Cikira has loads and loads of synths...

Cikira (that's her with the Moog), wrote a while back to let me know about the "SynthSights discussion group for e-musicians, where 'it's not about the gear'". It's clear that Cikira herself is in no way gear-crazed. She only has 4 Access synths, four Nords, eleven Korgs, nine Rolands, two Moog Voyagers and EIGHT circuit-bent Aibo robot dogs. There's a good interview here, in which she reveals that she is not a man, she is not Bob Moog's girlfriend, and she is 'not rich'.
Cikira is really Amanda Pehlke, a former professional bellydancer. In 2001, she became the only person to have ever been married at NAMM, where she was given away at the altar by Bob Moog (she's since divorced). Here are the wedding photos.


Comments:
so shes divorced? I wonder if shes still single....
-Tommy
 
I like how she has a whole series of galleries of pics of her equipment, but her actual music is "coming soon."
 
Music is coming soon, but here's a big picture of me!

I might suggest for her first recording, an electronic version of "I love me".

http://www.geocities.com/Cag03/NovILov.html

She reminds me of those guys who have a roomful of $2,000 guitars and is starting a band RSN.... I guess her "Evolutionary Electronica" is still in the slime mold period of development.

And if a guy that dorky can divorce a chick that.... firm... in a matter of months, she's got to be a pain in the butt.

She's not rich, but can build a 4 room studio and collect $5000 robot dogs without ever putting out a piece of music?? I guess belly dancing pays well. (She can't even name a few Seattle nobodies that have come up there to make use of the space! My basement "Studio" can boast a more impressive history with it's Mac and EZ-Bus.)

Accck! Found the bad poetry page....
http://www.cikira.com/mushrooms/inwinter.html

"evil-illusionary electronica"... She got the illusionary part right....

Who are these peole who can afford $50,000 in crap they don't use?? Her news page has more items about her workout routine than her music.

No, I didn't acquire someone else's gear--it's all mine. AKA, I slept with each of these guys myself.

All that crap in one room, and not even a three minute cover of something...

To the dude asking if she was single... Yep, and she advertises in the personals....
http://www.countrycalendar.com/dance_world/partner/female_looking.htm

I love it, all her talk of being creative, and no output from a two year old studio. And I can't find anything she's ever done on the web. She's a famous consumer... How American. "No, I'm not rich"... Depends on how you define that. "I'm just an average girl who can afford a built to order 4,000 sq. ft. house stuffed with $5000 toy dogs, and enough synths to make Moroder green with envy."
 
And here's the former Mr Cikira:
http://www.midiwall.com/wall/
 
That's kind of a harsh post, Mr Anonymous. I've got no problem with people who love gear but don't happen to be enormously talented musicians. In fact, I am one myself... Though I'm not as well funded as this lady.
 
The only thing she's guilty of is having terrible taste in gear. Wouldn't you much rather be this guy?
 
She's had that site for a long time - years. There were older incarnations of it, full of Waldorfs and other such synths from a little while back. I've never seen any music on the site. The page saying coming soon has been like that forever.
 
Just my silly comment or two in defense of Amanda;

Perhaps she concentrates more on writing her computer software and needs all those synths for use as a "compatibility test lab"? (But if that were true we would see more PC's and monitors in the studio shots as well, huh?)
I guess if she can earn enough from her software sales to afford that "lab" then I need to put away the music and pull down my programming textbooks!

Or perhaps she is working on music projects with a non-disclosure clause? I wonder how much the residuals are for a composer of software OS sounds or stuff like that???

Anyway I like her studio pics and I love all those synths. Sure, I am disappointed that she posts no music, but really people, I don't give a damn if she can play or not.
Good for her!
Beautiful room!
We need more women interested in this stuff.
 
I hate her, categorically, because she's got a Buchla Thunder, which probably doesn't see much use.

The 'music coming soon!' bit IS a bit of a tipoff, don't you think?

Also, it's curious- look what Wendy Carlos has done WITH MUCH LESS GEAR THAN THAT.
 
Maybe she just likes to play with all of her toys? Maybe she enjoys the building more than the performing? Or -- hell, I dunno: I'm just surprised at all of the bile-venting at this lady.
 
Yea... there are a lot of people out there who sound a bit jealous. For all we know she could be producing 10 albums a week but just doesn't want to say. Even so who cares? It is a free economy and if she can buy the gear then she should be able to do whatever she wants with it... even if that means throwing it all in the fireplace.

I think a lot of the reaction people have to chikra is not only becasue she is a woman but in fact a very good looking/attractive one. I think we men tend to jump to all kinds of strange conclusions when a pretty woman is involved. Would anyone spend all this time questioning where she got the money etc. if she were a very plain/average looking woman? Probably not.

One last thing... saw the Wendy Carlos comment... sorry but she/he does not count as a _real_ representative of women in electronic music. Even if you buy into the idea that Walter is now indeed a woman he/she released his biggest work (switched on bach) as Walter Carlos... not Wendy... there are some great women in electrnic music that would have been a beter exaple such as Pauline Oliveros and Laurie Anderson
 
Many transgenders believe they were born the gender to which they transform themselves. Wendy is, was, and always will be a woman in her mind. "Switched on Bach" is an excellent example of what a woman can bring to the table, even if her name was Walter at the time.

Now that my sensitivity is out of the way...Cikira is HAWT and I want to date her.
 
The more gear I get, the more I realise that less is more, and that I was way more productive when I only had the basics. Trouble is that it's barely worth selling gear, since you only tend to get 1/2 what you paid (or less, much less) and so you just end up with a room full of gear that you don't really use and don't have any reason to sell.

I know others say they would love a studio with that much stuff, but to be honest, if I had that much stuff I would go crazy, not know where to start, and probably release very little music at all.

I'm contemplating stripping back down as it is, perhaps even just lending some stuff to friends to regain my focus. Too much gear is even worse than too little, trust me.
 
I think I never saw better combination, hot babe and a lot of synths. If I was in that studio I wouldnt know where to start first.
With what would you start? A girl or a synth? I would probably choose girl bent over a synth with a bit of bellydancing for start:D
 
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