Ask Me Anything | Exclusive Interview with Der Mann mit der Maschine aka Mathias Kettner

video upload by Der Mann mit der Maschine

"With the help of our community on our Discord server we gathered 22 questions for an 'Ask Me Anything' video.
This is the result. Exclusive insights into the world of DROID by the man behind the machine himself - Mathias Kettner.
Enjoy the show!

Join our Discord server: / discord

00:00 Intro
00:12 How did the DROID project come to life?
01:56 Will there be audio processing in the future?
02:56 Are there any plans to make the DROID firmware open source?
03:45 Will there be a Linux version of the Forge?
04:49 How often does Mathias play live?
05:59 Are there any new controllers in the pipeline?
06:34 Are you planning more “out of the box” sequencer circuits?
08:40 What about Cartesian or Stochastic sequencer circuits?
09:44 Will there be “grouping” circuits to make patching easier?
10:49 How to start more complex patches?
14:38 How is a new controller coming into existence?
18:43 What software development is needed for a new controller?
19:43 The future of circuits:Flexible building blocks or fully fledged?
21:12 How does Mathias himself use DROID?
28:28 The DROID unlocked my modular system.
30:38 How to start with DROID with a small budget?
31:55 How to start with DROID? And a bigger budget.
33:30 Use the FORGE!
35:15 DROID MASTER or MASTER18 for beginners?
38:12 How do you decide which features will be implemented?
39:51 How to connect two DROID MASTERS?
41:38 How to get to more CV outputs?
43:28 Thanks to the community for all the questions!"

Perfourmance 4 #synth #synthesizer #electronicmusic

video upload by Marek Hudáč

Perfourmance III

video upload by Marek Hudáč

"Vermona Perfourmer & Polyend Play"

It's always interesting how a rhythm seems to be out of place until it fully kicks in.

U.D.O SUPER GEMINI SOLO SYNTHS

video upload by elz production

"U.D.O is a very delicate synths, you can layer 'everything' and it'll sounds perfect! ‪@udo_audio‬"

U.D.O SUPER GEMINI the HORROR

video upload by elz production

"One of the most joyful aspects of Gemini is seeing and hearing the dual features work with one another on each keyboard layer, so with the arpeggiator, for example, you can set an independent one for each layer, with different patterns and timings but they sync together so don’t sound out of place."

XTRIKE - my 3rd oscillator is a SH-101

video upload by Mad Synth Engineer

"XTRIKE is Multitimbral. By using the loop machine via MIDI, the looper actually becomes a 3rd oscillator. Here, I'm sampling a Roland SH-101 and layering it on top of XTRIKE's internal synth. Play everything via MIDI and precisely tuning it."

Roland RE-201 Space Echo | Sound α GR-V Spring Gate Reverb MIJ | Guyatone HiP HDR-1 Digital Reverb

video upload by Rec Gear Demos

Sound α GR-V Spring Gate Reverb MIJ

video upload by Rec Gear Demos

Guyatone HiP HDR-1 Digital Reverb

video upload by Rec Gear Demos

Ambient Improvisation w/ OP-1 field, YAMAHA CS01 After the rain 2025-07-18 by atnr

video upload by atnr

"A piece for ‪@teenageengineering‬ OP-1 field and YAMAHA CS01, where two modest voices gently intertwine into a calm ambient soundscape.

OP-1 field: Records a simple harmonic bed, then overdubs melodic phrases on top. The master effect is MOTHER, adding spacious reverb.

CS01: Played with slow attack and extended release; ‪@strymon‬ NIGHTSKY’s INFINITE is engaged to create a continuous drone while the filter is slowly swept."

Brussels School Diaries, Day 3: "Medusa Merger" | original electronic music jam

video upload by No Lake

"Do what you love to play, what you love to listen to. As for me, I love intoxicating, hypnotic, and long captivating tracks. That's what I love to listen to, that's what I love to play.

Headphones 🎧 recommended

Additional visuals by Colin Jones from ‪@ccjmusic‬

My Spotify : https://open.spotify.com/artist/3MAeb... My Bandcamp : https://nolake.bandcamp.com/ My Soundcloud : / frederic-kuyl"

Patchwerks Closes Shop

Some unfortunate news in via Patchwerks:

"Patchwerks has closed.

It has been an incredible ride. We created Patchwerks to make a 'third place' away from home and the office that was a safe space for people who wanted to explore making sounds and music with synthesizers.

We started with our meetups in 2016 and grew from there to a little shack off Eastlake Avenue. Then, we outgrew that space and had a shot at a large, beautiful showroom. It was a risk, but we took it. There we had an amazing time building out the store, investing in the community, hosting shows, and more.

We encountered plenty of difficulties in the last few years, and unfortunately now is the time to close the book on our journey.

Having said that, it has been an honor to share our love of synthesizers, music, noise, and community with you all. Keep exploring and keep making sounds. We wish everyone well for what's next."

You can find a ton of content featuring Patchwerks here on MATRIXSYNTH that will live on in the archives. We are going to miss them, and we hope to see them again in the future.

Pacific State/808 State - (Circuit Tracks Version)

video upload by Guinan

"This week’s track is another favourite Hacienda club track. This time from 1989 by the group 808 State (thanks again to Yves Big City @bigcitymastering for inspiring this series).

The original was actually recorded in January 1988 as a reply to the emerging Chicago House scene ‘Pacific State’ has been released in a number of guises. Sometimes just called ‘Pacific,’ others times being labelled numerically after other Roland machines eg. 707, 202. This version is a bit of an amalgamation of a few versions.

Worth noting too that Gerald Simpson ('A Guy Called Gerald') was originally one of the founding members of 808 State before leaving to start his solo career with 'Voodoo Ray'.

I was inspired to cover this after recently acquiring a copy of the Emulator II library disks (to recreate the Kraftwerk track, 'Tour De France' [posted here].
Among these disks, Disk 22 is entitled ‘Loon Garden’. Cited by many as the original source of the ‘Loon’ bird sample we all know and love, it also features a ‘shakahuchi’ sample familiar to anyone who’s ever heard ‘Sledgehammer’ by Peter Gabriel and is a historic piece of sound design. Once you’ve heard these samples you can’t help but hear them across the whole spectrum of popular music. If anyone knows who originally recorded these original samples (also in the Akai S900 library) please leave a comment?

As I started piecing this together I found this excellent video by @CaptainPikant
• Analyzing PACIFIC STATE - How to make clas... [embedded below]
which elegantly detailed the rhythm patterns used. I simplified these somewhat to fit the drum tracks into just 2 tracks to allow room for Sax and Sound Effects tracks (see below).

There is a small snatch of sampled 'sax' played on Logic sampler to fill in for the original sax solo played by Graham Massey from the band but otherwise everything was programmed and played on the Circuit Tracks. No extra synths or FX were used and the audio is recorded straight out of the stereo outs.

I hope you enjoy this track as much as I did putting it together and check back soon for more.

More details for synth nerds.

The bass patch was programmed into Synth 1 to serve as both bass and melody line. The pad sound on Synth 2 is yet another detuned sawtooth pad with chorus, but rolled off with a 24dB low pass filter to create a sound a bit more like the original Juno (said to have been sampled as a chord into a Casio FZ1 sampler).

The drum sounds are a mixture of various 909,707 and 727 Roland drum machine samples from the Reverb Drum Machines collection (normalised and filtered where required).

The Sax sound was played using the sampler instrument in Logic (and is just a preset). The 3 edited phrases were placed onto Drum pad slots and triggered using Drum 3 when required.

Another sample was a ‘bell’ patch created on the Tracks but sampled as a ‘glissando’ to double up the glissando played on the pad on Synth 2, as a break between sections of the song.

Finally Drum 4 was reserved for water and ‘Loon’ sound effects (plus additional 727 rhythm). Did you know the Loon is actually a Canadian diving aquatic bird somewhat like a duck and not at all exotic!

The tracks were as follows;
125BPM, Swing 59%
Synth 1 – bass and melody
Synth 2 – chorused pad chords
Drum 1 – 707 bass drum
Drum 2 – Hihat, Open Hat, Clap and Ride samples.
Drum 3 – Sampled sax lines (and Tracks synth 'bell' glissando sample in break)
Drum 4 – Sound effects, alternating with 727 percussion sampled bongo and muted conga sounds."

Analyzing PACIFIC STATE - How to make classic 909 Ambient House beats | Drum Patterns Explained

video upload by Captain Pikant

"Join us as we analyze and rebuild the unique rhythm of 808 State's timeless Ambient House classic layer by layer."

0:00 Introduction
0:46 Pattern 1
2:54 Loon
4:27 Pattern 2
5:26 Percussion Layer
6:22 One-Shot Patterns
6:49 End Jam