Tag: Roland

Isobutane – Martin Krajčír

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

Polyend Tracker

That would most certainly be the latest reinforced jog wheel on the Polyend
Tracker. It’s just a top-tier pleasure experience. Nice to touch, satisfying to control things with it.

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

Yamaha RM1X

Yes! Yamaha RM1X! For me it’s the closest anybody in this world got to
perfection in a hardware box. I just wish that the synth engine was a bit deeper
and the internal sounds would have 64 voice polyphony instead of 32. I know
there’s this RS7000 and all but that’s just too big. You know, now that I think of
this, the best machine in this world (at least for me) would be a combo of RM1X
and the MC-505. But then I wouldn’t leave my room. Ever.

Roland MC-505

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

The Polyend Tracker Mini comes to mind immediately. For live shows I usually
play with the Tracker, Play and Elektron Syntakt or the Roland MC-505, depends
on the set. For holiday I would definitely bring the Mini as it is battery powered
and tiny.

Polyend Play, Tracker and Elektron Syntakt with various other music boxes

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

I left the software realm some time in 2005 and I don’t know absolutely nothing
about this branch of noise making goodies so answering this question would
probably be unfair both to software and hardware.

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

Yamaha DX7 and EX5R

I regret selling absolutely everything!!! Also I don’t regret buying anything. I love
gear and if I don’t have the place for it, I trade it or give it to a friend. I sell stuff
very rarely because… all these online marketplaces and dealing with people can
be mega annoying sometimes. But yeah I did sell some things and I totally want
them back:)
If I must pick one, it would be the Roland MKS-30 Planet S with a PG200.

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

Computer-less desktop

I know it’s a bit boring but I must say it’s definitely the Yamaha RM1X. Believe it
or not, I’ve made over 700 tracks on this thing, still have them on the floppies
somewhere. The quality is all over the place, but that’s ok since the old floppy
drive won’t load them anymore.

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

You can guess.
(Yes it’s the RM1X again)

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

Roland Fantom 06

Oh I will definitely talk about Roland MC-505 and even the newest Roland Fantom 06
here. I absolutely love both of these machines but I hate how Roland did their
workflow back in the 90s and never “fixed” it till this day.

See in Roland gear you need to save the pattern (or a whole scene) separately to all the sounds it contains. So imagine this, you make a synth patch, you save it, you built a pattern around this synth patch. All is good. Now you have a new pattern or a song and you want to use this patch again but with a slightly more open filter. So you
resave it with the new settings. But now its loaded with all the changes in the old
pattern too.
So in the end you’ll end up with gazzilion saves of the same patch with slight variations because the patch settings are not saved with your song or pattern. I hate this. It makes all patch lists messy as hell. Its the same in both the old 505 and in the new Fantom 06. I truly hate it with all my heart, but I just can’t live without this gear.

Roland Juno-1

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

I’ve discovered this on the Elektron Digitakt, but you can do it with anything that has a HP filter. You basically don’t need EQ for your drums that much. Software guys
are rolling their eyes now but on hardware it’s not too common to have a EQ per
channel which is sometimes pretty annoying especially with the drum samples. If
you crank up the resonance all the way up and roll the cutoff you can find a
resonant peak of any drum sample. This will be super effective especially with the
kick and snare samples and will beefen up the kick or snare in certain frequency
range. Then by rolling down the resonance you can dial up a healthy amount of
that frequency boost. If you don’t have a peaking filter this is a pretty nice way of
transforming a bunch of dead dry samples into a pumping beat.

Sequential Prophet 6 Desktop

Artist or Band name?

Isobutane

Genre?

Whatever I feel like when I turn on the machines.

Selfie?

Where are you from?

Bratislava / Slovakia

How did you get into music?

I was too poor to buy full versions of PS1 games so I stumbled upon this demo called
Music on one of the PlayStation Magazine demo discs. I made gazillions of tracks with Music and the following Music 2000 and then moved on.

What still drives you to make music?

Knowledge. And an inner passion for both hearing the sounds of the instruments and touching them. Also, actually playing the instrument, thats a big part for me too.

How do you most often start a new track?

By cursing a lot when swimming through tons of cables and On/Off switches.

How do you know when a track is finished?

Hah, this is a good one. I’m definitely not a perfectionist and count solely on my personal taste that usually guides me through the whole process.

Show us your current studio

Rack of keyboards
Studio corner
Shelf of synth

Also 3 slides here:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CuRklS_tCt4/?img_index=1

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

Patience. (Although I must admit it can be complicated at times)

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

Album – Future Cake

EP – 1998

Ricky Allman – Cinematic Hauntology

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

Custom filter cutoff on the Sequential Pro 3
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? 

Moog Little Phatty
Moog Little Phatty

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
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? 

Moog One
Moog One

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.

Sequential Prophet X
Sequential Prophet X

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

Fender Jazzmaster guitar
Fender Jazzmaster guitar

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
Roland VP-03

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?

Boss DD-500
Boss DD-500

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 

Lucite Plains
Lucite Plains

Genre?

Cinematic, Hauntology

Selfie?

Ricky Allman

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 synths and guitar
Ricky Allmans studio eurorack and fx pedals
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

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]