Studio & Technical Information
Welcome to the studio & technical information section of the website! You'll find a number of (hopefully) useful stuff here...
The Remixes!
Wow, you people are fast! My apologies in not getting this up sooner, but here are the first of the fan remixes of "Binary". Enjoy!
Remix by Andy Melville
Remix by Ausrottenzeit
Remix by Short-Term Surface
Remix by Mangadrive
Remix by
Steve Pordon
Remix by Andy Pettit
Remix by
DJ Ravage/Iacon
Remix by
Encoder
Remix by
Thanos Mylonas
Remix by
Meta Sektion
Remix by Nydhog
Remix by
Orpheus in Red Velvet
Remix by
Xerotime
Remix by
KKA & Amidt Korean
Remix by Jeff McBride
Remix by Systematic Necrosis
Remix by Zero Tolerance
Remix by Cryogen Second
Remix by Teodora
Remix by Serotone
Remix by Erektor
Remix by
Cybersaint
Remix by Dualistic Nature
Remix by Focal Plane
Remix by Cosmic Frog
Remix by
Destitution Project
Remix by
Furtilizer
Remix by DJ Masamune
Remix by Invalid Command
Remix by Rockstar DJ Moniker
Remix by Acey Riot
Remix by Compulsing
Remix by Bitch Per Minute
Remix by Discoid
Remix by Frandsen
Remix by Darren Halm
Remix by r@zorbla.de
Remix by Shiva Hypothesis NEW!!
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Macintosh G5 Dual 2Ghz, 1.5 GB RAM, 2 internal drives, & 21" Flat screen Monitor |
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Emagic Unitor 8 MIDI interface 8 inputs and 8 outputs, so all my hardware can have its own dedicated inputs and outputs which allows a lot of flexibility and controllability in the studio. Emagic no longer exists (they were bought by Apple), but this thing is built like a tank and looks like it will last forever. |
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MOTU 828 mk 2 Audio Interface Great 24-bit audio interface that will record at up to 96k if you need it to (overkill for most electronic music). 20 inputs and outputs, so technically, you really don't need a mixer if you have one of these (unless you have a ton of hardware). Sounds great and hasn't let me down yet. |
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Apple Logic Audio Platinum 7.1 This forms the center of the studio providing the sequencing, recording, and mixing environment. I really can't say enough good things about this program. The learning curve can be a bit steep, but that is only because it is such a full-featured program, and with depth comes complexity. Comes with 70 awesome effects plug-ins and a suite of really high quality software instruments, so it really has everything you need to make music right out of the box. |
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Mackie CFX20 Mixer Although this 20 channel analog mixer is mainly intended to use for live applications, it does a great job in the studio too. Sure, it's not an SLL or a Trident, but how many of us can afford those? Its whisper silent and doesn't color the sound in any obvious way and is extremely affordable. It has some rudimentary built-in effects which are pretty awful-sounding, but it can occasionally be 'awful' in that good way. If I crank up the chorus effect and send my Xpander through it, it sounds like pure evil. |
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AKG C3000 Microphone This has been my mic from the very beginning. Not much to say except that it sounds great. It has a slight frequency bias that can make it exaggerate sibilant sounds with some singers, but its nothing that can't be fixed with a little EQ. |
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Alesis Monitor Two Studio Reference Monitors & Alesis RA-100 Amplifier These have been my monitors since the "Failure" days. They sound great, but if I had to do it all over again, I probably would not buy them again. The things are absolutely huge and are frankly a lot more powerful than what I really need. |
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Ibanez GSR200 Electric Bass Guitar Back when I was in high school, I used to play bass guitar. I had sold my bass to buy some other studio goodies many years ago, but last year found myself really missing it. So I picked this one up mainly because it was cheap, but it actually turns out to be quite a nice bass! You can hear it on the new album on the track "Madman's Dream". |
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Access Virus b Synthesizer Snobs will cry that it isn't real analog, but so far as I am concerned, this is one of the best synths ever built. I don't care if something is analog or digital, I just care about how it sounds, and I happen to like the sound of this synth very much. Extremely flexible and capable of a mind-boggling array of sounds, from fat basses and leads, to really metallic, digital-sounding stuff. It's a breeze to program and has appeared on every A23 release from Failure onward. |
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Waldorf Microwave XT Synthesizer Even if this synth sucked (and thankfully, it doesn't), how could you not love the obnoxious orange color? This is a wavetable based synth and for the most part, the sound of it is very digital. It does feature analog style waveforms, so it can be used for virtual analog stuff too, but that really misses the point. It's great for evolving pads as well as hard, percussive synths (the envelopes are very fast). Not the most intuitive synth to program, but not impossible either. |
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Ensoniq SQ-80 Synthesizer This was one of my first synths ever. Many years ago I sold it so I could afford a DAT recorder and I regretted doing so almost immediately. I finally got around to buying one again a few years and had forgotten what a unique sounding synth it is. Basically a big brother to the ESQ-1. 8 voices, 8 part multi-timbral, 3 digital oscillators per voice, very flexible modulation routing. There are 75 sampled waveforms onboard and they are all 8-bit, so it has a very unique, gritty sound to it. The sawtooth wave is impressive for being a sample. Like the Xpander, the SQ-80's envelopes are not very snappy, but it's possible to make this one a bit more percussive if you work with some of the sampled attack transient waves. |
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Oberheim Xpander Synthesizer I've wanted one of these bad boys ever since I heard Nitzer Ebb's "Belief" album which features a lot of Xpander on it. 2 VCO's and only 6 voices, but it's so thick you won't miss the polyphony at all. This beast has 15 different filter types and virtually unlimited modulation capabilities. The high pass filter on this is particularly nice. The only real downside is the envelopes are not real snappy, so it's not great for tight, percussive sounds. |
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Roland XV-3080 Synthesizer This is your standard-issue rackmount ROMpler, and although it is fairly old (as far as ROMplers go), it is still capable of some really great, contemporary sounds. Each sound is made up of 4 layers of sampled waveforms with lots of programmability and modulation options, as well as a pretty nice effects section. I used to use this a lot for piano, string, and choir sounds, but there are certainly nicer-sounding options for those types of sounds these days, so I mostly use it for purely synthetic sounds these days. |
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Rob Papen Blue Software Synthesizer Rob Papen is probably best known for his Albino softsynth, which sounds a lot like a tamer version of the Access Virus. Blue, however, is a different beast all together. It is a hybrid synthesizer in that it can combine many types of synthesis such as subtractive, FM, and Phase Distortion. It has a very nice, clear, present sound to it and with 6 oscillators, built in modulation step sequencers, etc. it can do some pretty complex sounds. Not the most fun softsynth to program, but once you get the hang of the interface, it isn't too bad. |
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Cakewalk Rapture Software Synthesizer This is probably my favorite softsynth after the Korg Legacy stuff. It is based around using short sampled waveforms (not unlike older sample & synthesis type synths like the Ensoniq SQ-80 and Roland D-50), but it sounds SO much more contemporary and edgy than the older generation synths. Each sound can be made up of 6 oscillators which is fat enough as it is, but each one of those oscillators can be detuned with a sort of unison mode called 'multi' where unison of up to 9 voices is simulated (not unlike the Roland JP-8000's famous 'supersaw' mode). From this massive start, there is a wide variety of flexible filters of all types which can be routed in various ways, dedicated modulation envelopes, LFO's, and step sequencers to mangle the sounds further. Really snappy envelopes, and can output massive bass sounds if you program it right. I really can't say enough positive things about this. If I could only have one soft synth, this would be it. |
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Cakewalk Dimension Pro Software Synthesizer This is a good match for the above-mentioned Rapture, as it is a ROMpler, more aimed at creating hifi versions of real instruments than straight up synthesized sounds (although it does those really well too). The set-up is more simple and straightforward than Rapture, but this also means it isn't quite as over the top in synthesis capabilities. This has taken the place of my old Roland XV-3080 as my main ROMpler these days. |
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Native Instruments Absynth 3 Software Synthesizer Probably one of the few new softsynths that really tries to do something new. Very digital sounding, but the combination of the multi-stage envelopes (if memory serves me correctly, any envelope can have 64 or so breakpoints) and unique effects (some unique comb-filter/delay type effects) lead it into territory that would difficult, if not impossible to attain with other synths. It's not very good for basses or leads, but it is virtually untouchable when it comes to pads, sound effects, and weird, evolving sounds. It also has an odd sort of 'organic' vibe to it that is pretty unique. |
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Native Instruments Reaktor 5 Software Synthesizer If you're looking for an all-in-one synth, this is what you're looking for. Reaktor is essentially a 'build your own synth' kit in software form. But it isn't restricted to just synths... it can do samplers, effects, sequencers, drum machines, etc. Basically, if it makes a noise, you can make it in Reaktor. Making your own stuff can be a bit tricky, though, so it is nice that there is a community of user-built Reaktor 'ensembles' you can download to augment the ton of stuff that comes with the program already. I personally find myself using it mostly for mangling samples and making weird ambient sounds and sound effects. While the synthesis capabilities are vast, I find a lot of the synths sound a little too clean and cold. This can, of course, be perfect if that is what you want, but if you just want synth sounds, there are definitely better sounding options out there. |
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Native Instruments Battery 2 Drum Machine Software I never thought I would use this very much when I bought the Native Instruments Komplete package (which includes all of their plug-ins), but it actually has proved to be really useful. It lets you built and map out drum kits in a much faster way than you would with a standard sampler, and contains basic synthesis options to mold the sounds in ways that make sense for percussion and drum-oriented type sounds. The pitch envelope can work miracles to punch up kick drums. |
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Native Instruments Intakt Loop Slicer No longer made, this program was designed to take drum loops and slice them up into the individual hits that make up the loop, much like Propellerhead's famous ReCycle program. This takes it much further, however, and you can apply different effects and filter settings to each individual hits to make very complex sounding beats. And of course, the individual slices can be re-arranged and shuffled in different ways to come up with really interesting 'broken beat' type loops. I used this one a lot on the Nerve Filter album. |
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Native Instruments Kontakt 2 Software Sampler This is my main sampler these days, although I also make use of the EXS24 that is built into Logic. Although EXS24 has a slightly more user friendly set-up once you get the samples into the program, building instruments is actually much more easy and straightforward to do in Kontakt. There are a TON of sound mangling options within Kontakt, and the nice thing is, it is set up in a modular sort of way, so you only add the effects or synthesis options you really need with each individual sound. As you can imagine, this goes a long way towards cutting down on CPU usage. It isn't a perfect program, though. A lot of people have had endless amounts of troubles with the program crashing, although I have thankfully not been one of them. The 'search' feature is pretty badly implemented to and sometimes seems to be more trouble than it is worth. |
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Native Instruments Electrik Piano Software Electric Piano I know what you're thinking... "Since when does A23 use electric piano sounds?" While it is true I don't really use the sounds as is, this plug-in sounds absolutely great when fed through guitar amp or distortion plug-ins. The sounds are very expressive and playable and when distorted, take on an almost guitarish edge. The distorted 'guitar' sound in 'Crush' (best heard in the first verse) was done in this manner. |
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Native Instruments Vokator Software Vocoder Until fairly recently, I hadn't even touched this plug-in, mainly because the way it operates is a bit convoluted and user-unfriendly. Once I figured it out, though, I have had a great time messing around with it. It can do the standard 'robot vocal' thing vocoders are known for very well, but it also will let you do weird things with it and come up with some very unusual sounds. I'd still say Prosoniq's Orange Vocoder is a better straight-forward vocoder, but since that is VST only and I am only running AU plug-ins these days, Vokator does the trick. |
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Sonic Charge Microtonic Software Drum Synthesizer |
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Korg Legacy MS-20 Software Synthesizer While it doesn't sound exactly like a real MS-20 (and it can sound VERY close), this is probably one of the most authentically 'analog' sounding softsynths I have ever used. Really cool, unique sounding filters, extremely flexible modulation and routing possibilities mean it can make some REALLY weird sounds. The plug-in version adds features not present on the original, including the ability to play sounds polyphonically, and a very nice Unison mode. Very hard to beat for bass sounds, and can absolutely scream when you get into it deep. Also comes with a great controller that is basically a 3/4 size replica of the MS-20 which makes programming the softsynth great, but also gives you lots of knobs and stuff to assign to other soft synths that allow MIDI learn. |
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Korg Legacy Polysix Software Synthesizer Another great, although very simple, softsynth from the Korg Legacy collection. Nowhere near as complex as the MS-20, this one is better for more 'bread and butter' type sounds. Despite its simplicity, this one can also make some totally stomping basses. |
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Audiorealism Bassline Software Synthesizer Probably one of the best TB-303 simulations I have come across. While I don't use this type of sound too often, the weird step sequencer of the 303 (which is replicated here) does encourage you to come up with some weird things you might not otherwise, so it can be valuable as a means to coming up with sequences outside what you might normally come up with. |
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Camel Audio CA5000 Software Synthesizer |
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Spectrasonics Stylus RMX Software Drum Module Although this is touted mainly as a drum loop library, that really sells it short. While it certainly does come with a ton of drum loops, this is really just the beginning, as you can rearrange the individual slices of a loop as MIDI data to create entirely new loops or variations, and the synthesis capabilities let you take things even farther away from the original source. A great tool for building demo tracks quickly, and if you have ReCycle or another program that can create REX or REX2 files, you can import your own stuff in very easily. Also comes with a great selection of single-hit drum and percussion sounds. |
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East-West Stormdrum Software Drum Module This is a software ROMpler based around huge, imposing percussion sounds. While it does come with a selection of loops, I prefer using the single hit samples to program my own beats. Strangely, one of the things I am using it most for these days are the standard acoustic drum kits that come with it. These are made up with tons of different samples on each key, mapped by velocity. So when you hit a key harder, you don't get a louder version of the same sample, you get a separate sample of what a real drum sounds like being struck that hard. This really goes a long way to making more convincing-sounding acoustic drum tracks. Check out the acoustic drums that come in about halfway through "Damaged" for an example. |