Laura Katić – Caperooza

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

My favorite knobs are the ones from my Modular Synth. Starting to build my own machines was a great achievement for me and I definitely have a special affection for the knobs of my Eurorack type modular system, which I built piece by piece from scratch in CIRCUITO SONORO LABORATORIO a workshop laboratory I started with a colleague where I investigate modular synthesis and perform sound experimentation.

DIY Eurorack modular

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

Drumbrute Impact allows me to flow creatively and take advantage of those moments of inspiration to the fullest, it is the most important thing for me. Having powerful rhythms and sounds to create the beat is time won in that process. There are no pauses to make settings or edits and that’s where I can find the perfect sound.

Arturia Drumbrute Impact

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

COMPUTER AND MINILAB MK2 Each new place I visit has its unique magic, traveling is opening my mind and I cannot miss the opportunity to be inspired by that journey, so I bring my computer with virtual synths, Arturia’s V collection is very complete.
To have control of the Daw and Synths, I also carry Arturia’s Minilabmk2, it’s small and everything fits in my backpack. As a plus I also use the cell phone to record ambient sounds and some concrete sounds I can use later as samples.

Laptop and Minilab MK2

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

I would like to have an app version for cell phones or tablets of the pocket operator, I use PO Speak and even though its a small machine I achieve sounds with a lot of character and create powerful beats.

Teenage Engineering PO Speak

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

TC HELICON VOICE PROCESOR – MINITAUR
The TC helicon Voice live touch, not so much to regret selling it, but I would buy it again. I sold it to buy the moog minitaur so it wasn’t that painful haha…

Moog Minitaur

The Tc Helicon is a vocal processor that I really enjoyed using, I used to loop my voice layer by layer and create entire songs adding effects and transforming it into an instrument more like a synthesizer, I came to create my own processes for the voice, very fun.

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

Sequencers are a “must have” for me. This year I´ve been fortunate to be sponsored by ARTURIA and one of the machines that I use the most to produce now is the Key Step Pro, i was using the Beat Step Pro before, so it was very easy and intuitive for me the change. To Control analog and digital hardware in real time is pure creation i just connect all my synthesizers and I flow, the music takes over me.

Arturia Key Step Pro

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

I studied music as a profesional career so i was used to compose my music more in an academic way through sheet music then pass it to the computer in a Daw, recording each instrument track by track until a had a whole structured song and that was it. Now i would say that having Vsts, a good computer and a controller is the easiest way to start. Make your music “in the Box”

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

Cables

CABLES!

That is a tiny part of the gear hahaha

Very annoying!!

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

There are no rules, we are rhythm, we are a constant beat by the pulse of our heart, interpreting those vibrations within us and taking them out into the real world is what has led me to make “broken beats” more amalgamated rhythms and finally to feel them as an extension of what music makes in me.

I have many ways of making rhythmic patterns, I use samples, drum machines, I use sounds, I record noises and process them, but in the end the thing is to decide what textures you want to create with all those tools and I always try to create a different atmosphere that reaches the person who is there listening.


Artist or Band name?

Laura Katić / Caperooza

Genre?

House Progressive / Indie Electronica

Selfie?

Laura Katić

Where are you from?

CALI, Colombia.

How did you get into music?

I was involved in choirs and local bands from my town, then i studied music as a career more focused on teaching.

What still drives you to make music?

Self transformation

How do you most often start a new track?

I work as a music teacher and a freelance music producer, also have a project called
CAPEROOZA in which I produce all the music, so I start tracks very often.

How do you know when a track is finished?

When I feel i can dance and enjoy it without thinking of any technical issues. With the music i make for others when they feel happy about the result.

Show us your current studio

Laura Katić home studio
Laura Katić home studio

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

Never stop making the music you love, the music that comes from your soul.

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

https://open.spotify.com/track/0npGMjDVMoUYFneiPi0n3K?si=AuFf_EBpRba8n4WMs3OR0Q


[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…
]


Marine Drouan – Kritzkom

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

I love the even VCO main knob from Befaco’s Eurorack module. It’s beautiful, and I
like the feeling when you turn it. And I like to use it (it changes the octave) mostly if
it’s plugged on a reverb.

Befaco VCO

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

The Octatrack is for me almost perfect. A kind of similar software like the Overbridge for the other Elektron machines would be perfect. Of course a possibility to record the 8 tracks separately, but simultaneously. Add it a simple synthesizer and it would be totally perfect.

Elektron Octatrack

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

On holiday, I take a small battery powered devices because I like to be outside. It can
vary from a sampler (MicroGrany for Bastl Instruments or SPS-404) or the Teenage
Engineering PO-35, or the iPad. I almost always take a recorder (Zoom) to do field
recording.

Bastl Microgranny
Portable samplers

If I am on the train or plane I love to work on the computer, either exploring some Max for live patches I never tried or some other little software that I usually don’t use.

Zoom sampling on a boat

It is interesting how having fewer devices force us to explore other ways to do music.
When I perform I always take my Machinedrum, often the MicroKorg XL and if not
other small synths. Now that I have one, I would also take the Octatrack. I also take a
few MIDI controllers like the Novation Lauchpad and the my old Korg NanoControl,
they are small and are practical.

Zoom recorder and various input devices

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

Borderlands (the iOS app) as a hardware could be interesting to imagine, although I
have no idea how it could look. Probably this is also the reason I like this kind of app, which really use the touch screen and couldn’t have exist as a hardware. On the other side I have the feeling most of the hardware now exists as a software. I find modular synthesizers as software pretty nice, even if it never can replace it. It is perfect to try some modules, learn to use it, or if you cannot afford it.

Borderlands iOS

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

My first machine was an MC-303, but at this time I had nothing else. It was interesting to learn, but alone it was a bit limited. I was a teenager I had no access to any studio or couldn’t buy more machines. I sold it to buy a MIDI keyboard which was at the time the best for me. If I see one I get a bit of nostalgic and I sometimes regret I sold it.

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

The Electron Monomachine, it was my first proper sequencer and it made a huge
difference in my way of doing music. Having a sequencer improved so much the way
to use synths. But then it is the Machinedrum which inspired me the most and for a long time.

Elektron MonoMachine

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

I should have get the Elektron Machinedrum as soon as it got released.

Elektron Machinedrum

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

Only an old M-audio firewire sound card which is very small and has midi in/out + 2
stereo audio outputs and one stereo input, so everything you need all the time. I took
it everywhere, it worked forever, the most stable I ever had. Unfortunately it now
doesn’t work on the new OS. I still have a hard disk partition with an older system on
my mac to use it. But because of this I use it less and less… Only because of the
driver is not updated.

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

Nothing really crazy for a user of modular synthesizers. But as I am still in the discovering phase, I enjoy this little self-discoveries, and find it funny to trigger the steps of a sequencer (In my case: Pop Corn from Bastl Instruments) just by touching the cable. Of course, it is doing an electric impulse which makes it goes to the next step.


Artist or Band name?

Kritzkom

Genre?

Electronic music of many kinds from ambiant, experimental, to slow techno with a touch of house sometimes.

Selfie?

Marine Drouan

Where are you from?

Nantes in the west of France.

How did you get into music?

I started to learn play the piano which is an instrument I like a lot, but I stopped after 2 years. I wanted to play my own tunes, still it was the first keyboard experience. I guess, it was listening to techno music late in the night on the radio as teenager, that I really started to really love music and wanted to do some.

What still drives you to make music?

Life in general, but more nature than humans. I guess I need music and often I have
something in mind I want to express. What I work on is sometimes the only thing that I want to listen to. Like an infinite exploration. The nature and listening to its subtle sounds, is definitely the most inspiring to me.

How do you most often start a new track?

By experimenting with and making sounds, textures or loops most of the time, but it can really always be different. The only sure thing, I never start with a structure.

How do you know when a track is finished?

I can be hard to know. If I don’t know, I stop to working on it and let it be, so that I can listen to it with more distance a few days later, then it’s much easier. It can either be very simple and intuitive or be super hard. It can happen that I do 30 different versions and it makes it harder to choose. Sometimes it can also mean that it’s not worth it to finish this track.

Show us your current studio

It is hard to do in one only one picture, as the room i have, is long there is not so much place to take a photo. I also have a cupboard where some gear is resting quietly and safe from the dust before I feel like using them again.

Eurorack on the rack
Studio
Home studio from above

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

Trust your ears.

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

My last album “Melt Map”:
https://disorientation.bandcamp.com/album/melt-map

A new track “Infinite” on the compilation Kedi 2 on Baumusik:
https://baumusik.bandcamp.com/album/kedi-2-2

[Editor: Do you have any tips or tricks with any of the gear in this interview? Leave a comment below]


[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…
]