturday and Sunday during this year’s Machina are available HERE.

Please note: Festival ticket(s) are still needed for event access. DIY tickets are a separate purchase.

Tickets to the official Afterparty on the Saturday night are available from Headfirst HERE.

Please note: These are a separate purchase to the main Machina daytime tickets.

>> SURGEON

Who better to kick off our live stage highlights than the mighty Surgeon, the constantly flickering lightbulb in the sweat-soaked basement of UK techno will be closing off Saturday night of the festival with a bang.

A quiet figurehead and tastemaker for 30 years, Surgeon’s signature blend of industrial textures, punk-sensibility and down-to-the-wire machine music ignites dancefloors across the planet utilising an ever changing, stripped back and forward thinking hardware setup.

A sonic explorer of the highest caliber, a quick dig into Surgeon’s many aliases will unlock various ambient, soundscape and drone projects from the man himself alongside beloved rough n’ tough live acts British Murder Boys (with Regis) and Trade (with Blawan).

>> ANTHONY ROTHER

It’s hard to think about the galaxy of electro without the vocoder-croon of Anthony Rother. Soaked in synthesizer squelch and laser-precision percussion, Rother’s live performances pull together influences of classic electro from the 80s, driving club heavy basslines and Kraftwerk-esque vocal riffs into a nebulous sound that stirs the mind and body into an undeniable rhythm.

With over 100 releases under his belt for labels such as Psi49net, Datapunk, Telekraft Recordings, Mechatronica and (one of our personal favourites) Cultivated Electronics – this is a strictly shock out set for all you cyborgs and sci-fi futurists.

>> LEGOWELT

A man who Alchemulator aka Bontempi 666 aka Calimex Mental Implant Corp aka Clendon Toblerone, aka Danny Blanco aka Dickie Smabers aka Gladio aka Hermit In A Rave Cave aka Jackmaster Corky aka Lords Of Midnite aka Nomad Ninja aja Polarius aka R-Zone aka Shadow Wolf aka Smackos aka Twilight Moose aka Westside Box Savants… but you may address him as Legowelt. 

A spokesperson for machine music since the dawn of time, Legowelt’s influence stretches from hiss-soaked synth pop to the rawest jackin’ house traxx, pixellated cybernetic electro, alien ambience and club cuts so wonky they can’t stand up. Armed with a synth collection to rival the gods and an encyclopedic knowledge of golden-era Casio tech he surfs the universe, spilling a techno-color wash of woozy sound in his wave.

>> LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER

There’s only one Look Mum No Computer. The boiler suit-ed boy wonder behind hacked hardware fables that echo around internet comment forums and in whispers at the back of the synth meet. Hushed tales of Furbies mutated into an unholy orchestra, church organs belching forth musical (and literal) flames and a hundred Game Boys wired into a wall of glorious 8-bit sound.. 

But Look Mum’ is more than just a folkloric figure to the synth community – he’s an electric bard of the highest order, summoning forth ripping synth-pop singalongs with support from his trusty Kosmo 5U super system, tried and tested in live scenarios from packed clubs to festival stages, from the beaches of the South Coast to the sprawling space of the Scottish highlands. 

From reviving ancient sound machines, bending 90s toys, writing pop bangers, car restoration, musical collaborations with Hainbach, telephone switchboard reconstruction, putting flamethrowers things, to running the incredible This Museum Is Not Obsolete (where you can find many of these madcap creations) – is there nothing the polymathmatical Look Mum No Computer can’t do?!

(We have heard he’s not great at Minesweeper, what with the lack of computer and all..)

>> NIK VOID

Sitting at the centre of an intricately woven web of murky industrial dub sonics, hypnotic synth minimalism and skittering, fleet-footed techno pulses is Nik Colk Void. A true sonic shapeshifter, Nik is capable of de/reconstructing her sound from project to project, while keeping a tight grip on the techniques and approaches to performance and production that cement her as an undeniable root of the electronic underground. Preceding a masterful full length ‘Bucked Up Space’ on Editions Mego Nik has a dizzy history of musical projects, from the era-defining Factory Floor and noise-pop outfit KaitO to the iconic Carter Tutti Void linkup alongside years of her own sonic experiments, twisting live performances and aural creations.

A prolific collaborator, 2024 alone has seen Nik pair up with Alexander Tucker, Klara Lewis, MAOTIK, Ute Kanngiesser, ALM Busy Circuits, Shiva Feshareki and the late, great Peter Rehberg across all manner of experimental, audio visual and avant-garde international performances and productions. 

At Machina Bristronica 2024 we’ve got an uninterrupted hour for Nik to let loose on the system.. This is set to be something very special.

>> HAINBACH

A true icon amongst the overburdened online world of synthesizer aficionados, Hainbach crosses time and space in pursuit of unique and unusual machines – conjuring forth sounds both time-worn and yet strangely familiar.. A master of the magnetic world, it’s rumored he can control a Naga tape machine using only soft spoken tones and subtle hand movements, Jedi style. 

Surrounding Hainbach is a whirling sonic universe, combining Musique Concrete composition with saturated percussive flutters, melancholic poly-warble and rich analog melodies. This deep tapestry of sound bursts forth from any manner of hardware, it could be mis-used ancient laboratory equipment or the esoteric wooden creations of Ciat Lonbarde, a honed and toned eurorack system, precision engineered emulation software or an Italian 70s synth you’ve never heard of. It’s this time-traveling and open minded approach to machinery that solidifies Hainbach’s position as a unique voice in the world of contemporary electronic music.

>> LOULA YORKE

If going on a journey through sound is your goal, then you’d be hard pressed to find a better guide than performer, composer and sound artist Loula Yorke. Her monthly mixtapes are a personal favourite at Machina HQ,  interweaving rich field recordings with drifting modular musing. This creates a microscopic view into the lines between nature and civilisation and the micro-soundscapes that exist within our homes, our streets and the fields that surround our cities.

An accomplished producer and performer, there are hints to the halcyon days of rave within her award winning compositions – melodies arc and interpolate like murmurations and snippets of voice skitter through dense layers of harmonics. It’s not all beauty and light though, Loula’s earlier releases and the Oram Awards winning ‘Atari Punk Girls’ project peel back the quantisation and reveal the bubbling, boggy chaos beneath from which all beautiful things grow.

>> PADDY STEER

50% time traveling exoplanetary mage, 50% punk-tronic DIY pirate and 100% tripped out – there’s only one Paddy Steer. 

Dressed in the traditional garb of his home planet, he sits at the controls of a staggering array of custom synth designs, haphazard towers of hand painted synthesizers and sequencers recalling the glory days of psychedelic synth pioneers. 

Doing auditory donuts in the sonic space between krautrock and the Arkestra, electroclash, synth pop and the whimsical early electronics of Jean-Jacques Perrey. A treat for the ears and (third) eyes alike, strap your in, don your helmet and get ready to warp into the alien realms..

>> THOMAS RIDLEY

With one foot in heady, swirling bass and the other firmly rooted in sharp, slicing techno Thomas Ridley is a (not so) secret weapon amongst Bristol’s underground electronic scene. Released on GOTO and Sine Language Records, his productions solidly echo the live experience with tenderly layered textures, rolling percussion, sparse cavernous reverbs and body-thudding sub punch. 

Although drawing from a winding path of influences and production styles, Thomas squishes these all down to a tightly honed live setup, focussing on both performance and improvisation. Catch him kicking off the live stage on Saturday with a special exploration into the deep and dubby machine world.

>> HINAKO OMORI

Light as a feather and just as soft, Hinako Omori’s delicate compositions tie together silken strands of hazy ambience, binaural field recordings and precision synth work – all dangling from a baroque harmonic framework. With two records for London experimentalist label Houndstooth in her sails, Hinako journeys deeper into the ocean of performance with her keyboards, pedals and processors as shipmates. Her tender approach to sound is also reflected in installations and commissions for Radio 3, The Serpentine Gallery, soundtrack works and radio broadcasts. 

Her solo performances have graced The National Gallery, ICA and Barbican alongside extensive touring in the US, Japan and EU as both a solo artist and keys maestro for Floating Points, Kae Tempest, BBC Concert Orchestra and Shabaka Hutchings. Turn up, lay down and lose yourself in the soothing synthesized sounds..

THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF EURORACK: AN INTERVIEW WITH DIETER DOEPFER & HOLGER ZAPF. Hosted by Mylar Melodies

Mylar Melodies takes to the sofa on Saturday afternoon at Machina to interview the father of the Eurorack synthesizer, Dieter Doepfer, on his life and works.

Exploring the history of creating the format, designing tools for Kraftwerk and more. Dieter will be joined with Holger Zapf, the new managing director of Doepfer, to discuss how the company will evolve into the future.

An absolute must see for any and all modular heads. Get in early to save yourself a seat , this one will be rammed !

SAMPLING STORIES WITH DAVE ROSSUM Hosted by Mylar Melodies

Mylar Melodies interviews E-mu Systems and Rossum Electro-Music 
co-founder Dave Rossum, looking back on a over 50 years of innovation shaping generations of music.

Dave will be taking particular time to share his insight into the early days of digital sampling technology and the milestones marked by the iconic SP-1200 sampling drum machine, from E-mu Emulator series in the 1980s to Assimil8or multitimbral phase-modulation sampler.

From pioneering analog modular synthesizers 
and the first digital polyphonic keyboards in the 1970s, the first 
analog synthesizer chips sound semiconductor and E-mu’s digital chips enabling samplers including Emax and Emulator III in the 1980s, through returning to modular synths and digital samplers with Rossum 
Electro-Music the 2010s, Dave Rossum’s illustrious career spans six 
decades.”

KEEP IT LOCKED: RADIO AND COMMUNITY IN THE AGE OF ALGORITHMS With/ MARY ANNE HOBBS, SCRATCHA & VANESSA MARIA Hosted by Sean McGovern (1020 Radio)

In this talk figures from across the world of radio discuss the role it holds as a platform for new music culture. 
Celebrating the people and communities that have emerged through it and casting a spotlight on the challenges facing those on the airwaves today. Sharing their thoughts on how to navigate the industry and exploring medium’s renewed importance in the age of streaming.

THOUGHTS ON TAPE: EXPLORING THE MAGNETIC MEDIUM With/ LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER, HAINBACH & MONOJACK (BEEPBOOP)

Host > Jasmine Butt (@ggguuueeesssttt)

The popularisation of magnetic tape technology was the launching point for many of the techniques that electronic music production would advance in later years. The ability to record, edit and splice – then layer, re-pitch and reverse; to work creatively and fluidly with sound. These concepts, widely used today without second thought were first realised in the tape-strewn floors of experimental radio studios and garden sheds. In the decades since, the tape format was written-over by ever improving digital recording technologies and once beloved machines were swapped, sold or binned. 

Now, with digital audio a settled and mature technology, tape has seen a revival; its character celebrated and limitations a source of inspiration. In this talk makers and artists discuss what magic that tape holds, why they keep returning to and the importance of challenging the idea of obsolescence within music technology.