Jérôme Vergez – Minimanalog

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

SSL Console Faders
SSL G serie console faders

My favourite fader is the motorized fader of the first SSL I touched. I wasn’t 20 years old when I had the chance to work as a sound assistant on a SSL G serie console… I’ve always had this fascination for analog consoles, especially SSLs. But I also love fiddling with the Cutoff of my Moog!

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

Verbos modules are almost perfect except their price… They are so perfect when they are combined all together.

Verbos Electronics Eurorack
Verbos Electronics Eurorack

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

I don’t really have a fixed setup. I like to change following desires or projects. On holiday, I usually only bring one machine, like a synth, a mini modular or a drum machine.

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

Nothing in particular. The software and hardware offerings are so wide.

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

I am constantly buying and selling… I have even sold and bought back up to 3 or 4 times the same machine… I really have to stop doing this. Today I’m trying to stabilize my setup by keeping only the essential parts.

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

The eurorack modular modules are the most inspiring instruments for me. There are so many possibilities that you can build the instrument you want according to your style and your objectives. I can’t stand the idea of empty spaces in my case. I try to stay on a certain size of case with modules that I like to exploit at 100%.

Eurorack modules

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

Starting over would mean buying a powerful MacBook with Ableton Live as you can produce whatever you want on a laptop. And since I need a knob box and real cables to be inspired… I would buy a Moog Sirin.

Moog Sirin
Moog Sirin

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

My Synthi A. This is by far the most inspiring. It is known for being a synth of research and experimentation, but used in a more classical way it produces sounds with extremely rich harmonics. Before realizing my dream and acquiring one in good condition, I think I had all the clones, copies, or modules inspired by this synth.

EMS Synthi A
EMS Synthi A

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

When I discovered that you could use a spring reverb like a drum machine, simply by turning off the power and plugging it back in.

Knas Ekdahl Moisturizer
Knas Ekdahl Moisturizer

Artist or Band name?

Jérôme Vergez

Genre?

Ambient, Minimal, Techno, EBM

Selfie?

Jérôme Vergez

Where are you from?

Toulouse, France.

How did you get into music?

When I was 18, I got my hands on a Roland S50 sampler, and it was already too late, I was infected.

What still drives you to make music?

I’m always looking for something. A quest that still doesn’t seem to me to be finished, a work that is never finished. That’s why I always have trouble finishing my titles. I have to focus on one task at a time, and move forward step by step, preventing myself from referencing the things from the previous stages.

How do you most often start a new track?

I don’t have any rules. It can be a sample, a patch on my modular, a bass line, an idea that’s lying around… etc.

How do you know when a track is finished?

Never! That’s the problem (see above…)

Show us your current studio

Jeromes Studio
Jeromes Studio
Jeromes Analog Synth Rack

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

To not necessarily try to respect the rules that can be heard or found on the web and not to fall into habits (especially those of others…).

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

https://linktr.ee/jeromevergez


LennyTunes – Beats from Jaffa’r Away

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

The glorious Pultec EQ switches and knobs have the empowering effect of making you feel like you’re doing something meaningfully right.
It’s a cruel lie unfortunately.

Pultec EQP-iA3 Program Equalizer

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

The Roland SH-1000 is a magical wild beast. It has it all, mojo-wise and sound-wise – but lacks midi, stable oscillators and a decent keyboard.

Roland SH-1000

Also – Dear Elektron please add 1 more LFO to the Rytm. It’s so close to perfection.

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

On holiday I will usually try and revert to my other senses, and give my ears a bit of a rest.. but I will occasionally bring a portable recorder to capture a few interesting sounds. (Like my father’s old Kenwood cassette recorder).
On tour (it constantly changes..) – Elektron Rytm/Analog4 + Roland AE7 + Moog Phatty/Jen SX1000 + Korg Wavedrum.

Kenwood cassette recorder

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

I wish we had more old school “ethnic” arranger keyboards in software emulation. Love those sounds.. and I can’t live without my quarter-tone mini keys:)

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

Yes, stupidity was inevitable, but regret is pointless. Lately I do wish I had my old Oberheim SEM to play around with.😢

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

I would have to give this one to the almighty Tascam 424. It’s how I got my first experience of producing and multitracking music, back in my teen years.
I recently recorded my “film Grain” album, on 2 cassettes, tape loops and bucket-brigade delays, so occasionally, it still puts its enchanting spells on me.

Tascam 424

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

I’m pretty sure starting over with only a laptop, or a couple of groove boxes, would not feel limiting in any way.. as boring or predictable as it sounds.
But in case of a climate catastrophe or zombie apocalypse, I would probably be stringing a tortoise shell, at some point, and be fully happy starting over as the local weirdo bard.

Tascam 424 and friends

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

I don’t think I’ll get any arguments against this one – surely, it has to be cables.

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

Delay – it makes you play less.
Also, manipulating tape speed and sculpting reverb echo repeats, it really wonderfully showcases how music can explore the human concept of time.

Lexicon model 200

Artist or Band name?

LennyTunes

Genre?

Bellydance music
Organic House
Folktronica
Warped Pop
Indulgent Ambient

Selfie?

LennyTunes

Where are you from?

I grew up, mostly bare-foot and happy, in a communal agricultural cult, called a Kibbutz. And been living most of my life in the musical, strange and wonderful 4000yo city of Jaffa. It is still my main inspiration and muse.

How did you get into music?

No point in lingering over past mistakes.
I formed my first punk band with my school friends at age 10. Since then, I’ve never obsessed over anything as much as I did over music..

What still drives you to make music?

When you love something, you want to study it forever.

How do you most often start a new track?

Usually when I play and stumble on to something I like, find a pretty sound or have a melody in my head.. I keep a short recording of it as a note, and come back to it later, if it’s any good. I have a million of these, because it rarely is.

How do you know when a track is finished?

It’s never finished. You just have to let go.
I’ll just (sort of) quote the great Ben Burtt here – Songs are never released, they escape.

Show us your current studio

LennyTunes Studio
LennyTunes Studio
Fender Jazzmaster
Rhodes and Minimoog

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

“Stay true to what you are representing, it’s not about you”. Someone luckily told me that early on..
On a more practical level – If you feel burned or musically empty inside, try just picking up a new instrument to play. Or buy a new synth.

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

With my latest release “Fine Sands”, I tried to prove to my self that club/dance/house music can be created with only live-recorded acoustic middle eastern folk instruments, and acoustically amplified synths. I had a great time trying my best. was I successful in any way?
Please check it out, my music friends –
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3YYNR3x
Album Visualizer on Youtube: https://bit.ly/3Xfif8C
Tascam Cassette ambient extravaganza: https://spoti.fi/3rSLnzo