Knock Out 🎚️(Teenage Engineering K.O.-Sidekick EP-136 // MFB Tanzbar // Roland S-1 // J-6)

video upload by 2-Minute Warning

"A new little piece of gear joins the setup! 🎛️

This time, I'm introducing the Teenage Engineering KO II Sidekick EP-136 , a small but surprisingly powerful little mixer, and a very welcome addition to the setup.

And this one is a little different from my last jams: there's no external sequencers like the Squarp Hapax or Arturia Keystep Pro involved! 😄

Instead, I'm using the built-in sequencers of all 3 instruments in the setup: the MFB Tanzbär , Roland S-1 and *Roland J-6*. It's actually quite refreshing to let the instruments take care of their own sequences for once.

The Tanzbär is on Channel 1 , bringing its punchy analog drums to the party. Channel 2 is shared by the Roland S-1 and *Roland J-6*: the J-6 handles the bass and chords, while the S-1 also provides the lead chimes during the intro.

The problem? The Sidekick only has *2 stereo channels*.

So, naturally, I had to cheat a little. 😄

I routed the audio output of the S-1 into the audio input of the J-6 , allowing me to combine both instruments into a single channel before sending everything to the Sidekick.

This also means I can process the two main parts of the track separately.

On Channel 1 , I'm using the Sidekick's excellent built-in compressor on the Tanzbär drums. It's a really practical and nicely coloured compressor, and you can hear it working quite clearly in this jam. In particular, when I mute the kick on the Tanzbär, you can hear the other percussion sounds jump up in volume as the compressor releases some of the gain reduction.

I'm also using the filter effect on Channel 1. The joystick works a bit like a DJ filter: move it to the left for a low-pass filter , or to the right for a high-pass filter . I'm using both directions during the jam for a few transitions and to shape the drums.

On Channel 2 , the main effect I'm using is the delay , mostly to create the transitions between different sections of the track.

It's a pretty simple setup, but I always enjoy these little routing puzzles where a limitation forces you to find a different way of doing things.

So, 3 instruments, 3 internal sequencers, 2 mixer channels, and quite a bit of processing coming from one surprisingly small box. 😉

As always, the performance was recorded in a single take. I mixed and mastered the individual tracks afterwards in Ableton Live, but the musical performance itself wasn't edited or fixed."