Name: Stephen Parsick
Nationality: German
Occupation: Producer, composer
Recent release: Stephen Parsick's arp-en-ciel, released under his ['ramp] alias, is out now. Also still available: ultima ratio, a collaboration with Bernhard Wöstheinrich.

[Read our Bernhard Wöstheinrich interview]

Tool of Creation: EMS VCS-3
Type of Tool: Portable analog-modular synthesizer
Designed by: Electronic Music Studios Limited (EMS)
Years produced: 1969-1973
Country of origin: England

[Read our Synthi 100 feature]
[Read our Synthis AKS feature]

If you enjoyed this interview with Stephen Parsick and would like to stay up to date with his music, visit him on bandcamp (alternatively, his ['ramp] account can be found here.)

For an interview with one of his collaborators, visit our Markus Reuter interview.



What was your first encounter with the EMS VCS-3?

I believe it was in around 1976 when I was listening to Jarre's Oxygene album for the first time, even though I had no clue he was using an EMS, or what he was using it for respectively.

[Read our Jean-Michel Jarre interview]

At school, we used to have a textbook in the music department which had a chapter dedicated to “electronic music”, with pictures of both the Synthi AKS and the VCS-3. To be honest, at that time I thought these devices were looking absolutely ridiculous, like “this is supposed to be a synthesiser? They must be kidding”.

Just like any other piece of equipment, the EMS VCS-3 has a rich history. Are you interested in it? And if so, what are some of the key points from this history for you personally?

I have always liked the approach Peter Zinovieff had back in the day: Let's build a studio for electronic music, and let's introduce a product we can sell in order to raise funds for this studio. That's a bit like the reason why I release music: I need the financial means generated that way to fund my creative work.

Of course, a lot of the lure surrounding the VCS-3 comes from the musicians who have made use of it since it was introduced, and the groundbreaking albums they created with it. Frankly, I must admit I succumbed to this lure a bit, too – there are plenty of other tools available that could do a lot more than the EMS, at a fraction of its price. But they do not have the personality the Putney has. Whatever that may be.

What, to you, are some of the most interesting recordings made with the EMS VCS-3?

Those early Tangerine Dream albums like Zeit, Atem, or Phaedra rank very high in my personal list of favourites. These albums showcased that far-out element the EMS is famous of, and I am particularly fond of the raw and otherworldly quality the EMS gave to their recordings.



The same goes for albums by Klaus Schulze, Conrad Schnitzler, Tim Blake, or Michael Hoenig who also put the EMS to good use.

[Read our Tangerine Dream interview]

Funnily enough, I could never warm up to Pink Floyd when they were embracing the EMS (or any other synthesiser for that matter) – I believe they had already been overtaken by their successors when they started using synthesisers and, consequently, the manner they employed synthesisers sounded a bit dated and bourgeouis to me right from the start.

What interests you about the EMS VCS-3 in terms of it contributing to your creative ideals?

The VCS-3 is a bit of a Zen machine to me. I have had mine for almost 14 years but I still haven't quite figured out how to use it sussed. It's more an instrument that invites me to sit down and actually toy around with it whereas a Minimoog or an ARP 2600 more or less immediately make you play tunes.

It makes me rethink my approach to making music, this is what I appreciate about it – a bit like Eno's Oblique Strategies: When in doubt, leave the studio and do something entirely different instead.

[Read our Brian Eno interview]

What are some of the stand-out features from your point of view?

The inherent quirkiness of the EMS is fairly inspiring. It takes a lot of practice to develop an approach where it does not immediately sound harsh or abrasive in a Merzbow kind of way – making proper use of the internal levels is crucial if you want to make it sound interesting.

[Read our Merzbow interview]

Also, its pin matrix is something to get used to, and depending on the sort of pin value you can  alter the timbral character of the VCS-3 as well. I just have one set of red pins so, honestly, I have no clue what sonic potential I am still missing here.

Prior to using it for the first time, how did you acquaint yourself with the EMS VCS-3? Will you usually consult a manual before starting to work with a new device – and what was that like for the EMS VCS-3?

Before I obtained the EMS, I had already gathered a bit of experience with analogue synthesisers and subtractive synthesis in general, thus the way the EMS works was sort of clear to me. What I really had to adapt to was using the pin matrix and the rather unusual way of routing control voltages and signals within the instrument which is considerably different from what you are used to when playing a Minimoog or an ARP Odyssey.

I try to avoid the use of manuals when exploring a new instrument – in fact, I have sold most  instruments that required the use of a manual after half a year of not having touched them. I can't seem to be bothered to deal with manuals unless I am really facing a lot of head-scratching.

Tell me a bit about the interface of the EMS VCS-3 – what does playing it feel like, what do you enjoy about it, compared to some of your other instruments?

Actually, there isn't much to play the EMS with. The Putney I have came with the original Cricklewood keyboard controller which I ended up selling because the winter was cold, I was broke, and I needed to buy fuel for the central heating – a pretty daft thing to do from a collector's point of view, absolutely.

Then again, I could never warm up to playing the VCS-3 like a keyboard-based instrument because it is a bit silly to make it work that way, and its timbral character isn't as immediately appealing as, for instance, a Minimoog.

The fun part of the EMS is routing various functions to the joystick controller and manipulate them in realtime while tweaking the other controls – this, coupled with its sometimes slightly tacky feel, yields some seriously unpredictable results.

When playing a Minimoog, I know exactly where I will end up once I have started tweaking controls, which is what I love about the Minimoog. The Putney is the complete opposite of that.

How would you describe the sonic potential of the EMS VCS-3?

Honestly, it is fairly limited – I believe the lore created around the machine is much bigger than what the instrument can actually live up to in reality.

As I pointed out earlier, I believe it is fairly poor as a “musical” instrument to play tunes with because it sounds nowhere near as squelchy and rich as a Minimoog, nor is it as immediate to use as any other monophonic synthesiser of its era. In fact, I like to describe the raw tone of a VCS-3 as being somewhat reminiscent of an old Remington Ladyshave (not that I ever used one of these).

It is more the unusual way of patching it up internally that makes it stand out, its portability (even though the AKS would be a much better choice in that respect), and the rather off-the-wall type of sounds that can come from it sometimes. It's the slightly chaotic and unexpected type of results it can produce which make it such fun to use.

In which way does the EMS VCS-3 influence musical results and what kind of compositions does it encourage / foster?

The EMS is the instrument I find myself returning to every time I need to create some alien or “Forbidden Planet” kind of sonic backdrop on which I can build the mood and setting of a piece of music.

Of course, I am very strongly influenced by the work Tangerine Dream did with the EMS and the way they approached it – playing sound as a stylistic means, creating ambience by just playfully using an instrument they had absolutely no preconceptions of. Like Peter Baumann once said, “I'd spend nights sitting in front of it, making funny noises and trying to figure out how it actually works” – this kind of creative innocence (or ignorance) is something the EMS supports very strongly.

As an instrument, it is rather limited in terms of options, hence you need to be creative to work around these limitations – which is a rather Eno-esque approach in its own right.



More generally, how do you see the relationship between your instruments and the music you make?

I always try to get instruments for a specific kind of music I want to create. The EMS, in this particular case, takes me back to the times when Electronic Music still was something adventurous to create and some uncharted territory to explore.

There is nothing more satisfying than coming up with something that is bigger than the sum of its parts, and the EMS is an ideal tool to achieve just that.

Could you describe working with the EMS VCS-3 on the basis of a piece, live performance or album that's particularly dear to you, please?

During the Corona lockdown, I produced two albums full of Putney improvisations which were based on sonic backdrops I had originally created for some of my ['ramp] albums. Of course, listening to these is a fairly demanding and sometimes even daunting task to do but I think these recordings express very clearly what makes me gravitate towards the EMS, and why it integrates itself so well into my recording process.

Working with the EMS in combination with a couple of tape delays, spring reverbs, loop devices, or tape manipulation is so highly inspiring. It is not so much a compositional process but rather a Zen exercise: Let things happen, let them take on a life of their own, and be there to witness with all senses.

The first album I ever used the EMS for was my own Cambrium album which was created in around 2008/09, making use of a heavily processed ARP 2600 synthesiser as the only other instrument and source of sounds.



This album is perhaps a bit innocent when it comes to using the EMS – I might probably be able to use it much more sussed now – but it showcases how nicely you can get carried away when toying around with this instrument.



How does the EMS VCS-3 interact with some of the other tools in your studio?

Technically, it is not exactly possible to interact with the other instruments as the EMS has some rather weird standard for control voltages used – it is a rather solitary device.

One thing it lends itself to perfectly is mating it with tape delays or loop devices for sound scaping – it always comes up with some surprising and not exactly predictable results.

Strangely enough, I have never made much use of the Putney for processing external sound sources – there is an example on ['ramp]'s steel and steam album, “solenoid”, where I ran the Rhodes piano and parts of the stereo mix through the EMS for processing but this was more an exception from the rule.



Are there other artists working with the EMS VCS-3 whose work you find inspiring? What do you appreciate about their take on it?

I've always been rather fond of Brian Eno's bird and animal noises he created on his EMS – which I believe is one of the main sources of inspiration for my own work.

Coil's Thighpaulsandra did some stunning stuff with his EMS as well. Time Machines would be a good example, and I remember John Balance contributing to the Analogue Heaven mailing list many moons ago, telling about his EMS adventures and upcoming Coil shows or albums.



Hubert Bognermayr used two VCS-3 in tandem for some albums by Eela Craig, and there is a brief section on "Hats Of Glass" which literally blew me away as a child (and still does).



But, if I were to name just one or two artists whose work with the EMS has had a lasting effect on me, I would name early Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze, no doubt.