We found $500 in small bills in an unmarked wallet at a rave, and that's how I learned to love s

It was 2001 in Kansas City and Lashocka and I were at a rave at the barn at 3:00 am. It was starting to empty out and she threw up. Now, Lashoka, for those who knew her well, was a gentle soul. She had a scandalous job and wore cat eye contacts, and rocked pink hair long before it was cool. Her real name was Danielle, but she adopted the moniker Lashocka because she was "shocking". She was also flush with cash.

Now, I'm not going to go into details about why she threw up. But throw up she did and she stood up and said to me, "I think I puked on a wallet." And I, of more clear eyes and mind looked, and sure enough, there was a wallet under a thing layer of puke. It was a thick, Castanza style wallet. And it had what appeared to be, cash sticking out. So I grabbed it.

I checked it out first! It was filled with cash. And being of sound mind but an empty bank account, this was a big deal. After determining it had about $500 I went to the bathroom and washed it off. And then Lashocka and I tried to figure out what to do.

I am under no illusions about how the money in the wallet was earned, but despite being relatively broke, I am an ethical person. There was no name or anything identifying in the wallet except a coupon for a free blockbuster rental. Lashocka asked around and checked with our friends to see if we knew whose wallet it was, but our efforts led nowhere.

And so it was, in 2001, that I found myself with an extra $500. Lashocka and I went from the rave the next morning to Mars music. I had been itching to get into the music side of techno for quite some time, which she knew. I was more interested in going live than becoming a DJ, And wide eye'd we walked through Mars music to the keyboard section where they had a stand set up for Korg with the EA-1, the ER-1, and the Korg Kaoss Pad.

I felt GAS for the first time in my life. I had to have everything on the stand. It was set up and routed from the ER-1's output, into the EA-1's input, and on to the Kaoss pad, and out to a Roland Keyboard Amp. I hit play and it came alive. I twisted knobs and the sound changed, I didn't know why. I figured out how to program a basic techno drum pattern into the EA-1, and from there I was hooked. We bought them, and headed home to play.

These were my first synths. Later I would clear out my studio of hardware and focus on software and DJing, and later still I would regret not keeping these.

About a month ago I went over to Scott's house, and he had a mysterious "gift" for me. It was the Korg EA-1. He didn't know it was my first synth. He was just giving it to me because he wanted it to go to a good home (synths are, apparently, like dogs).

And from there I re-integrated it into my current live jam rig. Here you can see, it sits proudly above my MX-1. My rig has come full circle. At least with synths, I've been given a chance to go back in time and fix the mistakes of my past. I should have never sold it, but here it has returned.

Now lets talk about it, and perhaps, more broadly, the Electribe line from Korg. The ER-1 is a virtual analog modeling monosynth. At the time of it's release this was a novel thing, and it developed a reputation for durability. It has a basic structure, OSC->Filter <-> Envelopes -> VCA, and you can select one of two effects. The signature effect however is a noisey delay circuit that worked like tape delay, which you could quickly fling into comb filter range and back out. It had no sync, so you had to time it right. Anyone with a Korg Monotron delay knows what I'm talking about.

So, if you come out to my streams, you just might hear me make the Korg EA-1 scream. Especially doing esoteric sounds with the delay, the EA-1 still has a place in my sound palate. I hope you enjoyed the story, and if you want to check out my jams, please stop by Twitch on a Saturday night at https://www.twitch.tv/dan_kushner_live_pa

Thanks all!

Dan