Samplik Prost – Simple Sample

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

Tascam 424 Varispeed knob

This is the varispeed pitch control on the Tascam 424. My favorite knob. I like that you can use it to get a completely different song.

[Editor: This is a classic machine and that knob is a personal fave too]

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

I really like to shoot music videos on the street and I’m missing some kind of rig/stand for my kit.

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

Pocket Operators Operating

This is 3x po33 po-32 po-35, two reverb pedals, a bunch of wires, sony TCS-580V stereo cassette-corder and zoom recorder. Everything fits in one backpack

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

This is a stereo extender for mono devices

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

Yes, this is rk004 by retrokits. Great device, but I didn’t need it

rk004 by retrokits

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

This is po-33. I don’t know how it works, but every time when I pick it up, I create a new track.

Teenage Engineering PO33KO

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

PO400

I think it’s a modular synthesis. Although it’s not too late to get to know it better.

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

Ahahahah great question. This is a po-400. It really helps to understand the principles of working with sound, but sometimes I don’t understand anything at all.

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

On the PO33KO, if you select the filter mode, turn the encoder in different directions and hold the record button, you can get an amazing result. An example can be found here 👉  https://www.instagram.com/p/Bt3cRKzlq8y/    

Artist or Band name?

samplik prost / In Russian it means a “simple sample”.

Genre?

Disco house chill hop.

Samplik Prost

Where are you from?

Moscow, Russia

How did you get into music?

In middle school, my friend taught me how to play the guitar. He’s left-handed and I’m right-handed.It was fun. After that, I couldn’t stop making music.It’s always been a hobby. We played punk rock and alternative. It was a long time ago.But 3 years ago when I got my first pocket operator, I became interested in electronic music. I realized that there are no genres and that you can experiment as you want.

What still drives you to make music?

Most likely, this is a search for new ideas and solutions. It’s like searching for diamonds.You know they are there, but you need to dig a lot. But sometimes you find them right away.

How do you most often start a new track?

I start by searching for a nice chord, then drums and of course vocal samples.

How do you know when a track is finished?

When I feel that everything is in its place and I can start making the next track.

Show us your current studio

I want to move some of my stuff to the wall to free up my workspace.

Samplik Prost Studio

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

Steal Like an Artist / True, I haven’t read this book, but I like the title.

Promote your latest thing… Go ahead, throw us a link.

My first experience in creating music in this style  https://youtu.be/X5oRReeCTMQ
But my main experiments I am posting here:

https://www.instagram.com/samplikprost/

[Editor: Do you have a favorite tip, trick or way of working with any of the gear from this interview?
Then throw a comment below…]

Tom Leclerc – Ambient Mountaineer

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

I think this Is a complicated question. When I think of knobs (which not happen every time) it’s directly associated in my mind with it’s effects. If I take the power on of my modular, then all the generative stuff is just starting, the switch button is then really amazing. In the same way, the Spread button of Marbles (from Mutable instruments) is really cool too.

The best knobs I have is the frequency button of Altar (from Ritual Electronics) I think it’s the same as the Verbos knobs, but in black. This is really cool.

Altar by Ritual Electronics

But the best knobs I ever used, are not in my gear, this is the Moog knobs in their recent synthesizers (Grandmother, Matriarch).

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

I’m in a reflective stage for my setup. A lot of it works well like that, together and standalone. When I think of kit, I think of a palette of colors and feels. If I feel like a change, I would certainly switch my Prophet-6 for a Moog Matriarch. But it’s ok like this and now I’m looking forward for new colors. (I need to finish my actual Ghibli style modular case).

DSI Prophet 6

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

My little 44hp case or recently my Elektron Model-Cycles. There is only my piano and my prophet-6, which I rarely move.

For tour I’m using my modular synth. And for holidays I use Model-Cycles.

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

Pigments from Arturia is a amazing software. Even if I don’t use it in composition, sometimes I lose my mind in the complexity of this virtual instrument. I don’t really use software, but I would like to have OTO-Boum in software, or my felt piano.

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

When I sell gear it’s for new things. I recently sold a Digitakt and I still think about it when I see other people using it in a good way, but I don’t regret it.
I never regret buying one piece of gear, maybe my tape recorder, because in the end I didn’t use it as much as it deserved.

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

I would like to say the power of modular, but my piano is still the best gear for composition, inspiration and relaxation.

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

I started with a MicroBrute from Arturia and I would start again with a Moog Grandmother.

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

Marbles !

Marbles and more

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

Output modules changes lives ! I personally use Ooots from Knobs.farm and this is a really cool module. Then I can talk about how I mix my piano with only one mic, but that is my secret…

Artist or Band name?

Tom Leclerc

Genre?

Ambient

Selfie?

Tom Leclerc

Where are you from?

Nantes in France.

How did you get into music?

Classical piano formation, then starting to compose (thanks to my friends Laurent Hilairet)

What still drives you to make music?

Wild, expedition and exploration.

Euro in the wild

How do you most often start a new track?

On my piano, I’m playing around with melodies, feeling, from that I get my key for the generative music on the modular.

How do you know when a track is finished?

If I listen with my heart, tracks are never finished and ephemeral. But sometimes I just record, play music, and then I mix the tracks and I’m happy about it. When I go outside to record something, new things always happen and can change a track prepared in advance.

Show us your current studio

Home Studio

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

« What can I still remove in this track for for it to sound better ? ». Which means that you can always go straight to the essential and then the track will be better. Minimalist philosophy…

Promote your latest thing… Go ahead, throw us a link.

It’s not really a recent thing, but we will go back there soon to create more content like this. It’s an expedition up a mountain to perform in the wild. I recorded an album (https://tomleclerc.bandcamp.com) in the nature, and you can find the video of the trip here :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdTov0AwpIE&t=1151s

Modular on the mountain

[Editor: Do you have a favorite tip, trick or way of working with any of the gear from this interview?
Then throw a comment below…]

Andrew Black – Loop De Loop

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

That is a tough one but I think I have to go with the filter cutoff on my Moog Sub Phatty. I immediately fell in love with sweeping that filter, it is satisfying both sonically and physically. 

Moog Sub Phatty

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

My Op-1 is pretty close to perfect. At times I wish it had more keys, but the size is part of its charm.

Teenage Engineering OP-1

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

Op1, sp404, and a pair of beyerdynamic dt 770 s. It all fits comfortably in my backpack.

Beyerdynamic dt 770

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

I have a reverb plugin called Valhalla shimmer that I really love, but I wish it was in pedal form so I could have the tactile interaction with it. I use tape and 4 track recorders often and I truly love them, but they break, need maintenance, or shit out on you during a show (it was the worst! haha) so I would love if somehow there was a software 4 track that could actually capture the sound and feel of the real thing… but all the inconsistencies and frustrations with working with physical tape are a part of what make it magical… so maybe I wouldn’t change it after all.

Tascam 4 Track

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

I tend to hold onto all the gear that I procure, good or bad. My father is a musician though and his first guitar amp, a 1964 Silvertone 1484 would have been passed down to me but was accidentally sold in a garage sale by my uncle when I was a kid, so that is probably my greatest gear regret.

Silvertone amp

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

I would say most recently the 0-Coast by Make Noise, it inspires me every time I touch it. 

Make Noise 0-coast

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

I think Ableton. I have used pro tools for years, it gets the job done and I’m fairly proficient in it, but I have been told that Ableton lends itself more to the genre that I work in and therefore may facilitate workflow/productivity. I would really love to learn ableton someday but my patience with new software is short at times to say the least haha.

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

My microkorg. It was my first synth when I was 14 so I’m attached to it for that reason. It also does have great guts and can make some awesome sounds but accessing the oscillators and making fine adjustments isn’t particularly intuitive and can be frustrating when I have a sound in my head that I’m trying to get out. 

Korg MicroKorg

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

The vinyl simulator on my Sp-404 has been a go to for me lately. At first when I played around with it I felt like the crackles and textures it added were too much, but I started using it on sounds that would be turned into tape loops and I fell in love. The combination of the 404’s crackles, the analog tape hiss, and the tape warble give the sound a perfectly cryptic esthetic.

Roland SP404

Artist or Band name?

Andrew Black

Genre?

Ambient

Selfie?

Andrew Black

Where are you from?

I was born and raised in Salem, Oregon, but i’ve lived in Portland, Oregon for the last decade.

How did you get into music?

My dad is a guitar player and music lover so my introduction to music was immediate in life haha. I started taking guitar lessons from him when I was ten and it has been my passion ever since.

What still drives you to make music?

It is the best way I have found to express myself. I’ve dealt with depression and anxiety all of my life and writing/making music allows me to process those unpleasant feelings most efficiently. I’ve also always just loved it. That combination keeps the drive alive and keeps me writing because it truly makes me happy.

How do you most often start a new track?

Most often the inspiration for a new track for me comes from just experimenting and playing around without any real intention or direction. When I spend some time tinkering with textures a tone or a rhythm will at some point give me an idea for a song.

How do you know when a track is finished?

It is really hard for me to know when a song is finished. I’m rarely if ever 100% sure that the song is done so I just try to trust work it until there isn’t anything obvious that’s bothering me, and then I try to trust myself that it is as good as I can make it.

Show us your current studio

Andrew Black’s studio

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

”Make music you would want to listen to” My friend Sonny Diperri told me that. It kinda seems obvious now, but that advice really changed how I make music. It is how I know when I’m writing honestly for myself and from the heart.

Promote your latest thing… Go ahead, throw us a link.

My most recent album is called “Slow Blood” 

https://andrewrblack.bandcamp.com

[Editor: Do you have a favorite tip, trick or way of working with any of the gear from this interview?
Then throw a comment below…]