1. Favourite knob or fader or switch on a piece of gear and why?
I’ve recently bought a Sequential Circuits Prophet 6 for a new score I’m working on and it’s got this curious SLOP button in the middle. It adds randomised tuning stability to emulate the tuning instability of vintage analog oscillators. It brings a lovely degree of “wonkiness,” immediately makes sounds a little more curious and it’s fantastic when used in conjunction with the Pan Spread knob.
2. Do you have an ‘almost’ perfect bit of kit? What would you change?
I really like where my modular case is at the moment. It’s quite a simple configuration, but ticks a lot of boxes for me creatively. A lot of it is based around the new Moog Labyrinth semi modular and some make noise bits and I’ve got their four-zone bus case, which I love. It’s also great for live shows. I have a Doepfer spring reverb module and tank and I’ve been meaning to add a second one of these so that I might have a stereo reverb. The plan is to send the output from the Mimeophone into this new stereo spring reverb for strange sounding delays.
3. What setup do you bring on holiday or tour or commute etc.?
I travel to London a good bit to attend mix sessions for Film/TV and I’ll generally just go with my laptop, drives, dongles etc and my Universal Audio Apollo Twin X. It’s a really solid audio interface, runs my UAD plugins and the preamps are good for recording on the go if I need to.
4. What software do you wish was hardware and vice versa?
I’d really like it if the Universal Audio Console software had a dedicated hardware controller of some sort. Everything in my studio is connected directly into 2 Apollo x 8s so I’d buy that in a heartbeat!
The Overstayer Stereo Modular Channel gets a huge amount of use here. If there was a software version, that sounded as good (which I’d be dubious about tbh!) I’d have it on everything.
5. Is there anything you regret selling… or regret buying?
I had a Buchla Easel Command for a while and never warmed to it. I got a few bits out of it, but I never got really excited about playing it. And it was a nightmare to get that sequencer playing in tune. I guess that’s kinda the point of some of the Buchla stuff. After a while it was just sitting there so I replaced it with the Tip Top Audio/Buchla 258T oscillator for my modular rig (at about 1/10th of the cost of the Easel) and moved it on.
6. What gear has inspired you to produce the most music?
Of late, I’ve been finding the Soma Pulsar 23 drum machine hugely inspiring. It’s great for starting tracks as it tends to spit out patterns and sounds that I wouldn’t have naturally just dialled in – which is exactly what I’m looking for.
I love sending a voltage to the “MAD” pin on the FX section. This can give you a weird, circuit bent sounding version of your pattern which, when smashed through the Overstayer or a Culture Vulture, can be a very inspiring place to start a track.
I did this exact thing on my new single, Down Below (see below.)
7. If you had to start over, what would you get first?
Probably the Overstayer Modular Channel. I actually waited for mine for about 2 years so it would be a good idea to get the order in. This was during Covid and I’m sure they’ve sorted that out now.
8. What’s the most annoying piece of gear you have, that you just can’t live without?
I’m not sure if it is gear but probably Logic Audio.
I only use it for writing cues when I’m scoring Film/TV as it can send out time code to sync Pro Tools (which houses my video file[s,] dialog etc.)
I use Ableton a lot so when I switch to Logic, I just find it a bit clunky and unintuitive and there seems to be an endless amount of menu diving involved. Certain functions you’d expect to be able to perform easily and to be placed front and centre are a bit hidden away – which can be frustrating.
If Ableton had rock solid timecode functionality I’d be much happier there…
9. Most surprising tip or trick or technique that you’ve discovered about a bit of kit?
That’s a tough one! Of late, I think it’s using the “MAD” pin on the Pulsar 23 (described above.)
Artist or Band name?
Kormac
Genre?
I guess you’d call it Electronica. But there are frequently live players, and even orchestras involved 
Selfie
Where are you from?
I’m from Dublin, Ireland.
How did you get into music?
I started playing guitar and drums when I was 12. I was very influenced by rock, metal, grunge and Sonic Youth.
What still drives you to make music?
It’s been my job for a long time so, there’s that, but, honestly, if I won the lottery in the morning, I’d still come into the studio the following day. I’m never “finished” with music. I always have a list in my head of the next ten things I want to try and create. Must have been born this way…
How do you most often start a new track?
Ideally, I like to start a new track with a small melodic ostinato or choppy vocal sample that allows me to write chords, bassline and drums around. I’ll often get a small loop going in SLate + Ash’s Cycles software or on my Morphagene and use that as a means to “write around.” In fact, I often end up discarding these initial loops once I’m up and running. Sometimes they’re just the way to kick off the process.
If I’m writing for a picture, it’s completely dictated by what I see in front of me, what’s in the script and the broader idea for the score in general.
How do you know when a track is finished?
Ideally, I’ll have time to live with it for a while, play it at home, in the car etc. and I’ll make some notes about what needs fixing.
When I’ve made all those changes, it’s usually time to wrap it up.
Someone told me once, “you don’t finish projects, you abandon them” and there’s definitely a bit of that going on too.
Show us your current studio
Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?
Inspiration needs to find you working.
Promote your latest thing… Go ahead, throw us a link
Down Below (Feat. Katie Kim from OXN) is out on my Always The Sound label on July 18th.
https://found.ee/kormacdownbelow
