Syed Ali – Qareebi

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

The spring reverb module and the dwell knob

The dwell knob on my spring reverb module. It’s basically the input drive level for the spring reverb and when it’s all the way up you can hear the audio if you bring your ear to the springs, Gives it a verrrryy distorted sound when its turned up to the max, i love turning it up for dubby snares and hihats. It might not be the prettiest looking knob on my rack but it’s definitely my favorite because this was the first module on my rack and it was handbuilt by me.

The insides of the spring reverb driver module, point to point soldered.

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

Probably the Mutable Instruments Anushri, it’s a mono synth, drone machine and a groovebox all in one, it can do so many things, but I always have to use it with the manual open on the side because each knob in the bottom 2 rows maps to something different in different modes and the panel doesn’t really show what they are, I’d maybe redesign the panel to have more information, but otherwise its relatively perfect in my chaotic and imperfect collection of things.

Mutable Instruments Anushri

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

I’ve recently built a really cheap (1500 INR, 17 EUR at most) midi controller that’s based on the MIDI Fighter Twister, it has 16 knobs across 4 pages and across 16 midi channels. So I bring that, and my APC MINI because I work on Ableton. This, plus my laptop (Samsung Galaxy Ultrabook 3) and my zoom recorder that works as an audio interface. If I’m expecting a jam session to happen as well, I try to bring along my shruti box, I’m also trying to use it more often in my live sets. I’d like to travel with my modular rack but that thing is too heavy and delicate in its current state.

DIY MIDI Fighter Twister and shruti box

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

I’d really like to buy something that’s a hardware version of the Fors FM Dyad, it already has some pretty good Push integration, but like a dedicated box for it would let me just connect it with my modular and not having to stare at a screen would just make it so much more fun.

Hmmm… Hardware that I wish was software I’d probably go with my Fuzz module for its self oscillation and deep frying capabilities

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

I kinda regretted selling my AKAI APC 40 MK2, but then I basically ended up building the same thing with my 16 channel midi twister and the much cheaper APC Mini.

Something I regret buying is this Arturia 49 key keyboard, I bought it for like 2500 INR (27 EUR) from the side of the road in Mumbai and it does work flawlessly, but its just so big and I don’t have space for it so it just never gets used,

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

Fors FM Opal and Fors FM Dyad, they’re toooo fucking fun, best purchases I’ve ever made.

Fors FM Dyad
Fors FM Opal

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

A better 4-in 4-out audio interface honestly. Maybe the Motu M4 because it’s also DC coupled so I can send CV out.

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

Akai EIE Pro 4×4

My Akai EIE Pro 4×4 Audio Interface, for obvious reasons, it’s the interface between all my hardware and Ableton and sometimes I feel like the noisy pre-amps on it hold me back. But it is absolutely rock solid, it’s built like a tank and is probably almost 10 years old and it still works really well.

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

Self-oscillation on a fuzz module

Probably the self-oscillation on my fuzz module, I found a way to tune it by just blowing on the feedback pot or very very lightly touching it, it holds that pitch really stable and then whatever input I give it kinda morphs it into that tone, it adds a really fat sustain.


Artist or Band name?

Qareebi

Genre?

Ambient, Noise, Jungle, Dub, Techno

Selfie?

Qareebi aka Syad Ali

Where are you from?

Bangalore, India

How did you get into music?

I was an obsessive child (I still am) and I got really into skrillex when I was 14 (I’m 23 now) and I just wanted to learn how he did all that. I started making music when I was 16 with a pirated copy of FL studio. I was making lo-fi hip hop and future bass back then hahahaha. I’ve also always had friends who would talk a lot about music and it just made sense to me, as a teenager trying to find a personality, that I would be a musician. More recently my practice has evolved to incorporate my electrical engineering hobby and now I build a bunch of things to make music with as well.

What still drives you to make music?

Many things but I’d say primarily, the sense of community that I derive from being a musician with other musician friends, and also moments of intense satisfaction and joy when I’m playing something – and just for a few seconds, all thoughts vanish from my head, and only the music remains. It’s intoxicating.

How do you most often start a new track?

I usually just try and listen to tracks in my library by artists I like and try and maybe make something with influences from them, like if I’m listening to Photek i might try and make some weird percussive jungle break call and response type 32 bar loop and then see where it takes me from there.

How do you know when a track is finished?

When I want to start a new track instead haha, but I’d say it’s finished when it’s at least 3 min 30s long and when I just want someone else to hear it and tell me what they think. Sometimes I come back and continue working but I try to keep the tweaking session short.

Show us your current studio

Syed Ali – Qareebi’s studio

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

Find friends to make music with, seek out community when you feel like your practice feels isolating, and share everything you can, when you can. What goes out comes back tenfold when you’re with the right people.

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

I’ve spent the last year or so just building things to make music with but haven’t really been making enough music, if you’d like to see what else I’m up to please follow me on instagram 😀

https://instagram.com/qaree.bi

and for a small archive of my music:

SoundCloud Qaree.bi


Daniel Nayberg – Blip of Blop

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

I love knobs and switches, so that’s a tough question. Maybe the volume knob on my Coleman monitor controller. It has these delicious steps (every one of the 47 steps is a separate set of matched resistors), and when you have proper monitoring, it’s such a powerful feeling to fire up the volume.

Coleman monitor controller

An honorable mention (and shameless plug) would be the EAO switches on the M/S insert processor ‘VARMS’ that I designed with Elberg-ELT. They’re the same swiss-made switches used on SSL desks, they feel/look awesome, and they last for two million presses.

‘VARMS’ Elberg-Nayberg

Another favorite (functionally speaking) would be the cutoff knob on my AJH MiniMod Transistor Ladder Filter (vintage Moog Model D filter clone) – that sweep never gets old.

AJH MiniMod Transistor Ladder Filter

I also have an old Urei-designed JBL 6-channel rack-mixer (Model 5306) that I modded with direct outs myself. It has some very cool and chunky aluminium knobs. Still very much a sleeper I think – get one if you can! Sorry that was four. I did my best.

Urei-designed JBL 6-channel rack-mixer Model 5306

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

Well, depends on the context. If anything, my eurorack modular, since it’s a very flexible instrument – it just sounds incredible, and nothing beats that workflow for me (so far). I also really like improvising with it live. It’s not the easiest thing to improvise on, but it sort of makes you work to solve problems with the relatively basic and limited components that you have available, which often lead to new ideas.

Eurorack Improvisation

It’s always changing. At the moment I want to add a quad lowpass gate because I really bought into the whole Buchla thing recently, but I ran out of rack-space and promised myself I wouldn’t get more cases. It’s so easy to just get more gear, but I often find that I make better stuff when I’m more limited.

Daniels Eurorack

Another answer would be my U47 clone. That mic sounds crazy good. It’s based on the (sadly no longer available) Max Kircher (ioaudio) diy kit with handwound custom transformer and only top shelf components. It has a BeesNeez M7 capsule. I also got the equivalent U67 with a Heiserman HK67 in it.

U47 clone

My only gripe is that it’s really difficult to find high quality Neumann-style mic body housings, so they feel much cheaper than real Neumanns. I would change that if I could, but I’m not ready to shell out for the insanely-priced Neumann replacement parts.

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

If anything, I bring a laptop with Ableton Live and a controller – I love my Push 2. If I’m going away with my family, we mostly just bring a cheap ukulele. I really want to be that cool Zoom-recorder-found-sound kinda guy, but I’m really not (yet!).

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

I recently made a dynamic multiband clipper with a few cool features with stock Ableton Live devices, that I’m pretty excited about. That would be really cool as a hardware unit, but it’s probably going to be pretty expensive to build, and it would also be a different beast. I put the effect rack up for free download at our studio’s website if anyone wants to try it out:

https://www.blipblopstudio.dk/abletonracks

Nayberg CrosscOMPressionEQ

I guess I also wish someone would emulate the Fairfield Circuitry Shallow Water in software (and make it stereo!). That pedal is an instant vibe machine and nothing else does what it does. I love it to death. It’s also one of the only places I have ever encountered a lowpass gate outside of the synth-world.

I actually tried approximating it with Ableton Live devices myself, but I really just wish for a stereo hardware version.

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

Yes a lot of things. I often buy and sell stuff when some idea hit me or I get caught up in the GAS hype. I once had a really cool japanese Fender Jaguar that I refinished and modded myself. I really regret selling that. It sounded amazing.

Fender Jaguar

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

My eurorack modular for sure! I rarely get anything done in the DAW if I’m making my own music. I love how the process feels way more “iterative” on the modular. You patch something, and the machine responds. Then you are inspired to do something else, and the machine reacts again etc. It feels more like a conversation than executing an idea, especially If you experiment a lot. Building the modular (choosing/arranging modules etc.) is a way of setting the scene of what can happen. This is an approach to writing music that really resonates with the gear-enthusiast in me.

Something else that was really important for me was to build my studio away from home. We built it during Covid lockdown. I simply don’t get squat done at home, I’m not disciplined enough and there are too many distractions. I need a place to go to work, where everything is always set up and ready to roll.

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

I do everything from production to mastering, so it depends. First of all a laptop with Ableton Live Suite. Probably then a decently treated room and some good monitors. Being able to hear properly and feel awesome is everything. I still want to upgrade my setup to something better. From there I guess a good interface, a versatile mic (maybe a Sennheiser MD441) and a dual preamp like the Gyraf GIX. I love that thing, I got two of them. Just running tracks through them makes everything sound better.

Gyraf Gear

Then I would start getting into hardware instruments – maybe some semi modular synth like a Make Noise 0-coast or Strega, a Pittsburgh Taiga, or a Arturia Minibrute. Modular for the rest…

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

I kind of want to say my laptop. I hate lugging it around, needing it, and being forced to rely on it, especially for playing live. But Ableton Live is just so amazingly flexible and powerful, it would require a truckload of gear to replace the functionality, if even possible. I’ve been eyeing the new standalone Push 3, but it has some major limitations.

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

I’m not sure if it’s surprising, but I really like one particular idea that I had for my live setup for my band. I have an amazing MIDI controller called Touché by Expressive E. It’s a very sensitive touch controller that translates gestures into MIDI – it has three “dimensions” or axes that can be mapped to control basically anything. It’s mainly made for organic control of softsynths, but I use it to control effect sends in Ableton from the lead vocal channel out to different guitar pedal chains.
It allows me to “play” the vocal effects in real time (one hand on Touché, one hand tweaking the pedals), and it creates this very dynamic underlying effect-layer supporting and “following” the lead singer. I cannot recommend that thing enough. For our kind of music, it really adds something, and I think doing this live is pretty unique.

Also just generally running anything through guitar pedals. Pedals are awesome.

Artist or Band name?

Solo: Daniel Nayberg
Band: Meejah

Genre?

I always feel weird about putting genre labels on what I do, but probably ambient, electro, techno, and “weird stuff” would suffice.

Selfie?

Daniel Nayberg and electronic buddy

Where are you from?

I’m originally from Roskilde and still very involved in the music scene there, but I live in Copenhagen now.

How did you get into music?

I started playing electric guitar when I was 18, and quickly got fascinated by pedals. Pedals are a total gateway drug to synths, so here we are… A bit later I built and started a small underground venue and planned a few festivals with some friends, and someone had to take care of sound, so that ended up being me. Those years was a flaming crash course in live sound and mixing for me, but I learned a lot by trial and error this way! Nothing teaches you to mix quick like live sound. Sorry to those who suffered underway…

What still drives you to make music?

It’s simply a ton of fun. Moreover, what I’m really passionate about is creating physical and social platforms for young producers to learn about music tech, so we don’t all have YouTube and other online spaces as our only way of learning. It has a tendency to lead to a quick-fixy and superficial understanding of and approach to music creation, especially for beginners. This is why we host a lot of free community events/masterclasses/workshops at my studio. To bring people out of the bedroom studios, to meet others, and to have access to experimenting with pro facilities.

We are also working on (and have secured funding to) opening Denmark’s first inclusive electronic music/tech hub in central Roskilde with studios, venue, and educational facilities. You can read about it here:

https://www.inspsound.dk/kedelcentralen

How do you most often start a new track?

I typically sit in front of the modular with no plan whatsoever – or with an intention of trying to mimic someone’s style/sound or way of working.

How do you know when a track is finished?

I really don’t. What has worked the best for me so far is setting very specific boundaries or simple challenges for myself. For instance, I challenged myself to do one piece of music every week for half a year. It had to be released every Friday, so I set up a YouTube account to feel like I would let others down if I didn’t deliver. Some weeks were better than others, but I always finished something.

I also really subscribe to the idea that you should leave stuff you’re working on a few weeks and then return to it. If it’s still good, it’s probably pretty done. If not, you will often hear what it needs with fresh ears.

Show us your current studio

Blip Blop Studio

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

Try to maintain a playful approach to music making. Don’t do it because you have to, but also force yourself to at least try, even when the motivation isn’t really there, just for a short while.
Get off of YouTube and get going.

Also, creativity isn’t a “skill”. In my experience it has way more to do with creating the right framework, mindset and prerequisites (physical or otherwise) for you to thrive creatively and to make you WANT to do something. That can be hooking all the gear up, so that it’s ready to go, as much as setting rules for yourself on how/when to work.

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

My band Meejah released our debut album in 2021 and it got nominated for a Steppeulv (danish music critics award). I’m really proud of it:

https://meejah.bandcamp.com/album/queen-of-spring


Cntr Rndm – Christian Paga

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

I really like the TYPE knob on my NTS-1, because it lets you browse through all the FX programs and oscillators you have installed… and this is what makes the NTS-1 such a valuable synth/FX unit: you can customize the living daylight out of it!

Korg NTS-1

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

Ok, I really love the PO-128 Mega Man and it’s (almost) perfect in every way BUT it would be even more amazing if it had a backup function like the PO-33, the PO-32 or the PO-133! It’s so annoying when you have to delete a song or a pattern you were rather satisfied, with just because you want to make a new one.

PO-128 Mega Man

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

I have this thing called “the Krako” which is just a portmanteau word consisting of the German words “Krach” (noise) and “Koffer” (case). So it’s this super old hairdressing case I got off Ebay for a couple of bucks (way cheaper than an actual flight case) and it literally does what it says on the tin: it’s a case for little noise-makers, preferably pieces of gear that run on batteries or that don’t need batteries at all (like my crappy Kalimba). Usually, there are a bunch of pocket operators in there as well as my NTS-1, my Korg Volca Modular, my Korg Monotron Delay, and both my Koma Elektronik Field Kit and my Field Kit FX.

NTS-1, Korg Volca Modular, Korg Monotron Delay, Koma Elektronik Field Kit and Field Kit FX

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

What a great question! Erm, I would love to see a hardware version of Airwindows’ Galactic which is one of my favorite plugins at the moment. It’s this super amazing “I will turn anything into an ambient atmosphere” monster of a plugin – and the best thing is, it’s freeware! I can’t think of a vice-versa-example so here’s another piece of
software I wish was hardware: Valhalla’s Supermassive! I mean, seriously, isn’t Supermassive just the best Reverb-Delay plugin out there? But hey, basically all Valhalla plugins are amazing – what a great company!

Airwindows’ Galactic

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

Puh, nah, not really! I know this is super boring, but I tend to research a lot before I buy stuff – so I keep my bad-buy-level to a minimum.
However, I have kind of a difficult relationship with my Korg Volca Modular. It’s weird because on paper, we should be BFFs but in reality, meh…

Korg Volca Modular

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

That’s an easy one…pocket operators! I just love pocket operators – they have completely changed the way I approach producing music. Thanks to pocket operators, I can make music EVERYWHERE!

Pocket Operator Office

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

Three words: Ableton Live Suite!

Ableton Live shining brightly

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

Well, I’ll go with the PO-133, as it’s so much fun, that it’s annoyingly hard to put it aside!

PO-133

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

My buddy Pete Prodoehl (@raster on IG) taught me this super awesome Korg Monotron Delay latching trick, hack, whatever you want to call it. So, if you want to create a hands-free drone sound with this tiny dirtbag of a synth, all you have to do is put a nut on the ribbon keyboard and wrap a rubber band around it. This way, the Monotron plays a constant tone and you can tweak the sound with both hands.

Korg Monotron Delay

Artist or Band name?

Controlled Randomness aka CNTR RNDM aka CR aka Uncle CR.

Genre?

Erm…

Selfie?

Kind of…

Christian Paga aka. Cntr Rndm

Where are you from?

Essen, Germany.

How did you get into music?

When I was 14, me and my mates wanted to start a rap group. We had the lyrical skills (nah, we didn’t), we had the looks (nah, we didn’t), we were cool AF (hell no) – the only thing that was missing were beats! So I got a copy of Magix Music Maker and I made the most amazing beats ever created (no, I certainly didn’t).

I decided to become a professional musician after I won a couple of really big remix contests – including Daft Punk’s Technologic remix contest (back in 2005 I think) which was also the door opener to getting a major record deal in the mid-noughties. This was really exciting and all, I really enjoyed this for a while but after some time I realized that there were too many people around me that wanted to have a piece of the pie; who wanted to tell me what music to make, what gigs to play and what clothes to wear (seriously!!!). I didn’t make the music I wanted to make and ultimately I didn’t care about all of this and all of a sudden, making music wasn’t fun anymore! I had lost both the spirit and myself along the way.

After some time, I decided to quit making music for a while because I wasn’t feeling it anymore. Well, before I knew it, “a while” became 10 years and I only got back into making music when the first lockdown happened…and well, here I am, making music I really want to make; nowadays, after all these years, making music is fun again; and that’s why I strongly believe that music is all about experimenting, having fun, and community!

What still drives you to make music?

If I only knew 😂 but I guess I really love experimenting!

How do you most often start a new track?

It depends, really – if the song includes drums, I’ll probably start with the drums. If it’s an ambient piece, however, I’ll probably have a little piano jam, record it to tape, load it into Ableton and stretch the hell out of it 😁

How do you know when a track is finished?

Tracks are never finished – you just stop working on them 😂

Show us your current studio

I don’t have a studio anymore… just a “Krako” and a laptop 😎

“Krako”

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

Do what you love!

Ok, then I’ll shamelessly plug my Partygate PO-33 kit on YouTube… it’s this little jam at the intersection of music and journalism, as it reveals the true (like so true) story behind Boris Johnson’s Partygate scandal 😂