After a short break Samu Teerilahti is the next interview partner at blogasys. Most likely you read some of his postings when he is writing as „sirCombatWombat“ at korgforums and karma-lab.
Blogasys: Samu, please be so kind and tell us about yourself.
ST: Hello Peter! First I wish to thank you for making this interview! I was born 1974 in Espoo Finland, a small five million people country up in the north of Europe. Besides music and sound synthesis my interests include 3D graphics, photography, technology in general, martial arts and blacksmithing. I work as a technology researcher and 3D graphic artist in our family business and as a practicing blacksmith. We married with my wife a year ago and life is good.
Blogasys: How did you start making music and have you been musically educated?
ST: I don’t remember how or why I started playing but I have always composed my own music. I have always played straight from my head or by ear, and it has been this way as long as I can remember.
My parents tell me that I started playing at the age of two. That was when I was able to reach the keyboard of the electric organ we had in our living room. The first evidence of me playing is this photo. I have no idea about the organs model.
young Samu
I went to an organ class roughly at the age of 8. After a couple of years in the class the owner of the school Juha Wiskari took me under his private tuition. From there Paul Fagerlund noticed me and offered to teach me. I studied with him until mid-teens, studying composing amongst other subjects. After a long time in private tuition under a good mentor I tried a couple of schools but could not adapt to class based teaching again and have studied by myself since then.
Somewhere on the way our electric organ was upgraded to Yamaha FE-50, and my father bought me my first synthesizer a Roland D-5. When my moped got stolen at the age of 16 I bought my second synthesizer an Ensoniq SQ’R with the insurance money.
Blogasys: Which musician influenced you most, why and who are your favourite musicians?
ST: Most influential music in my life comes from movies and computer games. I remember toying with my father’s computer a lot, a Step One PC with 8088 processor. There was a program written in basica that played music. One of the pieces was Francisco Tárrega‘s Recuerdos de la Alhambra. Even with the crude computer beeper I remember being moved by the melody. That was one of the reasons that persuaded me to learn computer programming.
Back in the 80’s there was a show on TV called The Silk Road that had Kitarō‘s Silk Road as the main theme, I loved that.
Then there were all the computer games we played with my friends Amstrad CPC 464. Like Never ending Story, Air Wolf, and of course Elite with Johann Strauss‘s The Blue Danube. The most beloved game music to me is in Origin‘s Ultima VI. I had it on PC and it had the capability to allow me to play the music thru MIDI to my Roland D5.
One of the most influential moments in my youth was watching George Lucas’s THX 1138 from the TV, I can’t remember what age I was but certainly too young. The end theme on that movie is Lalo Schifrin’s version of Bach‘s Matthäus passion (St. Matthew Passion) and I loved it. I still have trouble controlling my emotions when hearing it today. I must say that the version on the sound track CD is not as good as the original, I can’t put my finger on the difference though.
Of course Vangelis‘s Blade Runner main theme is one of the milestones for me. As is John Williams’ music on the original three Star Wars. And Richard Strauss‘s Also Sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spake Zarathustra) on the 2001: A Space Odyssey. Other notable composers include: Sibelius, Bach, especially his organ works, and Tchaikovsky.
Blogasys: What kind of music are you listening these days and what does it make so interesting to you?
ST: I’m not aware of any musical style that contains only bad music. In my view lyrics are not important, to me the melody, harmony and sound is important but words are mostly a necessary evil. I listen to a very broad scale of different kinds of music. The most moving experiences still seem to come from movie and game music. Perhaps because a film and game scores need to convey emotions without words. Though I have to confess I have a soft spot for sexy female voices.
Blogasys: Now let’s talk about your music, are there any projects you have been working on?
ST: I’ve been doing music for some commercials and also have one short film in the list. I had the fortune to get a draft video for the short film, so the work was relatively easy compared to working only with a script. I would love to compose for a movie, but will need more exposure to land a job like that. I have also played in a band for a while, but my enthusiasm lies elsewhere.
Blogasys: What is your current musical project?
ST: Making an independently funded CD of my own. I’m studying mixing and mastering at the moment and that fits the project like a glove. But I think I will have to leave the actual mastering to a professional.
Samu’s studio
Blogasys: Which equipment did you use?
ST: On my previous jobs I had equipment like Alesis Quadrasynth Plus, Ensoniq SQR, E-MU Proteus MPS, Korg Prophecy, Yamaha EX5, RS7000, 01x and i88x and Kawai CA-950. On the software side various versions of Cakewalk and Sonar, plus others.
Today I’m using OASYS 88 (with HD-1, EXs1-3, AL-1, STR-1, LAC-1, MOD-7 engines and the EXb-DI i/o board), Alesis A6 Andromeda, Novation Supernova II ProX, Doepfer A-100 BS2, Sonar 8 Producer, RME FireFace 400 and a pair of Genelec 8040’s with a Tannoy TS-10 active subwoofer.
Blogasys: What do you like about them?
ST: The OASYS has 88 weighted keys, multiple synthesis engines and a 10“ touch screen with a sound quality that blows the competition out of the water.
The A6 Andromeda is my first step in to the analog world and I like it a lot. In analog circuits there is something that feels almost alive. And there is no substitute for knobs, I love knobs. That is why I bought the Doepfer too. And I like to drive audio through them. The real concern is keeping the signal quality on an acceptable level.
My first software was the Personal Composer. It was one of the first serious IBM PC compatible MIDI recording software. It had a horrible written command driven interface but it did its job. Then when I got my hands on the first DOS version of Cakewalk I have not had to look elsewhere. After something like 17 versions Sonar is now a formidable package, and has always been very strong in its MIDI editing capabilities which is the way I work mostly. It also includes its own scripting language, the Cakewalk Application Language, but regrettably it is not very well documented and has not been receiving a lot of attention lately.
What I like about the FireFace 400 is that it is practically invisible and the drivers are solid as a rock. I hate it when something does not work, and the FireFace does an exceptional job of keeping out of my way.
Blogasys: How do you start to compose, is it a sound that inspires you or do you have a melody already in your ear and start then by choosing the right sounds?
ST: I do both but mainly I improvise with sounds that have a feel that fits the project and then usually somewhere on the way a new idea strikes. The sound may need tweaking or I might try other sounds to the recorded midi data. But it is interesting to note that the sound has a lot to do with how I play, it affects me emotionally and my playing style adapts to it subconsciously. I don’t know if others do that but it comes very naturally for me. My current mood also affects the outcome a lot and that is one of the reasons I dislike playing live. I do play melodies in my head all the time and compose traditionally and the results are quite different compared to the improvisation. And of course the two methods can affect each other and the best results come from combining them.
I also try exotic equipment for inspiration, for example the Ergodex DX1 that I built to house a chromatic keyboard. It’s like a stripped down miniature version of the C-Thru Music’s Axis-64.
Samu with Ergodex DX1
There were few obstacles as usual as I had to overcome the 50 key limitation by using duplicate key ID’s and had to write my own software for it. There is no velocity sensitivity or other such goodies but it is still very fun to play, especially with the Yamaha BC-3 breath controller or the Thrustmaster Pro Throttle. The buttons on the sides are from top down “all notes off, sustain, transpose octave up/down/reset and programmable note shift”.
SMT Chromatic DX1
I have also just ordered the half sized Continuum from professor Haken. It should work especially well with the AL-1, STR-1 and MOD-7 EXi’s of the OASYS as they have a pitch bend range of 60 semitones and the engines cope very well with the range. I have very high expectations for the Continuum and I am prepared to spend considerable time learning to play it, which I’m told is not as easy as it might at first seem.
Blogasys: What about your plans to install a 5.1 audio system? Did you experiment with it and do you think there is a market for such mixes in times where people download mp3s?
ST: I have couple of good 5.1 surround music DVD’s and listening to a stereo record afterwards is like closing one eye. The clarity and imaging of the tracks is exceptional. I have read a book about surround mixing and feel that I simply have to give it a try. Also in my view surround sound in movies does not count as the theater format requires several compromises, especially having to tolerate large amount of people and their noises, and the engineers are usually determined to split your ears for the sake of few cheesy effects. Buying three more active studio monitors is going to have an ouch factor but otherwise my system is ready for 5.1. The mp3 downloading audience is going to be happy too as Fraunhofer has released a mp3 surround format with a reported average file size of only 10% larger than stereo.
Blogasys: Let’s come back to the musical instruments. What is your favourite instrument and why?
ST: The OASYS. I could talk about the OASYS for the whole interview and probably drown your readers on the way so I’ll try to be short. The OASYS for me is not the all in one solution that some people perceive it should be. To me it is a very high quality instrument that feels and plays in such way that it gives inspiration. It also is an extremely deep but still very comprehensible synthesizer that gives me ability to create my own aural worlds with the same aforementioned quality. To me there simply is nothing available to parallel the OASYS.
Blogasys: What was the main reason for you to decide for OASYS?
ST: I saw a concept for the OASYS in a technology seminar at Wanha satama in 1995 if I remember correctly. It was like a dream come true only it never came. When the OASYS actually was released ten years later it caught my attention big time. The bad news was that I could not afford it. Two years went by and when I heard that DLX Music Helsinki had one in their show room I could not resist. I went there and played the whole afternoon. When I got home I downloaded the manuals and digged in deep. Next time I went to the store I took my trusted headphones and my newly acquired knowledge with me. The rest is history; I sold a lot of stuff and bought it.
Blogasys: What do you use most and are there parts you rarely use?
ST: The keyboard! And the sound engines, all of them, I program a lot. The sequencer works as a sketch pad really well and is really fast and easy to setup. And the KARMA can be a good source for inspiration. The only thing I seldom use is the hard disk recorder as I work mainly with DAW.
Samu’s OASYS supported by some pedals
Blogasys: What is your favourite Exi and why?
ST: I really like all of them. And I like to combine them. There are these two techniques I discovered where you can route the engines through each other. Inside a combi and inside a single program, and you can for example create controlled feedback loops with nonlinear amplification. It enables really creative and unique effects. For example when I read a technical article about the Karplus-Strong string modeling algorithm, it was possible to test it in the OASYS using these techniques. Another example I would like to mention is one where I used the STR-1 string modeling engine as a comb filter. I made a combi with two layers where I drive the sound of left hand instrument, a metallic synth pad in this case, through the STR-1 that is opened polyphonically by the right hand. Here is an example.
Deep Bell Drone: OASYS
And here’s a link to the Karma-Lab Wiki tutorial I wrote concerning the routing of Exi1 in to EXi2 inside a single program.
Blogasys: Are there any things you miss in OASYS?
ST: I would love a possibility to edit programs inside the combi mode, which would enable several very cool techniques. For instance in detail program editing while the whole combi is sounding would make the tuning of delicate details more easy. My technique of program routing through each other in combi mode would be much easier when I could actually hear what I am doing. And as the built in sequencer is able to record sys-ex messages the whole program editing could be recorded enabling for example a complete program morph.
I’d love an ability to write per program, per combi, and per song notes so I could trash my paper notebooks.
Markers in the sequencer would make dissecting long improvisations a breeze amongst other things.
I have been looking for a stand-alone MIDI recorder that would continuously record everything I play. Too many times have I played something great and been unable to recall it with enough detail. It would be a life saver if OASYS could do that.
Blogasys: Thanks a lot, Samu!
Descriptions of audio demos:
Storyline: All OASYS except one washing machine sound
blogasys: Charlie, could you start by telling us a bit about yourself, how you came to your music and what have you done up to now?
Charlie: In the next couple of weeks I am going to be 40, I’m happily married and the proud father of two children. Music is my favourite hobby. I am a businessman and run a family business that produces building materials.
I’ve been making music since my childhood. As is usual in Austria this began with the recorder. Then classical piano lessons. I didn’t enjoy this for long though. In the afternoons I did sit for hours in front of the piano and played about with chords and lines but practising ‘Elise’ and ‘Alla Turca’ wasn’t really my thing. As I didn’t want to take lessons anymore I managed to persuade my parents to change over to an electric organ. This was more like what I had imagined, and after saving madly, at the age of 16, I could afford my first synthesiser. A brand new Poly 800! I fiddled with it for hours, programmed the step sequencer and proudly showed everybody my acoustic accomplishments.
At this time I collected my first experiences with various school bands. The keyboard park was regularly expanded and eventually I landed in a semi-professional dance band. We were known for our rather unusual stage show, clothes and program and were quite popular. This was also a lot of hard work however and I knew I was going to stop as soon as I had finished my studies. It would never have fitted in with my career in the long run and I also wanted to compose my own songs and not just play somebody else’s.
I programmed and sold sounds for a while, mostly for Rolands D50. Later I completed my education with a few years of jazz piano lessons. I treated myself to a Bösendorfer piano in the 90’s. My views on practising have changed strongly in the meantime.
blogasys: What significance has music for you as a consumer, but more importantly, as a musician.
Charlie: I love music – As listener and as maker! Music touches, moves and inspires. A world without music wouldn’t work. It is an unbelievable feeling when music pours out of you. Sometimes I sit at the piano and it flows out as if on its’ own and I ask myself, ‘Who is actually playing here?’
Or when playing in a band there can be phases which are almost supernatural. One melts into a pulsating body of sound which can be felt by everyone including the audience. Such a condition has a meditative character, the consciousness kicks in when one starts to think about it and the feeling is gone. Music is for me one of the greatest gifts given to man!
blogasys: I know you don’t have a lot of time to make music so how do you fit it all under one hat?
Charlie: That’s a tricky question. It is not only about music versus career but about getting all of one’s life under one hat. The family is just as important, as is a minimum of healthy movement and a balanced body and soul. I have consciously busied myself with this for many years and experience it evolutionarily. One must decide on life’s priorities, set targets and find enough discipline to take on any mistakes. One often fails, not because of one’s own efforts but because of one’s expectations.
blogasys: Which music do you like to listen to and do you have any musical role models? If yes, who and why?
Charlie: Generally I’ve got a pretty wide taste: Jazz, rock, pop, classical, rap, folk, electronic etc.. As long as it is up to a certain quality and it’s not hard work to listen to I’m for it. Of course it depends a lot on the actual mood one is in.
When you mention a role model then you are automatically compared with them. That doesn’t seem at all fitting in my case as my own musical abilities are so low it just wouldn’t work.
But of course there are a few artists who particularly fascinate me. Donald Fagen, Tears for Fears, Judith Owen, Joe Sample, Nils Landgren or The Rippingtons. And in my youth Toto, Level 42, Prince, The Alan Parsons Project and Pink Floyd were my favourites. My latest favourites are ‘Shadow’ from Beady Belle and ‘When it falls’ from Zero 7.
blogasys: Let’s move over to the ‘makers’ side. Can you give us an insight into your working methods and the equipment you use?
Charlie: I’m in to song writing at the moment. After years of instrumental music and my growing discontentment with the usual texts; maybe also a more mature view on life, my palms have been itching to try song writing for years.
I begin with the decision about what I want to write a song about. Then I collect input – from books, internet, personal conversations, notes etc.. until I feel I’ve got the subject pretty clear. Then I decide what should be packed in to the text and write it. About now you realise why many song texts are a bit weak; it can take a while until you have written something that says what you want it to say, fits in to a song and rhymes.
Usually the first ideas for the melody and harmony appear while writing the text. They get tested on the piano or Oasys. Quite often I make up different variations to get a feel for what fits the best. When trying these out on the Oasys I often get my first sound ideas, and I usually start to fit the text in to them; maybe it was too long or short, or a sentence just won’t fit in to my melody etc..
If the melody and harmony are o.k. we can get on with the arranging. That is done on the Oasys. There is a wide range of access possibilities here, from manual playing to full karmatised recordings, where you are just programming pads and bending Karma phrases. With the Oasys you really have everything you need.
Wieder, immer wieder
Das tote Pferd
When the playback is ready I sing the most important audio tracks for my singer. The wav file is then made and the singer gets an mp3 demo for their preparation. Then the right melody is recorded track for track. I like to use the feed back from the singer here and other sounds are tried, lines added in or taken out etc… After a few days break it’s mixed and the final wav/mp3-file is made. I’ve usually heard it so often by now that I’m looking forward to the next song!
The equipment that I actually use is pretty thin: Oasys 88, Genelec Monitore, good AKG-Micro + headphones- I don’t need anything else. Before I worked with a Cubase VST and loads of external equipment. Today I’m happy that the simplified answer that I wished for is possible. The journey here was not always easy, key word, ‘sequencer’.
blogasys: You belong to the not very large group of Oasys users who have taken the time to really use the internal sequencer. What have your experiences been up to now?
Charlie: Short version: laborious start, if you come from a normal DAW – and then somehow everything does work in a pretty relaxed fashion. I’m no professional though and don’t want to say how it compares to all the other sequencers and DAWs. It is perfect for my needs and I enjoy the all-in-one answer. I can do everything that I want during the project. If I get stuck on a special subject then the helpful people in the Korg forum always help me on my way. At this point I would like to thank Mike Conway who shortened my learning process immensely with his pieces.
blogasys: Let us use your latest track ‘love is a verb’ to talk about your work technique in more detail. After you have the text ready and you start with the melody and harmony on the OASYS what exactly do you do?
Charlie: Let me first just say a few things about the song idea and the text. The singer was actually the catalyst here. He said he preferred singing in English to German and as I wanted to try song writing in dialect, ‘proper’ German and English, I wrote an English text. (English is missing in my collection.)
A book from Stephen Covey (famous for his ‘7 habits’) was the inspiration. I liked the idea of putting more emphasis on the active ‘loving’ side of things instead of just the feeling of ‘love’ that you get afterwards. In young relationships this happens intuitively: one pays attention, supports, listens, tries to understand, meets halfway, gives without expecting to receive – in short: one understands and lives love as a verb and gets to know the wonderful feeling of love as the result of ones actions. Some people complain that, over the years, the feeling of love has been lost and don’t see that they are expecting to receive something for which they have not worked for.
blogasys: Well spotted!
Charlie: The chorus harmony and melody were almost finished before I started with the text. They had popped up while I was playing around with the Karo string sounds.
blogasys: Kurt and Ollie will be happy to hear that! (Sorry for interrupting.)
Charlie: It was just the closing chord that hadn’t been finished. The release in E7 was discussed pretty heavily with the singer. In his opinion it sounded as if somebody was trying to release something else…in the end though it stayed as it is, if you listen to it enough you get used to it! The verse touches on a few chorus chords and this melody was consciously tuned deeper so that there was room for enough climax in the chorus. The bridge in the 2nd verse was harmoniously simplified and freed of additions to allow enough room for the choir to build itself up.
When the harmonies and melodies for the verses and chorus were more or less clear, I started with the arrangement. The mood of the song is important here. It is influenced on the one side by the harmony and melody and on the other by the sound. Should it be heavy and opulent, fragile and fine or raw and loud etc..? Even when I have a strong idea as to how I want it to be, I still like to experiment with my song. I used different Lead-Factory-Combis in the sequencer, filled the pads with the chorus chords, turned the Karma on and recorded several versions. This was easy and deepened the feeling for the sound, tempo and mood of the song. The actual sounds that get used are usually different to those in the Combi which often have a certain ’show factor’ built in. I don’t need a show sound, just music for singing! However the mood and tempo become very clear when I do this and it’s fun to produce a chorus in different styles.
Next I arranged the separate parts and recorded them. I usually start with the chorus because it’s usually got the most parts. In other words, lots of instruments and the highest output level in the song. The other parts follow through from here and are more or less steam-lined. I started with the drum track. In ‘Love is a verb’ this was produced first of all with the help of Karma. I listened to the different drum kits in the program browser until I found the right set (I-D052:Nu style kit). This was copied in to the sequencer complete with included effects, and then the Karma-GE was decided. From the 5 effects that are included you usually only need 2-3 of them. After turning the single effects on and off I found out which were which and saved myself I lot of IFXs for other sounds and tracks. The menu command ’drumkit IFX patch’ is very useful here. The Karma-phrase was then bent in to the realtime controls and all appropriate variants were saved separately. And so a rough drum kit for the chorus and other parts evolved. I was surprised how easy it was.
Then the bass was added. I wanted to use the Karma here as well but I couldn’t because my demands were too high. I needed the bass-phrase very near to the rhythm e.g., the same accent for the bass and bass drum. There are many Bass-GEs but until you find one that rhythmically and harmoniously fit the song…..well……this can only be satisfyingly solved through user-GEs in my opinion. Therefore the bass was played by hand. I wanted an acoustic sound as a completion to the modern drum sound that is why I decided on the U-E053: solo NoisY A.Bass.
The chords were up next. Firstly I set up a rhythmical accent with an AL1- sound which uses a stereo delay (I-F096: Uniformity) which only gets attached for the chord changes – the delay does the rest with perfect timing. Originally only a fine line should have been used as a connecting element- also an AL1 sound (U-F080: Aromatherapy) which is pretty good as a motion synth too. You can hear this sound mix quite well in the intro. It turned out later that the chorus in the middle needed more filling to be able to have enough climax to reach the verse. That is why the chorus took on the pad sound from the verse. We used the LAC, a polysix sound (U-D035: Healing pad), that builds up a lovely carpet of sound with an underlying chord. I find most of my sounds by using the category function in the program browser – it is a real blessing for quickly filtering out the potential candidates!
Now to the verse. Every song part gets its’ own song slot with me. I copy all the wanted sound and effect products from the chorus slot in to the verse slot. I do this for every new part, so that I have the pieces that fit together always available, including all Karma modules and pad fillings. At the beginning the verse is extremely spartan – the simplest bass, bass drum, snare and the pad sound allow a lot of room for the climax up to the chorus. 2 further sounds came in to play here: a reduced AL1-Leadsynth (I-F008: ooWEEoo/Vox) for taking the chord apart in the 2nd part of the verse, and a HD1-Bell (I-A015:BrightwaveseqBell) in the 3rd part which also changes the chord when it has more tempo. This, together with the drums, builds the verse up to the chorus and it becomes ‘fuller’.
After I have put everything that has been produced up until now in a song slot, listened to it, and decided that it is good enough, I arrange the rest of the song parts. From the chorus (without pad sound and strongly reduced drums) comes the intro. Instead of a fade-out I wanted an ’outro’. The bass should pick up the discussed E7 chord here, and disappear with a little pitch bend together with the HD1-Bell. Only the bridge between the 2nd and 3rd verses is missing. This should clearly lift up sound wise, from the existing song. So, next to the drums and together with another rhythm, we activated the Bending in the Karma (this was later inverted), the bass stepped on to the other rhythm and a further AL1-sound was added (U-F076: WindSong). This was sent through a ‘Guitar Amp Model + Cabinet effect to get more dirt. A distortion guitar was added- a STR1-sound (U_E037: Dist.Feedback guitar) to support the mood swing. To finish, a further Karma-Scene was used to let the drums go a bit wild in the bridge before the Hihat and AL1 are left alone. Then a short rest before the chorus is filled up with instruments again.
After all the song parts had been put together in another song slot, and a drum fill had been played by hand on all the transitions on a separate midi-spur, I then recorded a rough draft of the volume, equaliser and effects. I can only do a final mix when I have the singing. This leads us to the audio tracks. I am very lucky here to have nice friends who allow themselves to be used as ‘victims’ for my music. None of them are professionals and they don’t have much free time. With a good glass of wine, track upon track is recorded. We rarely need more than 3 takes and we have lots of fun.
Technically it was easy. The ‘Beat list’ is important. I can see immediately which song part starts with which beat. This saves recording time. The volume on the midi-tracks was reduced by 50% so that the audio tracks could be pumped up, to allow the singer to hear the headphones well. A new song slot was made to keep the original mix positions and then in the Multi-Rec-Modus I activated the recording track. The recording level on the back of the Oasys was set (found optically in preference window) and through the Rec/start button I started the recording. I always set the song location at the start of the recording so that I can jump directly there during the takes. By the way, the Oasys saves each take individually, it’s only when you command ‘delete unused Wav-files’ that the excess takes are removed from the HD.
The subjects of upper and backing vocals, effects and mixing are musically more interesting. We are also careful here that the chorus stands out from the rest of the song with more voices, and we also double the lead vocal in the chorus with a 2nd track. Backing voices are only used selectively in the verses. To emphasise single passages or for a bit of change on the one hand, and to build up to the chorus on the other. Apropos, ‘building up’. In the bridge a 5 voice choir builds up. I had to take back the ‘older’ voice so as not to over load the mix. This can be done through the fader automatic which I always record on its’ own midi-track. You just simply put the new midi-track on record, start the recording and pull the controller. It looks cool when the LEDs show the fader movement during play.
After recording the singer decided that a few extra lines would do the song good. There were gaps between the passages in the chorus and the verse. I grabbed this idea and made for a bit of interest with a MOD7 sound and popped a simple line in the 2nd verse (U-C073: The Innocence). A further line (U-C068: Mostly Mellow) was slipped in to the singing gap in the 2nd chorus. The third thing wasn’t so easy. There was already an AL1 sound here that also ended on the seventh of the E-7 closure, I couldn’t mess with this. This chorus line was doubled with a 3. MOD7-sound (U-C062: Rain from Heaven) in the 4th chorus whose pan alignment was put on RND.
Key word Pan alignment: This was decided on in the final mix, together with the volumes and effect sends. I laid the lead vocals in the middle, upper and backing vocals a bit left and right depending on which pan alignment had a synth line. Effects for the sounds were already decided on at the time of the sound choice. I used the two master effects for the vocals (some stereo chorus and O-Verb) but not in the bridge. To make this vocally stronger I used a Bi-Phaser, and for ‘are you ready to do it?’ I used the Guitar Amp + Cabinet which had already worked on the distortion guitar. We laughed ourselves to tears recording this sentence. In my demo it was gently whispered but the singer had other ideas. I found his definitely indefinite interpretation so funny that I happily included it in the final mix. In the meantime it has become our private joke with which we pull each others’ leg.
It was at this point that I was happy we were nearly finished. When I see how many hours work go into a 4 minute song I’m amazed at myself how much patience and motivation I have. Especially when it’s the work of amateurs and not from somebody who has to live from it. However, I find it fun and after a break I like to listen to my compositions.
Love is a verb
blogasys: I don’t want to know how many people work like you on the Oasys. Thank you for the detailed and interesting description of your methods. It reminds me of how little I actually use mine. What appeals to you the most about Oasys?
Charlie: The sound is a dream! I am really grateful to Korg that they have pushed the Oasys concept so far. I can still passionately remember my first contact. So brilliant, deep and then filigree or with unbelievable warmth, not even a touch of distortion…. I still come over all funny!
A further big plus is Karma. It was a completely new world for me and I’m still scratching on the surface of possibilities. I was pretty sceptical at the beginning if Karma could do more than impress others. I was used to playing everything myself track for track. In the meantime I have an idea of the enormous creative potential that sits in Karma. It’s creeping progressively in my compositions and has proven itself as a further source of inspiration.
And finally, the all-in-one concept is the winning punch for me. Even when the sequencer is not the last word in this field, I prefer this variant to none at all. At last no more PC with the cable, interface and driver chaos. I simply want to make music and not become a computer expert who spends hours in forums searching for the answer to an incompatibility problem. And when playing with the internal sounds and Karma it has a clear advantage over any external answers.
blogasys: the logical follow up question……. Where are the potential places for improvement?
Charlie: Before the Cubase VST I worked with the C-lab Notator on Atari Mega ST. It was a colourless mini screen and the hard disk had only 1 MB memory. It was a joy to produce midi recordings on it and it ran so stabile that I used the Mega ST live on stage. Not once did it cause a problem. That was in the 80s. My dream would be to have such a user-interface on the Oasys with a mouse you could plug in through USB and the usual piano roll, song structure bar.
A further wish would be the complete removal of the cancel bugs, although the last update actually worked quite well. Otherwise I can’t think of anything. I don’t want to join in with the usual more! more! Chorus. I know that this machine will cater for my needs for quite a few years.
blogasys: Are you considering any additions to your studio? If so, what?
Charlie: I have ordered a 24’ iMac. The reason is Stephen Kays Karma Oasys software. I wanted to stay PC free in my studio but there is no other way to produce user GEs. Now I can generate bass phrases that fit the drum GEs. Otherwise my set up should remain as slim as possible.
blogasys: Thank you for the interview!
Here are some more audio files recorded by Charlie. Probably not necessary to be mentioned, OASYS only.
blogasys: Now lets talk about your music, are there any projects you have been working on?
EJ2: Sure. Now, many veteran Karma and OASYS users have been patiently waiting for my next collections to hit the stage, especially OASYS users. So, let me first preface what I want to say with a little history of why and how I found myself becoming a 3rd party sound designer for Korg’s KARMA-fied workstations.
Prior to acquiring my Karma, as I previously explained, I had dabbled in sound designing with various synths from various manufacturers. I never stuck with just the presets. I had to “peel back the layers” to see how far I could push whatever piece I was exploring to create new sounds. But, it never occurred to me that I should be offering my work to others. Not until the Karma. So, what happened?
The “Maroon Monster” as I call it was a godsend. Once I “recovered” from the euphoria that accompanied most of Karma’s combis, I started in on my usual explorations in sound development. I found KARMA technology to be a fantastic labyrinth of sonic possibilities. It was both amazingly wonderful but demanding at the same time. Yet, I kept at it – deconstructing the preset combis, reading the manuals, reviewing Stephen’s FAQs, actively participating in Korg Karma Yahoo (the original Karma group), working late into the wee hours of the morning. Now with 3 empty combi banks - C, D, and F (no EXBs), I had plenty of room for my templates. Appreciating that the task of creating new combis is a very intensive daunting process, I was quite surprised when one of the Yahoo members offered a bank of combis for sale. The Karma was still a new groundbreaking synth workstation with an incredible depth to programming it. After all the sweat I had expired just to create a few decent combi templates (never mind polished models), I thought this was quite an accomplishment. Even though I was somewhat leery, I still purchased this collection mostly because the price was right and I was curious. Needless to say, I was very disappointed. The collection was full of reworked presets. However, it taught me a lesson – I could very well do this and I could do it better. That was impetus to start Double EJ Projects (EJ2 for short).
blogasys: .. thanks - I would have asked you for the explanation anyway!
EJ2: Eventually, a renowned 3rd party developer, Paul Osborn, offered a collection of Karma combis while I was working on my own set. Since they were marketed through Stephen Kay’s Karma Lab, I cast all doubt aside and purchased the inspiring set of grooves known as “Chemistry Volume 1”. Now, that was more like it. Paul and Stephen had raised the bar for other 3rd party developers of Karma combis. Incidentally, you can count the number of designers in the entire world for this synth on one hand; and, as far as I am concerned, only a couple can stand Karma Lab’s standards. Paul’s work was and continues to be my aspiration and inspiration, along with another Karma Lab collection, Scott Raposa’s “Reincarnation”. All the other collections paled in comparison. Most of the other 3rd party Karma producers had little or no clue about how to manipulate KARMA technology in my opinion.
My first commercial collection for Karma was called “EDGES”, a 64 combi set of mixed-genre KARMA-fied grooves. I was quite surprised that it was well received, although I know I cornered only a small share of the market. Nevertheless, all the letters, emails, and other feedback I received gave me the motivation to finish my second collection, “TETRA”. I was hooked on KARMA and developing KARMA-fied combis. In due course, I had developed combi collections for EXB MOSS (“Mosster”), EXB 09 (“TRANZFER Complete”), a jazz collection (EJAZZ), a compilation of my best work (ETM) and various spin offs from all of my work and templates. It was a ton of hard work; yet, it was a labour of love. With each new collection I developed, I learned more techniques to bring into my programming. Because of this, I decided to go back to revisit, revise and improve all of my work, not just for the users of those sets, but for future clients.
Now, at about the time I was completing and distributing my updates, rumors were abounding of a new Korg workstation behemoth – the OASYS – and it was loaded with KARMA 2. Oh, no… talk about incipient gear lust. By the time the OASYS was released at the beginning of 2005, I had already accumulated nearly 4 years of programming experience with the red Karma., and you can just imagine the extreme G.A.S. that was percolating through my innards. Needless, to say, I coveted this beast with a passion. It had Korg’s legendary sound designers’ signatures and Stephen Kay’s latest Karma 2 technology. Did these characters listen or what! And, my predictions back then are continuing to be proved today - I knew that this mammoth flagship was destined to grow. So, when Stephen Kay used to taunt us with a Star Trek quote, “Resistance is futile!” I knew I would cave in sooner or later come hell or high water. It was simply a case of finding the funds/credit to put the OASYS into my hands and into my studio. I reasoned that I would eventually recover my debt and I kept repeating to myself, “So why not do it now.”
As opportunity would have it, I was fortunate enough to finally snag my lovely 76 model in March 2006, thanks in part to Eryk Foss of Sweetwater, Jerry Kovarsky, and Stephen Kay in assisting me with getting over a few initial technical issues. Ever since then, my studio chair has dug its deep impression into the cheeks of my ass … LOL … and my wife thinks I have a secret mistress named OASYS.
EJ2: Now, having honed my sound designing skills on the Karma, it wasn’t long before I was navigating OASYS’ KARMA 2 technology and control surface. What a treasure trove of tools. This was exactly what I had been dreaming of. The OASYS is a sound designer’s paradise, at least from my perspective. To be sure, I had a new set of techniques to learn with the new real time control surface, touch screen, and all tabbed layers and menus to be accessed. However, on September 21, 2006, in both Karma Lab Forums and Korg Forums, I announced a “sneak preview” of a small 32 combi collection for OASYS. I dubbed this set, “ECLECTRIC v 1” blending the words “eclectic” and “electric”. The initial reactions from some of my former Karma clients who had migrated to the OASYS and others were very encouraging.
I promised the OASYS community that I wouldn’t be “charging an arm and a leg” for my collections, sticking to my plan of producing high quality, fully KARMA-fied combi sets for the OASYS community at reasonable prices as I had for the Karma. Twenty-six days later on October 17, I released “ECLECTRIC v 1”, as I assured earlier, at the low price of $32 US. By the way, that works out to be about 2 cents an hour for all the time and sweat I put into developing this first collection. But, alluded to above, it’s truly a labour of love for me.
Well, it wasn’t long after I had delivered ECLECTRIC v 1, that people were clamouring for volume 2. Accordingly, from October until February, I set about completing my next installment in the ECLECTRIC series aiming to produce 4 mini volumes to complete the full 128 combi set. I was very close to releasing volume 2, but fate or good fortune had other plans for my work. First let me sincerely apologize to the OASYS community for holding the delivery of ECLECTRIC v 2 in abeyance and explain the reason for doing so. I think a good many of you will concur with my decision when you find out why.
Now, during this time, as was my practice previously with my Karma sets, I had uploaded my OASYS PCGs to our KARMA Guru, Stephen Kay for his perusal. I knew full well that he had incredible demands on his time, especially with all the new updates, EXis, GUIs, online video guides, the up coming M3, not to mention his ongoing development of KARMA technology and accompanying software utilities. Too many characters want a piece of Stephen (I don’t believe he sleeps.). Nevertheless, I took the gamble that he would, in due course, audition my combis, both for the Karma and OASYS. Just as I was making plans to release ECLECTRIC v 2, Stephen contacted me via e-mail. I won’t disclose the contents of his communication. I’ll leave that for Stephen to reveal when he makes an announcement sometime later in October. Be that as it may, I have no idea what prompted Stephen to load up a few of my PCGs and take them for a test run (so to speak), but he did; and, he liked what he heard. Subsequently, I think I’m safe in saying this, Stephen decided to “take me under his wing”. What a golden opportunity! I feel like the Apprentice to the Wizard of KARMA.
So, now you know. My updated, augmented, and extended collection for OASYS continues to undergo “expert” tweaking by the Master. Stephen has been spending about 4-5 hours on each combi, individually tweaking every aspect including the KARMA, Effects assignments, and mix. I’ve heard some of the finished ones, and they truly are reaching the level of the internal voicing, if not higher! However, as time constraints and other obligations dictate, this is being completed in stages because as we all know, Stephen has many important tasks and priorities to attend to. As with anything that comes out of Karma Lab, my collection will not be released for sale until it is damn good and ready. Since Stephen is the executive producer and editor of my new collection, he has the final say when it’s ready to go. And I agree. We still have much work to do.
The OASYS community is going to be pleasantly surprised with the very cool adjustments and modifications being carried out on my new 64 combi collection which will be released under a new name (TBA). This set will be accompanied by a comprehensive and complete User Guide that will include full descriptions of each combi along with diagrams, charts, and tips etc.
To the OASYS community who have been waiting for my next work, thank you all again for your patience. It will eventually get here, but not until it is top shelf à la Karma Lab.
And for the M3 community, there is good news here as well. I will, with Stephen’s guidance and expertise, make an effort to revoice this collection for the M3. In fact, I’ll be going down to Karma Lab in a few weeks for some one-on-one instruction.
To paraphrase Humphrey Bogart (another Canadian), “This looks like the beginning of a beautiful relationship.” which will deliver high quality 3rd party KARMA-fied products to the Korg community.
blogasys: You really made me curious! But beside OASYS what kind of equipment are you currently using?
EJ2: My main equipment is the following
Korg: OASYS 76, M3-M, Karma (with EXB 05 Vintage Archives, EXB09 Trance Attack, EXB MOSS), Legacy Collection (Analog & Digital) + MS 20 Mini Controller.
Roland: JD800, JD990 with Vintage & Techno expansions, Fantom S, V-Synth XT, R8 Rhythm Composer with all the cards, D2 Groove Box.
Kawai: M8000 88 keyboard controller, 1 x midi in, 4 x midi bus out etc.
Digital Music Corp: MX8 midi patchbay/processor.
Alesis: Quadraverb.
BBE: 422 Sonic Maximizer.
BOSS: BR8 digital recorder.
Yamaha: CDR-HD 1000 CDR’CDR-W compact disk recorder with 20 MB hard drive.
Mixer: Roland M240 24 channel line mixer.
Monitors:
2 MAudio Audiophile BX5 near field monitors
Altec 5.1 Surround Sound computer speakers
2.Acoustic Audio HCD-12 large heavy duty stereo system speakers.
Computers
Main Studio: XP with Hyper Threading technology, 2.5 Ghz, 2 MB RAM, 120 GB HD. I stripped this computer of all the excess Microshit and performed the usual Optimization for music.
Mobile: Lenova Centrino Intel Core 2 Duo, T5500 1.66 Ghz, 980 Mhz, 099 GB RAM..
Supporting the computers, the OASYS and M3-M are a 250 GB USB HD, and a variety of USB flash drives from 1 GB to 4 GB, and various Secure Digital cards from 512 MB to 2 GB.
blogasys: Are there any things you would like to see in OASYS in the future?
EJ2: As I posted recently in Korg Forums, Jerry the K pointed out, Korg does listen. So, when it comes to the debate over the pros and cons of dedicating R&D time and effort to improving the sequencer vs delivering new EXi or EXs, I will continue to speak up for those of us who prefer the latter. However, having said that, I do believe it is time to address those concerns about updating and improving OASYS sequencer.
blogasys: sorry for interrupting you, but I have just posted here on the blog exactly the same thoughts.
EJ2: Another area of interest to me is the ubiquitous and cryptic “Function” button. I can very well see this handling the duties of toggling the Bank Structure to incorporate an A and B series thus doubling our program and combi locations. We are out of space already. I know, once we have those filled, we’ll be griping again. It would be nice, but it’s not crucial because I learned to archive, substitute, swap, overwrite, and basically manage my banks way back on the Karma using floppy disks. USB flash drives are a treat by comparison.
Now, in keeping with my thirst for sounds, I’d love to see Korg develop something similar to Roland’s VariPhrase technology to allow for time stretching and “elastic synthesis”. Along with that, a full blown vocal processor similar to the VC-2 card for the V-synth and within the V-Synth XT would probably have me considering a quick eBay transaction to sell my XT.
Whether through EXi or EXs, we really need a host of traditional ethnic/world sounds and rhythms – balalaikas to bagpipes, duduks to shofars, bodhrans to djembes, and don’t forget voices – Gregorian chanting, Arabic trills, Bhuddist growls, First Nations Pow Wow vocals, etc. I might add that I would strongly push for the ability to manipulate ethnic scales individually within each timbre of a combi. Currently, we can only set the scale globally. With my suggestion, you could have that lovely Shanai playing a non-western scale without affecting the other timbres. That would be truly icing on the already fantastic OASYS cake.
blogasys: Let’s come back to your sounds. Can you please give us some insight into your work, what you exactly did, how long it took to design them?
EJ2: Developing “fully KARMA-fied’ combis is a very painstaking, detailed set of processes no matter which route I take – starting from scratch, working from templates, or completely reworking what I have developed. In some cases, it’s a serendipitous exploration as in the case of my LAC-1 combi, “The Dark Side” in other cases, it’s deliberately planned and developed as happened when I designed my free Arabic combi, “Maqam”.
Here are some examples:
000 Catalyst - Synth - 124 bpm
This combi presents a moderately paced ambient techno groove powered by three complimentary drum grooves. The KARMA Scenes provide different combinations of the drum grooves - Scene 1 removes all drums and leaves just the percolating polysix synth as accompaniment, while Scene 8 culminates with a powerful drum breakdown. A cinematic layered choir is provided in the LH area from B4 down, with suboctave bass synth being added from E2 down, while the RH provides a powerful analog synth lead. Striking the lead at high velocity once the drums are running will retrigger the drum goove for interesting accents. The Vector JS provides a further means of mixing between the different modules and the choir.
012 The Dark Side [LAC-1] - LeadSplits - 098 bpm
As the last part of the title suggests, this combi was specifically designed to capitalize on the luscious sounds from Legacy Collection EXi LAC-1. In fact, 9 of the 11 timbres in this combi are LAC-1 programs. These are strategically complimented by the punchy HD-1 Trance Kit drums and a beautiful distorted feedback guitar from EXi-STR-1 which is driven by the versatile Pink Guitar 2 GE reminiscent of some of Chris Isaak’s slower expressive picking. Also, as the title suggests, this combi presents a set of dark and moody riffs and progressions which are artistically altered with the various KARMA Scenes. With KARMA running, pull back on JS-Y to induce a raunchy modulation to the Thick Synth Bass. Touching or sliding left on the ribbon control muffles the drums and bass. This evocative combi easily lends itself to dramatic television or movie sound tracks.
053 Romulan House - Synth - 098 bpm
Just right for your next Star Trek episode, this science fiction sound layers two beautiful slow synth pads for the left hand – Paddylicious and Combination Filters, a really great sound with washing filters ebbing and flowing. Two layered vocal programs supply the mysterious sounding female Romulan chorus in the right hand. Driven by the Simple Euro Bass GE, the 3 Way Scat Voices provide an unusual pulsing vox sound. A standard back beat works a cool FM Bass. With a hiphop GE the house drums kit keeps this combi’s rhythm on track. Tripping through most scenes is an maj/min organ GE operating on a sharp saw lead set to poly setting.
These audio demos are straight combis recorded live into the sequencer, bounced to wav, then rendered to mp3 in my computer. No post production or editing has been done other than the fade out. All sounds are played from the keyboard, chord triggers, and KARMA Scenes live in real time. Nothing more. That’s the beauty of a fully KARMA-fied combi - they’re ready to load into the sequencer, then all you need to do is hit the Stop/Start button and start jamming away.
blogasys: How do you start?
EJ2: For most of my designs, it’s a little of both – I have an idea of what I want to do, but more often than not, I stumble on something quite unique, so I pursue it to completion. Now, I should say that not everything I work on continues to become a published product. A good many templates get stored in the “junk drawer”. Sometimes, I’ll dig out a few to rework them, but in many instances they’re quite buggered to be able to wring out something worthwhile. When that happens, I just delete them and start from scratch.
When I approach building a combi with a particular genre or theme in mind, I call upon my understanding of programs and the GEs I think will best bring out what I’m looking for. By the way, I’ve been building this knowledge base of Korg’s programs and KARMA’s GEs for over 6 years now. Yet, I still manage to discover an unusual way to link a particular sound with an unexpected GE. That comes from a willingness to experiment, even though oft times the progression leads to the “Junk Drawer”.
The beauty of the Karma, OASYS, or M3 is that you can lay out your sounds in any timbre location you want. Often, I will put my synth or orchestral pads in the first three timbres, setting them to Gch and zoned C1 to B3 or B4, depending on where I want my lead voices. Next I will layer my leads in the next two or three timbre slots setting those also to Gch and zoning them C4 or C5 to G9. If I want any additional lead sounds, I may truncate the first set of leads at B7 or B8 and drop the next sounds into the next timbre slots setting these also to Gch and zoning those from C8 and up. But there is no hard rule. You may want the split at an E/F break for example. Now, having said all that, it really doesn’t matter what timbre locations you put these programs in, as long as you assign them to Gch and zone them according to where you wish to play them on the keyboard and/or chord triggers. Often, I may find that I want to add a few more sounds to the pads or leads, so they will get place in the next available timbre slots. And again, I just make sure zoned and pitched accordingly. Next, you need to select an appropriate pitch/octave for each purpose – lower registers for pads, higher registers for leads. This can be done simultaneously when plugging in the timbers or subsequently. Usually, I’ll test them out first before I do anything else. If I haven’t already set the pitch (based on past experience), I’ll make a decision if it is needed. Another trick with layering pads and leads is to slightly detune the corresponding “sibling” timbres against each other for a chorusing effect and spread (left, centre, right) their panning to widen the stereo field.
Before I move on to selecting GE operated voices, I’ll make another decision on whether to set the OSC to “PRG”, “Poly”, “MN”, or “LGT” and under that, “Both”, “OSC 1” or “OSC 2”. If I know that I’m going to be pressed for polyphony as often is the case with a busy combi having more than 8 timbres or one that uses a lower polyphony EXi, I will set many or all my timbres to either OSC 1 or OSC 2. Usually, it’s OSC 1 and, more often than not, there is very little change in the character of the voices. It depends on the results of my preliminary auditions for those timbres. If I wish to assign EQ, IFX and MFX/TFX at this stage, I will. During this phase of programming, I’ll explore other parameters to optimize the sounds – pitch bend, JS modulation, VJS, Ribbon Control, SW 1 & 2 assignments, etc. All of the above can take me a day or two or more.
By far the heaviest programming now follows, where I bring out the planned or discovered KARMA-fied grooves necessary to take my combi where I want it to go. What programs do I need for this and what GEs do I want to drive them? Trust me, there are heaps more decisions to make before selecting and manipulating the next batch of parameters. This is the stage where most OASYS, Karma and M3 users give up. It can be so frustrating if you don’t know what you are doing. And the only way you will really know what you are doing in this regard is to get in there and learn by trial and error and possibly with the assistance of a step by step tutorial on combi creation similar to what Paul Osborn wrote for one of his “Chemistry” combis. Even though it applies to the Karma, I would advise anyone interested in developing his/her own combis to download it from KLF and review it.
Now, listen to me carefully folks. You are not going to learn how to do this by simply reading the manuals or tutorials. You are not going to learn how to develop your own KARMA-fied combis unless and until you make a conscious effort to sit down at your OASYS, open the KARMA tabs and parameters, play around with them, and stick with it till you have something that resembles a combi. BUT, take your time and don’t try to do it all at once. You have to keep at it. How do you think I learned? There were no step by step guides to follow when I first started designing Karma combis. There was no KARMA mentor to walk me through the paces. Struggling through each sitting, I made countless mistakes, but with each failure, there was progress around the corner with my next challenging work session. Is it any wonder why only a handful few have ever made it to the KARMA-fied Combi Creation Club. Be that as it may, please don’t let me shy you away from jumping in and trying your hand. Some of you already have and to good results. For those who have programmed even just one KARMA-fied combi, you know the rewards are amazing. Playing and jamming away with your own creation is euphoric. Actually, there is not one word to describe that feeling, that sense of accomplishment. You have used KARMA technology to create your own manipulable, malleable, mini composition.
I realize there is so much more that I should be explaining for everyone, but it’s probably going to wait for me to write a small tutorial on OASYS Combi Creation to get you started. When I have the time (maybe I should say “if”), I’ll devote one of my projects to doing exactly that. Please don’t wait for that to appear before you explore creating your own OASYS combis. God, even Peter knows how long it took me to get to this blogasys interview completed.
Eric J. Sawyer aka EJ2 is another well known member of the OASYS network and 3rd-party sound designer for Karma, OASYS, M3 and V-Synth. His last collection was ECLECTRIC v1, a fully KARMA-fied set of 32 combis for Korg’s flagship. Let’s see if Eric is working on new sounds for the OASYS…
blogasys: Eric, you know what is coming now as intro – please be so kind and tell us a little bit of yourself.
EJ2: First, thank you, Peter, for the opportunity to share some details about myself and my work. I have really enjoyed reading the interviews published on your blogasys, so I hope my contribution adds more insight and information for our OASYS community.
blogasys: I am sure about that and thanks, Eric!
EJ2: .. compared with most users on KLF or KF, I’m an old fart – 63 years and counting. I’m a Canadian Boomer, eh! I grew up with two other brothers (one older, one younger) in a working class family in the north end of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. We didn’t have a lot of money back then, but my parents made sure we had what was needed to develop into well rounded citizens. One of those supports included music lessons. My dad was an excellent piano player (mostly self taught) and it appears my older brother and I inherited some of his talent. He had an amazing gift to be able to hear a song for the first time, sit down at the piano and crank out his version of it, which was pretty darn good too. I often wish I had half of his ability to play by ear. Unfortunately for my older brother and me, he passed away before he could teach us his techniques and secrets, especially his left hand comping. He was one of the best piano players around. Just the same, as the saying goes, “blood is thicker than water”, so I did acquire a passion for music, especially keyboards and a knack for improvisation and playing by ear.
Now, my older brother was a good piano student. He progressed with a natural affinity and did well in recitals and exams. Later into his young adult years he kept his piano acumen as an avocation while his main livelihood took him elsewhere. This is basically what my dad did as well. Neither dedicated 100 % to a professional career, even though they were more than capable. That’s not to say they didn’t make a few bucks here and there. At 67, my brother is still in demand and he does a solo gig now and then. Now, when he’s visiting me, he seldom ventures into my studio. One time I sat him down at the Karma and within one bar he threw off the headphones declaring, “I can’t handle all that. It’s too much. I’m completely lost with all that shit!” We had a good laugh appreciating where each of our talents shone.
When I first started piano lessons, I did not show a smidgen of disciplined diligence. I hated to practice. I refused to follow proper technique (fingering etc.). And my reading was atrocious. My piano teacher in her frustration with me would scratch deep red pencil marks all over my music books. I was more interested in just farting around experimenting with sounds. Needless to say, my parents took notice and eventually told me that I should quit my lessons because I was making good progress going nowhere. I agreed and, at 10 years old, packed in formal piano lessons – but not music altogether.
A few years later, my innate talents hit a different direction. A buddy across the street received a brand new accordion for his 12th birthday and invited me over to see and hear it. Well, I desperately wanted to strap it on and have a go. At first he was reluctant, but when I reminded him that I had taken a few years of piano lessons, he (and his dad) agreed to let me try to play it. Needless to say, I could; and I fell in love with this instrument. However, my parents were quite unwilling to let me restart my music education. Yet, with much pleading, and only after I showed them I could play my buddy’s accordion, albeit by ear, they conceded. A year later, after fruitful lessons with a rented “Stomach Steinway”, I had my own lovely 128 bass pearlized Scandalli. That was the first beginning of my love relationship with keyboard instruments. For the next three years I built up a decent repertoire of accordion and popular standard songs. One of the latter, in particular was my mom’s favorite – the “Theme from Mr. Lucky”. In addition, my inherited talent for playing by ear kicked in, especially when I was messing around pumping out blues, boogie, and zydeco styles on my “squeeze box”.
To tie in a little more about my musical background, I should mention that during my high school years, I played drums in our school’s jazz band – by ear, no reading nor training whatsoever. I just picked it up by listening and playing along to LP records of standard big band jazz tunes – Woodchoppers Ball, for example. All the other band members were enrolled in the school’s music classes, except for me. However, I fit in perfectly. Now, back in the 60’s, when school stage bands were rare, we were in high demand for private and public shows. We got to be quite good. Believe it or not Eugene Levy (American Pie fame) was one of the saxophonists in the group. This stint definitely had an impact on my grasp of rhythm and how it fit in with melody.
There’s more, however. In addition to “playing the traps” in high school, I was also, the lead trumpeter in a marching band for our local Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron. Again, I was self-taught and played by ear. Nevertheless, my success in Air Cadets went beyond the band. One of my honors resulted in an International Exchange to Great Britain when I was 18 years of age. So, why should I mention this? Well, having a natural “itch” to play music and without my trusty accordion along, all those pianos readily available in many of the pubs and mess halls that we visited, lured me back to those 88s with a new perspective and a new desire to really connect with keyboards. When I returned home, I followed my “old man’s” steps and started playing by ear - mostly the rock ‘n’ roll crap of the era in a few local groups.
It wasn’t long after my return, my father died. I met a girl, got married and started a family. Since then, I made sure of one thing - I always had musical instruments in the house, especially a piano, an accordion and, eventually other keyboards.
blogasys: How did you start making music and which electronic instrument was the first you played?
EJ2: This question segues nicely into what happened next. During the early years of my first marriage, I had a host of different jobs – grocery clerk, steel worker, insurance salesman, butcher, railroad trainman/conductor, and military drill instructor, believe it or not. I finally decided, with my then wife’s support, that I had enough of jumping from one job to another and that it would be best to return to school to commence degree studies and establish a real career in education. We knew that this decision would put a strain on family finances. So, she started full time work, while I worked shifts after classes; but to help pay the bills and university fees, we took in boarders. Before I explain how this led to my beginnings in electronic music. I should explain a few more interesting facts.
Having a penchant for playing around with sounds had me trying all kinds of experiments with my music instruments and found material. Before I even knew what the technique was called, I was investigating the “prepared keyboard”. I fooled around with thumb tacks in the hammers of my piano. It was an old Nordheimer, so I wasn’t worried about ruining it. Another trick (amongst my many experiments) was to put wax paper or aluminum foil behind the dampers. I even used drum sticks, guitar picks, large rubber bands, railway spikes – you name it - on detuned strings while depressing the sustain pedal. All the while, I was recording the results on an old “wire” recorder (http://www.videointerchange.com/wire_recorder1.htm). My next stunt was to play back my experiments from the wire recorder, improvise on whatever instruments or found sounds I wanted to integrated, and then recorded all that on another tape recorder. I even learned how to press on the outside of the wire recorders transports without realizing that I was engaged in what came to be known as “flanging”. I tried other techniques for distorting and modifying the sounds. Primitive yes! But, even by today’s standards, I had some really interesting “stuff” happening. Sadly, all that material has been long lost. Yet, little did I know that a decade or so later, the world of electronic music would explode for me with the advent of synthesizers, drum machines and multi track recorders.
Now, the reason I mentioned the renters in the previous paragraph was because they were decent musicians who discovered I could play keyboards. They introduced me to my very first electronic organ. To be precise, it was a beat up Vox Continental they had rented and brought back to the house to see if I could play it. I could and I did, so I decided to buy my own Yamaha YC-10.
That was tons of fun trying to play Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water” (amongst other material) with that thing. We named ourselves “The Propellers” after the old one I had from my air cadet days hanging in the basement practice area. That chewed up prop accompanied us on all our gigs. Eventually, the band broke up and the musician boarders departed in their own directions. Nevertheless, my “Propellers” encounters made electronic keyboards a major part of my life forever.
blogasys: Why did you decide to use synthesizers for making music? What do you like about them?
EJ2: Well, it wasn’t long after my first wife and I divorced that I and two of my sons went on our own, and to keep busy with “healthy” distractions, I started frequenting music stores in some of my spare time. Basically, I was on the hunt for a cheap portable Hammond – a tough order indeed. At that time, I was desperately lusting for the sounds of the likes of Rod Argent (Argent), Tony Banks (Genesis), Jerry Corbetta (Sugar Loaf), Keith Emerson (ELP), Matthew Fischer (Whiter Shade of Pale), Jimmy Greenspoon (Three Dog Night), Jon Lord (Deep Purple), Gregg Rolie (Santana), Jimmy Smith (Jimmy Smith fame), Thjis van Leer (Focus), Rick Wakeman (Yes), Rick Wright (Pink Floyd), Steve Winwood (Traffic), et al. Be that as ambitious as it may, I came to concentrate my excursions at one store in particular - Lakeshore Music in Mississauga, Ontario (an up and coming urban area outside of Toronto). It wasn’t long before a very productive collegial relationship was established with the owner (Wally) and staff (John). They were in my age class (early 30’s then), held similar musical propensities, and they were very accomplished musicians who were eager to share their knowledge and the latest equipment around or soon to be around. They knew what they were talking about and they shared it freely in a friendly and helpful manner without the hype or misinformed bullshit you get today. [Just as an aside, I find it shameful that most current music store keyboard departments (and I’ve been to a few across North America) are staffed with idiots who haven’t a clue.]
blogasys: Yes, the days when you could have a good discussion are over….
Now, back to the store that introduced me to the synthesizer: One Saturday morning, I came across a keyboard that looked like a small chord organ (not what I was in the market for). It had knobs and wheels and it bore a strange name – Moog. “Turn it on and give it a whirl.” Wally insisted. After three notes, that was it. I was hooked. Though I did complain, “I can’t seem to play any chords on this thing.” He laughed and suggested I was a bit ahead of my time with that comment. “It’s a synthesizer!” he explained, “But, take a look at these.” He then showed me a Roland, a Yamaha, and a Korg - all (but Yamaha) new names to me as well, and yes, all monophonic. When I questioned why these companies couldn’t put out a keyboard that could play chords, we bantered around the concept of “polyphony”. He then told me to wait a few months because he was bringing in something from Roland that just might be up my alley. Each week passed by while I explored the mono-creatures now sucking me into the world of electronic music. Finally, that fine day and the beast arrived. It was a Juno 6 and, with the exception of 6 voice limitation, I was soon in sonic heaven. Without a blink of the eye, I wrote out a cheque, took this baby home, and the rest is history, as the saying goes.
I absolutely loved messing around with this synth because it augmented my penchant for sonic experimentation. I didn’t just restrict myself to the suggested settings from the diagrams and schemes in the manual. I went whole hog and before long, I had a brand new vocabulary - cut-off frequency, modulation, LFOs (low frequency oscillators), VCFs (voltage controlled filters), VCOs (voltage controlled oscillators), Arpeggiator, ENV (envelopes), ADSR (attack, decay, sustain, release), effects etc. The Juno 6 was a great synthesizer to cut my teeth on. Without a doubt, this was the genesis of EJ2. To be sure, though, it’s been a long evolutionary progression to where I am today.
blogasys: Who are your favorite musicians, groups, or sound designers you think influenced you?
EJ2: Well, it’s a long list that includes those already mentioned above and giants from the past as well as more contemporary artists and sound designers, but I’ll limit it to the following. J.S. Bach, G. F. Handel, D. Scarlatti, Palestrina, Paganini, Vivaldi, Haydn, Mozart, Salieri, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Weber, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Prokefiev, Mussorsky, Liszt, Wagner, Dvorák, Sibilieus, Satie, Debussy, Camille Saint Saens, Bizet, Berlioz, Bartok, Ravel, Scriabin, Gustaf Holtz, Edvard Grieg, Pucinni, Elgar, Benjamin Britten, Paul Dukas, Mahler, Copeland, Gershwin, Ives, Stravinsky, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers, Leonard Bernstein, John Williams, Andrew Lloyd Weber, Burt Bacharach, Stephen Sondheim, Frank Loesser, Steely Dan, Spyro Gyra, Weather Report, Miles Davis, Dave Brubek, Joni Mitchel, Kate Bush, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, Yes, Focus, Keith Emerson, Jam n Lewis, Steppenwolf, Tod Rundgren, Gordon Lightfoot, Loverboy, Red Rider, Gino & Joe Vanelli, Jeff Healy, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Beck, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton, W.C. Handy, Bo Diddly, Fats Waller, Fats Domino, John Lee Hooker, BB King, Taj Mahal, Muddy Waters, Carlos Santana, Jimi Hendrix, Ravi Shankar, J. L. Ponty, J.M. Jarre, John Cage, Philip Glass, Morton Subotnick, Wendy Carlos, Glenn Gould, Samuel Barber, Larry Fast, Andre Previn, Thomas Dolby, S. Ciani, Vangelis, Brian Eno, Enya, S. Vega, Kraftwerk, Klaus Schulze, Kitaro, Tomito, Mike Oldfield, Alan Parsons, Tangerine Dream, the Beatles, the Who, the Guess Who, Supertramp, Mahavishnu, Rush, Kim Mitchell, Jethro Tull, Saga, Ray Manzarek (Doors), Billy Preston, Deep Purple, Tears for Fears, Moody Blues, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Joe Zawinul, Jan Hammer, Dream Theatre, Crystal Method, Paul Oakenfold, William Orbit, BT (Brian Transeau), Rob Papen, Tim Conrady, Ned Bouhalassa, Eric Persing, Paul Haslinger, Maarten Spruijt, Marc Schlaile, Zon Vern Pyles, Dan Lind, Jordan Rudess, John Bowen, Steve McNally, John “Skippy” Lehmkuhl, Peter “Ski” Schwartz, Dan Phillips, Jack Hotop, Paul Osborn, Stephen Kay …
I guess I got a bit carried away…..
blogasys: … and I guess this is a prove that you really love music!
EJ2: … man, there are so many more who have had an impact on where I am today. I know I’ve left out a few. As you can see, those influences range from medieval to baroque to classical, from impressionist, to post modern, from blues to experimental, from contemporary to ancient patterns/scales, from middle eastern, oriental, aboriginal music to cinematic sound tracks. I’m all over the music map.
In Part II of Eric’s interview he will tell us more about his music, the equipment he is using and focus on OASYS and the sounds he has designed. Eric will mention one or two words about KARMA and give an insight in his sound design work - so watch this space!
You want to listen to some audio demos already?
Ok. Then please click here to listen to some Combinations of Eric’s ECLECTRIC v1 Collection.
James Tubbritt known as Sharp to the Korg user community, together with Daz owns http://www.korgforums.com/.
A very helpful platform for OASYANs and those on the way to become one.
blogasys: Sharp, please be so kind and tell us a little bit about yourself.
Sharp: I’m 31 years old, Irish and married to a beautiful girl called Christine. I’m also a proud Dad to two little angels aged 7 months and 4 years, (Lana & Faye). I live just outside Waterford City here in Ireland, also known as the sunny south east which is kind of funny really since it rains here all the time. My hobbies are music (obviously), photography, 3D Art, and I love a good movie. I went to School here in Waterford at Mount Sion Christian bothers. I’m a qualified Sheet Metal engineer, with C&C Programming, Radian & CAD. Which I’ve used in places like the Aerospace Industry where I made Jet Engines and also worked as a Lab Technician. So if you ever need your car pimped, I can slap a Jet Engine on the back :-).
Now days I’m living sort of a double life I guess due to the fact that I found it difficult to keep IA-Studio open in the day and support a family. So for the moment I decided to hold off on the full time studio work until I build up a bigger client base. So I run IA-Studio recording bands at night, while also sequecning music for clients, and designing sounds. Also not forgetting KORG Forums as I obviously spend a lot of time online. During the day, I’m a Quality Manager in a soft drinks company where I manage the quality control department. It’s an interesting job as I get to do a lot of data base design, and I also get to use my programming to automate a lot of processes as well as deal with my Staff and keep them busy.
blogasys: How did you start making music and have you been muscilly educated?
Sharp: It’s actually kind of strange really because I clearly remember the day I got started. I was 4 years old and in my first year of school. It was sports day and the team I was on won the tug-of-war game. The prize was a plastic whistle full of chewing gum. Certainly not something you would give a 4 year old now days, but back then it wasn’t a bad thing. Anyway, after eating all the gum, I realised that I could play anything I wanted to on the whistle. Didn’t have to try, I could just do it. So that’s how I got started. My Parents where kind of freaked out by it because I would play along with the Radio or TV in real-time.
When I reached 7 years old, I guess that’s when my music training started as the school I was in had a brass band. I joined up and they thought me how to read and write music there, as well as play all the different instruments. I started off on Cornet, and over the years worked my way up to Bass Trombone where I stayed on that until I left School.
blogasys: Which musician influenced you most and who are you favourite musicians?
Sharp: I’d say that Enya has influenced me the most by far. She just has such an amazing sound, and her minimal approach to musical perfection is a lesson in itself. There is so much to be learned from her, especially in songs like Storms in Africa and Watermark. Watermark easily being my favourite song by her.
As for who would be my favourite musicians.
Enya, Jarre, and Neil from the Pet Shop Boys. The songs “Left to my own devices” and “I’m not scared” are both an education in music themselves. Extremely complex.
blogasys: What kind of music are you listening these days and why?
Sharp: Madonna, the live confessions tour. Christine purchased the Audio CD/ DVD pack for me and after watching the concert. I just can’t stop listening to the audio CD lately. Come to think of it, that’s all I’ve been listening to for the last 4 weeks. She did a version of “Music” with a 70’s style disco feel to it which was really great.
I also like Modonna as I feel there is a lot you can learn from her bass lines, and chord sequences. The song “Sorry” being a good example.
blogasys: Now lets talk about your music, are there any projects you have been working on?
Sharp: There’s actually quite a lot on at the moment. I currently have 2 original bands booked in, 3 solo singers that I will have to sequence backing tracks for, and I’m working on a musical. Not to mention my own projects. I’m in the final stages of finishing my own CD.
blogasys: what inspired you to make your own CD?
Sharp: What inspired me to start writing music for this CD was a mixture of things. The most important to me was the fact that I had spent so much of my life working on music for someone else, I had little to show of my true self. When working for others, I try create what they describe, so I never really look upon anything I write for clients as “me”.
I also had an idea of “One Song A Month” in mind by where I would get a number of people on KORG Forums to sign up to a year long contract, by where we would all agreed to write a one song a month (find the link at the end of this interview). The idea being, we could give each other the support to actually make it to the end, and give advice as we went through the process.
A year is a long time, and 12 songs for many is an almost uninamaginable tasks. So as a groupe, things where easier, and overall it brought somthing very good to the KORG comunity.
The title track of my CD “Leanbh Mo Chroi” was written for KORG. I was one of the sound designer who worked for KORG on the Triton Extreme, so I used the Prototype Triton Extreme to write this song as a demo tune for KORG. The orignal version can still be found on www.korg.com. The rest of the tracks where basically just inspired by how I felt at the time of writing the tracks. So it’s all me.
Find a link to Sharp’s website “irishacts” at the end of this interview or under “links” “OASYS user websites”. All tracks of his CD “Leanbh Mo Chroi” can be heard and downloaded for free. For now two examples of his work:
Aoibhinn
Leanbh Mo Chroi - Child of my Heart
blogasys: What is your current musical project?
Sharp: Right now I’m running out of time, so I’ve had to focus all my attention on a musical I have been working on. This has been an ongoing project that has started to get very serious now as my client has received full financial backing from a company. I’m afraid I can’t go into all the details, but basically it’s very likely that the act will reach the stage in England, and I will get to hear a full orchestra play what I sequenced. So I’m looking forward to that. I’m also enjoying the fact that I get to use my roots from my background in the Brass band world I grew up with to score sheet music for my client.
blogasys: what kind of equipment are you using and why did you decide for it?
Sharp: It took me a long time to realise this, but less is more. So I’ve spent a lot of time downsizing my studio setup to 100% usable gear. So basically the following items where chosen because each one brings something different to the mix. Each in their own right unique and very flexible.
KORG OASYS 88
KORG Triton Studio fully loaded.
KORG Wavestation SR
AKAI S50000
KORG Pa1Xpro
Yamaha Tyros 2
Yamaha QY700
Yamaha VL70m
Yamaha WX-5
Sequential Circuits Pro One
A real Trumpet and Guitar.
2 Computers.
Tascam SX-1
Yamaha 01V
TC Helicon Voice Prism Plus.
4 Behringer 9024’s
2X Behringer 2032
2X Mackie HD824
4X Celestion 15″ Road Series
2X Celestion SR1
2X Celestion SR3
I have 1 Rode NT2-A Mic, and this is the main Mic that gets the most use. Excellent value for money, but truthfully, that’s not why I bought it. The day I was shopping, I had 1500 Euro in my pocket to lay down on a single Mic. The music store I went to had a fantastic selection too, but no matter what I tried, I found myself comparing everything to the NT2. In the end I just bought it.
Not being one who cares what “name” is on a Mic or anything for that matter. I also bought 2 T.BONE SCT1100 mics, and 4 T.BONE SC600. Dirty cheap, but holy molly do they sound expensive. I was extremly happy with that purchase, and I’m not ashamed to even mention the fact that I like them considering how little they do cost.
I also have 10 SM-58, and 2 EV Mics (can’t remember the model number), for general usage like drums, and so on. Nothing special here, just good old reliable Mics you can hop off a wall and they will work like new. Vocal are processed through the TC-Helicon Voice Prism Plus, and powered by the Pre-Amps in my Tascam SX-1.
blogasys: what was the reason for you to purchase OASYS?
Sharp: I could make a long list of things, but basically I was starting to become very unhappy with my Triton Studio as I was driving every system flat out, and still not getting the results I wanted. I would quickly run out of effects, and since my sounds are based around my own samples. I found myself waiting a lot of the time for the Triton to load sounds.
Where now, the OASYS loads hundreds of MB in seconds, I have 16 HDR tracks and a huge IFX engine. Karma v2 is also seriously impressive. It’s only when you sit down and really dig in do you get a good feel for what can be achieved with your own music.
blogasys: are there any things you would like to see in OASYS in the near future?
Sharp: Probably the most important one for me would be streaming of samples direct form the hard disk, just like Gigastudio, and with full support of Giga file formats. With so many wonderful sample libraries becoming available, and the almost death of AKAI S3000 format. It seems a shame that such a state of the art workstaiton like OASYS does not support any modern day formats.
After that, I’d like to see the Sequencer getting that well overdue makeover. For someone like me who has since the days of the M1 being sequencing on nothing other than KORG sequencers. I work extremely quickly with the on-board sequencer, however, because of this, I’m also left well out of the loop on what software sequencers have to offer. Which is a lot. It would be nice to see some of those advanced features finding their way into OASYS.
blogasys: you are programming sounds which are available online - can you tell us a little bit about forthcoming OASYS sounds?
Sharp: Yeah, I’m deep in development of a new sample library that when finished will be many times the size of anything I’ve previously released before. With so much sample memory now being available compared to a Triton Series workstation, I now have the opportunity to take a title like Vocal Assault much further and greatly expand on the number of human voice sounds, as well as expanding all this into many new area’s where Vocal Assault could not go.
So, while Vocal Assault was primarily a library based around the human voice. This new library will go much further. This is something I’m very excited about. My heart is in the right place too for this project because I’m not worried about the development costs, which so far have been great. I’m doing this to prove to myself at this point that I can. So when completed, this will be “ME” and my best work. I want it to be like this because due to the limited compatibility of KORG’s PCG file format with their other workstation coming out as this could very well be the last large scale project I complete. It just makes more sense to develop sounds on a much smaller scale and sell them individually rather than developing expensive complete libraries.
blogasys: What was the reason for you to start with korgforums.com and are there any things that are exceeding your positive and negative expectations?
Sharp: Ok, this is going to be a long one. An interesting one, and no doubt a trip down memory lane for all of our Advanced members. The people who have been with us from the beginning.
There is a LOT of history here, so lets go back to the very beginning. A time when I didn’t even know Daz, and there was no real on-line home for a KORG community.
Like any good story starts. A long long time ago in a galaxy far away, whoops I mean server, not galaxy, started a low-tech forum called Tritonica where many of the advanced members of the KORG Forums of today first meet and became friends. This little community was popular and eventually as the number grew, so did the need for a proper forum. Two guys got together and setup a place called Triton Central (TC). Which was very successful in it’s day and eventually grew into a large community.
Like all good stories, you have your good and your bad. And in this case there where a few members of the TC forum who would argue with anyone, and pretty much just spend all their time stirring up as much trouble as possible. Eventually this started spill out all over the forum and sadly the quality of the content greatly dropped due to the advanced members being put off actually helping people. Unbelievably, due to what seemed to be forum policy, this was allowed to continue.
I was probably one of the most active members on the forum, and even I started to lose all faith and less inclined in supporting the community.
In the real world, I was getting ready to build a recording studio here in Ireland, and I had a lot of plans, so I setup a website called Irish Acts Recording Studio www.irishacts.com . I used this portal to host a very large download section, and even back in the day, it was the largest KORG related download section there was. This coexisted along side TC, and was at the time never in conflict.
But then, I wanted to get a very basic forum working, if that’s what you would even call it by today’s standards because I was getting annoyed by the argunig on TC, and I had my own ideas on how things should be run. But there where CGI Script problems I couldn’t figure out (not my thing) at the time as so I posted a message into a KORG Yahoo group looking for help.
And a guy called Daz “the one and only, now my partner in crime :-)” replied and offered to help. So, we got talking and hit it off straight away. We had so much in coming it was scary, and so I handed over access to IA (Irish Acts) to him to take a look at the problem. Daz then just blinked (the wizard that he is with this kind of thing) and sorted everything out. And so the first basic forum was operational.
While the download section was a roaring success and doing well, the forum was so basic that Daz made a few suggestions, and eventually installed our first proper forum. YaBB !!.
The timing couldn’t have been better either.
This is technically the start of it all, the big bang, the beginning, the birth of IA’s KORG community. Because of how well Daz and I hit it off, and our idea’s on how things should be run, added to the fact that there was serious unrest over on TC. IA started to grow quickly and get a name as a forum where people could find respect as well as advanced technical support. Because of the respect and the way things where run, the community has always been very close, and at this time of it’s development, it grew at an unbelievable rate as word spread.
Still, it wasn’t plain sailing. Success = demands on resources, and considering the limited resources of a community that is run free from advertisements, and I was just paying the bill for out of my own pocket. It wasn’t too long before IA outgrew it’s home. This was to happen twice more before one of the most threatening incidents would come along that would threaten the existence of our community.
Which was our HOST who pretty much took all the hosting fees, pulled the plug and did a runner with over 1 million USD in fees from all it’s clients.
Not to let something as detrimental as this get us down, we decided to turn this around and make a good thing out of this. The IA community was huge, but for the future development of the forum, we felt that the name IA was preventing it from being all it could. Bearing in mind that IA is my Stuido’s name, and the KORG community was created more out of a need of the people and the way we ran things. We decided that it was now time to make the move an take the KORG community out from the protection of the IA name and give it it’s own name. Sort of bring it all to the next level so to speak. And so we agreed on a name and KORG Forums was born.
As always, Daz is the technical admin. He’s the one that keeps the entire community on-line and deals with all the technical issues, which is an insane amount of work. Popularity of a community brings unwanted attention from spam bots for starters. But someone does have to pay the bills. This is kind of my area since I’ve been the one doing this out of my pocket up untill now, as well as having a backseat and been a public face to IA / KF where Daz does all the real work
As so because of the new costs, and the size of the comunity, this is where the true spirit of the community comes in. It’s with great pleasure I can say that KF is still advertisement free, and now supported entirely by the members of the forum through a donation button we added for a few weeks upon the launch of the KORG Forums name. A button that only needs to return once every few years, and I’m sure will be supported long into the future as we continue grow as a community.
Was it all worth it ?
Yeah baby. KF has a life of it’s own and will continue to grow no matter what the future holds. Unless the earth is hit by a big asteroid that is
blogasys: Arend, can you please tell us a little bit about yourself?
AG: I was born in 1963 and living in a small village in the Netherlands. From when I was 15 I lived three years in a boarding school, the International School Beverweerd. After that I had plans to make my living as a musician, a drummer, but my education on the conservatory as a drummer didn´t work out. So I started working as professional caregiver at the Amerberg, a home for youngsters with behavioral problems and victims of child abuse and neglect. Since then I worked in the child care and professional child custody. At the moment I am working in the Psycho trauma centre for children and their parents at the university medical centre of Utrecht. I am also teaching students.
Music has always be my number one hobby. I was raised in a musical family, family members are classical schooled, no pop, rock or jazz at my parents place. My brother is one of the directors working as a professional balance engineer for classical productions at Polyhymnia http://www.polyhymnia.com/. My sister is a classical pianist and she is a music teacher and a singer. My father was a film director. I had a will of my own and …and started to play drums when I was about 12.
blogasys: You are a member of musicalgroup “De Amerberg” - what kind of music are you playing and can you tell us a bit about the group?
AG: We, started the group with the chief of the Amerberg, Jan van Dijkhuizen (find link at the end of this interview). We did music and theatre productions with members of the staff and the boys and girls who lived there. We did a project for Christmas called the Christmas Story in the early ninties. The music I wrote was entirely done with the 01/Wfd using the internal sequencer.
Later on, about ten years ago more people from outside joined the group. We started with rearranging the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar in 1994 and performed it in several theatres in 1996. I recorded everything again in the sequencer of the 01/W, it was a hell of a job. I choose that way of working because I could carry my instrument with me to different places. Later we arranged “Hair” and performed it in 2002. I used again the 01 and the Roland jv 2080, all in the internal sequencer.
Hair performed in 2002
In 2003 we started with musical Joseph and the Amazing Colour Dreamcoat also from Loyd and Webber. We performed it in 2005 and 2006. It was an old dream because I firstly performed that musical at Beverweerd on the drums. I had changed the 01/w for the Karma music workstation. And the red beast was fantastic. Although I was arranging existed music I could still use Karma GEs. What a wonderful experience. And I did the whole project again in the internal sequencer together with the Roland 2080.
It was a success and the art director, Jan wanted to make a so called “musical all in” night with songs from all kind of musicals, the ones we played and a lot more. We decided that he uses orchestral tapes for this project, because doing about 40 songs arranging in the sequencer would have cost me at least another two or three years.
Working the way I did the past years was like taken music lessons. I had to listen carefully what happened in all those different musicals and tracks. I didn´t use writing music sheets, I found everything out listening by ear. It forced me to study music I would never play myself when I am playing for fun. And off course I learned a lot about using the different synthesizers.
The group is still rehearsing and is giving some small concerts. Planning to perform with this project in 2008 in the theatre. I am not involved in this latest project. Times for rearranging existed stuff is over…. I felt like composing and writing my own peaces of music again.
blogasys: Is there any project you are currently working on?
AG: As I mentioned, I am composing for a new music project which lies far ahead of us. There is a story and a script but it is all in an early stadium. The story is about a old Dutch legend with all the elements from early fairytales. The struggle between good and bad, betrayal, love and evil, wizards, kings and knights etc. The musicalgroup is rehearsing the “musical all in” and I am writing and exploring the oasys, editing sounds etc. Writing the music is my department, lyrics, singing and the art direction etc is mainly taken care off by others. Composing the music is what I am concentrated on. The starting point differs. Sometimes I start with a combi with karma running. At the end I change sounds and arrangements. But I quite often start with playing the piano sound. That´s why I am glad I bought the 88. I am also exploring the Oasys and practicing. I am not a good piano player, I teaches it myself. And I had to get used to the weighted keys of the Oasys 88 after playing years with light synth keys and light touch of the digital Roland piano HP2000. But I am learning and making progress. Here are some audio examples, rough ideas…
Scene 1
Scene 2
Scene 3
Scene 4
Scene 5
After I have created enough rough material, we will start polishing, editing and mastering. But maybe some of my songs will go their own way, film scoring is also a thing I am dreaming of.
Making music for me can be a form of total relaxing, sometimes a kind of meditation. Totally gone from my daily life with all the traumas and painful situations.
Joseph and the Amazing Colour Dreamcoat performed in 2005 and 2006
blogasys: How did you start making music and are keyboards you main instruments?
AG: My older sister was playing classical piano from early childhood. I didn´t like playing the piano back then. There was always classical music at my home. Lots of Mozart, Bach and Beethoven. I couldn´t appreciate it at that time, although I love it right now. I started playing the drums after a few years hitting with pens and pencils at the tables playing along with records. Started with the beatles and all kind of rock and roll. Then my parents gave me a drum set and I took drum lessons. My drum teacher learned me all kind of jazz and jazz rock techniques. I took about 7 years of lessons. At the boarding school I started playing guitar, took some lessons and I also started playing a bit of piano. Later on after I failed at the conservatory (jazz) with the drums, (to little playing experience in different bands),I stopped playing when I moved to a apartment, it was to noisy. As an alternative I bought a Fender Rhodes piano, a mark 1, 76 keys. Although I loved the Rhodes sound, the piano didn´t sound as nice as the older suitcase version of my drum teacher. Later on, in 1986, I sold the Rhodes piano and bought the Roland HP 2000, the one with the SA synthese. I was impressed by the (famous) electric piano 1 and piano 3 which you can hear on many (Elton John) records. I never heard such a electric piano again. Then I bought a Roland MKS-50 which I sold not long after buying. Didn´t like it that much.
My true encounter with synths was with the Korg T3. What a beauty that was. Later I sold it and bought the korg 01/W, which I really liked because of its warm sounds, especially the string sounds. I used it with the HP2000. I didn´t like the feeling of the key bed of the Roland. I expanded my little setup with the Roland JV2080 with 8 boards in it. I had mixed feelings about it. It had lots of beautiful sounds and a user friendly layout, but I always felt the sounds were a bit thin and cold compared to the Korg sounds. Pure subjective I am aware of. And then I purchased the Korg KARMA and I was overwhelmed by the innovations since the 01/W. I loved the KARMA function. The sounds were fantastic too, although I missed some of my sounds of the 01/W. And then the Oasys came out……
blogasys: Which music and musicians did influence you most and why?
AG: I think listening to a lot of classical music in my childhood which had influenced me. When I was about 11 or 12 I discovered the Beatles. Later on I became a big fan of Queen. It started with Bohemian Rhapsody. I went to concerts of them and I loved there shows. Back then they wrote on their albums, they didn´t use synthesizers! Later on I liked some great bands and artists of the seventies and eighties, like Pink Floyd, Supertramp, Billy Joel, Genesis and Peter Gabriel, Alan Parsons, the Police and Gino Vanelli, Santana, Stevie Wonder, Randy Newman. As a rock band I loved Styx and Boston. And lots of Jazz music. I am not complete.
blogasys: What kind of music do you here today?
AG: I am still hanging in the early ages…. I am a big fan of Sting. I also listen to Radiohead, Muse, Norah Jones, Diana Krall, the Brian Setzer Orchestra. Lots of Jazz. I never had much with the house, techno and dance scene. But I discovered Bjork, Goldfrapp, and Boards of Canada I think they are very good. And nowadays I listen a lot to classical music. Especially Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Brahms and I am really into all the symphonies of Mahler, they are fantastic.
Joseph and the Amazing Colour Dreamcoat performed in 2005 and 2006
blogasys: Can you give us some insight about the equipment you are using and why you decided for it?
AG: Compared to a lot of guys and girls on the forums I am a minimalist… Well, I sold the JV 2080, the korg KARMA, my HP2000 and 01/W, and I am using just the Oasys. I am aware of that I own a minimal setup, but it works for me. I only sometimes miss the Roland SA synthesis, so I will look after the module of that one, the Roland MKS 20. I have always liked hardware. I experimented with a computer bases system, but it didn´t satisfy me enough. I am not a purist but it just feels good to lay down my hands on real instruments. And with Windows there were lots of technical problems there had to be solved and it kept me away from making music. But I realize that you can, for example by using a software sequencer with soft synths make a lot of beautiful music. But I was still searching an instrument with midi and audio integration, quality sounds and instruments and then I saw those videos from Stephen Kay at Karma-Lab with the Oasys. I was blown away….
blogasys: what was the reason for you to purchase OASYS?
AG: There was no good reason from my point of view not go for it, except the money…! It had all the right sounds in a fantastic HD-1 engine and EXinstruments. I finally had my warm strings again, the ones I missed since the good old 01/W. Even my waveshaper is back (as a insert effect). The KARMA 2 engine was another reason for wanting the instrument. What can I say about it, it is such a musical system. Very misunderstood. All the sounds you can create, lots of freedom and possibilities. if you take your time. And that´s with other parts of the Oasys too. Like all the things you can accomplish with the wave sequences for example. I just started exploring that department.
The integration of all the different parts, EXis, effects, karma, the sampling and midi and audio sequencing on a high end level makes it the ideal instrument for me. And you can tweak almost everything to your own needs, so I have years ahead of making music and exploring.
And those ex instruments are fantastic. I don´t read a lot about those ones, but they are quit unique. I love especially the AL-1, CX3, and the mouth watering STR-1, you can create some really weird stuff with that one. Sounds I never heard before. The LAC-1 is also great but I must admit I am a bit stuck with programming the MS20. It´s not an easy one, but that´s ok with me… some day I will master that one too. But some tutorials would be most helpful….
And no shit with drivers and messing up computer systems. Turn the power on, find some sounds and start playing. And when I have some inspiration I just put the Enter and Record knobs on and I am in record mode… All the knobs and sliders, the huge touch screen is giving you a large amount of control over this complex instrument.
I knew, when I first saw the videos and the specs of course, that I wanted one. And I thought I could never afford it, but I put all my senses to it and with a some luck I managed to get one in September 2005, some lucky bastard I am. To bad I need a job to make a living, this thing needs more of my spare time. Besides the other family and a jealous wife. Life is not always easy owning the big O, just be warned.
At this place I should mention the two forums, Karma Lab and the Korg Forums with input from lots of people including Dan and Jerry from Korg USA.. At karma lab Stephen Kay and many others doing a hell of good job by supporting every member having questions, from beginner to more experienced. His job and efforts, with his KARMA, gave me lots of trust in buying the O. I never saw the instrument in real time before buying..
I do write too little cause writing in English cost me so much time, but I am a great consumer of all the posts I must admit… At the Korg Forums Daz, Sharp and others offering also a real friendly, open and professional atmosphere. There is so much information you can find in those two places. The support is hearth warming in a western society where we sometimes forget about sharing among others…..
No complains? Ok, I got one. I am playing the beast in my bedroom. Yes my three kids occupying some rooms… And late at night when everything and every one is quit in the house in those final hours I am playing really softly and I am irritating cause I can hear the fan whispering inside… I know it is a detail, but still…. .
Wishes for the future? That´s another question….
Joseph and the Amazing Colour Dreamcoat performed in 2005 and 2006
blogasys: what are your favorite sounds and what does OASYS do best in your opinion?
AG: That´s a difficult one because I use different sounds in different projects and times and moods. There are so many different possibilities, they are endless. It´s impossible to manage and explore all the sounds in a short amount of time. Off course you can scratch the surface but then you don´t do justice to the sounds.
At the moment I am exploring the STR-1 and AL-1 more and more. Especially with the STR-1 you can make the weirdest sound landscapes. What a synthesizer. I don´t use it much for plying real plucked string sounds although it can do it pretty well. I use it for making creepy evolving pad sounds. With the vector joystick you can create nice effects, with all kind of little sounds burbling at the background, or more radical. I always start editing the sounds from existing ones, hardly ever from scratch. Some examples of edited existing sounds. You can find them in the user E bank and you can hear all the details best with headphones…
Celtic Harp: I love that sound at the background, how you describe it, a kind of scrape. It uses one STR-1 programm
First Sunrise: I love all the evolving sounds. It uses STR-1 and AL-1.
XyloSpace: I like the metallic sounds with the hiss. Just one STR-1 program
White Light Pad: Just one STR-1 program only 2 effects and no karma and all those scary sounds moving in the background… what a beauty of a synth…
Somehow I am attracted to all kind of Pad sounds and mysterious and creepy fields of sounds. I create those often.
I am new to the sampling department but I think you can make pretty weird sounds by using the sampling function in Program and combination mode. And use the slice function put over some Karma stuff, and sample it again with different FX and so on…
The best thing for me is that the Oasys is combining lots of different things at the same time. Put different ex instruments together with the HD-1 programs, wavesequences and samples, in a combi, and it just works. You like it, then record it in the Midi sequencer. Running out of tracks? Sample it or record it in the harddiskrecorder. You can achieve pretty complex things without loosing time and creativity.
blogasys: are there any things you would like to see in OASYS in the near future?
AG: I would like to see a major sequencer update, with at least the cue list , a higher resolution, easier way to select and copy and paste tracks and events. A Karma editor within the Oasys. I would love to be able to use the Karma output to manipulate all the scenes and sliders when I am in overdub mode. Since the red Karma I was hoping they fixed that one…
In the red Karma I was using the MOSS board. I miss the brass modeling sounds and VPM model. I hope to find those ones in future EX instruments. And of course totally new EX instruments with unique new sounds. And I hope in the future that Korg brings out new samples, combis, effects, Karma GEs and there is one more thing I would like to see, a way to fully edit a program in Combi and Sequence mode. But at the moment I think it stays to quite at Korg …. We´ll see what happens after the launch of the M3….
Peter M. Mahr - The Oasys Man
18.05.2007 - Peter Grandl
Since the year 2000 Amazona has presented readers, their music and their studios in the series Personal Studio. In this case we are interested in the 41 year old molecular genetics biologist Peter M. Mahr who has come to attention through his Korg Oasys blog. You can find other Personal Studio stories under ‘Archiv’ in the rubric ‘People’.
And now enjoy yourselves with someone who stood up for the Korg Oasys.
Your AMAZONA.de editorial.
AMAZONA.de – Hello Peter, you are very active in the forums, publish your own KORG OASYS blog and are very creative as a composer; and all this in your spare time. How do you manage it?
peter m. mahr: You’re starting with a question that I can’t really answer. If I said “I get up early” that doesn’t really cover it. (Laughs). Partly I think it has to do with my personal constellation, and partly that I just don’t go out so often in the evenings as I used to. The “extra time” can be used in the studio or in front of the computer. This also demands its price. It was recently made clear to me during an indirect discussion about “Stomp”, that I’m missing an important inspiration source. I have also more time due to a career change. I decided to take a step back after I realised that my career wasn’t so important to me.
It’s probably due to my age that the weighting in my interests is shifting and I’m moving in a direction where I believe I will feel content for a long time. That sounds a bit cryptic but to explain it properly would take up more room than this interview. To put it simply, music has taken up a permanently important place. There is no other form of art for me from which I can take so much strength and dive deep down. Now I have more time for that! That is good for me and also for my immediate surroundings. Hmm… somehow I have the feeling that, like a politician, I haven’t answered the original question….
AMAZONA.de – Now we’ll start at the beginning. How did you come to your music?
peter m. mahr: While I have notched up a few years this didn’t exactly happen yesterday. It’s a long story. Sigmund Freud would not be happy but it is my father’s fault. My old man is a “hardcore” classical fan. Those who don’t understand this description just need to know that I heard at least one hour of Mozart every day since I was a little boy. As a balance and, if you like, a topping, there was also Bach (Johann Sebastian), Haydn, Schubert and, to relax, Beethoven. This conditioning goes so deep that even today, I get a urge to eat Wiener Schnitzel with potato salad when I hear Mozart…..because we had schnitzel and salad every Sunday complete with soundtrack from Wolfgang Amadeus. This confirms Pawlow’s experiment. (Laughs).
But seriously, I was so sick of this music by the time I was 8 or 9, and together with a cutting experience from my music teacher (who found me completely untalented and threw my out of her music class) I concluded “F… music”. I was just conning myself, of course, as step-by-step I was more quickly interested in music again as I was willing to admit. Although it was Jean Michel Jarre, Walter Carlos later Kraftwerk and naturally Ultravox, and Depeche Mode and O.M.D…..oh ja and Human League…..and Heaven 17, and so on. The detonator was definitely Jean Michel Jarre’s “Oxygene” and a photo that was published of him standing in front of a Modular System. It was clear to me, that’s how I wanted to float around space. A band was starting to come together in our school at about this time, whose musical direction was pointing somewhere else completely…but somehow or other I slipped in with my synthesizer.
AMAZONA.de – Your first synthesizer?
peter m. mahr: That was the KORG MS-20, followed one or two years later by a Mono/poly. The Polysix was not affordable for me then. After one or two years break, my most favourite synthesizer came onto the market – Yamaha DX-7.
AMAZONA.de – You belong to the circle of people who were the first to buy a KORG OASYS. Why? It is actually a lot of money for which you could buy three different, highly priced, synthesizers.
peter m. mahr: Name me three that can offer what you get with an OASYS. I say that because there isn’t anything to compare to the OASYS. Not that everything else is bad or that everything on the OASYS is good, it is simply this “whole packet” that you’ve got in front of you. The OASYS offers physical modelling and not only in the form of virtual analogues, wave sequencing, a very good sound sampler, hard disc recorder, sequencer, good effects, not forgetting the KARMA; it that runs stabile and sounds simply very good. That is actually a whole lot of stuff that you can work with without problems. Of course I wouldn’t dare suggest that it’s perfect, you just have to read the English speaking forums to know that. It is still, however, a super piece of equipment, whose ticks don’t negatively influence my style. I don’t have the time or the energy to play around with updates which only suggest improvements but at the end of the day have just wasted my time.
Also, when I have to sit in front of the computer and solve problems I totally lose my creativity. The OASYS has it’s price, no question, but in return you get the afore mentioned profits. You turn the destroyer on and after about 1 minute and 50 seconds you’ve got a very good sample player, lots of virtual instruments (like the CX-3. the AL-1, optional MS-20 and the Polysix and also the, from me, highly treasured STR-1 string model) all ready for action. And that’s the status quo! Who knows what could come next? However I do have the feeling that KORG have devoted themselves completely to the M3 and have left the OASYS users hanging a bit. I also find it negative that the “open system” is not really open for outside providers. But perhaps we would become exactly the problems that the OASYS, until now, didn’t know at all.
AMAZONA.de – In your keyboard park you’ve got a Neuron. That’s also not the cheapest thing available, what persuaded you to buy this piece of equipment?
peter m. mahr: Right from the beginning the instrument awoke my interest, even after the rather full-bodied speeches of the makers had made me frown. The more discussions that were made in the different forums, the made curious I became. After the Hartmann company realised that claims and reality are incompatible, the price came down enough so that I was willing to take the risk. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the “inventor” of the home shopping laws.
But to answer your question, I find the Neuron the most interesting synthesizer since the DX-7 that I can afford, and maybe as a little supplement for the Yamaha VP-1. But back to the Neuron who has a fixed position in my studio, and more importantly, in most of my other pieces. Its’ sound is unique, one moment a scratching, cheap digital and the next it’s off in a totally other direction. You can feed it with material and the results are more often than not, different as to what you expected. That means it’s got character, which is something quite rare these days.
AMAZONA.de – Unfortunately the Neurons are difficult to come by as the Hartmann company doesn’t exist any more. These means there are no more updates. How safe was the Neuron in the the last software version?
peter m. mahr: What I always asked myself about the collapse of the Hartmann firm is – why are there so many companies in Germany making very good products who are incapable of staying alive? I’m thinking of PPG, Waldorf, Hartmann and in the younger days, Creamware. Something is not right. On this note I’m reminded of a comparison in the bio-technology field, but that wasn’t the question……if your asking about the reliability of the running system……..I have respect for the people who play it live. My Neuron shows his character in that every now and then, right in the middle of playing he doesn’t make a sound, only to them later, return from the deep. The first time it happened to me I got an adrenaline shot but now it doesn’t stress me out at all. I only hope that he doesn’t develop a serious defect one day, that would be bitter, very bitter.
AMAZONA.de – And as a full bloodied analogue you’ve also got a MOOG Voyager. Maybe a few words on that?
peter m. mahr: I can make that short. The voyager stands out due to its’ beautiful, almost gentle sound. Although I don’t think he sounds the same as his famous predecessor. Originally I was sure I would never separate myself from my voyager but recently I’ve been toying with the idea of selling him. He has already disappeared from my immediate working area and is sitting on the sidelines next to the Roland JX-10 in the synthesizer park. I almost always use the OASYS for the bass sounds these days. Although I’m not trying to say that the virtual analogue in the OASYS sounds like a Minimoog or a Voyager! But the OASYS is putting them under pressure and offers a much wider spectrum. Also I’m don’t find the “analogue sound ideal” so important. But let’s see what the future brings…
AMAZONA.de – What’s the main centre for all your sound generators?
peter m. mahr: When you mean a recording centre then that is a mix between an AKAI DPS24 and a MOTUS dp5.1, (I use this for 5.1 mixes which I just started doing). My most important tool is the OASYS. Especially when I’m starting something new, I just start it up and nothing else. (Although the weighted keyboard on the Roland XV-88 is much better). You’re probably wondering why I’ve still got such a thing. That’s because of the completely different character of tone that it has which comfortably completes my sound palette, and also on the keyboard. I usually use the AKAI’s MPC4000 as a sequencer, because when it comes to timing it can’t be beaten and I find operating interface user-friendly. Even when the two TFT screens leave a lot to be desired, I am actually a fan of spartan looks. As I found myself modifying the colour palettes in dp to suit my taste a few years ago, I have atarted generally to question my work methods. The pretty pictures and colours distract me and the fact that I need to make a visual “feel-good zone” sets the alarm bells ringing! Why do I have the TFT screens then? That is because of the surround sound mixes that I can only do in this form with dp. When I listen back I turn the screen saver on so I can concentrate on listening.
AMAZONA.de – Why did you choose a MPC4000 and not one of the smaller versions like a MPC 2500?
peter m. mahr: The MPC2500 wasn’t available when I went shopping. But even if it was, and I had the money, I would still buy the MPC4000. Even when it’s just my opinion, or let me put it so, on the one hand it’s not the best thing that AKAI have put on the market. If we are just talking Drums I would recommend the MPC3000. But on the other hand I wanted a simple, intuitive, easy-to-use sequencer, which didn’t break my working flow, stood out due to superb timing and offered a suitable sampler. The 24bit and 44.1, 48 and 96kHz are, in my opinion, further plus points for the MPC4000. The sound, to prevent any misunderstandings, is above doubt. A nice touch is that I can take it with me on holiday and work with it. Try doing that with the OASYS…..
AMAZONA.de - Let’s go back again to the flagship, KORG OASYS. Have you ever rued buying it?
peter m. mahr: At the beginning we had a very ambivalent relationship, that I also wrote about for posterity. It had to do with the, now well known, “G.A.S.”. In the OASYS blog you’ll find the story under
There are things worth criticising; the sequencer is right at the top. Just the way you have to turn it on and the building up…..he is not up to the standard of the rest of the equipment. This doesn’t bother me that much because I would still work with the MPC anyway. On the other hand I would be happy to have a better sequencer as long it wasn’t a Phyrrhusseig. A type of dp, Logic, Cubase or similar would probably overload the computer so that less voices could be used or they would be of a terrible quality. The last thing would be completely unacceptable for me.
AMAZONA.de – What is the main usage for the OASYS?
peter m. mahr: While he is an all purpose tool for me, I use him in every area I am musically active. He is not standing in the centre of my studio for nothing.
AMAZONA.de – You can make a direct comparison. Analogue (Voyager) against virtual analogue (KORG OASYS). How real does the AL-1 sound?
peter m. mahr: As I already said, I tend to just use my OASYS. Especially in the case of bass sounds, you are more flexible. Quite often I lay two sounds on top of each other and then use the Ribbon controller when I play it back. The mix of both tones, the diverse other parameters, from sound making to steering the effect intensity……. the Voyager can’t keep up. However he is better at doing other things.
But I think it’s better that I let a short audio clip speak for me: http://members.chello.at/peter.mahr/files/B.mp3. This makes most virtual analogues look old. You won’t ever reach the soft, warm Oberheimpads either. That doesn’t mean to say that the AL-1 sound terrible, even the partly catastrophic work sounds shouldn’t put you off. It has always been a puzzle to me how to program a church organ, E-piano and an A-piano into the AL-1, especially when KORG’s programming team usually very good is. Whoever is responsible for this decision didn’t do the OASYS any favours and would do better to sort out the sounds on the PA-series.
AMAZONA.de – What is at the top of your list of updates for the KORG OASYS?
peter m. mahr: This will probably surprise you, Firstly FM, super drum samples, then a Vocoder like the one you find in Roland’s V-Synth. The sequencer is not so important to me…as I like my MPC but should he one day be like that, then, if only for the timing, I would definitely use him. Why I want FM doesn’t need to be explained does it? The soldering of the batteries in the TX-816s is getting on my nerves, although I’m afraid something like that would never fit in the OASYS.
Why the drum sounds? Natural drum sounds is what I mean here. The processed are already great but I miss acoustic drum kits. The Roland SRX Board has got wonderful 80’s kits for example, and I want something in this quality. A 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s kit would be perfect, and lots of snares, kicks and toms. Unfortunately there isn’t much point in implementing the wavedrum as most of its’ tones belong in the box of unidentifiable sounds. Maybe a wind/brass model would be nice if it was of the same quality as the String Model. Then I would have to decide where I would get the money from to buy a second one as I would definitely need a back-up.
AMAZONA.de - One last question: What was your most disappointing synthesizer buy?
peter m. mahr: Rolands JV series, although that was my mistake. I mistakenly thought that they would possibly sound a bit like the JD’s ……but they are worlds apart, The JD-990 was, in my opinion, the best digital synthesizer from Roland.
AMAZONA.de – We thank you for this interview and wish you much musical enjoyment in the future.
Today “Mag66″ aka Nigel Sixsmith is guest at blogasys.
blogasys: What is “Mag66″ standing for?
Nigel: The mag66 nym comes from the fact that when I was six I started to read magazines, lots of them and have done so ever since… and so my close family always called me the “magazine boy”. Years later when I first got interested in Usenet, I had to think of a nym to use and so I chose mag66 as in (mag)azine, the age I started reading ‘6′ and my last name Sixsmith giving the other ‘6′!
blogasys: Could you please tell us a little bit more about yourself?
Mag66: I’m an ‘Ex-Brit’ born in England in 1957 who moved permanently to the USA in 1996. I spent my childhood in a small village about 100 miles north of London and then at the age of 15, joined the British Army as a Musician. During my Army years, I studied at the Military School of Music at Knellar Hall, and then spent a great deal of time traveling around the world, meeting and playing with all kinds of different musicians and bands. After I left the Army, I settled for a few years in London, working at various studios as a session musician as well as starting up our own studio, The Art of Sound, dedicated to introducing young musicians to the synthesizer. I now live in Arizona with my partner, Brenda, our 16 year old son Chris and our dog, Hoss.
blogasys: What is your musical background?
Mag 66: My musical background is quite varied, I would guess you could say. My mother was responsible for getting me started down the musical path by arranging for me to have piano lessons when I was 5 or 6. My first experience with a keyboard was by my sneaking into a local Methodist Chapel, when the Preacher was not around after school and playing “Rock & Roll” on a very old foot pump action church organ! Unfortunately, one day the Preacher caught me but instead of being (too) annoyed, he simply told me that if I agreed to play every Sunday at his services, then I could spend one afternoon a week, after school, playing whatever I liked on the Chapel Organ. So began my brief career, at the age of 9 as a Church Organist!
At age 11, I was sent to a new school, Arthur Mellows Village College and it was there that I met the most amazing music teacher, Malcolm Stowell Smith. He auditioned me for the school orchestra and band and promptly convinced my parents that I should learn to play, of all things, the Tuba!! Next thing I know, I am hauling this huge brass instrument around all over the country, playing at various concerts with different bands and orchestras and even managed to do a few solo performances here and there, which for a Tuba player, was pretty rare (and very strange!) Malcolm also encouraged me to sing as at that time of my life, I had this (apparently) quite angelic, though deep´ish voice so I started to sing in various productions of operas and operettas as well as taking part in competitions around the country.
Sadly, Malcolm, for reasons unknown, suddenly decided to leave the school after 3 years and teach somewhere else and after that (and after the fact that at 14, my voice didn´t exactly break but shattered into a thousand pieces) my singing career was over and so it was back to hauling around the Tuba again.
I joined the British Army, as I mentioned earlier, as a Tuba player, Double Bass player and Pianist/Accompanist, shortly after my fifteenth birthday and studied for my Music Degrees in both Performance and Theory. It was on a trip back home shortly after I joined, that I had my first experience of a synthesizer. An old school friend of mine, Tom Anniss, introduced me, via a very scratchy recording, to Walter/Wendy Carlos’s soundtrack to “A Clockwork Orange” as well as the “Well Tempered Synthesizer” and I was hooked on synthesizers for life. I knew then, that I had to buy one and I set my sights on getting a Minimoog as soon as I could. However, being still in the Army meant I had very little money and so, my dreams of owning a Moog had to be put on hold until several years later when I finally managed to buy myself a used one from a close friend of mine. Instead, I bought myself one of the first Korg MS-10s to arrive on the English shores. I still had to take out a couple of loans at outrageous interest rates, to be able to afford it (and it took me several years before I ever finally finished paying off those loans too!) but I finally had my hands on a working synthesizer!
After a few months of owning and diligently studying this new synth, and being sick to death of playing “Umm Pah Umm Pah” on the Tuba, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with the military band, I convinced my commanding officer to allow me to play synth with the band resulting in my playing “lead guitar” sounds at a couple of concerts of “Modern Pop Songs” as well as “Sound Effects and Gun Fire” during a performance and recording of the 1812 Overture!
My time with the Army was rapidly coming to an end however and so I after I resigned I joined a group of traveling musicians who performed at several free festivals around Europe and with my trusty MS-10 (and a portable generator and Amp) in hand, I began to find gigs with many bands of the time such as Hawkwind at the Windsor Free Festival or Gong at the ´77 Live Reunion gig, to name but a few. I was the nameless, crazy, hippy, synth player who stayed mainly off at the back of the stage, making all these weird and strange sounds from my “box of tricks” while the bands played to their audiences.
Since then, I have done session work in various studios in England and the USA, I helped found a studio, called The Art Of Sound, as mentioned earlier, moved to the USA and began working on just my own music and I have never quite lost my love (Obsession) for synthesizers.
blogasys: Which musicians influenced you most?
Influences? So many but I guess I should mention the following people:
Walter/Wendy Carlos, who started off my obsessions with synths. Roger Powell of Todd Rundgren & Utopia fame, because of the way he put together these incredible keyboard/synth rigs for live stage work and was an amazing synthetic sound creator too. (He also is a mighty fine computer programmer and was responsible for the first PC Midi Sequencer program written for the Apple II, which was called “Texture”).
David Sancious (Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Peter Gabriel, Sting, etc.) who was the first person I ever saw play live who recreated and performed guitar lead lines on a Minimoog. Kate Bush. The way she writes and creates her music set the standards by which I have tried to follow. Peter Gabriel’s Textures, textures and textures. How he creates those incredible pads, harmonies and “quirky” effects used throughout his music, is something I have always found myself striving to emulate.
The Edge (U2) I just love his guitar work and the way he produces these amazing guitar sounds and uses them, in really interesting counterpoint melodies, in the most unlikely ways, within the rock framework of U2’s music. Steve Hillage, Daevid Allen, Miquette Giraudy and of course, Tim Blake of “Gong” fame, for introducing me to the wonders of step sequencers, poly rhythms and evolving textures.
blogasys: What kind of music are you listening today?
Nigel: The current playlist for my car’s MP3 player, has amongst others, currently stored in it;
Kate Bush, especially her last album, Aerial, which I have listened literally thousands of times by now and even though it was released in 2005, I still find myself listening to at least once or twice a week. The Fray, who I think are one of the most under-appreciated bands of the current times (even though they did score a huge hit with “How to save a life”!). John Meyer’s Continuum album, I love the way he puts together great but simple melodies with wonderful (and at times funny or sharp) lyrics. The Beatles ” Love ” Amazing re-workings of some classic songs. Various tracks from Artists on Soundclick.com - There is some incredible talent out there, undiscovered by the masses and I am lucky enough, with the advent of such places as SoundClick, to be able to listen to and share music with all these people.
blogasys: Now lets talk about your music, are there any projects you finished and is there a current one you are working on?
Mag66: I am currently putting the final touches to my album “An Oasys in the Desert” which I am now hoping to release sometimes around April (But don´t hold me to that date!) It´s an album of music, I have written, performed and recorded since I got my Korg Oasys, I use only the Oasys for every sound recorded so it´s a kind of history of my exploration and understanding of one of the classic Keyboards available today.
Mag66: For recoding, just the Oasys. Nothing else. The Oasys is just this incredible keyboard which inspires me every time I sit down in front of it. I just had to write music using this amazing keyboard and so the new album is the result of all this inspiration and time I have spent learning and enjoying the Oasys.
blogasys: But there are more synthesizers then the OASYS in your studio
Mag 66: : I am one of those people who could never afford the keyboards that I really wanted when they first came out so I always had to settle for a cheaper alternative like buying a MS10 when I really wanted a Minimoog… or an EMS Polysynthi when I really wanted a CS-80.
The JD800 was the first synth I bought new when it was released. I played one in a store in London and knew I had to have one. I just loved all the sliders and the sounds you could create using such a tactile work surface so, as I had just sold my house and had a little money left over, I went and bought my first JD800. It became my main polysynth until the release of the Oasys (though I did often use the Triton and Karma a great deal too).
Here is a list of what synths and keyboards I have owned and in what order I bought them:
** indicates I still own this particular synth
(N) = Bought New
(U) = Bought Used
When I arrived in the USA in the mid 90’s I had to leave my JD back in the UK because I couldn’t afford to ship it here. Eventually I sold it to a close friend of mine but I missed it a lot and so, a few years later when I caught the “Ebay” bug… I saw one for sale in nearby California, that was very cheap and so I bid and won the auction and got another JD800 once more. (I also picked up two JD990s extremely cheaply off of Ebay too!) so now I have three of the beasts which I use to create very complex layered sounds as and when needed but sometimes i still just sit at my JD800 and twiddle with the sliders discovering still more new sounds and textures that I cannot create via any other keyboard I own (including the Oasys!) as there is something about the JD’s sound that is unique to my ears at least.
blogasys: What was the reason for you to purchase OASYS?
Mag66: I walked into a local music store in late 2005 and saw this visually stunning keyboard, stuck right at the back of the main keyboard room. I sat down, put on a pair of “cans” and the next thing I knew, six hours had passed and I was still playing and enjoying the heck out of the Oasys. I knew about the work Stephen Kay had done with Korg and the Korg Karma and I had bought a Korg Karma a couple of years earlier and loved it, for what it was capable of creating, both sonically and musically but to be honest, I didn´t care for the Korg Karma’s interface. It was a very complicated keyboard to program, made even more difficult by the small screen and lack of the work surfaces it obviously needed.
The Korg Oasys, answered all my prayers. Not only had Stephen improved and expanded upon the amazing Karma and it´s capabilities but Korg had put together a keyboard which had a large, touch sensitive screen, a great set of controls and work surfaces to work with, in real time, added to that a set of amazing sounds and the ability to create new and refreshing sounds and on top of all that, made the Oasys an open ended system so more new facilities could be added at a later date without the musician having to go through the old cycle of - Buy a keyboard, buy a new keyboard a year later and relearn a lot of the programming because it´s an updated and better version of the previous one, buy yet another new version with even better facilities and features (and more re-learning to do) a couple of years after that.. and so on. Though the initial cost of the Oasys is high´ish (Though when you compare how much the Oasys costs today, to how much a Minimoog or a Prophet 5 cost when they were released, it´s an absolute bargain in many ways) you don´t have to keep learning new interfaces, you get a great basic set of musical tools to start off from with new features being added by Korg at regular intervals (The STR-1 Plucked String Modeling expansion, has been my personal favorite one so far though the LAC-1 (Polysix and MS-20) expansion is pretty amazing too!) and you still get to keep a really nice feeling keyboard with the same set of controls, easy to use interface, and excellent work surfaces that you are used to. You are finally out of that costly cycle of buying new keyboards every year or so, simply to gain access to the latest types of sounds or features.
blogasys: Are there any things you would like to see in a future update?
Mag66: This is an easy one for me. I would hope Korg will re-do / re-work the sequencer/HD recorder section of the Oasys. It´s the only part of the Oasys that I feel, limits the outflow of creative juices, as far as I am concerned. That´s not to say that the current sequencer or HD recorder isn´t usable because it is and you can produce and record some really great songs, using just that built in sequencer but I feel, it needs to be brought up to date and more in line with the rest of the “vision” that is the Korg Oasys.
blogasys: Eberhard, the classical opening question, can you tell us a little about how you got to where you are today in the music business?
EG: It started a long time ago… I think I was about 14 or 15 years old when a friend of mine got given an acoustic guitar. From then on it became more and more the central point of our free time together and began to jostle with football for first place in our interests. A little later I was allowed to call a guitar my own, and shortly afterwards, began to take “proper” guitar lessons. Unfortunately, the teacher was strictly on the classical rails, as was all music teaching in those days. It was not exactly what I had imagined. After a year therefore, I wasn´t really interested in taking the lessons anymore, and instead played guitar, drums and keyboard (it was some kind of Farfisa organ) with friends in various cellars. The drums that we bought second-hand were from a quality that you wouldn´t even pick up from a rubbish dump today. But that didn´t ruin our fun. Since then, and up to a few years ago, I have always played in a rock and pop band, and also synthesizer and drums in my own living room (torturing the neighbours).
During my graphic design studies at the High School of Arts in Berlin I developed a graphical composition set. I did it as my free project work, and well known musicians were put to the test. You could hang a graphically prepared 4 x 4 element matrix transparent sheet on a composition board, onto which were put translucent, coloured geometrical shapes. Among the shapes, in many different colours, were circles, arrows, piles of balls, etc. I think there were about 100 sheets in all. These sheets could be put next to each other, and while they were transparent, also on top of each other. In this way a sequence was put together that served as a starting point and orientation for musical interpretation and improvisation. Today I would of course do a similar project on a computer and use a beamer to throw it upon the wall and move the graphics.
So, short and sweet, the computer came too late. But it did come and how! With 64KB and looking like an over large glasses case; in indefinable beige and with chic brown keys.
blogasys: Let me guess?
EG: Exactly! The Commodore C64 it was. It held me captured for years. The first midi-interface
that I bought as soon as it appeared, looked like an uncompleted practice piece from a trainee. An open circuit board! O.K., so the whole music world was in the midi and computer development phase at this time, and had more important things to do. With this model a casing was obviously not thought necessary. Imagine, for example, the OASYS without the black serving panel…ah! I won`t go on. This thing together with my DX7 and Supertrack from Gerhard Lengeling made up my first step into the midi world. Before that I had a MS20, MS50, SQ10 and loads of fun.
Talking about the MS20, I remember an anecdote from the category, “How to interdisciplinarily abuse a synthesizer”. Ingredients: A little bit of electronic know-how, three photo resistors, a reflex camera, three colour extract filters from the reprotechnic (after my studies I qualified as a reproductions photographer). Other colour film would work I`m sure. You need something like a “primary switch photo resistor” which you can probably buy in any electronic shop. Every one of the photo resistors are wrapped in another filter film. The three prepared resistors are then put in transparent boxes, about the size of matchboxes. These boxes should be impervious to light and carefully placed in the reflex camera where the exposed film normally goes. Careful! Don`t ruin the shutter curtain! Fix the tension. The tension that has gone through will act as control tension for the CV entries in the MS20. And that´s that. After the work comes the real fun. The camera shutter is held open with a constant light exposure, the light is passed through the lens; it meets the three resistors and is spread onto the colour filters. Depending on the colour and motive that is captured by the lens, and on the movement of the “musician” using the camera, you get three different control tensions that, independent of the synthesizer program, can manipulate everything. Sounds weird doesn`t it? And it was too! I christened the whole thing “Optisizer”. About 25 years later (!) a Japanese company with the name Roland got the idea for a so called “D-Beam Controller” to be built into their equipment and patented it probably all over the world. This controller was familiar to me somehow, funny.
blogasys: … doesn`t happen often, but I don`t know what to say
EG: Fundamentally the parallelism between visual and acoustic expression, also in verbal communication has always fascinated me. Terms like light, dark, hard, soft, harmonious, contrast, loud, quiet, space, panorama, transparent you can carry that on yourself. You can communicate with these terms in both artistic disciplines. There are analogies whose written contents could be transferred from one expression to the other. In other words, you can look at a picture, describe it with the repertoire from an interdisciplinary dictionary and then use this description as a recipe or base for a musical composition.
blogasys: How does that come out in your music?
EG: I very often see pictures when I`m listening to music and vice versa. Hmmm…. I think Edgar Froese from Tangerine Dream once said that he hoped for an interface from the head to the music recorder. A kind of “brain to audio” interface. It`s a shame Edgar, I don`t think we will live to see that. But the journey there is, and always will be, exciting enough!
blogasys: How did it go on from there?
EG: Later I started with Midi-programming on the Atari ST. I programmed sounds for the DX7, wrote sound management programmes and also programmed on Editor for the ESQ1 from Ensoniq. The main point by the software was that, as an option, an old analogue user surface could be simulated. That allowed itself (thanks to the architecture of the ESQ1) to be replicated quite well on the Midi. After many years of programming abstinence I had the sudden urge to do another project involving Midi-programming. This time though, on the Mac. Of course! As I don`t unfortunately know the C++ language I have had to buy a license from RealBasic. The project is on hold at the moment. I want to first make some intense music this year, bring more keyboards in to the centre of the composition, away from the structure of a rock band, no positions that are usually found in a band. Oh, I think I´ve steamed over your question again and not answered the main point.
blogasys:..
EG: I think my previous musical career was pretty normal, and has probably repeated itself many thousands of times with other musicians all over the world. Playing band in the cellar, recording sessions in home recording studio, a few live gigs etc. I´ve played guitar, drums and keys without being able to play any one of them well or to any satisfaction today. Always in search of the best, the best harmony, the best groove, the best musical expression, the best instrument, the best sound etc. They are all actually means of getting to an end. In my opinion these ways are very overrated. For me it`s the fun involved and the ultimate kick in the right moment when everything works perfectly. Through friendship I developed my feeling for music, and the music developed new friendships. This is the most honest way in which I can perhaps describe my musical career, after all music is a very emotional way of communication.
blogasys: Which music and musicians have influenced you the most?
EG: Pink Floyd is definitely at the top of the list. Their concert (13th March 1970-Auditorium Maximum-Technical University Berlin) released a culture shock in me. Up until then I had only listened to the music that was chirping around in the hit parade on German radio, just so I could keep up with the conversation of my classmates. I had never been to a live concert before and then you hear for the first time in your life pieces like, “Be careful with that axe, Eugene” or “Set the controls for the heart of the sun”. Wow!!! That concert opened new doors in me and in my understanding of freedom of sound and music. I´ve already given a few examples of that when I answered the first question. The real achievement of Pink Floyd becomes clear, in my opinion, when you (as they always say) look at them in the musical context of popular music during the 1970`s. James Taylor, Santana, Jethro Tull, Can, Frumpy, Dire straits, Joe Jackson, Tangerine Dream, Sade, Mezzoforte, are also bands that I listened to a lot.
blogasys: What kind of music are listening to at the moment and why?
EG: Your question sounds so simple, but it`s not easy for me to answer. Hmmm… I don`t listen to much music, I turn the CD player or radio off when I notice that I´m not listening properly anymore. There are no favourites when it comes to a music style or musician. Depending on the mood of the weather or whatever, it changes constantly. Even when a song doesn`t emotionally knock me off my feet I can always listen to it analytically, and it`s fun to discover a piece like this and to understand it. Basically though, I find the music made by people like you and me much more exciting. Those who are passionately doing their thing without a 100.000 Euro budget. It is more comprehensible for me and surely much more honest. I simply don`t believe that stars who perform their number one hit for the 100,000th time are still having fun with it. It is only a few of them though who are honest enough to admit it openly. I personally hate it when I have to play the same piece for the tenth time after the official version is already on HD or CD. In my eyes that is wasted time! The possibility to exchange ideas with “amateurs” or “semi-professionals” with the same way of thinking as me is much more exciting, and the picture of the person behind the music is true and not just some abstract marketing icon who can be replaced as soon as the profits aren`t good enough.
blogasys: .. and now to your music, what was your last project?
EG: Until a short while ago I had been playing keyboards in a band for 15 years. I believe the group broke up due to old age. At the beginning we had a stock play and performed quite often. Later we did more improvisations, which I personally thought was better. Looking back, it`s good the band has broken up. I am looking forward, and am now really excited about new possibilities that will most certainly develop. The youngest project was compiled of many small soundtracks put together with short 3D animation videos, which had to be finished in a very short space of time. I get such jobs regularly as I am a small advertising agency for many companies.
Despite the stress factor I like composing soundtracks. You have to let yourself melt into the picture to start with as that sets the limits and dimensions of the thing. The music will be the turbo booster for the film message when you manage it properly. The musical drama and the timing, which should be supported by the picture and the piece of film, must sit exactly in the frame. That`s the difference in the performance when compared with sessions of free improvisations. Naturally when you are working to schedule you can´t just get up and go when you feel like it, just because sand has got into the works of your creativity. I do admit to doing this quite often when working on my own stuff.
blogasys: I´ll leave the usual question about your latest project out.
EG:- Why? You don`t already have information about my top secret project with the most well known OASYS lover and critic in the German speaking world do you? That would mean we have a leak!
blogasys: Which equipment do use and why have you particularly decided on these?
EG: At the moment I still own my Karma, a Triton Extreme and Motif ES as well as my OASYS. The Motif ES is up for sale though at last. As I was thinking about buying the OASYS I decided to reduce to the max. One more piece of equipment doesn`t necessarily mean more quality or output. On the contrary, with all the cables and synchronisation etc. it`s actually a detrimental waste of time and stress. I still have a Korg 05RW module and a Yamaha TX7 in my showcase. Also a Boss DR880 drum machine as I find it`s nice Easy Compose function completely cool. I haven´t turned the Roland VG2480 recorder on for a long time, although it is a super machine for multi track live recording. LogicPro, Live, Reason and the Stylus RHX all run on my (Intel) Mac. I don`t want to list all of the smaller bits together with obligatory 345,000 kilometres of cable spaghetti here. I got the Karma shortly after it came on to the market. The tip came from a friend as usual. He had tested it at a music trade fair and fell in love with it immediately. It is simply a classy jamming-fun-box that I would never give away! Thank you Stephen and Korg.
blogasys: Why did you decide on an OASYS?
EG: For me it was the hope of a self sufficient, good sounding, stand alone system for my Karma 2.0 and a few other pieces. Of course, the videos from Stephen Kay on karmalab.com had already made my mouth water. He has an unbelievable commitment to his own and other forums. The community in these forums is exemplary, just like Jerry and Dan, the guys from Korg USA. They have understood that an after sales service can be crucial to the decision to buy and they are always ready with tips and hints in the forums. Although my English is, unfortunately, not very good, it pays to take a look now and then. I`m wandering off the subject again! Back to the point. If the sequencer in the OASYS could accept me I would be almost at my goal. It`s got no chance compared to Live and Logic as far as the complexity, deepness and GUI go. I`m still convinced however, that it`s possible to do more with the OASYS than what is offered at the moment. Look at the hardware and screen of the good old Atari ST and you´ll know what I mean. I didn´t realise just how mega cool the OASYS sounds until after I´d bought it and got it home in my usual acoustic environment. The price is not actually that high when you think about it in terms of price per kilogram and compare it to other treasures from the musical showcase.
blogasys: What do you appreciate most on the OASYS and, apart from the sequencer things, what else do you miss?
EG: The basic sound and Karma 2, add to that the big touch-sensitive display, the number of modulations and the Real-Time controller. These features are right at the top of my “must have” list. I have already chalked up the out-dated sequencer as a short coming. I miss a FM extension and the DAW tie-up through Firewire which would allow the new Korg M3 Workstation to be used. Opening up the software for the suppliers of plug-ins would make a lot of things possible which at the moment we can only dream about. What I personally miss - and it`s almost embarrassing for me to admit it here - is an even simpler and more musical Karma interface. I know there are enough people who like to really go deep into the Karma technology. Right into the last corner of the parameter jungle of totally open GE editors and manipulate the very last byte. I admire and respect these users and their capabilities! But my intention is to make more music in a very short space of time. An interface with controls like Music-Genre, Tempo(half/double), Improvisations Intensity etc. Stephen could, for example, put the GEs on an Easy Page and then pack more into a virtual musical character. Imagine you´re working on a piece and you want a guitarist. You tell him how you want him to come in to the piece. If you and the musician understand each other then you only need six to eight basic terms to make it work. I hope to be in the position to do this with the Karma 4.0 version at the latest.
blogasys: Thank you very much!
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translated by Caroline Radolf
blogasys: You are known as Synthia and when one looks at your collection of electronic instruments the name really fits. How did your house fill up with all these instruments?
Synthia: Yeah, I started messing around with silly little home keyboards in 1983. My first proper synth was a humble Casio CZ1000 the poor mans DX7. Then followed the real Yamaha DX7, Korg Poly 800, Roland D-50 etc. By the time I got the D-50 I was seriously hooked on synths. I always have been fascinated by the sounds of a synth. When I was a teenager I always longed to own an instrument that could give me these amazing electronic sounds which can be heard in 70´s and 80´s music and films. To me the synth is the most versatile musical instrument of all.
blogasys: Can you tell us a bit about your musical background? Did you learn an instrument and how did you get into synthesizers?
Synthia: No, I wasn´t taught music or any instruments. In fact I still don´t read or write music. My parents are not musical at all. I taught myself everything from playing the synth to programming it.
blogasys: Which music did influence you and who are your favourite musicians?
Synthia: I really like the music from early Vangelis,J.M.Jarre,Cabaret Voltaire,Anne Clark,early Human League,Depeche Mode,Heaven 17,Flock of seagulls and also a bit of Bach und Beethoven. But Vangelis influenced me the most with “Spiral” and “Beaubourg”.
blogasys: What is good music in your eyes?
Synthia: Oh,dear!!! I may tread on peoples toes here but I must speak from my heart. I really don´t like computer generated music. I like music which is played on keys not a mouse. I do like music to be real and organic. Unfortunatly in these modern days of technology people have forgotten the art of composing and playing a real instrument. Nearly everybody clicks on a mouse rather than playing real keys. That makes me sad and frustrated. I have no time for that. I´m old fashioned but I don´t care.
blogasys: Is any of your music available to the public?
Synthia: I did an album called “Digital Landscape” 5 years ago but it didn´t work out as expected. I featured in the magazine Future Music in May 2002.They interviewed me and showed my collection on 6 pages. In the same year I also appeared on the Richard&Judy show on British Television. Again they interviewed me and made a small video of my studio which was also shown on TV. I played my Triton live for about 6 seconds and Korg gave me KARMA as a present. Needless to say I was over the moon. It was a great day I will never forget.
Now I just play as a hobby and I enjoy it much more. No more deadlines and rushing around. Here you can get some sound bytes http://www.jupiter-music.com/synthia.htm But it´s very dated now and not supported anymore. People can see some new shots of my collection here http://www.myspace.com/tritonia As I don´t have a music computer I can´t put any music on the net.
blogasys: Are you working on a project and do you want to tell us about it?
Synthia: Not really. I play, compose and program every day so I always have loads of projects. I´m a loner and I tinkle away in my studio on my own. I did compose a modern classical piece called “The Phantom of the Synth” last year which is very dramatic. It is classical music mixed with synths and vocoder. Ideal film stuff.
blogasys: Now let us get to the gear, have you collected many?
Synthia: Ha,Ha! You can say that again! Here is a list of what´s in my studio now. Korg OASYS 76,Triton Studio, Karma, Triton classic, MS2000, Trinity V3, Z1, Wavestation ex, M1, Poly 800 with reversed keys.
blogasys: I guess KORGs showroom at their headquarter does only have more when it comes to the instruments they produced in the 70ies and early 80ies!
Synthia:
Roland Fantom S,JP8000,D-50,Juno-106.
Yamaha AN1X,CS2X and DX7.
I had many more which I sold last year.
I sold Korg O1/WFD,Poly 800II,Roland V-Synth,Fantom FA76, U-20, XP10,
Yamaha Motif ES, DX7IIS, DX7IID, SY55, DJX.
My daughter Sarah now has the Triton classic, JP8000, AN1X and CS2X. She also loves playing with synths. She is a very talented player.
blogasys: What is your favourite instrument and why?
Synthia: That has to be my new OASYS 76. It sounds just totally awesome. Nothing compares.
blogasys: What do you like most on the OASYS and are there things you miss?
Synthia: What I like most are the pristine sounds and the controls on the OASYS. The very first time when I played the OASYS in a shop I knew then it had to be mine. It took me nearly 2 Years to save up for the monster. Many of my other synths had to be sold to afford OASYS. The screen of the OASYS is just perfect. No more straining of my eyes. The whole layout of the controllers is just right. Everything is handy and in reach.The knobs and sliders are great to fiddle with. The LAC sounds are heaven to me as I love analog sounds. I can be instantly like Vangelis or JMJarre etc.
Then there is Karma version 2, hell that blows you away! Everytime I play with my OASYS I get lost in Karma. I always get side tracked with programming rather than playing the damn thing. There is so much one can say about OASYS that it would fill up a book. I LOVE IT!!!
I just wished it had a good vocoder or vocal harmonizer like the V-Synth or Radias. Also I would like to see more vocal samples and sounds with vocals in. I can´t sing to save my life so my synths have to do the job for me. That´s why I do miss my V-Synth. The V-Synth could handle these vocal tasks with ease. Well I may get the V-Synth GT next year. Oh,no more hard saving!!!
It will never end as a synths collector….
And the sound engines, all of them, I program a lot. The sequencer works as a sketch pad really well and is really fast and easy to setup. And the KARMA can be a good source for inspiration. The only thing I seldom use is the hard disk recorder as I work mainly with DAW.
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