Agar Agar - Against The Clock

Published on Oct 17, 2018 FACTmagazine
Update 10/17/18 9:53PM: video is back.

"All aboard for our first ever Against The Clock on a boat.

French electronic duo Agar Agar are singer Clara Cappagli and synth wizard Armand Bultheel. The duo met in art school four years ago and bonded over a love of music and art, forming Agar Agar despite their contrasting backgrounds in garage rock and club music.

We jumped at the chance to feature the duo on Against The Clock and were happily surprised when they told us we'd be recording on a boat. The duo proved themselves an act to watch in 2018 thanks to Bultheel's electronic shoegaze instrumental and Cappagli's evocative vocals.

Watch the session above and check out Agar Agar's second album The Dog and The Future, which is out now via Cracki Records. Don't miss Agar Agar's upcoming London show next week."

DJ Haus - Against The Clock

Published on Sep 26, 2018 FACTmagazine

Building a track from scratch on eurorack.

"DJ Haus is one of the hardest working people in dance music.

As head of Unknown to the Unknown, he oversees a relentless schedule of releases from artists like DJ Boring, Mall Grab, Deadboy and Kornél Kovács. Alongside that he's been a regular guest on FACT videos over the years, making beats with Willie Burns and finding out how synth master Legowelt makes his tracks.

DJ Haus is also a formidable producer in his own right, so we figured it was time we got him on Against The Clock. He set himself the challenge of making a dancefloor track in 10 minutes using his modular synth – with no cables patched to begin with – and smashed it, frankly.

DJ Haus' forthcoming mixtape compilation DJ Haus Enters The Unknown Vol. 2 will be available in November.

http://enterstheunknown.com/"

Fever Ray producer Christoffer Berg takes us inside his stunning Gothenburg studio

Published on Aug 30, 2018 FACTmagazine

"A synth haven in the heart of Sweden.

Christoffer Berg may not be a familiar name but you’ve most likely heard his work: as well production and engineering for Depeche Mode, he’s worked extensively with both The Knife and Fever Ray.

We were given the opportunity to visit his Gothenburg studio and jumped at the chance, having heard rumors of his one-of-a-kind synth collection, which includes one of the very first synthesizers made in Europe.

Christoffer also took us next door into Svenska Grammofon Studion, a famous recording space that counts Foals, The Hives and Jose Gonzales among the artists who have made music inside it."

Driftmachine - Against The Clock

Published on Aug 22, 2018 FACTmagazine

"Modular synths aren't as rare and unusual as they once were, but few artists can claim to have mastered them like Andreas Gerth and Florian Zimmer. As Driftmachine, the pair use two systems running in sync to create multilayered compositions that straddle the line between techno and drone.

The pair have a released several albums on Umor Rex over the past four years, including this year's Shunter, a deep dive into "post-industrial dub" peppered with noise and field recordings. However, as we discovered when we visited their studio for this episode of Against The Clock, they sometimes use puppets to make music too."

Voodoo can.

CYRK - Against The Clock

Published on Aug 15, 2018 FACTmagazine

"Sierra Sam and Pascal Hetzel may be based in Berlin, but their music as CYRK owes more to the sound of Detroit house and techno than contemporary German club music.

After years spent touring the world as a live act, the pair released their first productions in 2016 on their own self-titled label. Since then, they've released several records on labels including HIKE Recordings and, most recently, Rawax.

We visited their Berlin studio to see what they could do in 10 minutes with their massive collection of Eurorack modules, boutique synths and analog gear. The result? A big room techno beat that didn't disappoint."

Amirali - Against The Clock [with Ableton & DSI Synths]

Published on Aug 8, 2018 FACTmagazine

DSI Sequential Prophet-6 & Mopho x4.

"A Balearic sunset soundtrack in 10 minutes.

Iran-born producer Amirali started attracting attention back in 2012 with his lush, club-rooted soundscapes back in 2012 with his debut album for Crosstown Rebels, In Time.

His latest EP, Odyssey, sees him continue to develop his rich style of house music with the kind of sunny Balearic textures custom-made for Ibizan sunsets.

http://www.2lin.cc/Odyssey

We put his skills to the test on this week's Against The Clock, where he made an atmospheric, downtempo slow-burner from his north London studio featuring live vocals and a few carefully selected pieces of gear running with Ableton Live.

Amirali will be presenting a collaborative concert with The Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich on October 5th.

https://www.tonhalle-orchester.ch/kon..."

Inside Richard Fearless’ shipping container studio overlooking the Thames

Published on Jul 26, 2018 FACTmagazine

"The Death In Vegas founder lets us into his studio.

FACT has done many studio tours over the years, but we’ve never seen anything quite like Richard Fearless’ shipping container studio overlooking the River Thames.

Located in east London’s Docklands area, just a short distance from the O2 Arena, the tiny studio houses all the synths Fearless has amassed over his three decades in music, including the vintage gear used on Death In Vegas’s albums and solo material on his label, Drone.

We paid Fearless a visit where he gave us the lowdown on some of his favorite pieces of gear, including Roland’s MC-202 groovebox and the VHF monitoring unit used to record radio chatter for the most recent Death In Vegas album, 2016’s Transmission."

How To Make A Joe Goddard Track

Published on Jul 19, 2018 FACTmagazine

Synths come in after 2:00: Yamaha CS80, ARP 2600, Oberheim OB-Xa.

"Studio secrets from the Hot Chip member and producer.

London producer Joe Goddard has quite the career under his belt. A founding member of Hot Chip – who he’s been performing with for 18 years – Goddard has made six studio albums with the band, released two solo albums, DJs regularly and even runs his own record label, Greco-Roman.

But how does the man that helped to write countless Hot Chip hits and produced the 2011 classic ‘Gabriel’ make a track? We visited his production space in east London to get an insight into his creative process, where he gave us a step-by-step guide to making music with vintage synths, classic rack effects, Just Blaze drum samples and Cubase. Listen to the finished track below."

Jameszoo - Against The Clock

Published on Jul 4, 2018 FACTmagazine

"One of Amsterdam's key players makes a track in 10 minutes.

Jameszoo is a self-described "naïve computer jazz" artist and Dutch representive of Flying Lotus's Brainfeeder label, which released his debut album Fool in 2016. When he's not making music he's hosting residencies at the Netherlands' Willem Twee Studios, a space filled with vintage gear for making electro-acoustic sounds.

We travelled to Den Bosch to meet Jameszoo at the space for this week's episode of Against The Clock, where he put its unique collection of devices – including an ARP 2600 and a few pieces of test and measure equipment – through their paces with his Prophet '08 synth.

Watch above and then see what Albert Van Abbe did with the Willem Twee collection for his ATC a few months ago."

Sónar+D 2018: Soundcool on its accessible tool for musical collaboration

Published on Jun 16, 2018 FACTmagazine

"Cool sounds from Sónar+D 2018.

You might think that creating music and visuals collaboratively in real time would be the domain of experienced coders and algoravers, but as we found at Sónar+D – the sister event to Sónar's long-running Barcelona music festival – it doesn't have to be that way.

There, Spanish startup Soundcool gave us the lowdown on how its system of modules – controllable via phones, tablets and even Microsoft's Kinect and forthcoming Hololens – could make musical collaboration an accessible reality for the masses."

https://www.matrixsynth.com/search?q=Soundcool

Sonar+D 2018: Google Magenta shows us its machine learning synth

Published on Jun 16, 2018 FACTmagazine

See the Google label below for more.

Sónar+D 2018: Playtronica shows us its quirky MIDI controllers

Published on Jun 15, 2018 FACTmagazine

"Synthesizers don't have to be played with black and white keys: in recent years we've seen the rise of grid controllers, tablets and squishy, multi-touch surfaces for music-making. Quirky startup Playtronica is trying to make MIDI interfaces even more fun, bringing fruit and color recognition into the mix.

We visited Playtronica's stand at this weekend's Sónar+D in Barcelona – the sister event to Sónar's long-running music festival – to find out more about how its fun MIDI controllers can enable anyone to make a whole orchestra out of pineapples, use a color palette as a rhythmic sequencer and use the human body as an instrument."

Efdemin - Against The Clock

Published on Jun 13, 2018 FACTmagazine

"Berlin minimal veteran Efdemin goes Against The Clock.

Efdemin has been a staple is the Berlin minimal scene since the turn of the millennium. Releasing music on labels like Dial and Curle Recordings, the Panorama Bar DJ hasn't showed any signs of stopping since.

FACT visited Efdemin in his Berlin studio to see what he could do in 10 minutes. During the session, he loaded up a barrage of sounds using a vintage sampler and engaged his variety of different drum machines and bits of modular gear.

Trust us, you don't want to miss out on this one. Press play and enjoy."

Visit Jonas Rathsman's chemistry lab-turned-studio in Gothenburg

Published on May 29, 2018 FACTmagazine

"Jonas Rathsman is an integral part of Sweden's house and techno scene. He’s been releasing music since 2013 when he debuted on French Express. He hasn’t stopped since, with releases on Diynamic, Crosstown Rebels, Mobilee and his own ELEMENTS imprint.

Having spent nearly all his life around Sweden's second city, Gothenburg, Rathsman decided to build his own studio complex in an abandoned chemistry lab. Obviously, we jumped at the chance to have a full tour."

FACT review: Roland TR-8S

Published on May 20, 2018 FACTmagazine

"In 2014, Roland released the TR-8 drum machine, a continuation of the legacy of the classic TR-808 and 909 devices that defined hip-hop, house and techno. Lots of musicians loved the TR-8 for its faithful drum sounds and hands-on control, but there was plenty of room for improvement.

Enter the TR-8S, Roland's latest entry into the mid-range drum machine market. It does everything the TR-8 does with a few key additions, such as an increased pattern memory, the inclusion of more classic Roland drum sounds out of the box and the ability to upload your own samples.

Of course, with these extra features comes an increase in price: $200 up to $699, to be exact. So is it worth upgrading? In the latest video review from FACT’s Make Music, we put the TR-8S through its paces to find out."

Black Corporation Deckard's Dream & Kijimi Synthesizers

Published on May 8, 2018 Synthtopia

Note: Kijimi is actually based on the RSF Kobol mono synth. via the creator himself, Roman Filippov: "It’s a polyphonic kobol more than polykobol, since it uses ssm2040-like filters, not ssm2044"

"Here's an update on Black Corporation's two rack-mount analog synthesizers, Deckard's Dream and the Kijimi."

Deckard's Dream - Gear Guide - Superbooth 2018

Published on May 8, 2018 FACTmagazine

"FACT was at Berlin synth show Superbooth last week, where we tried out all the latest and greatest synth gear.

At Black Corporation's booth we got a sneak preview of Kijimi, a new eight-voice instrument inspired by a rare French polysynth from the 1970s. While we were there, we couldn't resist also checking out Deckard's Dream, the company's existing synth based on the Yamaha CS-80 – the synth used by Vangelis to write the classic Blade Runner score.

Watch above for an overview of the synth and a demonstration of its impressive sound engine."

ALM/Busy Circuits - Gear Guide - Superbooth 2018

Published on May 4, 2018 FACTmagazine

"FACT was at Berlin's Superbooth to capture the latest gear action from the three-day synth celebration."

Black Corporation Kijimi eight-voice polysynth - Gear Guide - Superbooth 2018

Published on May 4, 2018 FACTmagazine

"FACT was at Berlin's Superbooth to capture the latest gear action from the three-day synth celebration."

Kijimi posts.

Note: Kijimi is actually based on the RSF Kobol mono synth. via the creator himself, Roman Filippov: "It’s a polyphonic kobol more than polykobol, since it uses ssm2040-like filters, not ssm2044"

Modor - Gear Guide - Superbooth 2018

Published on May 4, 2018 FACTmagazine

Previous post.

Buchla 200e - Gear Guide - Superbooth 2018

Published on May 4, 2018 FACTmagazine

"FACT was at Berlin's Superbooth to capture the latest gear action from the three-day synth celebration."