Dominik Malue – Actias

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

Waldorf Iridium
Waldorf Iridium

For me, its definitely the two filters on the Waldorf Iridium (Cutoff & Resonance). When I first experienced the deeply psychedelic soundscapes of this device, I was astonished by how the entire atmosphere can be influenced by just two filters. It sucked me in and left me speechless.

Waldorf Iridium screen

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

Yes absolutely! In my opinion, the combination of Matrixbrute and Polybrute is a colorful audiovisual paradise for music researchers, audio pioneers and bassmonauts. Above all, the control via the mod matrix and the resulting learning effect – because you can easily see the modulation route for each preset visually on the matrix. No hidden 2nd or 3rd functions for each knob and fader. Everything can be controlled in the most direct way.

Matrixbrute and PolyBrute

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

Korg KP2

The two jam veterans from Korg (Kaoss and Kaossilator) are just as practical in their size as they are fun to experiment with. Samples and automation can be recorded on 4 tracks each. Operation is shockingly simple and the library of sounds and effects is gigantic. Especially if you have a small budget, but just want to get some experience in sampling, that would be my first choice. The control runs via touchpad and can even be used by people having issues with rhythm or less musical people.

Korg Kaoss

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

There is the synthesizer VST from Serum, which I mainly use for my psychedelic leads and basslines in my tracks when i leave the hardware behind. Let’s see what surprises this year’s Superbooth 23 has in store. Maybe one day they create a controller on which you can load a software synth and then DAWless you are able to access this synth. 

Serum VST

As a second plugin I would love a hardware version of the Arturia Efx Fragment. Rarely have I seen such a fascinating tool that allows you to experimentally construct complete rhythmic percussions, drones and ambiences from noises and foileys.

 Arturia Efx Fragment
Arturia Efx Fragment

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

In fact, over the past few years I’ve swapped my setup and adapted it to my workflow so often that I no longer own a superfluous part or am missing a device that I absolutely want to have. Let’s see if the upcoming synthesizer fair in Berlin will change that. Maybe my Vochlea Voice to midi Microphone. I have not used it once. Sad truth.

Vochlea Voice to midi Microphone

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

One of my first studio devices was the Roland MX-1 mixer, which really motivated me to fill every channel with sound. The possibilities that this mixer has in its luggage never ceases to amaze me. It’s also a fabulous interface for Ableton and does everything I want in a device like this. Endless effect combinations with step sequencer and built-in sidechain. Furthermore, you can easily route each channel digitally instead of analog and fill and control it via Ableton.

Roland MX-1 mixer
Roland MX-1 mixer

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

It depends on whether I want to focus on pure track production first or live jamming. For the former: Nowadays, the first thing I would definitely do is get a good laptop or desktop PC and basic software with the most important VSTs and free sample collections. On the other hand, if I wanted to establish myself in the synthesizer profession, I would probably do the same thing as I did back then – get a small collection of Korg Volcas to set the foundations for understanding synthesis. 

Korg Volcas
A tower of Korg Volcas

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

I’m already annoyed when I hear the word ‘midi’. Therefore it is my midi routing. I upgraded my setup last year with the Erica Synths midi thrubox. Since then I wasted less nerves on unsynced synthesizers.

Erica Synths midi thrubox
Erica Synths midi thrubox

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

Not really a trick but I truly fell in love with my Arturia Polybrute‘s morphee. Beautiful sounds can be created and morphed using this 3D touch knob. It’s incredibly playful and fun to use.

Arturia Polybrute's morphee
Arturia Polybrute’s morphee


Artist or Band name?

Actias

Genre?

psychedelic house / slow psytrance

Selfie?

Dominik Malue - Actias
Dominik Malue – Actias

Where are you from?

Berlin, GER

How did you get into music?

By two very close friends from my Hometown. They took me to DJ nights with them in their basement studio.

What still drives you to make music?

Creativity, weirdness and curiosity

Creativity, weirdness and curiosity
Creativity, weirdness and curiosity… and a little bit of magic

How do you most often start a new track?

Each track has its own reason of arisement and as well its different story. Mostly, i feel an impulse out of a sudden and then i have to create. 

How do you know when a track is finished?

There is always a point, when I can’t listen to the track anymore. When this happens, I stop working on it at least a week and then listen again. If I don’t want to change anything, it stays like that and soon will be mastered. 

Show us your current studio

Dominik Malue - Actias studio
Dominik Malue – Actias studio
Dominik Malue - Actias studio
Dominik Malue – Actias studio
Dominik Malue - Actias studio
Dominik Malue – Actias studio

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

– create music with your ears not your brain –

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

Here are 3 links:

My latest album: Orbital Ceremony

One of my singles from 2022: Amethyst

My Instagram profile for all the hardware stuff:

https://www.instagram.com/actias_music


[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]


Prior Use – Andreas Bak-Reimer

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

Gettin’ it on with the Roland SH-1

The power switch on the Roland SH-1. It’s an old synth, and the button has a distinct mechanical quality to it. The way it feels, the way it sounds, and the way the power LED lights up immediately – it just feels like getting it on! The SH-1 does that really swell PWM (pulse width modulation) that I enjoy immensely, and simple as it is, it invokes an atmosphere of a simpler time, with a lot of nostalgia to it.

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

My Roland Juno-106 is close to perfect for it’s purpose. Countless 80’s and 80’s emulating tracks have been born using it, and it’s built in a way that grants plenty of sweetspots, and not so many dead ends. Some people prefer non-DCOs, and have plenty to say about the 106 being a budget synth, but mine’s fresh back from service, and it makes me happy.

Roland 106

I sometimes wish it had another oscillator with an easy option for detuning, to get a wider sound from it, but there is a lot to be said about limitations to foster creativity.

… Also, I am not particularly fond of the way the resonance sounds when it’s cranked way up. It’s glassy instead of being juicy – and rarely that’s a good thing. On the other hand, I don’t have any other things that sounds like that, so it’s probably best to leave that unchanged.

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

Roland TB-03

Laptop, almost certainly. I am no where near anything dawless, and don’t have anything that I could arrange anything with, besides a computer. If I weren’t writing, but merely playing around, I would bring my Roland TB-03, or Yamaha Reface CS – built-in speakers and battery operated, they are 1. 2. go!

Yamaha Reface

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

Absynth, Brain, Modular.

Software -> Hardware: I think Native Instruments Absynth. I have had that since forever, and still use it heavily. Also, I would like to see the physical shape/color/layout of such a thing!

Absynth

Hardware -> Software: My brain. Although it feels soft at times, I consider it hardware. It certainly interfaces like 40+ years old hardware (poorly that is), it is sometimes difficult to control when hot or cold, and it’s almost never in tune. Also – patch memory is severely limited. If I could instantly recall patches, production tricks, channel-settings and export/bounce the tunes and sounds directly, like with a lot of software, then… Well, it might take out the fun at times.

Brain

To be serious: My modular setup would be nice as software – mainly for patch recall.

Eurorack modular

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

I never sold anything ever, so that doesn’t apply. And therefore I never regret selling anything either!

I once bought a portable recorder, thinking I could get a lot of good sample material that way. I only did once, but it never made it into a track I finished. I have fond memories of getting up early to catch a few big trucks on big roads going by, though… So, no regrets I guess…

Tascam Recorder

I bought an Ensoniq SQ-R module, because it features Transwave synthesis. Never used that, but it had a nice belltree sound that I used once or twice. It’s probably the thing I’ve bought that comes the most close to being a regret.

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

My trusty iPod classic 80 GB. That’s a lot of late 90’s goatrance… Listening to that is what inspired me most over the years. It had a growing line of dead pixels over the course of a year, and when the line was fully dead, the pixels started working again from the beginning of the line! A year after, the whole display was good again. That is probably my strangest experience with any electronic gadget ever.

iPod classic

If I should channel this to some sort of an inspirational tale, it would something like how the small and weak Hobbits defeated the mighty Sauron – it might appear to be failing, and an unlikely source of victory, but give it some time, and it will surprise you.

That is also why I have never sold anything. You never know.

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

A decent room for working in. Go all crazy thinking about getting the ‘right’ monitors, nice preamps, the perfect cables (ugh!)… But if your room is horrible, none of that matters. I have sunk a fair bit of time into acoustic treatment, and it has made a world of difference.

Foam

Also: time. So that’s it. Time and space – that’s all I want. At first…. Then a Mac.

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

Laptop

Mac laptop

Again, my computer. Ill timed software updates, one too few CPU cycles in stacked projects, failing disks… The woes are many, but I wouldn’t have written a bar of music without it.

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

Roland JV-2080

About 20 years after I got my Roland JV-2080, I realized it was capable of faux PWM. If I set a regular sawtooth wave on one osc, and an inverted sawtooth on the other, and modulate pitch slowly and independently, then it happens. I wish I had known that 20 years earlier, but that would probably mean I wouldn’t have bought my SH-1 (with the fab power button) – so it’s all good!


Artist or Band name?

I have mainly been producing under the moniker “Amygdala”. Goa and psychedelic trance in the old (old!) sense of the word.

Lately, I have been making some drops in the already over saturated ocean of synthwave music. I enjoy that very much, and as a child of the 80s, it takes me back to a simpler time – worries forgotten. The moniker for this activity is “Prior Use”.

Genre?

Many kinds of trance music: Goa, psychedelic, melodic, uplifiting, minimal, tech-, progressive.
Besides that, a bit of synthwave, and the odd “psy-bient” piece.

Selfie?

Andreas Brain

Where are you from?

I am from Denmark – just a tad north of Copenhagen, but most of my music has been produced in Århus. You can really tell what a big difference those 170 km makes!

How did you get into music?

My parents and brother. Music was omnipresent at home when I grew up. My parents encouraged me to take up playing violin when I was 6, and I have had some great experiences with that. When music production became reasonably available to the regular consumer with computer interest, I was hooooked! At first, it was just another thing I could do with the computer, but rather quickly it was pretty much all I ever did with it.

What still drives you to make music?

The two biggest drivers are probably the “flows” and “highs”.

Flow when I can be completely engrossed in production, enjoying the situation, and getting something done which I like and feel as an accomplishment. Time flying as I ignore my body’s attempts to drag me to the loo, trough or bed.

Highs when I hit something that (in the moment) is spectacular – a catchy tune, a sweet timbre, or a really dope fill or transition. It can still make me laugh after all these years, and the surge of energy and motivation I get from that is unparalleled.

How do you most often start a new track?

Sometimes I start with a very simple idea like a tune, a chord progression or a synthesizer patch concept. Then Drums. Then bass. That’s the most usual case, although sometimes I skip directly to the drums. Lately, I have been thinking that it’s not the best way to go, as I am finishing fewer and fewer tracks. I often end up with a pretty decent groove, but lacking the centerpiece idea that makes the track stand out. I polish the rhythmic section and transitions, until there is not space left in the spectrum (frequency and/or mental) for anything else.

So, from now on, I am trying to start off a new track with an idea, and then build drums and bass around that. We’ll see how that goes.

How do you know when a track is finished?

When a track has all the arrangement elements (intro, good stuff, breakdown, great stuff, climax, outro – or some other configuration), I bounce it and listen away from the studio. I make a lot of notes I want to change, enhance, remove, whatever. When that list feels complete, I do those changes. Hopefully I am happy with the result, because at that point I am usually fed up with the piece. I am not one for endlessly tweaking everything, and I have a tendency to detail focus early – which means I “decide” that this bit is perfect, and then unconsciously prohibit myself from editing it (too much 🙈).

I know there is some degree of contradiction in the above, but I’ll just hide behind “you can’t argue art”.

Show us your current studio

Andreas Studio
Andreas synths

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

I bought a CD from Eat Static sideproject Dendron (Merv Pepler). I think he burned the disc himself and mailed it. Included in the package was a makeshift invoice with the words “always experiment” on it. I think that’s pretty good advice. It’s hard, because as time grows scarce I tend to stick to the beaten path, but even though it feels like it’s safer and more productive that way, I get less enjoyment from it.

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

As mentioned above, I dabble in synthwave. Swing by https://soundcloud.com/prioruse and tell you friends.

[Editor: if you want to check out Andreas psy-trance stuff it’s here: https://ektoplazm.com/profiles/amygdala]