
Florian Schneider has died - arethuza
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-52564281
======
ziptrees
While a lot of artists like Giorgio Moroder purchased their synthesizers and
music equipment, Kraftwerk built a ton of it themselves - drum pads, robot
vocalizers, sequencers [1], digital music programming, etc.

One of the biggest influences on everything we call music today. RIP Florian.

[1] - [http://www.doepfer.de/maq.htm](http://www.doepfer.de/maq.htm)

~~~
bogomipz
This is actually much more myth than truth. There may have been a few bits and
bobs that they modified themselves but anything that was custom built was done
by people that worked for them. Kraftwerk relied heavily on Moogs, ARPs and
Sequential Circuits synths on those classic records. See:

[http://www.aktivitaet-fanzine.com/10_kk0.html](http://www.aktivitaet-
fanzine.com/10_kk0.html)

The above link is a great resource for any Kraftwerk fans. Aktivitaet was a
Kraftwerk fanzine published in the 90's.

~~~
TheOtherHobbes
They often designed the units in outline but other people implemented the
ideas - like the Synthanorma sequencer, which was a product in its own right
and eventually evolved into the Doepfer MAQ.

There's some mystery about who designed their robo-speech box [1], because
Schneider (and colleagues) actually patented it.

[1] Not the vocoder, but the chip-speech system used on The Mix.

~~~
bogomipz
Synthorama was created by Matten and Wiechers of Bonn[1] Nobody in Kraftwerk
was an electrical engineer. I am not sure how you "outline" a synthesizer
unless you mean writing a schematic, something nobody in the band could do.
I'm not trying to detract from their genius in any way but the idea that they
created their own gear is largely folklore.

[1]
[https://sdiy.info/wiki/Synthesizerstudio_Bonn](https://sdiy.info/wiki/Synthesizerstudio_Bonn)

~~~
jacquesm
You can outline a synthesizer in the same way people that couldn't program
their way out of a wet paper bag outline software: by writing a specification
of what it should be able to do. Implementing that specification is then the
job of the electrical engineers.

If we're willing to give Steve Jobs credit for the iPhone I think we should be
equally willing to give Schneider & company credit for their ideas that were
instrumental - (heh) - in moving the synth field forward. The fact that many
of their sounds were novel when first recorded is the strongest proof of their
original contributions, if it has merely been off the shelf hardware created
by others then this would not have been the case, you'd have heard those
sounds from other artists before then.

~~~
bogomipz
Except they didn't write down a "specification." They simply asked Matten &
Wiechers to come up with something that could automate their tape loops for
Trans Europe Express. Dirk Matten & Hans-Joachim Wiechers both designed and
created the Synthorma to handle that task. This is well-documented. So no it
was not the same a writing a technical specification any more than I'm writing
a "specification" when I call my local pizza place and ask for a large
pepperoni.

~~~
TheOtherHobbes
KW specifically asked for (actually were persuaded to commission) two step
sequencers - not "something to automate their tape loops."

It was the same process Tangerine Dream went through with Projekt Elektronik,
PPG, Steinberg, and other collaborators. The band had an idea or some product
feedback, and the designers implemented it.

KW's sequencers were unique in that they had rotary switches instead of pots
for the sequence steps, which made them much easier to program.

~~~
bogomipz
>"KW specifically asked for (actually were persuaded to commission) two step
sequencers - not "something to automate their tape loops.""

A tape loop is nothing more than a primitive form of sequencer. By definition
they loop a sequence. They do the exact same thing. So not having to
physically change the tapes and speeds on a tape machine by programming it
into a sequencer is most definitely "automating" that process. The issue with
analog tape machines is that they were not fun to deal with on the road or
work with live.

And no they were not "two step" sequencers. What would be the point in that?
You could do that with that a single finger - on/off. The Synthorama was a 16
step analogue sequencer and they had two of them which game them a 32 bit
sequence to work with[1]

[1]
[http://kraftwerkfaq.hu/equipment.html](http://kraftwerkfaq.hu/equipment.html)

~~~
ratww
Sorry, but this post gets a lot of things very wrong.

A sequencer is definitely not used for anything similar to "automating tape
loops". For Kraftwerk they were used mainly in the studio to created drum
sequences and melodies that were much more precise than those played by the
band. The whole point of the sequencer was to replace Karl Bartos and Wolfgang
Flür, and maybe some bass lines or melodies played by Ralf with a robotic
sound.

Programming a sequence in an analog sequencer like a Synthanorma is _way_
harder than changing a tape. Have you ever programmed one? Back then you
didn't have presets or pitch quantization, so for melodies for example you'd
have to tune each step by ear. Drum loops were easier but not as easy as
changing a tape.

Using them on the road was much harder than using tapes. In fact, even several
years later, bands like Depeche Mode were still taking tapes to the road
because sequencers were still clunky and difficult to program live. It was
only after the advent of preset programming this started to change.

Before Autobahn, Kraftwerk indeed experimented with tape loops, but for very
different kinds of sounds, more of the Stockhausen variety.

The things that led to this experiment with synthesizers and sequencers were
the primitive rhythm machines of the time (they were already going in this
direction with songs like Tanzmusik, but they wanted with custom drum sounds
and custom drum rhythms, not the Samba and Cha-Cha-Cha of the Maestro) and
their use of echo in "Ralf und Florian", where the echo was used to get a
perfect repetition of something played (not a loop though, since it's not
something that is "left alone" like a sequencer or a tape).

And by "two step sequencers" the parent poster clearly means "two units".

Also, it's called Synthanorma, not Synthorama.

------
gdubs
Legend. I saw Kraftwerk live years ago and it was one of the most overwhelming
performances I’ve ever seen in my life. Beneath the bouncy, poppy hooks there
was a massive darkness — the pairing of visuals with the music really drove
that home. (The only other live musical performance that I recall giving me a
similar feeling was the band ‘Godspeed You Black Emperor‘, who also made use
of projected imagery in such a tightly-coupled fashion.)

One of my favorite Kraftwerk songs is probably “pocket calculator.” [1]

1:
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eSBybJGZoCU](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eSBybJGZoCU)

~~~
justinator
I always enjoyed the part of the show where they'd pulled the curtains down,
then when they were put up again, the entire group was replaced by robotic
mannequins! Since their show was sync'd to the video in back of them, I'm
pretty sure the music was all queued up too. They didn't really need to be up
there at all!

I think only Aphex Twin pulled off such a stunt as well, where he walked to
the stage, pressed a button to start the music, then walked off. But Kraftwerk
would do it for an entire tour.

~~~
LeoPanthera
I've seen Kraftwerk live many times, and on two or three occasions they've
played a bum note, or messed up the drumline, and had to stop and re-sync. So
I can definitely confirm that they are playing "live", even for their most
recent "3-D" tour.

(Though not, I assume, during the "Robots" sequence, which I assume is
recorded. And I think that's actually the whole point of that sequence.)

------
bouvin
A true giant. It is difficult to overstate the importance of Kraftwerk, when
it comes to modern music. They set out to create “Elektronische Volksmusik”
and succeed spectacularly. I have been privileged to see Kraftwerk live three
times, and those were some of the best concert experiences I have had.

~~~
grillvogel
I saw "them" live a few years ago on that 3D tour. By then it was just Ralf
and the 3 other guys. At one point his equipment was getting messed up and
sounded odd, you could see him getting visibly frustrated. It was interesting
to see a human reaction like that from the robotic pioneers.

~~~
justinator
Ha - to be fair, it was, "Ralf, Florian, and two other guys" from the
beginning - they made it into a quartet to mimic acts like the Beatles in a
weird way. Of course, "the two other guys" deny that.

~~~
bogomipz
That's not actually true Klaus Dinger the drummer was a permanent member.
There was even a brief period where it was Florian and Klaus Dinger in the
band but Ralf had quit. And both Conny Plank their legendary producer and Ralf
thought very highly of him. Klaus was known for pioneering a hypnotic
minimalist beat known as "motorik." Klaus and Michael Rother left Kraftwerk to
form Neu! another hugely influential German group.

~~~
justinator
Both Klaus and Michael left Kraftwerk well before Kraftwerk really found their
sound (Autobahn, Man-Machine, Computer World, etc), and became that classic
faux quartet I'm talking about - the two other members were hired, but weren't
full members of the band. Ralf quit/rejoined well before this period as well.

------
awiesenhofer
Still one of my favourite clips on youtube: the very first video recording of
Kraftwerk live, from 1970!

[https://youtu.be/hWUiLJnEYJI](https://youtu.be/hWUiLJnEYJI)

(Those audience reactions!)

~~~
aasasd
Seems to be the same performance from which the Ruckzuck vid comes, and in
that one a lot of people look stoned. Consider that krautrock is a direct
descendant of 60s' psy-rock.

[https://youtube.com/watch?v=ABOMrTgPNZA](https://youtube.com/watch?v=ABOMrTgPNZA)

This connection is especially obvious when you see the previous
incarnation—Organization—in color: [https://youtube.com/watch?v=_eB-
sl6ZLpo](https://youtube.com/watch?v=_eB-sl6ZLpo)

(Though I gotta say that among early krautrock my favorite are Silver Apples,
who were outstanding and far ahead of their time, but sank into complete
obscurity after two albums.)

------
Starwatcher2001
Very sad day. Autobahn, Man Machine and Computer World were my constant
background music when I was learning to program on a TRS-80 all those years
back. "I program my home computer... beam myself into the future..."

Still programming, still find Kraftwerk inspiring. Thank you Florien and Rest
in Peace. Your music changed my life.

------
cft
They predicted "computer world" in 1981
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa7WrCqsTC0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa7WrCqsTC0)

"Crime, Travel, Communication, Entertainment"

~~~
LaserDiscMan
And electronic dating in "Computer Love"
([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNBGWenPlGo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNBGWenPlGo)).

I always thought that song was about the "love" one feels using a computer.
The relationship between a programmer and a machine. Perhaps I was just
hearing what I wanted to hear though.

~~~
LeoPanthera
> I always thought that song was about the "love" one feels using a computer.

It's definitely about _both_. They've always enjoyed writing songs with
multiple meanings. Before it was re-written for the live tour, the original
lyrics of "Radio activity" are about both Radioactivity, and "Radio Activity".

------
jerkstate
Interpol

Deutsche Bank

FBI

Scotland Yard

Business

Money

Numbers

People

Here is Ralf und Florian's patent for the electronic drum machine:
[https://patents.google.com/patent/USD244717S/en](https://patents.google.com/patent/USD244717S/en)

These guys were the musical version of Jules Verne or HG Wells. Truly
visionary.

~~~
barbegal
Note this is a design patent rather than the more commonly known utility
patent so it only protects the ornamental design of the drum machine.

------
Ididntdothis
Now their music is kind of obvious but when you think about the scene back
then it’s pretty amazing what they did.

~~~
_jal
Only in the same way that Led Zeppelin sounds "obvious".

The context from which you're listening to it is partly defined by it.

(I really don't want to get in to a "who is better/more important/whatever"
argument. If choosing Led Zeppelin as a comparison bothers you, please
substitute for taste.)

~~~
Ididntdothis
I didn’t mean the exact music as obvious but the style and tools they used.
Same for electric guitars and the effects being used. Now totally normal but
there was a time when people had to come up with that idea.

~~~
nine_k
OK, not LZ but Jimi Hendrix maybe? Someone who defined new sound which is
"obvious" and widespread now?

~~~
Lio
Personally I think you’d have to go back further to find an equivalent. Maybe
Bo Diddily?

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo_Diddley](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo_Diddley)

------
krebs_liebhaber
There's something very poignant about Kraftwerk's style, branding, and album
art that I can't quite put my finger on. The way they put their own faces on
pretty much everything, always well-dressed, always clean and "together". The
lyrics about such simple things, travelling Europe by rail and seeing things,
praising new technology... We need that optimism today. RIP.

------
Al-Khwarizmi
RIP. A titan of music.

Not only Kraftwerk are among my favorite artists, but my 8-month-old baby
loves Autobahn.

~~~
vvpan
My three year old nephew would ask to play the "robot man", as I referred to
Kraftwerk for a while. Then would walk around swinging his arms like a robot
to "We are the robots". I, having my "cool uncle" aspirations, was almost
tearing up.

~~~
jacquesm
I made the mistake of introducing my kids to Kraftwerk early on and was
treated to six months non-stop of 'we are the robots'. Still love the song :)

------
asjw
This is tragic.

Kraftwerk, in my opinion, invented modern music and will be the classical
music of our times.

There have been moments of my life where I would listen morgen spaziergang for
hours in loop, it was the only thing that could get me through the day without
rage bursts.

It's my Linus cover.

Through them I discovered all the bands I love, from the most experimental
electronic ones to David Bowie.

His contribution in taking "intelligent music" (sorry, can't find a better
term) from something for the eiltè to something POP will be fully appreciated
only when we'll be long gone.

Gute reise Meister

The power plant will be producing its magic energy forever

~~~
PaulDavisThe1st
I love Kraftwerk and have done so for 40 years or more.

But this is not "tragic". People die. Florian was going to die. He wasn't
young. He totally transformed the world of popular music. He had an awesome
life, and now it is over. That's not tragic, it's just the nature of being
alive.

~~~
asjw
Probably it has to do with me being a non-native English speaker, but I meant
tragic as "something really sad" and "end of an era".

He died of cancer, a terrible way to go and even though he wasn't part of
Kraftwerk since 2008, I think his solo works were more relevant than ever.

Like this one

[https://youtu.be/A5MtQMKa7ao](https://youtu.be/A5MtQMKa7ao)

We lost someone who was higly influential and spoke boldly, but humbly, in
support of the light side.

Not a good day for humanity, in one of the worst periods in modern times.

------
dadarepublic
My very first splice job I did on a song was with Kraftwerk's Tour De France.

My friend and I wanted to extend the song so we could dance to it. So using a
stereo system that had a cassette deck that could record from the turntable, I
would cue the cassette to record, pause, then release the turntable, unpause
the cassette, record the bit in the song we wanted to extend, and wash-rinse-
repeat until we had the length we wanted.

This of course led to me down a long path of making beats, mixing tracks, and
general electro-acoustic music shenanigans :)

Rest in peace Florian.

------
sitkack
I attended a live Kraftwerk show about 17 years ago, what amazed me was the
depth of the lyrics in German vs the simplified English lyrics.

Kraftwerk is more political than the simplistic English lyrics would portray.
It was then that I had new found appreciation for their craft. Praxis.

~~~
dvirsky
Interesting. Can you give an example? I've never bothered to translate the
German lyrics.

~~~
jacquesm
Compare

Sie ist ein Model und sie sieht gut aus Ich nähm sie heut gerne mit zu mir
nach Haus Sie wirkt so kühl, an sie kommt niemand ran Doch vor der Kamera da
zeigt sie was sie kann

Sie trinkt in Nachtclubs immer Sekt (Korrekt!) Und hat hier alle Männer
abgecheckt Im Scheinwerferlicht ihr junges Lächeln strahlt Sie sieht gut aus
und Schönheit wird bezahlt

Sie stellt sich zur Schau für das Konsumprodukt Und wird von Millionen Augen
angeguckt Ihr neues Titelbild ist einfach fabelhaft Ich muß sie wieder seh'n,
ich weiß sie hat's geschafft

vs

She's a model and she's looking good I'd like to take her home that's
understood She plays hard to get, she smiles from time to time It only takes a
camera to change her mind

She's going out tonight but drinking just champagne And she has been checking
nearly all the men She's playing her game and you can hear them say She is
looking good, for beauty we will pay

She's posing for consumer products now and then For every camera she gives the
best she can I saw her on the cover of a magazine Now, she's a big success, I
want to meet her again

\--

The deeper layer of the lyrics is almost completely absent in the English
version.

~~~
CaciaraAsAServi
Heh, I remember learning some German just to understand their lyrics, some
years ago.

Funniest one I remember is, in Computerwelt, Flensburg und das BKA / Haben
unsere Daten da... where BKA is the federal German police and Flensburg is the
city where they held some data about people (or still do, I don't know).

~~~
LordHeini
The agency collecting points for bad driving is located in Flensburg.

Having "Punkte in Flensburg" thus means one got caught driving too fast, under
the influence or over a red light etc.

If you collect too many points you lose your drivers license and have to do a
test and psychological exam to get it back.

This test usually called the "Idiotentest" because you drive like an idiot and
you (deservedly) get treated like an idiot by the agency.

The whole affair is really annoying, expensive and takes quite some time.

If you fail the psychological exam (they find out you are an alcoholic for
examle) you might never get the license back.

------
tpmx
My first purchased CD as a teenager, back in 1991, when music actually cost a
lot of money: Kraftwerk - The Mix:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mix_(Kraftwerk_album)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mix_\(Kraftwerk_album\))

There is so much genius on this particular album. Critics weren't happy, but
to me it was just perfection.

~~~
parenthesis
I also bought that album on CD as a teenager.

It had a massive impact on me in terms of opening my mind to possibilities of
musical structure in `popular' music other than song form (verse, chorus,
verse, chorus, bridge, etc.).

Of course there is jazz form (head, solos on same form, head) and disco 12"
form (the song, the dubbed out section, the reprise). And Kraftwerk's
structures have a lot in common with the latter. But there is an incredible
perfection and tightness (despite the extended durations) of form on all the
tracks on that album.

~~~
tpmx
> But there is an incredible perfection and tightness (despite the extended
> durations) of form on all the tracks on that album.

Exactly. I think the reviewers just didn't get the whole concept.. just
redoing old tracks, in a better way.

It's kind of the software way of life (v1, v2, etc - you keep iterating, by
default).

It's also similar to how Mike Oldfield keeps working on variations of Tubular
bells, and they do keep getting more and more interesting.

------
lispm
One thing that currently blows me away: Kraftwerk sounds incredible using the
new 16" Macbook Pro with its improved speakers. 'Am Heimcomputer sitz ich
hier'...

------
krtkush
My favorite song by kraftwerk - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWsQgmq-
fNs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWsQgmq-fNs)

~~~
cmrdporcupine
you know that the percussive urgent beeping at beginning and end spells out
"RADIOACTIVITY" and "ITS IN THE AIR" in Morse code?

~~~
LeoPanthera
When played live, they spell out "KRAFTWERK" instead.

------
zrogezrg
Electronic or not, very inspiring compositions as well. My favorite "acoustic"
cover:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH_VKWStK98](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH_VKWStK98)

~~~
Lio
If it’s your cup of tea Senior Coconut provide a range of “latin” Kraftwerk
covers too. Here’s Showroom Dummies[1]

[1]
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=buh8YnTwppM](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=buh8YnTwppM)

------
jdkee
My first exposure to Kraftwerk as a young lad and it still resonates today.
Even more so.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ybQWD6N6Zo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ybQWD6N6Zo)

------
pan69
I think it's in the documentary Synth Britannia [1] were Kraftwerk explain
themselves as; musician engineers.

As I get older I start to appreciate the early synth groups a lot more. Spend
many hours listen to Kraftwerk over the decades.

RIP Florian.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lVljmH0yUw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lVljmH0yUw)

------
berkeleyjunk
This is very sad. Kraftwerk were hugely influential in bringing technology
into music. If you have not seen it yet, the Kraftwerk Pop Art documentary
from BBC is a must watch

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaQQCW0wH0k](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaQQCW0wH0k)

------
pantulis
Aint anybody going to mention the video clip for "Musique non stop"?

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0lIlROWro8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0lIlROWro8)

This song got some commercial rotation in Spain in the day, and the videoclip
was mesmerizing.

------
hb4ch
Their latest work `tour de france` is phenomenal. Highly recommended for any
electronic music lovers. Kraftwerk's music is transcendental in a way that
lives through different time periods and yet still inspiring. R.I.P.

------
justinator
Wonderful memories of touring around France while listening to the Tour de
France Soundtracks - perhaps no better album to ride bikes to.

Great live show which was robotically exactly as I thought it would look like,
complete with Sony laptops.

------
chiefalchemist
One of the few modern artists that exemplify Zero to One. They weren't just
genius, they were fearless. And the world is a better place as a result.

------
teilo
I was going to see them live for the first time in Minneapolis before
everything was cancelled. Very sad. But his legacy lives on.

~~~
vvpan
I'm in the same boat. I tried buying tickets for European shows last year but
didn't succeed. And now the show is coming to USA town, I get 4th row tickets
and bam... Disappointment all around.

~~~
ngcazz
Florian left Kraftwerk years ago though, you weren’t going to see him anyway
:)

------
TedDoesntTalk
They made electronic music across multiple synths before MIDI! Must have been
fun.

~~~
jacquesm
Ditto Jean Michel Jarre, Kitaro, Vangelis, Wendy Carlos, Johan Timman, Tomita,
Suzanne Ciani, Laurie Anderson and many, many others.

~~~
TedDoesntTalk
Indeed! I did not say they were alone, did I? You forgot Keith Emerson and
many others. Why?

------
KC8ZKF
Also, Florian was an inspiration for David Bowie’s “V-2 Schneider” from the
“Heroes” album.

[https://youtu.be/fWkCMD7woV0](https://youtu.be/fWkCMD7woV0)

------
justinator
Although they've at least said they've been working on music for decades,
they've released so little in the last few. Perhaps we'll be able to listen to
what they've been up to.

------
allenbrunson
kraftwerk was my favorite band for about a decade. i still love them, but
other stuff made it to the top of my favorites list.

the band had an amazing run from 1974 to 1991. it sure is strange, though,
that past that point, they pretty much stopped making new music.

the most charitable interpretation i can come up with is that they had created
all the music that they needed to. or maybe, with the dawn of widely-available
computers and much cheaper music synthesis, they could no longer stay five
years ahead of the competition, and opted to bow out instead.

------
tibbydudeza
Kraftwerk inspired so many of my favourite bands.

------
rassibassi
tribute radio show :)

[https://www.nts.live/shows/the-do-you-breakfast-
show/episode...](https://www.nts.live/shows/the-do-you-breakfast-
show/episodes/the-do-you-breakfast-show-w-charlie-bones-7th-may-2020)

------
TedDoesntTalk
i know he wasn’t involved in the band anymore, but can they use his robot now
during live performances?

------
bookofjoe
I was hoping against hope he'd get a black respect bar here but alas, no.

------
mattigames
This article somehow forgot to mention their influence in the most
commercially successful German rock band of all times: Rammstein, which made a
cover of their song Das Modell.

Edit: As pointed out the english-singing rock band Scorpions from Germany is
far more popular.

~~~
hilem
Scorpions are far more successful by an order of magnitude.

~~~
mattigames
Oh didn't know they were German, due singing in English I always assumed they
were... English.

~~~
johnr2
> didn't know they were German

Drummer Herman Rarebell's solo album "Herman Ze German" was a good clue :-)

------
the_arun
I enjoy electronic music. Never knew Florian Schneider was one of the
influencers. RIP!

~~~
PaulDavisThe1st
Influencer? INFLUENCER?

Go wash out your mouth with soap.

An influencer in this context is someone whose IG feed, had there been IG back
in the day, would have told you to check the latest from this crazy German
band from Dusseldorf.

Ralf & Florian weren't influencers, they were inventors, pioneers, ground
breaking visionaries (even if they didn't know it themselves most of the
time).

~~~
the_arun
Sorry I didn't mean influencer from marketing context. I meant influencer -
someone who influenced others to listen/make/practice music in a new way.
Agree that "innovator" is the correct word instead.

------
atVelocet
Anyone who is interested in how they arrange their live sound should watch
"Kraftwerk: Wellenfeldsynthese in der Kunstsammlung NRW"[0]. The concept they
are using is called "Wave field synthesis"[1]. I was lucky enough to attend 7
of those 8 concerts and it was just amazing since i'm following KW for many
years now and attended a lot of their concerts.

What others got wrong in this thread is that they never actually built
something themselves but they had the ideas and the people surrounding them
that could make those ideas reality (those guys in Bonn). They were students
of Karlheinz Stockhausen and you could absolutely hear that. If you listen to
some of their first recordings[2], imagine this would be played on a synth
instead of traditional instruments... and now you got KW like you know it.

If you are interested in some of the history about the scene in Düsseldorf you
should def. watch "Keine Atempause – Düsseldorf, der Ratinger Hof und die neue
Musik"[3]. Ratinger Hof was a mixture of artists, musicians and all kinds of
crazy people. Funny (private) side note: When i was drinking wine with the dad
of an old friend of mine, he told me that during his studies he was the driver
for some of the now most famous artists (Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, etc.)
and musicians back then. This guy had some crazy stories and since i know my
friend for 20 years it was mind blowing that his dad drove some of my favorite
artists/musicians and he never talked about it. ahhh.. so much memories.. Ralf
and Florian are/were very kind persons and it always was nice to talk to them.
They modeled much of the sound as we know it today.

This whole area (Cologne/Bonn/Düsseldorf) is very rich when it comes to modern
music. There once was a "Studio für elektronische Musik" (Studio for
Electronic Music)[4] by the WDR (german radio/television). In the later years
there were only "private" tours (thanks to Volker Müller - the sound engineer
of Stockhausen!) and it saddens me that it's not open to the public anymore.
They moved all of it outside of Cologne and now it's rotting in some basement.
Real history that's just abandoned...[5]

[0] -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np_bhcpE91A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np_bhcpE91A)
[1] -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_field_synthesis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_field_synthesis)
[2] -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNoFHdlMrtI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNoFHdlMrtI)
[3] -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lrdFOHRxuE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lrdFOHRxuE)
[4] -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studio_for_Electronic_Music_(W...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studio_for_Electronic_Music_\(WDR\))
[5] - [https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/eingemottet-in-
kellerra...](https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/eingemottet-in-
kellerraeumen-was-wird-aus-dem-wdr-studio.2177.de.html?dram:article_id=468464)

