Robert Henke is an artist, composer and program developer based in Berlin (Henke, 2021). He became notorious for his music as “Monolake” and for being the co-founder of Ableton Live, one of the most ground breaking DAW for modern composition and production. Henke has also worked with visual mediums such as lasers, he has used them in his performances to echo his music. Henke music is defined by a sophisticated sound design created with different sound sources, he is also known for using untraditional ways of composition as using mathematical formulas and complex algorithms to sequence his music. CBM 8032 AV is one of Henke’s latest works and performances. In this project, Henke restored 5 computers of the 80’s and programed them to do a techno performance. The computers not only did the music but created visuals (that where also designed by Henke) to be showed in the performance (FACTmagazine, 2020).

Recently I had the opportunity to be in an online masterclass with Henke where he explained a bit of his idea and process behind this particular project and how he plans to develop it. He explain us that his idea for this performance was to create a modern electronic piece only using technology for the 80’s, to demonstrate that old technology is still useful and that we should exploit it’s capabilities instead of just create newer technology. However Henke had to cheat in his idea to make the performance possible. He had to us a modern digital clock sender to sync all the computers and the visuals together. Henke then explained to us that his newest project is to find a way to send clock using only technology from the 80’s. He is currently designing and developing a small analogue computer that would be able to sync all the devices together, he is only using equipment that was available in the 80’s to be true with his idea and concept.

After hearing the master class I was deeply inspired by Henke’s determination to complete his idea and project. The device he needed was really hard to make and unnecessary because he already had a device that could made everything possible, but either way he decided to keep on so his concept would be completed. This made me think about how I could be more determine in my concepts when composing, because at the end of the day the piece of project gains more uniqueness and virtuosity.