{"id":1220,"date":"2016-11-22T10:07:08","date_gmt":"2016-11-22T10:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.simmonsmuseum.com\/?p=1220"},"modified":"2016-11-22T10:07:18","modified_gmt":"2016-11-22T10:07:18","slug":"a-simmons-sdsv-for-the-national-museum-of-music-research-in-berlin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.simmonsmuseum.com\/?p=1220","title":{"rendered":"A Simmons SDSV for the National Museum of Music Research in Berlin"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Why on earth do you collect old electronic drums?” At some point I stopped counting how often I was asked this question. But probably the following story is a part of the answer.<\/p>\n

May 2015. A scientific assistant of the National Museum of Music Research in Berlin contacted me. He explained that his institute is running a musical instruments museum. They were planning a special exhibition about the history of electronic musical instruments and if I would be willing to provide a Simmons exhibit. Of course I was! Presenting Simmons gear is always better than storing it until the end of days. But nothing hapened until 3 weeks ago. He contected me again and we negotiated the conditions. He was interested in an SDSV and I preferred to bring it by car (600km) rather than unromantically sending it with a carrier. Although the exhibition is from March to June, the institute needed the exhibits at the end of November in order to make the catalogue in time. Last week I jumped into my car with a blue SDSV with brain and cymbal pad plus my Suitcase Kit and headed for Berlin. Incidantally at the same time there was another SDSV for sale in Berlin. I took the opportunity to bring one kit to the museum but also to bring a new kit back home. However… I had the chance to visit the museum. It was very cool! Musical instruments representing all centuries. Musical instruments I have never heard of. Very impressing. If you happen to be in the Berlin area between March 25th and June 25th: Visit the special exhibition “Good Vibrations – A story about electronic musical instruments”<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nEarly in the morning… Don’t make appointments at noon if you have 600km to go<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nAt least not much traffic at that time<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n12:30. We are about to land soon<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nFirst stop in Berlin: Appointment with the seller of a white SDSV pad set. To be honest: A friend of mine asked me NOT to buy those pads and leave them for him. I agreed. He had been waiting for years to find a pad set for his brain. A round of allpause for my modesty, please… <\/p>\n

\"\"
\nThere is still some time until I meet the guy from the museum. Time to discover some essential buildings<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nFinally! The hall of fame!<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nAfter we brought the gear inside I explained hw to set up the kit right<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nInside the box on the left there’s a Mini Moog. The exhibition will include around 70 exhibits<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nI am invited to visit the museum. It is much much bigger than I thought. It shows classical instruments from the 17th century as well as contemporary gear. But the focus is on classical instruments. My favourite exhibit is a “Trautonium”, a predecessor of the synthsizer<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nThis is the space for the special exhibition. In some special events some of the gear will be explained and played<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nThe craziest musical instrument I have ever seen. The organ is only the controller of a hall full of instruments like percussion, snares, timpanies, chromatic percussion, organ pipes… all triggered by compressed air.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nI counted more than 20 harpsichords. All vintage and all restored in the institutes own workshop<\/p>\n

I really recommend this museum if you are interested in music. I will come and visit my SDSV in March or April (Will it still recognize me?) and of course I will pick it up in June.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Why on earth do you collect old electronic drums?” At some point I stopped counting how often I was asked this question. But probably the following story is a part of the answer. May 2015. A scientific assistant of the National Museum of Music Research in Berlin contacted me. He explained that his institute is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-report","category-stories-and-gossip"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.simmonsmuseum.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.simmonsmuseum.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.simmonsmuseum.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.simmonsmuseum.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.simmonsmuseum.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1220"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.simmonsmuseum.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1222,"href":"https:\/\/blog.simmonsmuseum.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1220\/revisions\/1222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.simmonsmuseum.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.simmonsmuseum.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.simmonsmuseum.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}