Peter Blasser, creator of the instruments pictured, describes the nabra:

Analog Brain means any kind of analog synthesizer or computer set up with crazy feedback and self-stimulation that it pulses and spasms irrationally like the mood swings of a truly conscious human. I like workin with them cuz it’s like workin with a life form from another dimensions entirely, the quantum electronic chaotic dimesnes. Set them up with a lot of multilevels of feedback and they will deliver inspiration from these other dimensions into our sound and light world. Or, bloopy random talk, fart bass neverending story, continuous infinite drool of cat spit with ultraviolet hairballs. I think that to get to the chaos at the heart of the nabra analog brain, the soft and sensitive androgynous nodes which are the innards of its machinery should be revealed for bending and splicing. True the nabra is built up of easily describeable cells, but when they are connected in “paradoxical meaningless” ways, the nabra becomes a doorway to the unknown.

My collection of Ciat-Lonbarde instruments, including Tetrazzi, Sidrax, Cocoquantus, Plumbutter and Tocante, seem to call for a ‘Nabra Orchestra’, a band comprised of them. I was very fortunate to find that Alec Sturgis and Frank Meadows were willing to try structuring a performance with these chaotic instruments. I call the group the Nabra Bums.  We premiered at Brewster House Concerts on April 27, 2015.  Next picture shows Frank and Alec performing ‘Impossible’, one of the movements of the piece.

The patch for the event was:  Sidrax, Tetrazzi and Plumbutter were mixed to the input of Cocoquantus, which served as the ‘effects processor’.   Tocante was patched separately and not through Cocoquantus. The following four recordings were made live in the space.

The first piece is Alec Sturgis playing a fanfare on the Tocante.  Alec played the instrument ‘dry’, without any added effects.

The second piece starts with Frank Meadows on the Sidrax, with me coming in around the middle with Cocoquantus.

The third piece is the one Alec titled ‘Impossible’, and is a duet between Alec on Sidrax and Frank on Tetrazzi.

The fourth and last piece starts with me on Plumbutter, with Frank adding Cocoquantus weirdness.  It segues at the end to a final Tocante fanfare, again by Alec, with hints of Plumbutter lingering.