Jérôme Vergez – Minimanalog

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.

Verbos Electronics Eurorack
Verbos Electronics Eurorack

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%.

Eurorack modules

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.

Moog Sirin
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.

EMS Synthi A
EMS Synthi A

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.

Knas Ekdahl Moisturizer
Knas Ekdahl Moisturizer

Artist or Band name?

Jérôme Vergez

Genre?

Ambient, Minimal, Techno, EBM

Selfie?

Jérôme Vergez

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

Jeromes Studio
Jeromes Studio
Jeromes Analog Synth Rack

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


Color Moxie – A Bokeh of LoFi

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

Verbos knobs. They are red, they are smooth, you can spot them from a
distance.

Verbos

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

Tascam Portastudio

My Tascam Portastudio keeps on breaking, it’s very fragile, but I like tape
saturation so much. I wish they made new-old tape cassette 4 track
recorders.

Tascam Faders
Tascam knobs

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

Laptop, QuNexus and Shure 215 in ears. The QuNexus is super slim and
durable, the in-ears don’t use up much space in a bag and they block out
exterior sound pretty good. All of this fits in my laptop case.

Qunexus

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

Sonic Labs Fundamental is my favorite plugin at the moment. It sounds
very organic and has lots of character. The hardware version does exist in
real life, but I do not own it (yet?). I’d also like for a OP1 synth engine VST to exist.

Sonic Labs Fundamental

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

I should not have sold my Squarp Hermod. It was the perfect brain for my
modular setup.

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

OP1

The OP1. So many functions in a small format. Nice synth engines, 4
track recorder, built in microphone, speaker and built in battery.
Everyone loves the OP1.

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

Buchla music Easel and a Wurlitzer.

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

If this counts as gear; I hate having to use an iLok. It uses up a usb port for nothing and I’m always scared of losing it. As for real gear, I get pretty crazy about ground loop noise. Very annoying to have to figure out where it’s coming from in your signal chain and trying to fix it. It happens often when I mix eurorack, synths and my computer in a live performance type of thing.

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

For bass-y sounds, crank up the compressor on the OP1’s master, which will add lots of noise. After recording short sounds, add a gate in your daw with a very slow release and you’ll have a nice noise tail to your notes. Which will sound even better if you compress it again. Lofi.


Artist or Band name?

The Color Moxie.

Genre?

Spontaneous experimental compositions (?) I’ve just recently started
making one music video a day. It can be anything. It usually falls into the
synth / melancholic / saturated / overdramatic / noise category.

Selfie?

hi.

Color Moxie

Where are you from?

Melbourne, Australia.

How did you get into music?

Growing up, my older brother played drums. I wanted to make music too,
so I asked my parents if I could get guitar lessons. I had a few rock bands
which led into effect pedals. Fast forward a few years and now I’m into
synths, noise & sound design.

How do you most often start a new track?

I find a drum sample I like, chop it up and mangle it, until I start hearing
what mood the music is asking for. After that, i’ll find chords add synths,
and add some spatial textures to complete it.

How do you know when a track is finished?

When you run out of ideas.

Show us your current studio.

Color Moxie Studio desk

Not an offcial studio spot yet, but here’s what I had setup today.

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

Record everything !

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

My instagram is pretty new:

https://www.instagram.com/color.moxie/

I’m also working on an EP which will be announced on that platform when it’s ready


[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…
]


Victor Öberg – Urba Doloro

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

Right now I’m crushing hard on the faders of the Verbos Harmonic Oscillator. But in a longer perspective I’ve got to say the Octave and Waveform switches on the Vermona Perfourmer, the resistance and “click” is true perfection.

Vermona Perfourmer

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

That would be my analog noise machine, aka my cat, Frasse. He  makes all kinds of inspiring noises. But he would benefit a lot from a gain knob.

Frasse Cat

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

My laptop and, if not completely impossible, my trusty eurorack case!

Urba Doloro’s Eurorack

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

The blisko cello kit from felt instruments. I absolutely love it, but I would love it even more if I could have a small(ish) stand alone device with knob per function.

Blisko VSTi

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

I once bought and later sold the Waldorf Streichfett. Then I bought it again, and sold it again. Give me another year and I’ll probably have bought it a third time..

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

My Hammond SK-1. Right now I use it as part time Hammond organ and part time midi keyboard for using the Spitfire felt piano.

Hammond SK-1

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

I would, as last time, get a piano first. Learning the piano and music theory is really the staple of how I approach writing music. I find it very enjoyable to compose on the piano and then arrange it for eurorack, strings and piano.

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

My laptop. I can’t say I enjoy working on the computer when making music, but I can’t see myself managing without a computer at this moment.

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

Not really a trick, but I recently was surprised by how much I love the distortion you can create with Mutable instruments Veils just by pushing it towards the exponential mode. There are like a million sweetspots there when using it with various sound sources!


Artist or Band name?

Urba Doloro

Genre?

Somewhere between electronic minimalism and classical music maybe?

Where are you from?

Sweden, currently living in Västerås. It’s basically in the middle of Sweden, close by Stockholm.

How did you get into music?

I often went to a small record store called Jay’s records to buy a bunch of Bob Dylan albums when I was like 16 or 17 years old. One day the store owner told me he had put away something special for me. It was The Brown Album from The Band. It 100% blew me away and for the first time I understood why people love both playing and listening to music. I spent all summer learning the songs on piano. To this day the track King Harvest is still one of my absolute favorite songs of all time.

The Band

What still drives you to make music?

It’s a combination of doing it for myself because I feel a need to, but also to be able to communicate views on human society that I feel is not the most focused on in music. Urban alienation being the main theme I try to work with.

How do you most often start a new track?

It’s twofold. The creative process is generally started with reading scientific articles/books within my line of work, urban planning, to find topics to composer over. The actual writing of the music is almost always starts at the piano. I tend to start out with a few rules of limitations and then improvise over them for an hour or two. Then I try to find pieces of the improvisation I like and start arranging them.

How do you know when a track is finished?

I really don’t. I’ve had serious problems finishing projects the last few years. However, I’m really trying to find some kind of middle road right now by letting friends listen to my tracks. Based on their reactions (and of course my own judgement) I decide when things are finished.

Show us your current studio

I’m waiting for a new grand piano, which will spice up my “studio”. So for now it’s just my eurorack case, my laptop, and my hammond. I tend to try to move it around a lot in my apartment to stay inspired, here is a summer-version of my studio!

Eurorack and cat

Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?

I’m going to go with something Todd Barton recently told me when discussing what to buy/not to buy and how to stay creative, he told me to “Follow the sound”.

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

My instagram always loves some support.


[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…
]