Dominik Malue – Actias

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

Waldorf Iridium
Waldorf Iridium

For me, its definitely the two filters on the Waldorf Iridium (Cutoff & Resonance). When I first experienced the deeply psychedelic soundscapes of this device, I was astonished by how the entire atmosphere can be influenced by just two filters. It sucked me in and left me speechless.

Waldorf Iridium screen

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

Yes absolutely! In my opinion, the combination of Matrixbrute and Polybrute is a colorful audiovisual paradise for music researchers, audio pioneers and bassmonauts. Above all, the control via the mod matrix and the resulting learning effect – because you can easily see the modulation route for each preset visually on the matrix. No hidden 2nd or 3rd functions for each knob and fader. Everything can be controlled in the most direct way.

Matrixbrute and PolyBrute

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

Korg KP2

The two jam veterans from Korg (Kaoss and Kaossilator) are just as practical in their size as they are fun to experiment with. Samples and automation can be recorded on 4 tracks each. Operation is shockingly simple and the library of sounds and effects is gigantic. Especially if you have a small budget, but just want to get some experience in sampling, that would be my first choice. The control runs via touchpad and can even be used by people having issues with rhythm or less musical people.

Korg Kaoss

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

There is the synthesizer VST from Serum, which I mainly use for my psychedelic leads and basslines in my tracks when i leave the hardware behind. Let’s see what surprises this year’s Superbooth 23 has in store. Maybe one day they create a controller on which you can load a software synth and then DAWless you are able to access this synth. 

Serum VST

As a second plugin I would love a hardware version of the Arturia Efx Fragment. Rarely have I seen such a fascinating tool that allows you to experimentally construct complete rhythmic percussions, drones and ambiences from noises and foileys.

 Arturia Efx Fragment
Arturia Efx Fragment

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

In fact, over the past few years I’ve swapped my setup and adapted it to my workflow so often that I no longer own a superfluous part or am missing a device that I absolutely want to have. Let’s see if the upcoming synthesizer fair in Berlin will change that. Maybe my Vochlea Voice to midi Microphone. I have not used it once. Sad truth.

Vochlea Voice to midi Microphone

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

One of my first studio devices was the Roland MX-1 mixer, which really motivated me to fill every channel with sound. The possibilities that this mixer has in its luggage never ceases to amaze me. It’s also a fabulous interface for Ableton and does everything I want in a device like this. Endless effect combinations with step sequencer and built-in sidechain. Furthermore, you can easily route each channel digitally instead of analog and fill and control it via Ableton.

Roland MX-1 mixer
Roland MX-1 mixer

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

It depends on whether I want to focus on pure track production first or live jamming. For the former: Nowadays, the first thing I would definitely do is get a good laptop or desktop PC and basic software with the most important VSTs and free sample collections. On the other hand, if I wanted to establish myself in the synthesizer profession, I would probably do the same thing as I did back then – get a small collection of Korg Volcas to set the foundations for understanding synthesis. 

Korg Volcas
A tower of Korg Volcas

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

I’m already annoyed when I hear the word ‘midi’. Therefore it is my midi routing. I upgraded my setup last year with the Erica Synths midi thrubox. Since then I wasted less nerves on unsynced synthesizers.

Erica Synths midi thrubox
Erica Synths midi thrubox

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

Not really a trick but I truly fell in love with my Arturia Polybrute‘s morphee. Beautiful sounds can be created and morphed using this 3D touch knob. It’s incredibly playful and fun to use.

Arturia Polybrute's morphee
Arturia Polybrute’s morphee


Artist or Band name?

Actias

Genre?

psychedelic house / slow psytrance

Selfie?

Dominik Malue - Actias
Dominik Malue – Actias

Where are you from?

Berlin, GER

How did you get into music?

By two very close friends from my Hometown. They took me to DJ nights with them in their basement studio.

What still drives you to make music?

Creativity, weirdness and curiosity

Creativity, weirdness and curiosity
Creativity, weirdness and curiosity… and a little bit of magic

How do you most often start a new track?

Each track has its own reason of arisement and as well its different story. Mostly, i feel an impulse out of a sudden and then i have to create. 

How do you know when a track is finished?

There is always a point, when I can’t listen to the track anymore. When this happens, I stop working on it at least a week and then listen again. If I don’t want to change anything, it stays like that and soon will be mastered. 

Show us your current studio

Dominik Malue - Actias studio
Dominik Malue – Actias studio
Dominik Malue - Actias studio
Dominik Malue – Actias studio
Dominik Malue - Actias studio
Dominik Malue – Actias studio

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

– create music with your ears not your brain –

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

Here are 3 links:

My latest album: Orbital Ceremony

One of my singles from 2022: Amethyst

My Instagram profile for all the hardware stuff:

https://www.instagram.com/actias_music


[Editor: There are affiliate links to the relevant gear throughout the articles. It helps to support this blog. In fact, should you be needing some patch cables or guitar strings. Then clicking on one of the above links and buying any product that you prefer, will help the blog… doesn’t even have to be the ones in the link. Thx]


Dean Fuller – The Washington Monument Amb

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

The RANDOMISE button on the Korg Opsix
The RANDOMISE button on the Korg Opsix

You want a gateway to all possible multiverses of music? The RANDOMISE button on the Korg Opsix will take you there. 

Maybe you just want to go to the universe next door. Korg has got you covered: You can set the level of randomisation, giving you everywhere from the tiniest variation on your current sound too.

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

Chase Bliss Dark World

Chase Bliss Dark World. It’s an ugly/beautiful reverb that makes anything sound cool. But … I want it in stereo. 
DARK on the left. WORLD on the right. Let ‘em twist and twirl together. Let them have babies with two heads and two dark hearts . I digress… 

PS. An adjustable loop length on the Chase Bliss Habit would be dope too… 

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

If I need to be agile/mobile/hostile I stick with this: Korg Volca Keys paired with a Zoom G1 Four. The Keys was my first synth, and it was cheap. The Zoom has pretty much every standard effect under the sun – and a 30 second looper. I’ve recently added the Arturia Keystep as a keyboard, because the patented Volca keyboard is a flaming trash heap.

Korg Volca Keys paired with a Zoom G1 Four and Arturia Keystep

Give it another couple of weeks and it might be the Volca FM2 instead though…

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

If Puremagnetik’s Driftmaker delay was a pedal I’d pay a ridiculous amount of money for it without a second thought. It adds such a gritty, messed up ambience to whatever it touches. Blankfor.ms had a hand in it, so you know the lofi is legit.

Puremagnetik’s Driftmaker
Puremagnetik’s Driftmaker

I don’t wish any of my hardware was a software plugin* This is not to say that I’m dismissing the digital side of music making in any way, shape or form. Plenty of great artists use it to great effect.  
I don’t use these tools because I just don’t have much time to play music.  

Booting up a computer, opening up Ableton, selecting one of an infinite array of software synths, worrying about CPU usage or RAM – all of this takes time and energy to deal with. I ain’t in a headspace (or a techspace) where I can do any of that quickly or efficiently currently. 

My hardware setup can go from POWER OFF to ready to play in about 10 seconds. Maybe a minute if I’ve got some super crazy stereo stuff I want to dial in.

 If I had a small, always on computer with enormous processing power next to my synth setup, then I’d definitely be integrating more.  

*although I am intrigued by plugins that work in tandem with my hardware pedals. When I have world enough, and time, I’ll be doing some weird n’ wild stuff with the Chase Bliss Plugin for Gen Loss 2 , as well as a user created plugin for HABIT…
 

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

Moog Mavis

Moog Mavis is the perennial underdog of my setup. Don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful as a single module in a larger modular setup. Oora Music gets a ton of mileage out of it as part of his suitcase of modules. On its own… you don’t have much to work with and I’m not fully ready to commit to it.
In retrospect, I wish I’d saved an extra couple of weeks and grabbed a Make Noise Strega instead. Alas, currently Mavis is a humble lowpass filter for my drum machine.  

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

I refuse to read the manual for Matt Bradshaw’s Drumkid because I wanna believe that it has a mind of its own. Sure, it’s supremely limited, but everything it does it nails. I randomise a drum pattern, and now I have a drummer that will flick in a little something extra from time to time. It’s a true collaborator – spitting its endless rhythmic ideas my way to play off. I need a good collaborator with an excellent brain to get my fingers working.  Drumkid is both.

Drumkid

Heck, a lot of the time I mute the drum channel – all I need is the groove that the Drumkid thoughtfully provides. 

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

I started off many a year ago with just a Korg Volca Keys and nothing else for like 5 years. Please note that the Keys sounds like a squealing pig until you grease it with heavy reverb. 

Korg Volca Keys

Can you blame me? I was seduced by that wonderful word: ANALOG.

Now I just want a usable sound that I can dial in quickly. 

If I could turn back time I’d grab a Volca FM instead and have every DX7 preset ever made loaded onto it. Who needs to properly learn FM synthesis if you’ve got some great presets, right? 

Also I’d get a MIDI keyboard for the thing because no-one deserves to be punished with the standard Volca ribbon keyboard. 

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

Chase Bliss Mood

I love the Chase Bliss Mood. I still don’t know what I’m doing with it half the time. I just did a session where it seemed like all the settings were reversed and maybe the thing is trying to gaslight me. I dunno man… 

But when it hits, it breaks through the fabric of reality. Even that basic reverb sounds so weird and warped and wonderful. To say nothing of its DELAY or SLIP modes. 

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

Chase Bliss Habit

Treat it right and Chase Bliss Habit can be a mono synth.
Firstly you need: 
⦁ A constant(ish) sound source/tone. 
⦁ Chase Bliss Habit.

Here’s how you do it: 

⦁ Set the MODIFY switches to A1. You are now in pitch delay mood. Twisting between 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock will pitch your echoes down. Twisting it further either side will pitch your echoes up to the heavens.  
⦁ Set the DRY KILL dipswitch up to ON. Now you have no dry signal. This is very important. 
⦁ Set SIZE and SPREAD to minimum. 
⦁ Set LEVEL to maximum. 
⦁ Run your signal through HABIT. 
⦁ I like dragging my input cable over a surface for extra loftiness. Radio static is also cool.  
⦁ Twist the MODIFY knob to get your note of choice. 


Artist or Band name? 

the_washington_monument_amb 

the_washington_monument_amb

… in retrospect, this name makes me incredibly difficult to search google for. But hey, it’s mine now. 

Genre? 

Lo-fi ambient. Lofi is a fine way to hide my (currently) novice playing skills. 

The Fauna of Lo-fi ambient

Selfie? 

[immediately before an exorcism] 

Dean Fuller
Dean Fuller

Where are you from? 

The land I live on was called Boorloo before colonisation. Nowadays it’s called Perth.

Perth

How did you get into music?

My parents played me stuff that blew my mind*. My sister played me stuff that blew my mind. My friends played me stuff that blew my mind. I feel obliged to return the favour. 

*specifically, in no particular order: Elton John. Frank Zappa. Queens of the Stone Age. King Crimson. Heather Nova. Foo Fighters. South Park: Chef Aid. The Goon Show. Tom Waits. Goreki. Massive Attack. Godspeed You! Black Emperor. David Holmes. After Dinner.

What still drives you to make music? 

Vanity. I like that people like my work. Shouting into the silent abyss can get dispiriting.  

Progress. Seeing improvement today over yesterday and the day before is awfully gratifying.

Meditation. It’s been a strange few months. I’ve been keeping too much in my mind. The act of creation wipes things away, if only briefly…

How do you most often start a new track? 

Korg Opsix
Korg Opsix

I’ll hear something on my way to work from tybo_ambientsky or shimmery.mp3 or kaicarsonwest do something cool with a piece of gear that I have. I’ll spend the day consumed by the thought. I crib the settings in the margins of my workbook. I imagine all the ways that I can take this and break it and then go ham with distortion and layers until I have an ungainly tower of grain and fuzz. Then I go do it.

How do you know when a track is finished? 

When my darling tells me to go to bed. 

Bedtime

Show us your current studio

Desktop setup

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

Create incessantly and with intention. Be like Prince – record all the damn time, release only the gems. And release gems all the darn time. You are an iceberg; you are a vault. The little that the public sees is supported by the vast volume of work that you toiled on out of sight. Constant introspection and evaluation will make your work better. But only if you make your work.

All but shadows and lights

I’m paraphrasing Father Bronques here. His advice took me from an unemployed student to a photographer charging $200 an hour in the space of a year. 

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

I have a YouTube that would love a few more followers. Feeling like long, long lofi ambient pieces to sleep to? Do you need to hear tape loops looping forever? This is the place to go.

Spaceman explorering the synthverse

Also @royriverswhite is a good mate of mine doing fabulous art on an early 1980’s Apple MacIntosh. We’re gonna be doing something weird. Together. Soon.


[Editor: There are affiliate links to the relevant gear throughout the articles. It helps to support this blog. In fact, should you be needing some patch cables or guitar strings. Then clicking on one of the above links and buying any product that you prefer, will help the blog… doesn’t even have to be the ones in the link. Thx]


Midlife Synthesist – Crisis & Confessynth

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

Octatrack scene fader

My absolute favorite is the Octatrack scene fader. It ́s the heart and soul of the performance aspect of the machine. What’s mind blowing is how sensitive it is, how smooth the transitions are between the scenes and how it can really take a lot of punishment when in the heat of the moment and (after about 5 years of owning one) it ́s never given me any issues. It ́s just one of a kind to me.

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

Arturia Polybrute

The Polybrute is pretty much my idea of a perfect synth. Absolutely stunning sound combined with one of the most user friendly interfaces out there that make for easy sound design as well as innovative performance controls. The only thing I wish it had was a stereo audio input for processing external audio through it ́s filters and audio fx. Aside from that, being able to expand it ́s voice count like on the Sequential Rev2 would be awesome.

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

Dirtywave M8 Tracker

I always sneak in a little musical mischief into my everyday backpack. The OP-1 and M8 practically live in there and there’s always a third piece that rotates. Sometimes it is the Polyend Play, others the Octatrack. Nothing too big. Lately I ́ve been experimenting with a more hybrid setup and my Macbook with the Erae Touch have found their way into portable setup quite nicely.

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

 I wish there was a hardware version of Arturia Pigments. It ́s just such a beautiful sounding synth with so much depth to it. I can’t even imagine what it would look like in hardware form though lol. I’d imagine something huge, with loads of buttons and a massive screen like on the Waldorf Iridium.

Chase Bliss Blooper and Habit with Make Noise 0-Coast

As for hardware that I wish was software, pretty much all of my FX pedals. In particular, it would be a dream to have multiple instances of the Chase Bliss Habit pedal to mess around with in VST format, though I have to admit that half the appeal is the looks and feel of the knobs on that thing.

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

Ouch, this hit home haha. My biggest regret is selling the Synthstrom Deluge. I sold it a few months back because even though I loved it, I was pretty sure a version 2.0 was bound to show up in 2023. Probably with an updated screen. Well, I was right about the screen haha. However, I was wrong in assuming that all companies are out to get your money. Turns out Synthstrom did come up with a new screen, but it is compatible with the original Deluge, so you can send your unit to them and they will fit in the new screen for a small fee. Mindblowing.
Anyway, now I just have to hope I can grab a new one in 2023. As for gear I regret buying, I don’t really regret buying anything, especially since I’m constantly flipping my setup and selling off the gear that I don’t use. Everything I ́ve experimented on has given me some new insight into sound design or music. Though I don’t gel with everything or even understand everything I buy, I try to learn as much as I can and if it just doesn’t click after a considerable amount of effort, I sell it. I think of my gear addiction as more of a “catch and release” thing than hanging on to everything I ever buy. The world is full of amazing things to try out, so why not let go of the things you don’t need and keep moving forward?

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

Ironically, I think I ́ve made most of my music on a wooden guitar and a piano haha. As for gear that changed the way I make music and really got me doing new things, there are four that come to mind. First is the OP-1. Sounds great, doesn’t give you overwhelming options so you can really focus on writing music and you can take it anywhere with you. Also the tape recorder forces you to make very deliberate choices when editing, and I found that limitation helped me avoid getting stuck in unimportant details that I can waste hours on in a DAW. Second, the M8. Just as with the OP-1, it ́s portable and battery powered, which means you get a ton of more access and play time on a day to day basis. A huge plus is that you can use it standing up like a gameboy and don’t need to set it up on a surface (say hi to subway beatmaking). Absolutely different feel and experience than the OP-1. Sounds absolutely amazing, the FX are out of this world and it gives you surgical precision to make your melodies and sounds as intricate as you want them to be. It ́s workflow is very particular and it makes using it a bit more cerebral, which I appreciate because it has made me produce music I would have never thought of if I was just playing stuff on keys or pads. Third place, the Octatrack. To me it is the quintessential performance sampler. The way you can mangle and slice and morph your sounds is inspired, and it was the first machine that really made me want to use my FX as part of songwriting and performance and not just set and forget like in traditional guitar pedal boards.

Moog Subsequent 37

Finally, the Subsequent 37. It is to this day one of my favorite synths, just because the sound alone is enough to bring the house down. Whether it’s leads or bass, it cuts through a mix like a hot knife through butter. It has inspired me to let loose with improvisation, not only musically, but to use sound design as part of the performance, tweaking the patch as a play for great effect.

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

If I was just starting, I think I ́d pick a lane and try to get really good at it. Doesn’t matter what piece of gear or instrument, but really double down on getting as good as I can before moving on

Roland Fantom 6

 to something new. If I could only keep one thing, it would probably be either my Roland Fantom 6 or the OP-1, just because both of them have everything I need to make music till the cows come home and have a blast while doing so.

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

Octatrack MKii

Once again, the Octatrack. Most of the time it ́s awesome to make music and party with it, except when you need it to do something more speciific that you know it can do, but you either don’t know or can’t remember how to get it to do the thing. Then it’s either diving into the incomprehensible elektron manual or even worse, having to go online and search for the answer among thousands of forums posts with similar questions and ever more solutions. As I said, it ́s one of my favorite devices, but when you hit a wall, it can be really frustrating. (Big Shoutout to Synthdawg for making user friendly Octatrack Manual that’s actually fun to read!)

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

I recently learned how to use the Vocoder on my Roland Fantom 6. I’m still learning but playing around with the frequency response and trying out different synths with it has been an absolute joy. To be honest I didn’t even know it had a Vocoder when I bought it, so it has been a very pleasant “bonus”.


Artist or Band name?

Midlife Synthesist

Genre?

I really wish I knew, I suck at classifying music. Somewhere along the lines of Depeche Mode and Pearl Jam if I had to guess.

Selfie?

Midlife Synthesist

 Where are you from?

I was born in Chile, grew up living in the USA, Brazil, Lebanon, South Korea and now I live in Chile again.

How did you get into music?

My older brother had an acoustic guitar and he would often play songs to me. As soon as I could wrap my fingers around the neck (of the guitar btw, I didn’t strangle my brother) I started noodling and never stopped.

What still drives you to make music?

I ́m a very anxious person and music is the closest thing to meditating that I can manage to do. When I let myself really sink into the music, my mind goes blank and I’m not worrying about the future, global warming, ChatGPT becoming Skynet etc. I make music to relax and calm myself down.

How do you most often start a new track?

I try to vary as much as I can, cause I tend get stuck in ruts quite easily. My most common way to start a track is noodling with a chord progression and singing a melody and then I just start adding on to it. I try to change it up by starting with a bassline or drums every so often.

How do you know when a track is finished?

A famous filmmaker once said “A movie is never finished, only abandoned”. I feel the same way about music. You can always add something else, put a little more work in. That doesn’t mean you always should. I used to spend months fussing over a track, and then I realized that when the idea or emotion you where trying to transmit is there, it ́s enough. All the rest is optional. I ́d rather spend my time experimenting with a new track than worrying about my hi hats not being properly compressed.

Show us your current studio

Midlife Synthesist studio

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

“All art is derivative. If you think it ́s original, it ́s only because you don’t know the references”. I think I spent way too much time trying to be “unique” or “original” in my music, when in reality, everything you make is a mixture of the things you’ve heard and seen through the course of your life that have left an impact. I ́m not saying you can’t make something new or exciting, but your creations will always have influences, references of things that have moved you in the past. And I find that quite liberating because I used to get really stressed when someone would say things like “hey, your song sounds like this other song”.
I would take it as a sign that I was not being original enough, when really it was just my influences shining through in a piece of music that was completely mine. After all, there are only 12 notes. Whatever you make now is most likely going to sound a little similar to something someone else out there has already written in the last couple of hundred years, and that’s fine. Just stay true to yourself and your particular blend of music. That’s as original as you need to be.

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

I ́m just trying to figure out this whole digital artist thing and it ́s been a hell of a ride. Though I have a few “traditional” tracks under the name the Midlife Synthesist on Spotify, I have much more music and fun jams on my Youtube channel. I also have a Patreon community with the nicest people you’ve ever seen on a discord server, huge shout out to them for their friendship and support.


[Editor: There are affiliate links to the relevant gear throughout the articles. It helps to support this blog. In fact, should you be needing some patch cables or guitar strings. Then clicking on one of the above links and buying any product that you prefer, will help the blog… doesn’t even have to be the ones in the link. Thx]