Sonic Vortex

Ben Luce (synthesizers), Douglas Boyd (drums), Pete Black (bass).

Sonic Vortex is a band I formed in 2023 with bassist Pete Black and drummer Douglas Boyd, with whom I played for many years in the previous millennium. We play all original, instrumental “Ambient Spacerock,” as we call it, along with mesmerizing visuals created from the music in real time. Our music is very melodic, and also improvisation. It is often compared to Pink Floyd, Electric Light Orchestra, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Todd Rundgren, Vangelis, etc. Compositions range from very rocky to very laid back. Some pieces have some distinct jazz and/or blues feel, while others are more orchestral, or meditative, or simply melodic. More about our history and music is included below. To get a better sense and learn about concert opportunities and other news, please visit and like our Facebook Page. For bookings, also use the FB page, or send email to booksonicvortex[at]gmail.com.

History

Sonic Vortex started as a solo project in 2022, when, after some years of intense research and experimentation into analog synthesis, much of it carried out as underlying research for a book about my synthesizer inventor father David A Luce, I first developed a specially integrated keyboard setup (now named “Arcturus”) that brought together sounds of the Polymoog Synthesizer, monophonic Moog synthesizers, and certain other synthesizers, and that can also generate mesmerizing visuals from the sound itself, as exemplified by the Sonic Art I also create with this.

Here is what Arcturus first looked like, complete with one such visual image, and still is for the most part:

I then began giving solo concerts, playing original music that I’ve written over my lifetime, as seen here from a concert at Northern Vermont University in Johnson, VT, in 2023:

Arcturus is equipped with an iMac and software enables me to create graphical images from the music with what is essentially a visual synthesizer that synthesizes visual images from sound in real time. I program precisely how these images are created using a software called Magic Music Visualizer, in a manner that is very similar to modular synthesizer programming – stringing together many graphics processing modules in myriad different ways. No AI is involved – all of the images are intentional on my part, and do not contain patterns or elements “learned” from other artists.

I can watch the images unfold in real time and respond to them musically, creating a continuous creative feedback loop, and a very dynamic, exciting, and sometimes even humorous experience. Here is an example of these visuals, generated here with a studio version of my composition “You & Me”. Notice that the graphics are presented in a series of different “scenes,” as they are officially called. I can trigger changes in these scenes with a footpedal as I play, which can be challenging to do while playing, but which approach preserves spontaneity:

“You & Me,” by Ben Luce.

In 2023 I reunited with bassist Pete Black and Douglas Boyd, and we began giving concerts in January 2024, as for example this poster attests to:

A series of video clips from one of our shows (pictured just below) at the Whitworth-Ferguson Planetarium on the campus of Buffalo State University in Buffalo, NY is available on our Facebook Page.

We are continuing to expand our already substantial, all-original repertoire (see below), and we are available for concerts under mutually appropriate circumstances (see below). Our concerts are a truly cosmic journey of sight & sound, with sweeping electronic synthesizer music and the evolving visuals described above. We improvise a lot to keep things fresh, and there is always something new to see and hear. We can easily play up to 3 hours, including some short breaks.

Requirements

  • An audience that is ok with hearing original, instrumental music: We don’t play covers. We do generally introduce pieces as we go, which goes a long way towards overcoming the unfamiliarity.
  • Reimbursement: We don’t play for free, but we are reasonable. Pricing negotiable.
  • Indoors or outside: A space to set up with a solid surface (generally not grass), at least 15 ft wide by 12 feet deep. Preferably covered (tents possible).
  • High clearance overhead, 12 ft from ground level or more, so that graphics can be high enough to be seen, OR extra space to the right hand side for a screen to be set up, with a least 8 foot clearance.
  • We sometimes sell some of our printed Sonic Art and other merch at our shows. This is not a requirement, but if appropriate requires a space at least 10 feet long for a table.
  • Kid friendly? Absolutely for older kids. Might be a bit intense and/or tiresome for younger kids. And being a rock band, we are moderately loud, except in cases where keeping the volume low is necessary.

And don’t forget to visit and like our Facebook Page to find out about upcoming shows.

Our current setlist includes the following original compositions:

  • Musique du Soleil
  • You & Me
  • Replicants
  • Synchronize or Die
  • Morning Raga
  • Lunar Crossing
  • Ice Rings of Saturn
  • Hyperion
  • In the Hall of the Star King
  • Tadpoles & Jellyfish
  • Dust
  • Under the Stars
  • Deep Sleep Playing
  • Dawn of the Solar Age
  • Nightrunner
  • Across the Methane Sea
  • Moondancer
  • One Fish
  • Tick Tock Goes the Clock
  • Nightwalker
  • Dark Passage
  • Frijoles Canyon
  • There are Places
  • Beyond the Stars