9-Odd-Questions-For-Music-Gear-Junkies Archives - Page 4 of 78

MLEsynth – Snakestyle

1. Favourite knob, fader, switch, on a piece of gear and why?

I have to say the cutoff frequency on the Doepfer A-103 filter. It captures something of the spirit and concept of the Roland TB-303 without being a clone, and within that it has its own character which I like very much.

2. Do you have an ‘almost’ perfect bit of kit? What would you change?

I love my Doepfer A-100. I would say that it’s almost perfect, or as perfect as it can be. It has a clear and practical design which I appreciate. What would I change? There’s always a battle for space in the rack, and I’m always having ideas about how I want to expand it with additional modules, but that goes with the territory. I’m going to have to think about a new case soon.

3. What setup do you bring on holiday or tour or commute, etc.?

If ever I am on any kind of holiday I take my laptop with me, so I can work on composing, arranging, and processing beats. When I’ve played live I’ve kept it simple with a laptop, the Alesis Multimix 8 USB mixer, and a synth for live tweaking, like the Doepfer, or the Roland JP-8080 when I owned one.

4. What software do you wish was hardware and vice versa?

It would be amazing to see Reaktor in hardware form, but to be able to zoom in and out like you can in the software, you’d need to be able to bend the laws of physics. I can’t think of any hardware that I’d like to see as software though. The amount of software plugin versions of different classic synths available now is amazing.

5. Is there anything you regret selling… or regret buying?

I borrowed a Roland SH-101 back in 1995, and I briefly owned one in 1997 before having to sell it several months later. It was the first analogue synth that I managed to get my hands on, and I learned so much from using it, putting the theory into practice, etc. I love its clear visual structure. I tend to do a lot of research into equipment before I buy it, so I don’t really have any regrets. That said though, maybe I would not have bought the Roland JP-8000 and waited for the JP-8080 rack version to come out.

6. What gear has inspired you to produce the most music?

Getting into analogue modular gear changed the way I approach producing music. I started off with modules that would give me a decent monosynth for synth leads, but as I have expanded, my approach has also widened. Sometimes a single experimental sound you discover can give a new tune its own unique character. You can think more widely about what sort of sound you want to build and test out ideas.

7. If you had to start over, what would you get first?

My first piece of gear was the Roland MC-303. It was a very good starting point. From that I got to familiarise myself with the Roland style of user interface. Sometimes I think I should have started out with a laptop with software for sequencing instead, but then I would not have gained the experience I did with the MC-303.

8. What’s the most annoying piece of gear you have, that you just can’t live without?

My laptop can be frustrating at times when it takes longer than expected to start up, especially when I have an idea in my head that I want to get down as quickly as possible.

9. Most surprising tip or trick or technique that you’ve discovered about a bit of kit?

Having four programmable input velocities on the MC-303 made me think about velocity levels, and by extension dynamics. From that I started to think about proportion and balance in everything from velocity and level in the mix to stereo panning, and I began to think of every element as relative to everything else in proportion and balance.

Artist or band name?

Snakestyle

Genre?

Electronica, ambient, chillout, downtempo, IDM, psychill, with melodic progressive textures.

Selfie?

Where are you from?

I’ve lived in and around South East London for most of my life.

How did you get into music?

When I was around 7 years old, I was given my first keyboard, and a vinyl copy of Oxgene by Jean Michel Jarre. It all started from there. I saw additional artwork and photos from the album with Jean Michel Jarre surrounded by all his analogue synthesisers and equipment, and I thought “I want to do that”. Electronic music seemed to offer a world of creative imagination that had not been previously possible, it looked like a world I wanted to be a part of.

What still drives you to make music?

It’s part of who I am and what I do. I still have things that I want to say with music, atmospheres I want to create, and sounds I want to experiment with, and to develop my sound ever further.

How do you most often start a new track?

Most often I tend to build a track from the rhythm up. I get an idea in my head for a groove I want to create and build on. Then I add things, and then take things out until I’m happy. I’m interested in bridging the infinite space of potential with different patterns, schematics, logics, and systems. I create a framework with which to navigate the unknown. Sometimes I’ll pick a series of random BPMs and keys, and see what happens.

How do you know when a track is finished?

When I am working on a track, I live and breathe it. It’s all I think about all day. I am constantly listening to it over and over again, thinking ‘what needs changing?’, ‘what is it missing?’, ‘what does it need?’.
When I listen all the way through without finding anything that I would add, remove or change, I think ‘yes, that’s done’, or at least that it’s time to take a break from it, and come back to it again with fresh ears 24 hours later.

Show us your current studio

I worry that keeping all my gear set up in a particular way might inadvertantly limit or narrow my approach somehow. I often keep everything packed away until I get a strong idea of what I want to work on, and then I set everything up around that idea, using only what I need and keeping it simple.

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

It’s not the amount of gear you’ve got, but what you actually do with what you’ve got. Try to favour building your own sounds over using presets. Don’t worry too much about sounding like artist X or Y, sound like YOU.

Promote your latest thing, go ahead, throw us a link

My most recent single ‘Deeper Understanding’ is on Alex Tronic Records: https://snakestylemusic.bandcamp.com/album/deeper-understanding

Website: https://www.matthewleighembleton.co.uk/snakestyle.htm
Bandcamp: https://snakestylemusic.bandcamp.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MLESynth
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61580691853426
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mlesynth/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mlesynth
X: https://x.com/MLESynth

Lohacker – HiJacker

1. Favourite knob/fader/switch on a piece of gear and why?

I have many, aesthetically I love the Whimsical Raps Mannequins lineup especially the Cold Mac SURVEY knob is one of my favourite because it acts as a meta-control over a patch. Modulating it I send correlated signals throughout the patch to discover sweet spots and surprising movements every time.

For pedals is the Clock knob on MOOD 2: it shifts pitch, fidelity, and texture simultaneously. It’s the ultimate tool for warping static loops into dynamic, organic, and unpredictable soundscapes.

2. Do you have an ‘almost’ perfect bit of kit? What would you
change?

Lately is the Intellijel Multigrain. I’m a granular junkie and this module condenses every essential function with a perfect UI and constantly updated firmware. The morphing fader is the true magic; sliding between two distinct scenes allows you to discover shifting soundscapes during the transition, reminiscent of the interpolation found on the almighty Octatrack (another favourite). There is very little I would change; it is an ideal tool for finding those sounds within sounds.

3. What setup do you bring on holiday or tour or commute etc.?

I prefer to work in my studio when I have time; I view the whole room as one big instrument. Back in the past I used to bring with me, my Elektron Monomachine, but now that she’s a retired ‘old lady,’ I’d rather keep her safe and sound at home. If I’m working away from home, my laptop is the one tool I’d take to get some previous recordings organized.

4. What software do you wish was hardware and vice versa?

It would be fantastic to see Fors Opal as a hardware instrument. It is a highly capable software rhythm machine that integrates FM, modal synthesis, pulsar noise, sampling and effects into a single, cohesive environment. Even if my Eletron Digitakt 2 & Digitone 2 are equally fun and inspiring.

I’m longing for a software equivalent to the Schlappi Engineering 100 Grit. It is a powerhouse for avant-garde sound design, functioning simultaneously as a filter, distortion unit, and noise generator. By leveraging audio and CV feedback loops, it produces evolving, chaotic textures. The brass touch points allows for the tactile injection of signals into the feedback paths, resulting in unpredictable alien sonic environments.

5. Is there anything you regret selling… or regret buying?

I’m diligent about research before buying gear, so I rarely have regrets. Every instrument is a learning opportunity. I’m not a collector but rarely sell gear. I really miss the Mutable Instruments Elements, which I sold only for space reasons; its ability to use external material as input for the resonator sounded great. Also I still kick myself for selling Korg EMX so cheaply, considering its current market value.

6. What gear has inspired you to produce the most music?

I find inspiration by patching my modular system. I treat it as a living ecosystem, focusing on autonomous patches that evolve independently. It shifts the process from composing to exploration. The modules I use in every single patch are the Intellijel Shapeshifter Dual Complex Morphable Wavetable Oscillator (my favorite oscillator), the 4ms Dual Looping Delay and Qubit Nautilus, various granular processors including Mutable Instruments Clouds, Intellijel Multigrain, Qu-Bit Electronix Mojave, Orthogonal Devices ER-301, and a Make Noise System.

Recently the Torso S-4 has been a revelation for me. Many ways to manipulate and process samples in this tool. Ironically, I find its lack of a traditional sequencer a positive constraint since it forces me to discover unexplored creative workflows.

7. If you had to start over, what would you get first?

I’d still begin with a laptop, focusing on Max/MSP and virtual modular environments like VCV Rack. While hardware will always be fascinating, modern software is simply too significant to ignore.

8. What’s the most annoying piece of gear you have, that you
just can’t live without?

The Westlicht Performer is in my top 3 eurorack sequencers, though it’s not without its flaws. I’m a huge fan of its workflow and features. It’s a DIY project, so you can’t expect the same build quality as big brands, but the buttons are small and stiff, which really hurts the playability. Even though some of the switches on my unit are starting to go, I just can’t part with it (I will get it fixed soon). My only other wish would be for an additional set of dedicated mod CV outputs beyond just pitch and gate, which would really unlock its modulation potential.

9. Most surprising tip or trick or technique that you’ve
discovered about a bit of kit?

Play with feedback by routing audio or CV back into the patch for recursive modulation. My Random*Source Serge is great for this, but this concept can be applied to any modular system. Building self-influencing systems where sounds and modulations auto- evolve in hypnotic ways and organic chaos.

Another fundamental modular technique I employ is decoupling trigger sequences from pitch CV. Unlike MIDI, separating these sequences leads to patterns evolving organically.

Artist or Band name?

I go by Lohacker, a name inherited from my first music-related mail account. It’s served me well in online communities, though I’ve always viewed it more as a functional alias than a final artistic statement.