tasty chips electronics Archives

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

The time knob on any analogue delay stomp box, follow closely by the feedback knob.

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

The Elektron Digitone (I). I would change nothing, because it’s the limitations, that make it such a great creative tool.

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

My Akai MPC Live II. Or my laptop running Logic.

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

I’m a big fan of granular synths, so it would be nice to have something like the Tasty Chips GR-1 as a plug in on the AKAI (Force/MPC).

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

It would have been nice to have kept the Roland W30, it has a very gritty 12-bit sound. Maybe I’ll very soon regret not buying a second spare Akai Force, because they are not produced anymore, and I’m not sure they’ll make a Force II.

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

Well, the list is very long, starting with my first samplers, the one in the Amiga 500 and the Roland W30 way back in the nineties. But the last few years it has been the Elektron Digitone. My latest album (“Wait”) has some tracks that are made entirely on the Digitone. Generally, there is nothing like a good sine wave to get me inspired, so I love digital synhts with nice sine waves, like the Blofeld or the Digitone. I also get a lot of inspiration from stomp boxes, like the Cosmos Drift Station or the Strymon Nightsky.

And of course delay boxes, of which I have a few (my favorites being the Moog MF 104 and the Jahtari rebuild of the Korg Monotron delay).

Oh and I almost forgot the Tasty Chips Granular GR1. I love all things granular…

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

An MPC. The sampling workflow is second to none, and the plug in synths are usefull (I use the Juno 106 replica and the electric piano, which can be turned into a sine wave plus noise synth).

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

The Digitone. It happens so often that I get completely lost because I accidently change the wrong notes on the sequencer and loose some of the programming (every note on the sequencer can have a different sound set up).

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

The digitone surprises me all the time, I find some clever way of doing something and then the next time I use it, I have forgotten what I did. So I’m sorry: No tips and tricks.

Artist or Band name?

Dub Tractor

Genre?

Sine wave

Selfie?

Where are you from?

Nivå, north of Copenhagen.

How did you get into music?

Spending long summer days inside listening to cassettes.

What still drives you to make music?

Curiosity.

How do you most often start a new track?

Either with a sequence (an ostinato) or with a beat. If I start with a beat, the track never turns into anything.

How do you know when a track is finished?

I never know.

Show us your current studio

The core of the studio: The Force and the Digitone.

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

Listen to your music at very low volume (or from another room).

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

Dub Tractor: Wait (Touched Music UK, 2023)

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.

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%.

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.

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.

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.

Artist or Band name?

Jérôme Vergez

Genre?

Ambient, Minimal, Techno, EBM

Selfie?

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

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