The most infulential visiting practitioner that has made money off of their electronics skills have been Tats (Tatsuya Takahashi, of Korg fame). His initial ingenuity with circuits is what landed him his job at Korg (source: https://www.soundonsound.com/people/tatsuya-takahashi-synth-designer), and that seems to be the only ‘serious’ application of electronics that fits into the sort of ‘serious’ boundaries that are expected of me for this assignment. His work inspires me to continue pushing my electronics knowledge, and to make the synths that I want, rather than the synths that seem sellable or useful to others.

Another influential visiting practitioner has been Rie Nakajima, whose work I regularly listen to. Her work exploits electronic means to produce acoustic ends, using clockwork and motor powered devices to create acoustic sound rather than electric sound (to excite a speaker cone) which is very admirable and also uniquely inspiring. It demonstrates that purely electronic proficiency is not the only way to create art, and a sensitivity to the acoustic side of things is just as valuable as reams of technical knowledge. I especially love her piece “becoming sounds 30 objects 10 minutes”, and I listen to it regularly.