There’s probably no more prolific man in the DIY synth scene than Ray Wilson. His Music From Outer Space has a galactic-sized library of projects for electronic musicians. And that’s just part of his contributions.
So that means all of us in this community are hugely saddened to learn that Ray faces serious cancer. With self-employed health care still a major challenge in the United States, that brings with it crippling medical expenses. His kids have turned to crowd funding to try to fight to get him treatment he needs.
You can read through that story on the funding site, but in the meantime, I’ll just refer to Ray’s accomplishments – just a few that he’s shared as a musician and inventor:
Music from Outer Space is an extraordinary archive of materials. (I was just referring to it for a story for MAKE in Germany.)
He’s the creator of projects like the Weird Sound Generator.
He has built an entire soup-to-nuts project for making your own modular analog synth, the MFO.
He’s the author of Make: Analog Synthesizers.
And to top all of this (and many other achievements), he has himself contributed to the health of others, in the research and development of implantable defibrillators and pacemakers. I hope dearly that karma can be returned.
You can contribute here:
https://www.gofundme.com/raywilson
And in the United States and around the world, this is another reminder that artists and inventors can give more if health care gives to them.
The latest from Ray’s YouTube channel:
And a look at that amazing DIY synth:
There’s a Facebook page to follow, as well:
https://www.facebook.com/crowdfundraywilson.today/