1. Favourite knob/fader/switch on a piece of gear and why?
Automating the flying faders on the Chase Bliss Automatone is a magical way to explore overdrive and fuzz.
Chase Bliss Automatone
2. Do you have an ‘almost’ perfect bit of kit? What would you change?
Native Instruments Maschine MK3. NI just released a standalone version that somewhat improves upon the MK3. Hopefully the next version will have a touch screen, battery, CV in/out, & more control over what plugins/VSTs you can have onboard.
Native Instruments Machine MK3
3. What setup do you bring on holiday/tour/commute etc.?
I typically take break from music when I’m away from the studio since I’m immersed in it most days. Maschine MK3, headphones, & a laptop is all I need for a portable writing setup. I also use GarageBand on my phone or iPad to get ideas out.
iPhone and GarageBand and a pair of headphones
4. What software do you wish was hardware and vice versa?
Like I mentioned earlier, Native Instruments just released a standalone version of the Maschine MK3 so they are working towards perfecting that software into hardware. I think the next version may be the one. I wish Meris would dive into VSTs/plugins. Their sounds are otherworldly but I think their pedal layout makes it tough to dial in their full potential sometimes.
Meris Ottobit
5. Is there anything you regret selling… or regret buying?
I always regret selling my Meris pedals. I had them all at one point but now I only have the Hedra & Ottobit. I sold the Mercury7 to get a BigSky, Enzo for a C4 and Polymoon for a Timeline. I don’t own the BigSky, Timeline or C4 anymore so I think it may be time to revisit my old Meris friends.
Meris Hedra
6. What gear has inspired you to produce the most music?
NI Maschine MK3
7. If you had to start over, what would you get first?
A laptop and a Maschine MK3.
8. What’s the most annoying piece of gear you have, that you just can’t live without?
My Focusrite Saffire 56 interface. It has never worked quite right, but I’ve made it work for the last 10 years. Time to get an Apollo of some sort.
Focusrite Saffire 56 audio interface
9. Most surprising tip/trick/technique that you’ve discovered about a bit of kit?
Cassette recorders are very useful. I use them as an instrument, as a “looper” or to add tape warmth/grit to recordings. The best $100 I’ve ever spent was on the old Tascam Porta02.
Tascam Porta02
Artist or Band name?
Wander.Wonder
Genre?
Chillhop meets Post-Rock
Selfie?
Michael Famiglietti aka. Wander.Wonder
Where are you from?
Virginia in the United States
How did you get into music?
I bought a guitar in high school to start a band with my friends and I never stopped.
What still drives you to make music?
I love exploring new sounds and seeing where they take me.
How do you most often start a new track?
Typically with a sound I discover on a pedal or plugin. The algo inspires a riff or progression that I write around.
How do you know when a track is finished?
When I’ve said enough but not too much.
Show us your current studio
Michael Famiglietti’s home studio
Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?
Write as much as possible. Whether you’re trying out some new gear or just noodling on guitar, hit record and try to create. Just explore in the moment and then you can refine your ideas later.
Promote your latest thing… Go ahead, throw us a link.
Just released my second album. You can stream it on your preferred platform in this link. Also check out my gear noodles on YouTube or IG if that’s your thing.
1. Favourite knob/fader/switch on a piece of gear and why?
My favorite knobs are the ones from my Modular Synth. Starting to build my own machines was a great achievement for me and I definitely have a special affection for the knobs of my Eurorack type modular system, which I built piece by piece from scratch in CIRCUITO SONORO LABORATORIO a workshop laboratory I started with a colleague where I investigate modular synthesis and perform sound experimentation.
DIY Eurorack modular
2. Do you have an ‘almost’ perfect bit of kit? What would you change?
Drumbrute Impact allows me to flow creatively and take advantage of those moments of inspiration to the fullest, it is the most important thing for me. Having powerful rhythms and sounds to create the beat is time won in that process. There are no pauses to make settings or edits and that’s where I can find the perfect sound.
Arturia Drumbrute Impact
3. What setup do you bring on holiday/tour/commute etc.?
COMPUTER AND MINILAB MK2 Each new place I visit has its unique magic, traveling is opening my mind and I cannot miss the opportunity to be inspired by that journey, so I bring my computer with virtual synths, Arturia’s V collection is very complete. To have control of the Daw and Synths, I also carry Arturia’s Minilabmk2, it’s small and everything fits in my backpack. As a plus I also use the cell phone to record ambient sounds and some concrete sounds I can use later as samples.
Laptop and Minilab MK2
4. What software do you wish was hardware and vice versa?
I would like to have an app version for cell phones or tablets of the pocket operator, I use PO Speak and even though its a small machine I achieve sounds with a lot of character and create powerful beats.
Teenage Engineering PO Speak
5. Is there anything you regret selling… or regret buying?
TC HELICON VOICE PROCESOR – MINITAUR The TC helicon Voice live touch, not so much to regret selling it, but I would buy it again. I sold it to buy the moog minitaur so it wasn’t that painful haha…
Moog Minitaur
The Tc Helicon is a vocal processor that I really enjoyed using, I used to loop my voice layer by layer and create entire songs adding effects and transforming it into an instrument more like a synthesizer, I came to create my own processes for the voice, very fun.
6. What gear has inspired you to produce the most music?
Sequencers are a “must have” for me. This year I´ve been fortunate to be sponsored by ARTURIA and one of the machines that I use the most to produce now is the Key Step Pro, i was using the Beat Step Pro before, so it was very easy and intuitive for me the change. To Control analog and digital hardware in real time is pure creation i just connect all my synthesizers and I flow, the music takes over me.
Arturia Key Step Pro
7. If you had to start over, what would you get first?
I studied music as a profesional career so i was used to compose my music more in an academic way through sheet music then pass it to the computer in a Daw, recording each instrument track by track until a had a whole structured song and that was it. Now i would say that having Vsts, a good computer and a controller is the easiest way to start. Make your music “in the Box”
8. What’s the most annoying piece of gear you have, that you just can’t live without?
Cables
CABLES!
That is a tiny part of the gear hahaha
Very annoying!!
9. Most surprising tip/trick/technique that you’ve discovered about a bit of kit?
There are no rules, we are rhythm, we are a constant beat by the pulse of our heart, interpreting those vibrations within us and taking them out into the real world is what has led me to make “broken beats” more amalgamated rhythms and finally to feel them as an extension of what music makes in me.
I have many ways of making rhythmic patterns, I use samples, drum machines, I use sounds, I record noises and process them, but in the end the thing is to decide what textures you want to create with all those tools and I always try to create a different atmosphere that reaches the person who is there listening.
Artist or Band name?
Laura Katić / Caperooza
Genre?
House Progressive / Indie Electronica
Selfie?
Laura Katić
Where are you from?
CALI, Colombia.
How did you get into music?
I was involved in choirs and local bands from my town, then i studied music as a career more focused on teaching.
What still drives you to make music?
Self transformation
How do you most often start a new track?
I work as a music teacher and a freelance music producer, also have a project called CAPEROOZA in which I produce all the music, so I start tracks very often.
How do you know when a track is finished?
When I feel i can dance and enjoy it without thinking of any technical issues. With the music i make for others when they feel happy about the result.
Show us your current studio
Laura Katić home studioLaura Katić home studio
Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?
Never stop making the music you love, the music that comes from your soul.
Promote your latest thing… Go ahead, throw us a link.
1. Favourite knob/fader/switch on a piece of gear and why?
The boring answer is the Cutoff! It’s probably my most used knob after all… If I choose to interpret the question from another angle, and discuss the overall feel of my favourite knobs, I’d say the knobs on my Novation Peak. There is a stiffness to them that makes them feel sturdy and reliable, and a rubberized texture that is really great. The Peak feels like it could survive anything! For me it’s really important to connect with a synth on an aesthetical level, an UI level. It needs to look and feel great and be inspiring. For me that’s the whole point of hardware!
Novation Peak
2. Do you have an ‘almost’ perfect bit of kit? What would you change?
Elektron Model Cycles
There are two pieces of gear that I have recently owned that I liked a lot, but had some shortcomings. First off – The Elektron Model Cycles. Fun, cheap, and almost everything you do on it sounds good. But I really would have liked individual outs on all tracks and the ability to play it like a 6 voice poly. The other thing is the JU-06A, which also is a fantastic piece of kit that just sounds awesome. But why only 4 voices… Bugged me a lot!
Roland JU-06A
3. What setup do you bring on holiday/tour/commute etc.?
Since my computer is the only thing I can’t do without when producing, I’d have to start off by saying my Macbook Pro. Just bought the 2020 13” which is a perfect size for me. My Keystep usually tags along as well, it has great feel in the keys and a good size. Add my Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro headphones and I’m all set! All I actually really need, holiday or not!
Macbook Pro and Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro
4. What software do you wish was hardware and vice versa?
There is a piece of software I always dreamed of having in hardware form: The Sonic Charge Microtonic drum synth. I use it all the time and in all my productions. I really like hardware drum machines, and would really enjoy getting hands-on with the Microtonic in a fully analog hardware form. I would really like a software version of the Boss Tera Echo pedal. Maybe there is one that I haven’t found? I mainly use software effects to be able to tempo sync easily, automate parameters etc, and the Tera Echo is the only thing I haven’t really found a software equivalent of.
Boss Tera Echo TE-2
5. Is there anything you regret selling… or regret buying?
This is a hard one… I have a complicated relation to hardware (even wrote an editorial about it: https://producerhive.com/editorial/confessions-of-a-compulsive-gear-flipper/). I constantly buy and sell stuff. Basically, I regret buying almost everything. I kind of regret selling the Sequential Circuits Pro One I used to own in my 20’s (by the start of the millennium). I owned early on, when I was just getting into synthesizers. I have realized that I didn’t appreciate it enough when I had it… Would love to turn back time an own it again, a beautiful and fun machine! The only synth by Dave Smith that hasn’t failed me… I had a Prophet rev 2 that I had to replace the main controller board on, even though I bought it brand new. Had a Tetra recently with a dead sub oscillator and bad LCD-display. Also owned a Prophet 08 Desktop with encoders that had a life of their own…
Guts of a Prophet rev 2
6. What gear has inspired you to produce the most music?
I’d have to say Omnisphere. I keep coming back to it. It has a preset library that never ends, and great modulation options. It always leads me to exciting places I didn’t know existed. When it comes to hardware it’s probably my Novation Peak. It has a perfect balance between complexity and easy tweakability.
Novation Peak and Arturia Keystep
7. If you had to start over, what would you get first?
Nothing. Well, not really, but I would try to not get too hung up on getting the “right stuff”. Give me a Mac laptop and I’m good to go. I started out with nothing but my computer, not even a midi keyboard. I just entered notes in the Piano roll (in Cakewalk, at the time).
8. What’s the most annoying piece of gear you have, that you just can’t live without?
I’m trying really hard to live by the code “Don’t get stuff you can’t do without”. But I guess it’s my computer. Can’t do without it when it comes to music making. It’s also many times a source of frustration. I have a new computer now, but the one before it was a real pain. I accidentally poured a cup of coffee (my biggest addiction) over the keyboard, which made it act really irrational. Had it like that for like 6 months before I gave up and got myself a new computer! Computers have historically been a big source of annoyance for me, mostly due to failed hard drives. Nowadays I have a rigorous backup solution, so nothing gets lost.
9. Most surprising tip/trick/technique that you’ve discovered about a bit of kit?
Maybe not that surprising, but at the moment I’m really into random waveform LFO’s, that are key synced. I really like making sequences where each note played gets a random modulation of some parameter. On the Peak you can modulate just about everything which is great fun!
Artist or Band name?
Wheel
Genre?
Electronic music, mostly quite chill. A reviewer once called it Chill-glitch, which kind of sums it up quite well!
Selfie?
Ricard Magnusson aka. Wheel
Where are you from?
Sweden
How did you get into music?
Started playing a nylon string guitar, inspired by my grandfather who played classical guitar. My dad and brother also played a little, so there were always guitars around. Moved on to playing with a progressive death metal band in the mid-nineties. Kind of slowly digressed to synth driven, electronic music from there… How did that happen?
What still drives you to make music?
I need to have a creative outlet that is not about demands or goals, just about being creative and reaching a flow state.
How do you most often start a new track?
I’d say with a pad sound. Most of the time it doesn’t stay in the production, but I’ve always been a sucker for pads, and I use them to set the mood of the production and get some basic chord progressions going.
How do you know when a track is finished?
When I can listen to a track and not instantly come up with things I would like to change, it’s probably close to finished. If I feel the same after not listening to it for a day or two, it’s probably done!
Show us your current studio
It’s constantly changing, and I change up my gear all the time. But the pic shows the current state!
Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?
Wow, there are lots of advice floating around and I’m guilty of a few myself… But the one thing I try to remember is to not overthink my productions. Let go of the fear and just release stuff!
Promote your latest thing… Go ahead, throw us a link.
