Dream of Wires is a documentary about the rise, fall and rebirth of the machine that shaped electronic music: the modular synthesizer.
Exploring the synthesizer's history, the film reveals how innovators like Robert Moog developed the first room-sized prototypes. It shows the meteoric rise in popularity of the synthesizer - later made obsolete by a flood of cheap knockoffs. And it tracks the phenomenal resurgence of the high-end modular synthesizers being used today by a whole new generation of musicians, many of them at the forefront of EDM (electronic dance music).
Musicians including Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails), Gary Numan, Carl Craig, Morton Subotnick and Vince Clarke (Erasure) talk about their passion for the modular synthesizer, and how it influencestheir music, while new EDM artists including Clark, James Holden and Factory Floor discuss why they've embraced its sound and physicality. Innovative companies including Modcan and Doepfer reveal how they planted the seeds that have now grown into a major cottage industry.
What started out as a vintage-revival scene has grown into an underground phenomenon with modular obsessives craving ever more wild and innovative sounds and interfaces. Today, the modular synthesizer is no longer an esoteric curiosity or even a mere musical instrument - it is an essential tool for radical new sounds and a bona-fide subculture.
DVD Extras: Four Bonus Shorts (Modular Synth 101, Solvent: Making the Soundtrack, Modulars Made in Canada, Vince Clarke Studio Tour) • Extended Interview with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails • Three Music Videos from Solvent