eurorack Archives - Page 22 of 28

Morten Wagner – PopGoblin

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

I think its the ON switch of my power-distribution rack… It’s distributing the power to my whole studio, eurorack gear, outboard, speakers, and keyboards. When I switch that on, the air in the studio is ripe with possibility and promise. Sometimes, all the options are too much and I dive into crazy module-housekeeping, firmware updating, or somehow just bounce icons around on my computer desktop, and after a few hours, I have to switch off the system with nothing to show for it. Other times, I’ve managed to explore sonic avenues and great musical adventures – which, mostly, I just keep to myself and stash away on some hard drive…

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

What would you change?I know it is a boring answer – but it’s my laptop… (which is also, funny enough, maybe the most horrible piece of kit). It’s the central control hub in my studio – and it would be immensely more challenging to record, learn about, integrate all the other stuff in the studio without it. I grew up in “the dark ages” and spend an awful amount of time on tape decks, 4-tracks, etc. – and had to save up to go to a studio to record something, often at bad hours and under strict time constraints. The laptop solves all that. On the other hand, though, it removes a lot of the more tangible and analog parts of music-making; it always needs some update and seems to get slow and chunky after just a few years. And it’s a constant fight to keep it from distracting you from where you wanna go… (Yeah, so, with great power comes great responsibility – and the problem with computers, is they take no responsibility – you have to do that yourself ;o) ). If I could change anything, I think it ought to be much easier (or in Apple’s case, simply **possible**) to update processors, memory, and disk drives on laptops.

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

I’ve brought my OP-1 and Deluge a couple of times – both devices really great all-round sound and composition machines. I’ve recently traded my Deluge for an AKAI Force though, because I kept forgetting and had to relearn the interface for the Deluge. Also, I always bring some small recording gear (recently a Zoom HN6 or at least good external smartphone microphone like the SHURE MV88) traveling or commuting. If nothing else, I always bring home some “ambient” field recordings if I’ve been traveling to new places. Often, recordings like that, seem to come in handy…

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

I would love for the ORCA live-coding environment to be available in a eurorack module. It’s running on the Monome NORNS, which is pretty close, but to me, it seems a eurorack version would be perfect. The other way around; I use simple Max for Live LFO’s a lot to map out to different parameters in Ableton. It would be great to have a Mutable Instruments “Marbles” available in Ableton also…

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

Back in the day – maybe mid 90’ies – I bought a German soundcard (i forget the name) for my windows-based rig. It was pretty expensive for me at the time – and I think I spend years getting it to work properly and wasted a lot of precious time and creative energy on it. So, I think I mostly regret NOT selling enough gear…

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

It might be my Squarp Pyramid sequencer and Eurorack combination. It’s limited enough, that I don’t get overwhelmed by choices like sometimes in computer-based DAW’s – but it’s also advanced enough to inspire and get deep into.

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

I would switch to Mac WAY sooner.

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

It’s my Eurorack setup. It’s a time-wasting, out-of-tune, where-is-that-noise-coming-from gigantic energy-suck of a brilliant magical sound and inspirational theme park of creativity…

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

I’m diving into different live-coding environments – mostly for straight fun and not “serious composition” – but find it very inspiring. Orca is a great source of inspiration – and I recently discovered the visuals-tool “Hydra”, which is a great and accessible tool for visualization.

Artist or Band name?

The last few years, I’ve been using the alias PopGoblin.

Genre?

I have no idea. Pop-minimal-electro-chill?

Selfie?

Where are you from?

Copenhagen. Denmark.

How did you get into music?

I’ve been into music since childhood – playing around with tape-recorders, pianos, etc.

What still drives you to make music?

I don’t know why – making music is just something that is an integral part of me. I’m very much into how making music can throw me into flow-states and how pieces of music and sounds from way back, immediately brings back memories and even feelings across time. Music is a great storyteller and a time machine in that way.

How do you most often start a new track?

I fiddle around with gear. Record stuff. Throw it away. Pick it back up. Procrastinate. Sometimes, all of a sudden, something is taking shape, and I follow where it leads.

How do you know when a track is finished?

A track is never finished – just either abandoned or “put aside” to maybe evolve on its own…

Show us your current studio

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

Austin Kleon’s series of books, starting with Steal Like an Artist, is great. They contain a lot of great advice!

Promote your latest thing… Go ahead, throw us link

soundcloud.com/popgoblin popgoblin.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…]

Per Barfot – Last Norwegian Viking

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

I love the joystick on the Elektron Analog Keys (Freudian interpretation anyone?). It’s made of plastic but has the right feel in terms of resistance. And controlling different parameters with the tip of your finger is simply so much fun. And while we’re on the Analog Keys, the sound selection wheel isn’t too bad either. Sure, it is also plastic and a bit wobbly, but it’s big, and most importantly, it gives audible click-feedback when turned. Satisfying.

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

That would be any instrument/module/effect before I buy them. Actually owning and creating music is often a struggle, even though it can be an enjoyable struggle. But some pieces of gear make the struggle easier. I’m talking about gear I can co-create with to produce an environment of happy accidents. Lately I’ve been moving away from precise and controlled sequencers like those in Elektron machines, and towards a more intuitive approach with modular and Monome equipment. And I’m in love with Grid as a sequencer. But, actually, the first one that comes to mind when I think “perfect” is Chase Bliss Thermae. Pair it with anything and it will be an “almost perfect bit of kit”. It’s a magic little box (well, it’s actually an analog pitch shift delay with just the right ratio of control vs surprise). As long as you let it be in control, giving it enough room to express itself freely, the result will often be mind blowing.

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

I’ve changed up my equipment a lot lately, so if I’d go now (well, when the pandemic is over) it’ll probably be Monome Norns with Grid and maybe a tiny modular system. But last time I brought an instrument on vacation was when I took the Analog Keys on a bus trip to a friend in Norway. Let’s just say I won’t do that again (bringing the Keys on vacation that is, Norway is the best).

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

Soft > hard: I have a 2hp Pluck that emulates a string instrument, which I use a lot. But I don’t know of a module that emulates a piano. Sometimes I can make the Mannequins Mangrove sound a bit like one (well…), but how cool wouldn’t it be if Felt Instruments released their pluggin Lekko in eurorack format?!

Hard > soft: I love the way tape color sounds (mostly), but actually working with tape can be annoying. The recorders are old and sometimes malfunctioning, the tape loops break, and hiss can be too loud or too harsh. I’ve tried a number of pretty good tape emulation plugins out there, but it’s not the same as real tape. And maybe will never be?

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

Half a year ago I sold a modified Marantz CP430 (it had a double speed switch). At that time I was tired of tape, and of recorders breaking down. I had bought three Marantz recorders within a pretty short time, but ended up selling two of them. I regret I didn’t sell the unmodified one instead.

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

A couple of months ago I got the Monome Grid. Using it with Ansible running Kria is probably the closest I’ve come to “effortless” sequencing (well, learning Kria was a bit of a hassle). I love how it allows me to discover happy accidents within a framework of control.

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

I started my synth journey with the Analog Keys. I had it for more than two years without any other pedal or additional synth. And I found that to be liberating. Now as I’ve gathered more and more gear I do feel more stress, and maybe a bit of shame, that I’m not using each piece at it’s full potential. So I’m happy I began my journey as I did.

But I could also see myself staring over with Norns, Grid and a tiny eurorack system based around Crow and a couple of Mannequins modules.

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

It could be a number of different answers. I don’t use the Analog Keys so much anymore since getting into modular. It’s a big synth with a small screen. And it doesn’t inspire me very much at the moment. But it can do almost anything. It even has 4 configurable CV outputs for gates, pitches, lfos, envelopes, and even a CV sequencer. And sometimes it’s just feels nice to play on actual keys.

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

It’s been mentioned before, but I’d have to say live-processing anything into a tape loop on my Marantz CP430. It makes almost any sound 100% better, objectively speaking. I’m normally running the sound from my case through the recorder and then back into the case again for delay/reverb processing. I imagine some of the harsher aspects of tape will disappear that way, but I could be mistaken.

Bonus technique: using randomised arpeggios and conditional trigs on the Analog Keys to create unpredictability, and thus turning it into a happy accident machine.