March 2026: Yves Rechsteiner's "Explorateur" comes to Basel
This post contains the latest information about activities we plan from the 2nd to the 7th of March 2026, surrounding the visit of the Explorateur in Basel.
The Explorateur is a modular organ, owned by Yves Rechsteiner, developed by Tony Decap. Mauricio describes the Explorateur as a spaceship from a different galaxy. Please note the post by Yves about the Explorateur.
It offers unique possibilities for shaping the sound of each individual organ pipe by using a new valve technology. This technology essentially turns a pipe organ into a physical synthesizer: concepts like LFO-based modulation, envelopes and frequency modulation can be applied to each pipe individually.
This spaceship will land in Basel and can be boarded from the 2nd to the 7th of March 2026. Studio31 offers workshops, individual timeslots, guided tours, a jam session and a concert in those days. In addition to the Explorateur, there will also be the Arciorgano present.
Schedule
Flyer about the workshops and presentations.
2nd of March 2026
10:00-13:00 Workshop with composition students of Caspar Johannes Walter (Hochschule für Musik Basel)
14:00-17:00 Workshop with composition students of Michel Roth, Johannes Kreidler and Caspar Johannes Walter (Hochschule für Musik Basel)
3rd of March 2026
10:00-13:00 Workshop with instrumental classes of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis
14:00-17:00 Workshop with the Electronic Studio Basel and the Music and Research programme.
19:00-22:00 Workshop with Sonic Space Basel
4th of March 2026
10:00-16:00 Workshop with "Music and Scene in Transformation". Guest presentation by Ed Williams. This workshop is embedded in an ongoing cooperation between Studio31 and music and scene in transformation, see Flyer.
16:00-17:30 Class "Vieltönigkeit" (Johannes Keller, Schola Cantorum Basiliensis) about microtonal polyphony in the 16th and 17th century.
18:00-19:00 Lecture "Tuning and intonation" (Johannes Keller, Schola Cantorum Basiliensis) about intonation strategies in the 16th century.
19:00-20:00 Jam Session
5th of March 2026
Individual time slots for artists
6th of March 2026
11:00-19:00 Workshops with students of the Jazz Campus Basel
19:00-20:00 Concert and Jam Session with students of the Jazz Campus Basel
7th of March 2026
Individual time slots for artists
19:00 Concert
Technical details of the Explorateur
The technology of the Explorateur is in active development. Therefore, only a fraction of its sonic possibilities have been discovered so far. This collection of short videos gives a brief impression of some of the available techniques.
The Explorateur is played through MIDI, either from a computer running any MIDI-compatible software (bring your Ableton Live, Reaper, Max/MSP, PureData, Dorico, Sibelius, etc.), or from a custom made organ console with three manuals and pedal. It's also possible to connect any other controller, such as touch-sensitive keyboards (Osmose or ROLI Seaboard) or non-keyboard controllers (Genki Wave).
The wind pressure of each individual valve is encoded with MIDI polyphonic aftertouch messages, in combination with channel pressure. You can either control each valve manually, or by applying global effects such as vibrato and pressure envelopes.
The Explorateur currently consists of six modules, each hosting one or two organ stops: Bourdon, Flute O, Flute H, Traverse, Salicional, Gamba, Tierce, Trompette. More details about the modules of the Explorateur are available here. Additional resources for controlling the Explorateur (like Ableton Live patches and TouchOSC interface) are available here.
We ask anyone who is interested to join any of the activities mentioned above to reach out to us by email.