Kyle Runge – DJ Doughy

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

The volume knob for my computer. It’s usb based, has a semi-heavy aluminum knob to it. All it does is adjust volume, and it does it VERY well.

USB Volume Control

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

The KeyStep Pro from Arturia. Powerful sequencer, great for on the fly adjustment. Just wish it had more channels to expand it.

Arturia KeyStep Pro

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

I have been known to bring basically my whole studio sans computer (use a laptop instead for streaming). The past 3 years during a synthesizer conference called KnobCon based outside of Chicago, I have streamed a live set from my hotel room with a few people from the Golden Shrimp Guild (a Twitch.tv guild of synthesizer folk) hanging out and enjoying the tunes.

Golden Shrimp Guild stream

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

Software to Hardware? Massive from NI. Great bass and lead VTSi with easy automation.
Hardware to Software? I don’t think I have anything that ISN’T software now. However, wish there was a SID chip synth software that had the same warmth and sound as original hardware SID chips have.

Sammich SID

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

It’s rare that I sell anything. I almost sold my first synth I owned, a MicroKorg, to help pay for a MiniFreak, but forgot to. Thankful that I didn’t.

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

Again, with the KeyStep Pro. I’ve been producing music over 20 years now and for a few years things had really come to a halt. It was only these past few years have I been doing “live” music. It was suggested to me when I was just started getting into the modular/eurorack ecosystem. The KSP was super intuitive, I could hit the ground running with it, and it helped me take off on my live music streaming. A very close second would be the MiniFreak. It’s wide range of sound makes it an inspiration in itself.

KeyStep Pro and MiniFreak

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

Depends on where I start over at, there has been so many chapters of my ‘career’. Hardware-wise for performance, I would have loved to start out on a semi-modular synth if I was able to afford it.

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

A eurorack module called Temp_Utiles. Great clock divider/multiplier, deep features for syncing. But just a bit too menu-divey.

Temp_Utile

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

Making your own synth is a lot easier than you think. A bit of solder, some patience and a kit of parts, you can make synths at a fraction of the cost.

Synth DIY

Artist or Band name?

DJ Doughy

Genre?

Broad; ranging from electronic, hip hop, dub, and ambient.

Selfie?

Kyle Runge aka. dj_doughy

Where are you from?

Kansas City Area (Kansas side! hah!)

How did you get into music?

Been playing piano and violin since I was in early grade school. Electronically, finding a copy of Acid DJ 2.0 (linear DAW) back in 2001 for cheap and playing around with it till I got decent at it.

What still drives you to make music?

The friends I have made along the way whilst streaming my performances on Twitch.

How do you most often start a new track?

It’s rare that I sit down to do an actual track, but if the inspiration hits, I drop what I am doing and start it. Sometimes middle of the night!

How do you know when a track is finished?

Scope creep is real. I often have to put down a track for days or a week at a time. Come back and listen. If it sounds “complete”, or something that resembles a song “made for radio”, then I will call that a track!

Show us your current studio

Setup with greenscreen

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

Don’t be afraid to experiment. There are tons of great resources and artists out there to learn from.

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

hivemindsynthesis.com is a synthesizer co-venture I am apart of with a good friend of mine.
djdoughy.com is a good place to find anything new or extra about my work, with all my socials and music links


Wolfgang Merx – Mr. X

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

Moog Sub 25
Moog Sub 25

Look at this great filter cutoff frequency knob on the Moog Sub 25, one of my recent additions and mainly part of my setup for gigs. I guess the resulting filter sweeps when turning this knob are the most famous synth sound!

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

Moog Little Phatty Stage II
Moog Little Phatty Stage II

This Moog Little Phatty Stage II is the first synth I ever bought and still my go-to synth when simply wanting to play or starting a session. It’s almost perfect because of its sound and the stripped-down layout, but exactly this one-knob-for-all layout has one flaw: it results in “jumping” of the values when turning the knobs after selecting a different feature. For example, you set the cutoff first and then select the resonance, but the value will jump as you move the knob. As always with synths, it is better to try and hear it than to read about it.

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

Mobile Modular Euro Rack
Mobile Modular Rack

This is my Mobile Modular Rack which I use for gigs because it has many essential modules and offers five or six separate voices, depending on the patch (details are available here: https://modulargrid.net/e/racks/view/1933212). I use an Arturia Keystep Pro with this rack.

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

Arturia Minifreak
Arturia Minifreak

No idea. I rely on hardware, but I use Ableton for mixing. I still added a picture of my Arturia Minifreak because they added a VST along with the hardware synth. I think this is a very good idea of combining both worlds (despite the VST having its flaws).

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

No regrets! I take a lot of time before buying or selling anything. Planning my setup before buying anything is crucial to me.

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

Moog Little Phatty
Little Phatty

I must get back to the Little Phatty again. The classic Moog sound is what made me want to make music in the first place. Of course it is monophonic, but melodies which sound good on this synth will certainly have more to offer when you add more instruments and introduce polyphony and harmonies.

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

Nord Electro 5D
Nord Electro 5D

Despite loving synths, I would get a Nord keyboard like the Nord Electro 5D. It is the most versatile instrument in my setup and covers a lot of ground.

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

Behringer Model D
Behringer Model D

I had a Model D, the MiniMoog clone by Behringer, but it suffered from pitch drift in such a severe way that I couldn’t use it for performances anymore unless I wanted to tune every 30 minutes. This was a problem with the early runs of that model. It was long out of warranty, but to my surprise somebody bought it from me. Still, I bought another model because I need that sound in my setup. The pitch is stable so far.

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

Doepfer A-121-3
Doepfer A-121-3 in the thick of it

I don’t know whether this is a trick or not, but I like to combine multimode filters and two crossfaders to create a pseudo-stereo sound. The Doepfer A-121-3 multimode filter offers four filter types: low-pass, high-pass, band-pass and notch. You can pair them and send those outputs to the crossfaders. When the crossfaders and the filter module are modulated, you can create constantly evolving soundscapes with these few modules already. This works in a similar way with the Nonlinear Circuits Feague which is a filter module and a quadrature VCO. It has four outputs: two low-pass and two band-pass.


Artist or Band name?

Wolfgang Merx a.k.a. Mr. X.

Genre?

Berlin School, Kosmische Musik, Ambient, Synthwave and a bit of Funk.

Selfie?

Wolfgang Merx a.k.a. Mr. X

Where are you from?

Bedburg, Germany, close to Cologne and Düsseldorf.

How did you get into music?

I started listening to hard rock and prog rock when I was a teenager. The most important band that started my interest in synths and making music is Emerson Lake & Palmer. Hearing the sounds that Keith Emerson made with his famous and enormous Moog modular has been mind-blowing and very inspiring, even to this day. Klaus Schulze is my other major influence, along with Tangerine Dream which I discovered a few years later. Schulze’s spacy and dream-like music is amazing and shows what one person can do …with a lot of synths and keyboards. Tangerine Dream, being a band, expanded this idea in their unique way, adding a sense for fantastic group improvisations.

What still drives you to make music?

Listening to other people’s music and hearing sounds, for example in nature or in everyday life.

How do you most often start a new track?

Most of the time by either improvising a soundscape with pads or Mellotron sounds or by improvising a synth sequence.

How do you know when a track is finished?

I think that music is never finished if it is performed. But when I record music for a future release, I simply feel when the music calms down and a jam is coming to an end.

Show us your current studio

Mr. X’s studio setup

Mr. X’s studio setup

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

Miles Davis once said: “Don’t play the butter notes.”

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

This is my latest album „Time Stands Still”, available on most platforms and Bandcamp, of course: https://wolfgangmerx.bandcamp.com/album/time-stands-still


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]