pro 3 Archives - Martin Yam Møller

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

Custom filter cutoff on the Sequential Pro 3

Filter cutoff on the Sequential Pro 3. I like how big it is, i like that its right in the middle, it’s super easy to grab. The rubber one was great but I tried out an aluminum knob, and unfortunately it covers up the orange around the bottom but it feels and looks great.

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

Most of my annoyances with gear are user error, I assume it can do the thing I want it to, but I haven’t been able to figure it out yet. I think the Little Phatty is near perfect in that the sound is awesome and powerful and just the essentials are there and easy to control. I just with there was a knob for tempo division/pattern for the arp. Also I think the OB6 is perfect soundwise, but aesthetically I don’t like it. I also don’t like the plastic knobs. I replaced them with rubber Prophet knobs.

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

Teenage Engineering, Chase Bliss and Roland gear

Usually Teenage Engineering stuff. Opz, Op1, Tx-6, they can do so much in such a small format, its an easy choice. Then I usually bring some pedals, probably chase bliss to maximize space and functionality. Recently got the Roland Compact J6 and E4, those are great. And a small bluetooth speaker.

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

The only software I use is Ableton to record. I hate software and working on the computer, so I guess I would wish ALL software to be hardware. If there was a software version of every hardware that would be fine too I suppose, I wouldn’t notice.

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

I regret selling my first synth, the MicroKorg, that is an awesome synth and vocoder. Sometimes I regret buying the Moog One, because it is intimidating to me and even though I love it, I feel like I’m not making the most of it and using its potential. And its so big and so expensive, sometimes I question myself. But its fucking amazing.

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

Maybe the Prophet X. That is a pretty central piece of gear on each track, whether its backing strings, a saxophone, marimba, weird drums, it does everything and always sounds so good.

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

My very first piece of gear was a guitar my friend sold me with scalloped frets, I hated those scalloped frets and wasted too much time trying to play that guitar. I would’ve got a normal electric guitar with a normal fretboard.

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

Roland VP-03, I love that thing, but its very annoying, those tiny sliders and the bizarre sequencer. Especially since my volume knob randomly cuts out and I’m constantly fussing with it.

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

One of my favorite tricks is on the Boss DD-500 pedal (or similar), when you hold a delay note, then mess with the time knob you can create some really fun repeating patterns

Artist or Band name?

Lucite Plains

Genre?

Cinematic, Hauntology

Selfie?

Where are you from?

Born and raised in Utah, and have been living in Kansas City, Missouri for the last 16 years

How did you get into music?

I’ve always loved music and wanted to know how to make the music i heard. I started playing guitar in middle school and learned playing Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins and stuff like that. I played in a band throughout high school. Then I studied art for a while and didn’t pursue music very much during that time.
After life settled down and I had a steady job teaching painting, I started playing guitar more and started buying more and more pedals until I realized I was trying to make synth sounds with my pedal board. Then after I bought my first synth/vocoder (microKorg), I was completely hooked on gear.

What still drives you to make music?

Its fun, 99% of the time I’m making music for myself, I just really enjoy playing and listening. Sometimes I’ll just hit record and do a long rambling improvisation, and then play it back and listen to it while I paint. A lot of music I make is for my art band Lucite Plains, we usually do a live improvisational set along with a bunch of looping videos/animations etc. So before a show, we will practice around a key and a bpm and figure out a basic structure for a live performance.

How do you most often start a new track?

Sometimes it will be a guitar loop, but more often than not, its chords on the Prophet X, something mellow like a pad or a slow arp that I can start building on.

How do you know when a track is finished?

People finish tracks?

[Editor: Ha!]

Show us your current studio

Ricky Allmans studio eurorack and fx pedals

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

Just show up. Show up on a regular basis and start making something, whether you feel creative or not. You can waste a lot of time waiting for inspiration to hit.

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

Probably not your usual thing but I just released an art history course about Post Impressionism on Wondrium. I found the subject incredibly fascinating to research and write about: https://www.wondrium.com/post-impressionism-the-beginnings-of-modern-art

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

The Hydrasynth main encoder knob. It’s huge.

Hydrasynth main encoder knob – it’s lit from beneath

Second place goes to anything that turns up the volume.

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

I wish the Synthstrom Deluge had an OLED screen and I wish the Mashine+ could make actual synth patches from scratch.

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

OP-1 or Deluge or iPad for granular apps like Borderlands.

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

I used to think a bunch about this, but after getting the Hydrasynth I don’t really care about software in hardware. If I could get Pigments as hardware that would be dope. I would love more wacky probabilistic and self-patchable software stuff.

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

Zero regrets in selling. Selling is freedom.

Buying, I dunno. Everything I’ve bought I’ve bought because it had a reason to exist in my setup at that time. When I sell it, it’s because it’s redundant or I’ve outgrown it.

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

Up until this year, the Teenage Engineering OP-1. This year it’s been eurorack.

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

I still think a good DAW with a decent sample library, one good synth VST, and a hunger to learn is the best thing you could possibly start with. So I would do that.

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

Anything involving my computers, haha. I know that’s a cop-out answer, but like, man. They can do everything, but fuck up harder than anything else.

Can’t get around computers. But you can mount them up high!

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

I think audio-rate modulation, in general, is something that never occurred to me until recently. Everytime I see DivKid do something with it I’m like “oh right, I can do that”. It’s wild.

Artist or Band name?

Jeremy Blake for music, Red Means Recording for YouTube

Genre?

Electronica, Downtempo, Alternative Electronic

Selfie?

Where are you from?

Seattle, WA

How did you get into music?

I started playing the flute in Elementary School. Was lucky enough to be exposed to orchestral playing and jazz ensemble. Flunked out of music performance school because I was spending too much time sneaking into the studio to use the equipment and I didn’t wanna play the flute anymore. Was playing with trackers and anything I could get my hands on. Went to audio engineering school, kept experimenting. Eventually fell into YouTube music production videos. Most recently I’ve fallen hard for modular and I’m having a blast.

What still drives you to make music?

When life gives you cables, make yellow shelving organisers

All the little pieces of things I know can be rearranged to augment some new idea. Everything can be recontextualized and spun into a new idea. There’s no end to the inspiration.

Gratuitios knobalation of the Sequential Pro 3

How do you most often start a new track?

Lately, a lot. Modular has been a really refreshing platform for experimentation. I’m writing at least one new thing a week.

How do you know when a track is finished?

With modular and hardware it’s easy: when the performance is done and I’ve mixed and mastered it. With DAW-based stuff, it’s when I’ve gone through all my iteration passes, like idea, arrangement, mixing, re-arrangement, ear candy, and mastering. I go by a rule of three approach: if I can listen to a track 3 times and not mess with it, it’s done. If something bothers me 3 times, I change it.

[Editor: That answer is one of the most systematic and quantified approach to that question. That I’ve read. Excellent!]

Show us your current studio

Jeremy Blake’s very red Red Means Recording studio

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

Limitation breeds innovation, tied with “put a donk on it”.

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

I make music performance and education videos here: https://www.youtube.com/redmeansrecording

You can find my music on all platforms here: https://rmr.media/findme

[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]]