Jim Wylde – Sp3ct3rs D3mos

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

Currently, the Pulse Generator switch on the Resonance Circuits – Empathy Generator. Can just flick it on, with rate at 0, then slowly raise the rate knob to get these beautiful rhythmic drifting shifts in sound.

Resonance Circuits – Empathy Generator

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

The Outerspace Sounds Mostro FM synth is an almost perfect piece of gear. I would add more flexibility in the onboard looper. Speed variations and reverse or randomization would be amazing. Would also make the patch save feature a bit easier to use. Finally, a dedicated on / off switch. Still, it stands heads above most other FM synth modules out there that I have tried and is a pleasure to use plus pulls amazing sounds. 

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

For the longest time it was the Microgranny, ipad, 3 pedals and the irig… Now if I go on holiday, I’m not sure what I will take. I feel like for exploration and just deep setting up of patterns and sounds for later play the Synthstrom Deluge may be just the ticket. Especially with the latest 4.0 update.

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

Software that I wish was hardware would be Borderlands. It’s a pretty spectacular app and I have had tons of fun with it since I first got it. Haven’t played with it for awhile as trying to cut down on screens while creating music. 

I don’t really use a lot of software and apps to be honest. I think Skot Wiedmann’s Hyve synth would make a pretty cool iPad app though. 

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

Regret’s a bit of a strong word for this, but I bought the Red Witch – Medusa because I love tremolo and although I kept it for maybe 3 years, I never really loved it although I tried. I learned a few things about what I want as opposed to what I bought. I think overall we, for those of us who are not just collect them all type folks, we learn what sounds we want to create and work with and when something isn’t the right fit, have no issue parting with it.

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

So far it has to be the Mostro Synth. A great little FM synth that had a quick run with a company Outer Space Sounds (they made about 50), then the company broke up. It has a great and simple workflow with greatly adjustable parameters. It’s stereo and has midi in and out and is polyphonic. It is pretty perfect for me.

Mostro Synth

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

I would get the small cello set up I have right now. NS Wav4 cello [EU], Voodoo Labs – Pedal Power 8 [US, EU], Aclam pedal board, Nux Optima Air, Jackson audio – Bloom, Screwed Circuitz Irvine’s Fuzz, drolo Stamme[n], DBE – Space Bender, Fairfield Circuitry Meet Maude [US, EU], and the Old Blood Noise Endeavors – Sunlight [US, EU]

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

The most annoying piece of gear is the Synthstrom Deluge. It is too damn deep to be honest. As a piano roll style sequencer, synth and sampler it is probably more versatile than tons of other gear out there. Like a swiss army knife of possibility. But the number of shortcuts, things you can change etc… is more than overwhelming for someone who doesn’t have tons of free time to learn it all, let alone the bare minimum of what is needed. Yet, when I need this tool, I grab it without hesitation along with the manual, plus the printed-out updates… so much reading… always.

Synthstrom Deluge

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

I have nothing to add here to be honest.


Artist or Band name?

Jim Wylde, sp3ct3rs, Soft Altars, The Dead Fairies

Genre?

Ambient, lofi-ambient, lofi-doom, ambient-noise, experimental, horror-scapes

Selfie?

Jim Wylde
Jim Wylde


Where are you from? 

Montreal Quebec, by way of Vancouver British Columbia

How did you get into music?

When I was in university, I got my first personal laptop since I was a kid. I was given a cracked copy of FL10 and started playing with samples and recordings I found online. It was a free thing I could do as I was broke most of the time, although it went nowhere. Years later I worked on an ep with a friend in Italy, and that got me going into my own solo work. 

What still drives you to make music?

I am driven by the need to create, to explore sound, to see what I can come up with usually using one sound source. I like to spend evening playing around until I find something I like, a small pattern, a set of loops interacting with each other or granular samples shifting over time… 

As I have been doing pedal demos for about 3 years now, a lot of my inspiration for further creation comes from setups that I put together for building my YouTube and IG videos as sp3ct3rs d3mos.

How do you most often start a new track?

I usually start with the idea of what sound I want, pick instrument and pedals, tweak out pedals until I get the right sound then, just explore

How do you know when a track is finished?

I am never really sure; I just reach a point where I need to leave it alone. 

Show us your current studio

Jim Wylde Studio

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

“It’s not the note you play that’s the wrong note – it’s the note you play afterwards that makes it right or wrong.”-Miles Davis

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

Well there’s tons of music and compilations here: Music | fallen lo- (bandcamp.com)

And all of my demos are here: https://www.youtube.com/c/sp3ct3rsd3mos


[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]


Hissquiet – Blissed Moods

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

Chase Bliss Mood

I’m always fascinated by the range of knobs that there are, but I think my favorite knobs are the ones on the Chase Bliss stuff, I currently have the Mood. They are just so smooth with the ideal amount of tension. They just feel sturdy a well made, like I’ll fade into an effect perfectly every time.

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

Bastl midi looper

I think probably my latest bit of kit, the Bastl midi looper, does almost exactly what I wanted it for, which is to more organically make sequences with midi and overdub CC parameters. It perfectly pairs with my hydrasynth which doesn’t have a sequencer, but I wish it recorded the polyphonic aftertouch of the hydrasynth pads on the initial record. Idk maybe it does and I just haven’t spent enough time tweaking the settings, but that would be really really nice. But other than that it’s brilliant.

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

Elektron Digitakt and iPad

I think my favorite things to bring, are my digitakt and/or my ipad. With a myvolts power cable, a portable charger and some samples, I could really make a whole album on the digitakt. Ipad also is very powerful and has so many music apps that I use in my recordings all the time. Some of my favorites are Spacecraft, Tardigrain and Fugue Machine.

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

Spacecraft app

I wish the Spacecraft app was a pedal or a feature of some groovebox. It’s this granular synth that you can record anything into and make beautifully textured ambient or noise soundscapes. You can get a wide range of sounds out of it. I seriously oftentimes don’t even bother with hi-fi samples and just use the ipad mic, because it just adds extra texture.

VCV rack

This one is kinda silly, but I wish VCV rack was hardware, like, it is hardware right? But the part of it that I want to bring into hardware is the low cost (haha) and also the ability to save patches and arrangements. Which I guess is the point of a modular synth, but still. I haven’t gone down the hardware modular synth rabbit hole yet, but I’ve been using VCV Rack as a way to learn exactly what I want from a system some day.

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

I regret selling my Digitone. It was a really great groovebox synth. I made a whole album on it, Sublunar Reverie, so I decided it was time to sell it and try something else out. Selling stuff is how I justify getting something new and making sure I actually really want the new thing. It went towards the Hydrasynth which I definitely don’t regret buying, but I just wish I had them both haha.

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

Hologram Electronics Microcosm

Hologram Microcosm for sure. I almost don’t want to bring it out when I’m working on something because I’ll spend hours tweaking the modes wondering if the next tweak might be even better than the last, but it all just sounds really great! I have a bit of a thing for granular gear can you tell?

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

I think learning a dynamic instrument like the clarinet was super important to the way I do music, even if I rarely bring it out now. Some folks have said that I have a sort of classical music dynamic going on with the kind of music I make and I probably agree with that. Second though, I’d probably get into synths rather than a guitar, maybe a groovebox like the Digitone or Digitakt if something like that had come out then.

Clarinet

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

Any piece of gear with cat hair on it, haha, no but for real though any connectivity stuff, cables, midi, bluetooth. I think I spend 1/3 my time reserved for making music just making sure things are connected correctly. My studio is not only used for music, but I do my freelance graphic design work there as well, so I can’t really have it all out and connected. In an ideal world things would just work ya know!? 

Cables of all colors

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

The random button on the Hydrasynth is wonderful. It will create a patch for you or you can tell it to scramble up a patch that you already have based on percentages. Sometimes the patches are too wild and I have a blast reeling them into something more palatable to use, but you can end up creating something that you wouldn’t have easily come up with any other way.

ASM Hydrasynth

Artist or Band name?

hissquiet

Genre?

Hmm… maybe ambient music that isn’t really background music? More dark ambient, drone or sometimes I like to get noisy and cinematic.

Selfie?

Ash Farrand aka. Hissquiet

Where are you from?

I grew up and live on the East Coast of the States currently, but I’ve been all over the States. The East Coast feels like home though.

How did you get into music?

I did the whole orchestra/marching band thing when I was younger, but more recently (5ish years ago) I got into music, because I found folks like Hainbach, Anne Annie, and Amulets back in the day when they were doing more “no talking” hardware jams and quickly got a DAW and a midi keyboard and the rest is history.

What still drives you to make music?

Music is my therapy, it allows me to express myself. I really enjoy getting lost in a moment while I’m improvising sound and everything else in the world kind of goes to the wayside for a few minutes. I do it for me first and if others happen to like it that’s a definite bonus.

How do you most often start a new track?

I can start with a sound that’s interesting to me which can kind of evolve into a certain mood all on its own or sometimes I already have a mood that I want to try to capture with a sound. From there I think about how adding effects or layers could elevate or evolve or contrast with what that mood. That’s usually how a track emerges; it’s very emotion-based.

How do you know when a track is finished?

There are 2 criteria for this. When it sounds perfect and there’s nothing I want to change about it or if it’s nearly perfect and I’m simply done working on it. Some might call that laziness, but I can be a bit of a perfectionist on some things so sometimes it’s just best to let go, nobody will notice.

Show us your current studio

Hissquiet studio
Hissquiet studio 2
Hissquiet studio 3

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

I had a rad guitar teacher that really introduced me to the idea that everything can be music. I remember he started riffing off of a fan that was making a rhythmic sound and it really opened my eyes to the possibilities of music.

Slot Drum

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

I’ve got some tapes available of my latest album Solastalgia with Mystery Circles: https://hissquiet.bandcamp.com/album/solastalgia

All the links are here on my website: https://hissquiet.com/


Chris Joye – Joy of Crisynther

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

Probably the Cutoff knob on my Moog Mother-32. I just love how dramatically it opens or closes the sound.

Moog Mother-32 Cutoff knob
Moog Mother-32

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

Pladask Elektrisk Tåken delay pedal.  I would put three together (a Triple Tåken?) similar to my TC Electronics Triple Flashback delay.

Pladask Elektrisk Tåken delay pedal
Pladask Elektrisk Tåken delay pedal

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

It depends where I’m going, but I usually end up bringing the wrong kit and then get an e-mail request to create something entirely different. I’ve been trying to bring my Zoom H4N to capture sounds or found instruments and usually a Teenage Engineering Pocket Operator or three.

Zoom H4N and a bunch of Pocket Operators
Zoom H4N and a bunch of Pocket Operators

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

My Omnichord OM-84 as a playable plug-in would be cool.  Conversely, putting the complete Soundtoys plug-in suite into a pedal would be amazing!

Omnichord OM-84
Omnichord OM-84

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

I sold an Ibanez Gary Willis signature 5-string fretless bass for a Fender Jazz copy and cry every time I remember.  I’m pretty careful what gear I buy now, generally, but there have definitely been a few pedals I questioned and re-sold rather quickly.

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

Probably a tie between my Warwick Infinity LTD 2000 bass and my Fender Telecaster.  

Warwick Infinity LTD 2000 bass and my Fender Telecaster
Warwick Infinity LTD 2000 bass and my Fender Telecaster

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

First, a sufficient room to compose and mix in… but that’s not gear, so maybe proper room treatments… ok, ok, a nice set of monitors.

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

The short guitar pedal connector cables that always seem to break or crackle.

Short cables

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

Maybe not a bit of kit, but in Apple Logic, the “Chase MIDI Note” option so that it triggers the MIDI note even if you start the playhead in the middle of the note.

Apple Logic Chase MIDI Note

Artist or Band name?

Chris Joye (but, I also created a handful of albums under the moniker Cue, and then also as Christopher Joye, before settling into my actual name)

Genre?

Typically a blend of indie rock with classical/soundtrack elements

Selfie?

Chris En-Joye-ing himself in his studio

Where are you from?

I live near Seattle, Washington.

How did you get into music?

My dad always played classical music on his big sound system and my mom listened to Oldies. I took piano lessons as a kid, but quit for sports until one of my brothers bought an electric guitar as a teenager and I decided to play it. Eventually, a friend convinced me to try out bass guitar and I was sold on that!

What still drives you to make music? 

The endless options of blending sounds and textures.  This can also be a hinderance, too, when you hit a creative block, but it still makes me come back to experiment more.

How do you most often start a new track?

Most of the music I create for myself, I’m still writing with the intention that it may be used in sync to video or a video game or some sort of storyful project later on.  So, I guess, I usually start with a concept, maybe it’s a mood, or a theme, or a character or something.  However, sometimes, I just mess around with sounds or chords and find an interesting combination.  

How do you know when a track is finished?

I’m always intrigued by how a simple melody or chord or texture turns into a full piece.  Something usually clicks at some point in the process where I feel like I’ve found the direction to take, I can never pinpoint it, but usually after the 4,000th time of playback, that I can generally feel when a song is done and ready to mix.  Sometimes, I’ll add another element or two and if it sounds too cluttered or muddy, then I know I’ve nearly reached this point.

Show us your current studio.

Here it is, more or less.

No Joye in Chris’ studio

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

One of my Film Scoring instructors at Berklee said something once that I always remember, “Just finish it and move on.”  That may not motivate some people, but it resonates with me!

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

I released my 14th album, “Reposition”, which is an album of spacious ambient tracks that I wrote thinking of dialogue- or emotionally-heavy film scenes that just need a slow-moving “mood” for a backdrop.  It’s available everywhere and here https://chrisjoye.bandcamp.com/album/reposition