Dual Monomachine IDM with new aftermarket +Drives from MachineStore

video upload by MIDERA

"Scrolling through Reddit one day I came across a post about aftermarket +Drives. I thought it wasn't legit, or rather, I didn't know what to think.
This is the thread: / wts_drive_extension_for_elektron_machinedrum

Well, my Monomachines are the MKI variety, and I got them a long time ago, sans +Drives (which I didn't even know what they were at the time). I got mine really cheap, and of course, now surprised for what they go for. Anyway, I was always a little bummed that I didn't have the drives in mine, although it's not the worst thing in the world to use the computer to offload the patterns/data and start fresh.

Anyway - I bought these aftermarket +Drives for a really good price, got two of them. The folks over at MachineStore (SyntheticJudah specifically) are awesome and the whole process from start to finish buying these things and getting them (well packed) to my house, was really excellent.

Here's some other places to find their stuff:
/ aftermarket_drive_for_machinedrum_monomachine

/ discord

I'm looking forward to whatever they release next. You should check them out if you have Elektron gear :)

Used Eventide Blackhole VST for reverb."

Faded photograph | Tranquil ambient with Rhodes piano, Prophet VS, Alvarez 12, and FM3 pedal

video upload by MIDERA

"It's been a month. As I said, my wife lost her job in May. We hoped she would get a job that seemed like a great fit, someone had reached out to her and said she'd be perfect. Guess they didn't think so later. Oh well.

I did manage to extract all the audio from my old Roland VS-840GX. I kind of wish I was still recording using that thing, it was so good for just sitting down without a screen and recording whatever I wanted, but using a DAW is just so much nicer.

I had half written the rhodes part on this track, when I ended up recording something else that I plan to put into a rock track (yes, I am trying to get back into writing that type of music). Came back to this last night and recorded this, with some changes. Funny how walking away and coming back to something helps you change it for the better.

I used the Fractal Audio FM3 as a looper to loop the first part and then played everything else over it. The Rhodes and Prophet VS was performed in one go, the guitar was done in a second round with Eventide Blackhole VST for reverb.

Well, I hope you enjoy this - my first track written in a month."

TITAN Patch Bank: A Yamaha SY77/TG77 soundbank of 64 patches

video upload by MIDERA

"It has taken me years to publish this sound set. Mostly - I did not think it was that good, but I was asked repeatedly to release it. So that is what I am doing. I am quite horrible at showcasing bass sounds, of which I had quite a few here. I believe my original goal was to make either SH-101 or Minimoog type sounds and get that sweet sweet Lately Bass patch so I could sell my TX81z. I think I succeeded, at least a little bit there.

My playing was not rehearsed, as it already takes a lot of time to showcase each sound. This will, of course, be obvious when you listen, because it will not sound particularly good or refined. Plus, there are no external FX, which I personally like to use, but won't on a soundbank or patchbank video because I want to make sure you are hearing exactly what you will get when purchasing the patches.

These patches span the years from 2017 when I got the SY77, until today. I honestly can't believe I've had the thing that long. That's 8 years I've owned this. It's still one of my favorites.

If you'd like to purchase my soundset, please go to my webpage and shoot me an email: https://www.midera-artist.com/synthes..."

Mors aliquid novi | A Prophet VS and acoustic 12-string guitar ambient improvisation soundscape

video upload by MIDERA

"Earlier this month I managed to replace the bone saddle in my 12 string guitar. I guess years of messing with the saddle (as well as expansion contraction in the basement gloom) caused it to deteriorate to a point where the strings wouldn't touch it and it sounded horrible. I've had this guitar since 2001, so somewhere around 14 years. It's felt nice to bring it back to that feeling of new, even though it was never well cared for. I just love the feel and sound of it. These videos where I even mention a guitar usually do distinctly awful. I guess the idea of mixing guitar with synths just rubs people the wrong way. But I liked it.

Sequential Prophet VS #sequentialprophetvs
Alvarez 12-string acoustic guitar
Fractal Audio FM3 #fractalaudiofm3
Native Instruments Raum #nativeinstrumentsraum"

Misadventures | A DSI Prophet 12 and Fractal Audio FM3 ambient soundscape

video upload by MIDERA

"Yesterday my wife lost her job. I guess it surprised neither of us, although that didn't make it any less painful. Going through our list of things we need to cancel and stop, like daycare for our three year old. On the week of our wedding anniversary too, it just added that extra little sting.

She's always come back with something better, but I guess you sit and wonder whether this time there will be something, with all the job cuts in what feels like every sector, so many will be doing the same thing, in a time when the competitiveness was already overwhelming. I guess for now we just wait and hope. Wait and hope.

DSI Prophet 12
Fractal Audio FM3 for FX"

The Kingdom of Ice | Contemplative downtempo ambient soundscape with DSI Poly Evolver and Virus TI

video upload by MIDERA

"Yesterday was my mom’s birthday. Today is Mother’s Day… crazy for me to think that she hasn’t been here for two of either of these. It is hard to be without her. I think about her often. I had planned to watch her favorite Indian movie last night… but I couldn’t bring myself to watch it (it’s not exactly my kind of movie), so instead my wife and I picked a movie we’d never seen. Fire and Ice. It was pretty bad. I had thought since I loved the Lord of the Rings by the same director, this would be as good, but I was mistaken. So, I didn’t really do anything to honor my mom, but I guess she’d have been just as happy knowing I was enjoying myself.

Poly Evolver for arpeggiated sounds.
Off camera, I used my Virus TI for pads.

Everything went through the Fractal Audio FM3"

Dream of the moons | Roland Jupiter 6, Rhodes Piano, and Fractal Audio FM3 lush ambient soundscape

video upload by MIDERA

"Wow, made it to 11,000 subscribers. It’s funny because it would seem like a “success” so to speak… but it’s not so different than when I only had 100 subscribers or 500, or 5,000. Truthfully, I guess the successes I have are raising my kids, it’s the time I truly feel like “I made it.” My career doesn’t feel so successful either. But I do enjoy the stuff I do here, and I suppose doing it has allowed me to write at least 21 albums worth of electronic music, which in itself is a feat I suppose.

Success just doesn’t seem to be an endpoint. You can look at someone who seems successful, and they can be moments from catastrophe, either self-inflicted or otherwise, or they don’t view their lives as successful at all. It’s like success is that pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. You think it’s there and all you have to do is catch up with it, but you really won’t ever see it, because there is no pot of gold. Some of the most miserable, hateful people I know… have lots of the stuff. I guess I am learning something in this world: that money and success won’t be there to make me happy. But I feel real joy around my family, and some joy around things I achieve, but it’s pretty clear that there will never be a thing that I do that tells me that I was or will be successful. And that’s good enough for me.

Roland Jupiter 6 #rolandjupiter
Rhodes piano #rhodespiano
Fractal Audio FM3 #fractalaudiofm3"

Endways | Minimoog, Prophet 10, Yamaha SY77, Elektron Machinedrum IDM track

video upload by MIDERA

"Pulled the Yamaha SY77 out again and wanted to get some good use out of it, it's such a great synth. I liken it to the 'Prophet of the FM' synths. It just has such a good presence.

I also bought some lamps for my studio that I've been enjoying. Overhead lights have been annoying me for years.

Sequentix Cirklon 2
Moog Minimoog
Prophet 10
Yamaha SY77
Elektron Machinedrum MKII UW+"

A Roland Jupiter 6 soundscape with Fractal Audio FM3

video upload by MIDERA

"My daughter woke up every day this week with a fever. I knew something was wrong when, on Monday, she got up when I was standing in the hallway and she just looked off. Then she said "I'm dizzy." Every time she has a fever she wakes up dizzy. And so she has been sick. I wish I could have relaxed with her the whole time, but I was busy with work.

Hopefully she'll start feeling better soon.

The Tooth Fairy did leave her a note, wishing her well, letting her know that someone had told her my daughter was sick. My daughter was so excited to know that one of her stuffed animals had talked with the Tooth Fairy at night to explain the situation. That was, probably, the highlight of the week.

Roland Jupiter 6 #rolandjupiter
Fractal Audio FM3 #fractalaudiofm3"

Roland Juno-6 versus Roland JX-3P | Comparison

video upload by MIDERA

"Comparing the Juno-6 to the JX-3P. Some of this felt a little unfair because I was using the Juno 6 with sub and both oscillators active, so the 3P sounded a little anemic at times. I also noticed at times the JX-3P appeared quieter. I tried to rectify this, but know that going in it may feel slightly biased. I made this video TWO YEARS AGO and actually forgot until today that I had made it, sitting 'unlisted' in YouTube.

00:00 Pulse wave comparison
00:32 PWM
02:18 All waves on (not great with JX-3P and PWM)
02:56 LFO speed for PWM (Juno way faster)
03:37 Sawtooth wave comparison
04:28 Saw + Pulse waves
04:50 Sub osc (JX3P lower octave)
06:30 Filter cutoff 0% res
07:00 Filter cutoff 50% res
07:15 Filter cutoff 100% res
08:00 Envelope snappiness
09:00 Sequencer / Arp envelope snappiness and speed
10:50 Envelope release time comparison
12:22 Comparison of Chorus
13:00 Sync (JX3P only)
16:30 Random patch creations"

https://www.midera-artist.com/

https://midera.bandcamp.com/

Sequential Prophet 10 REV4 versus Prophet VS Vector Synth: A not-so-detailed comparison and thoughts

video upload by MIDERA

"I had both of these side by side and figured it was now or never - do a brief comparison of the two head to head. What's interesting is listening to the Prophet VS filter afterwards it didn't sound so 'TB-303' like as it did when I recorded it. It sounded more tame. It was a bit depressing, but I guess that's part of what is important to hear - differences between what's recorded and what's heard live.

A few notes: if you listen on a phone, you really won’t hear ANY differences mention, lol. I don’t hear the aliasing on the PVS.

You can initialize the PVS patch as well holding enter and pressing zero. I didn’t do that here because it puts all 4 oscillators on using different waveforms, which isn’t really initialized for my purposes.

Also - I want to comment about something that annoys me. If I ever want to look up anything on the "Prophet VS" it comes up as thinking it means 'versus' so I hardly find any information about the VS.

What do you think about the two (P10 v PVS)?

MIDERA"

Yamaha DX7 and Fractal Audio FM3 soundscape improvisation

video upload by MIDERA

"I think I'm getting worse at playing keyboard. Anyway, a friend wanted me to fix his DX7, but I can't find anything wrong with it so I tested it out for a little while and just made this brief piece.

Yamaha DX7
Fractal Audio FM3"

A DSI Poly Evolver Soundscape

video upload by MIDERA

"A soundscape using the Poly Evolver. I used the sequencer to advance the waveshapes, although, I think it was quite hard to tell.

Enjoy

Poly Evolver
NI Raum"

Once awake | Cirklon, Minimoog, Poly Evolver, Prophet 10, Machinedrum IDM electronic music

video upload by MIDERA

"Today I managed to find about an hour to write this track. I've been trying to find a reason to keep the Poly Evolver (although I don't seem to have any local folks interested), and so I figured the best way to do that was to use it in my songs and see how it does.

Sequentix Cirklon 2: Sequencing
Moog Minimoog: Bass
Prophet 10: Bells
Poly Evolver: Pads
Machinedrum MKII UW+: Drums"

The voice of nothing | Cirklon, Minimoog, Prophet 10, Poly Evolver, Machinedrum MKII Electronic IDM

video upload by MIDERA

"Today, before bed, I laid with my family on my bed, listening to the downfall of rain on the roof. I loved every second of it. My kids? It scared them for some reason. Undoubtedly, some day they will look back and think 'I can't believe I was so scared of that gentle rain on the roof... I missed the opportunity to just relax with my papa and mama.'

Of course, not a day goes by that I don't look back at the end of the day and wish I had been more present. Who knows what other adventures I'm missing out with them by being just so stuck in my head.

Well - as for this track, I was trying some new things, using the Machinedrum instead of the Nord Drum 2, and stacking the Poly Evolver and P10. I didn't really enjoy the experience of either. I know some people fill their rooms with synths and Jasper's stands, but I think it just kills the creativity. Maybe my constant unhappiness with my studio keeps me writing more and more?

I don't know.

Sequentix Cirklon 2: Sequencing
Moog Minimoog: Bass
Prophet 10: Bells
Poly Evolver: Pads
Machinedrum MKII UW+: Drums"

Wayward shift | Moog Minimoog, Spectralis 2, Prophet 10, Prophet 12, Nord Drum 2

video upload by MIDERA

"Another track with the Spectralis driving the synths.

Gear:
Moog Minimoog = lead/bass
Sequential Prophet 10 = Bass
Sequential Prophet 12 = Pads
Radikal Technologies Spectralis 2 = Sequencing, plucks, cello
Clavia Nord Drum 2

#minimoog #prophet10 #norddrum2
Uploaded March 25th, 2025"

Synth track: Spectralis, minimoog, prophet 10, prophet 12, Nord Drum 2 IDM electronic music

video upload by MIDERA

"I wonder... how does one increase views? I've been doing the same thing for years. Like 10+ years... and the longer I go, the fewer sales I have on each subsequent album, the fewer views, the fewer everything. I guess it's hard to change, maybe everything I do is the same.

Probably just a saturated market. Everyone out there is doing something."

Sequentix Cirklon 2, Minimoog, Prophet 12, SX-240, Nord Drum 2 IDM electronic track

video upload by MIDERA

"I've been trying to see what sequencers to keep. Obviously the Spectralis stays, but I kept running into roadblocks with the Cirklon so it was something I needed to write a track with. I did the same with the Squarp Pyramid, but I got stuck working through it. I'm starting to get the hang of the Cirklon though. Although it does often take a few extra button presses to do things I think should be easy, I've figured out other ways to do what I want too. I'll try again with the Pyramid, but most likely that one will be going away.

Sequentix Cirklon 2 - sequencing
Moog Minimoog - bass
DSI Prophet 12 - bell/synth tone
Kawai SX-240 - pads
Clavia Nord Drum 2 - drums
Native Instruments Raum for reverb"

Sequential Prophet 10 REV4 and Rhodes Piano | ambient improvisation

video upload by MIDERA

"My family and I went on vacation this week and had a great time. Some things came up at work and frustratingly, I feel I wasn't entirely as present as I'd have liked to have been. Kind of ruined a lot of things for me, but, despite that we had fun.

My oldest daughter, as usual, wanted a stuffy. We went to a store and she decided she wanted to wait to get something at a different place (because she usually liked the stuffed animals there. So later that day we drove down and - to her dismay - the new stuffed animals there were for little kids. We asked how she could tell, but she said she could. She did not want them. But we didn't have time to go back to the other place (since this was a restaurant and we were going to be eating dinner and the other place would be closed). I drove back up afterwards, looking for any place that might sell something similar, but nowhere did. The next day we knew a snow storm was coming in, a huge one. So she was very sad that we wouldn't be able to go back - but I was proud of her for two reasons: 1) She was able to hold off getting something now for the hopes of something better. 2) She didn't just grab something at the second place, because she knew she didn't want those. And although she cried and was very sad, she did not get something there. I was proud of her for that.

The next morning, we decided to go out in the storm and we did end up getting that stuffy for her. I got her something extra too because I was proud of her for waiting.

As for this track - well, I'm trying to see - do I really need that SX-240? Just because it's pretty? Basically, I have found the Prophet 10 actually does sound almost identical to the SX-240. As cool/nice as it is, I can't just keep all this stuff. There's just too much stuff here and I can make the same or better stuff without some of these synths in my studio.

Sequential Prophet 10 REV4
Rhodes Electric Piano MKI
Fractal Audio FM3 for FX"

Roland Jupiter 6 lush pads and Rhodes Piano soundscape

video upload by MIDERA

"I'm convinced the Kawai SX-240 should go, if only because I can trade for something else (Yamaha CP-70b?). But what can take its place that's already here? The Jupiter 6? The Prophet 10? The Prophet VS? They're all similar, but different. Guess that's why I stupidly have so much stuff. I can hear interesting tones from one that I can't hear in another. They're all interesting.

The Jupiter 6 surprised me here. I have learned some tricks about keeping the filter from sounding so harsh, and I think that's helped. It's for sure an unusual synth - and not entirely my favorite. In fact, I'd say generally the SX-240 sounds better (and looks better). I think the SSM2044 filters really make that synth shine, and nothing I have is like that. The Polysix had these filters but it never sounded as good. I think the Prophet 10 probably is the closest, but it also lacks reverse saw waves that I really like for LFOs. I don't know why they omitted those on the P10, but they did.

Track title: When our sighs collapse

Roland Jupiter 6
Rhodes Electric Piano
Fractal Audio FM3"