Odds ‘n ENZ

About us: Kanawha Music and Art is a sister company to Kanawha Organ Works, best known for pipe organ work in West Virginia starting in 1991. I’ve been working on pipe organs since I was in high school in the 1980s, and as mentioned above started my business here in West Virginia in the summer of 1991. Over the intervening 30+ years the pipe organ market has dwindled- it’s still there but “it ain’t what it used to be”. I’ve always loved electronics and electronic music, so building synth modules was a natural thing to do. I’m aided by Scott McMillian, who’s been working here for over 20 years now. Scott plays in a local band called Static Fur and has a nice little synth collection of his own.

What is “Kanawha”?: It’s a place name- Saint Albans, West Virginia is located in Kanawha County, the Kanawha river is a few blocks from our shop, most towns in this area have a Kanawha Street or Boulevard, etc.

What’s the rationale behind these modules?: The Long Division module had been in the works for several years. It is, in some ways, as close as I can get to pipe organ work in the synth realm…the fact that you can always get as many notes as you want all the time is like a real piano or organ. And, by accident, the vibrato affects volume and pitch simultaneously, much as it does in a pipe organ. It can sound quite natural or as crazy as you like. Regardless of that, looking around, I found that nobody had ever attempted something so complicated in the Eurorack world, and if it could be made to work, we would have something special to contribute. The rest of the modules are oriented toward musical effects; that being said they can be put to any use the purchaser likes...