Amsterdam Dance Event ADE – 2017
Amsterdam Damce Event is a big event – really big… This year, in the 22nd edition there were with 395,000 visitors a new record. ADE is the leading electronic music platform and the biggest club festival in the world for the whole spectrum of electronic sub-genres. Not everything happens in one place, of course. More or less the whole (inner) city of Amsterdam was turned into the festival ground, eye-catching banners with the ADE logo in black and yellow point the way to events and locations. These events can be anything, from parties at night to talks, exhibitions, perfomances and workshops during the day.
During daytime the events are more focused on equipment, for example The Sound Lab. Last year, the Sound Lab took place at the Compagnietheater and had its own Modularsynth section, the Modular Maze. For this year’s Sound Lab, the Cultuurhuis de Brakke Grond was the venue. In addition to Pioneer’s omnipresence, the brands Ableton, Elektron and Roland were shown and heard at the Gear Test Lab G10, while Novation, Amptec, Splice, SAE, Serato and KV331 were included in the Gear Test Lab G5.
Modular Maze? Unfortunately not this year. Almost… BUT Sound Lab 2016 was too good to not being back, so Alex4 was there to represent ACL, Vermona, Doepfer, Verbos and E-RM: Not in the 2 aforementioned rooms which had lots of colorful and plastic devices on display, but in the corridor in between, next to the entrance to the main stage and the stairs to the workshops.
Systems on site:
- – ACL Demo Case 2x84TE, complete System
- – Doepfer A-100PB+P9 incl. news like A-111-4 Quad VCO
- – E-RM Multiclock
- – Verbos Electronics incl. Bark Filter configuration in Vermona Case
- – Vermona im Vermona Case incl. RandomRhythm and Quad-Env prototypes
Quite often large crowds of people formed and surrounded the 4 modular systems. Mostly young people who wanted to know how to produce electronic music. Almost no one had previous experience with modular synthesizers, but there were no reservations, but lots of curiosity. And so the reactions were very open and positive because people realized that they were just offered new perspectives on music making.
The situation in the building was characterized by a professional, friendly and very competent organization. All in all a nice event. Hopefully there will be a Sound Lab next year!