Andreas Swoboda, MA
Musician and musicologist.
mail@swonic.com
Music
Andreas journey begins at the age of 7 with piano lessons, progresses through performing over 100 live shows as a punk rock drummer, and ultimately leads to electronic music. Along the way, he discovered his passion for finger drumming on grid controllers, a technique that became his signature style, combining his piano and drumming skills.
As a controllerist, Andreas fuses the sonic possibilities of electronic music with the energy and dynamics of rock. He performs with MPE (MIDI Polyphonic Expression) instruments such as the LinnStrument by Roger Linn Design and ROLI Lightpad Blocks, blending expressive performance techniques with cutting-edge music technology. He continually explores innovative approaches, pushing the boundaries of live electronic music performance.
Projects
As SWONIC, Andreas has been creating and sharing live performance videos and tutorials on social media platforms since 2018.
In 2019, he collaborated with Anthony Alfimov to develop the Dynamic Controls 2 app (released in 2020), which transforms a ROLI Lightpad Block into a customizable MIDI control surface.
Musicology
In 2015 Andreas gained his master’s degree at the Department of Musicology, University of Vienna, and has been working at the Vienna Technical Museum since 2012.
His compiled research on the history of electronic wind instruments was published in 2017, carrying the German title “Die Anfänge der elektronischen Blasinstrumente” (Eng. “Beginnings of the Electronic Wind Instruments”).
Current areas of research include musical instruments, music production and digitalization.
Publications
2024: “Digitale Radiowelt”. Österreichs Radiogeschichte – vom Detektorempfang zum Streamingprogramm, Technisches Museum Wien (ed.), Berndorf: Kral (Austria).
2022: “The Evolution of the Breath Controller: Electrified Reeds, Phototubes and Digital Wind”. Electronic Musical Instruments in Collection Context, Benedikt Brilmayer (ed.), Mainz: Schott Music (Germany).
2017: Die Anfänge der elektronischen Blasinstrumente. Osnabrück: epOs–Verlag (Germany).
Conference papers
2019: “The Evolution of the Breath Controller: Electrified Reeds, Phototubes and Digital Wind.”, Electronic Instruments. Perspectives on History and Museum-Collections, 08–09 May 2019, Musikinstrumenten-Museum SIMPK Berlin (Germany).
2018: “Electronic Wind Instruments — Where did it all begin? Traces lead to France, Germany, Japan and USA.”, Electronic Instrument-Making, 08–09 March 2018, Cité de la musique-Philharmonie de Paris (France).
2017: “Tönend bewegte Elektronen – Die Entwicklungsgeschichte der elektronischen Blasinstrumente. Vortrag inklusive Demonstration historischer Blassynthesizer”, Symposium Junge Musikwissenschaft – Jahrestagung der Österreichischen Gesellschaft für Musikwissenschaft, 22–25 November 2017, University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (Austria).
2016: “Die ersten Blassynthesizer – Neue Puzzleteile aus den USA”, Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Musikpsychologie, 9–11 September 2016, University of Vienna (Austria).
2015: “Die ersten Blassynthesizer und ihre Vorgänger”, Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Musikpsychologie, 11–13 September 2015, University of Oldenburg (Germany).