I'm Chris Beckstrom
I make music, I build synthesizers, and a bunch of other stuff.
Here's where to find me on the internet
Here's what I've been up to lately
Here are some things I like:
Music things
Techno, jazz, dub, house, salsa, experimental, ambient, algorithmic music; saturation and distortion, interesting timbres, atonality, interesting chord progressions, cassette tapes, tube amplifiers, analog electronics, CMOS chips, building synthesizers
I play modular synthesizers, saxophones, clarinets, keyboards, some bass and guitar
Computer/Internet things
Linux, open source software, self-hosting, Indieweb, the Fediverse/Mastodon/etc., digital privacy, connecting things to other things, writing little scripts to automate everything, running servers, encryption, IRC; my favorite programs are vim, VCV Rack, Tidalcycles, Firefox, cmus, and htop. I spend a lot of time on the command line.
Food things
Tacos, fermented drinks like kombucha, beer, cider, Indian food, Mexican food, barbecue. I love making food from scratch but sometimes I just eat whatever I can find.
Outdoors things
Being in The Woods, hiking, fishing, kayaking, camping, exploring, foraging, trees, wild foods, animals, mushrooms, picking up trash in the woods
General things
Being progressive/liberal, visual art (especially abstract and algorithmic art), learning new things and sharing them with everybody, trying to fight giant corporations, being an ally to oppressed/maligned folks (LGTQIA+, POC, immigrants, migrants, etc. etc.), DIYing everything, homebrewing kombucha, bullet journaling, fountain pens, productivity stuff
More about me
Like everyone, I'm a lot of things. Here is a list of some of them:
- I'm a musician, composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, performer, and lover of sounds.
- I release a handful of albums every year (full discography here)
- I built a modular synthesizer from scratch without any electronics experience.
- I'm a volunteer, an activist, and an LGBTQ+ ally
- I'm a friendly atheist, a secular humanist, a board member of Center for Inquiry–Michigan, and the founder of the Alto Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
- I like to ferment stuff, code stuff, and am constantly learning new things
- I love to fish, forage, hike, kayak, camp, and be outside
- I'm neurodivergent
- I am a synesthete– meaning I have synesthesia– an unusual neurological condition that means (among other things) I literally see sound
I'm incredibly privileged, and do what I can to help those who are less privileged. Sometimes I'm not so good at it, but I'm always trying.
Some background
Back in Chicago I taught Music Technology for grad students at Columbia College Chicago
I also played hundreds of gigs on saxophone and keyboards throughout the midwest, especially in Chicagoland. I Earned an MFA in Film Scoring from the same place. Before that, I got BAs in Music and Spanish from Western Michigan University.
I'm from Flint, Michigan and live just outside Grand Rapids, Michigan in lovely rural Alto, surrounded by cornfields, trees, and deer. I have a wife, a daughter, and a dog. I also have a studio full of musical instruments.
