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The rehearsal podcast. At the cozy talk in the rehearsal room. With our moderators Mr. Raumwelle,
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Very nice. Hello and welcome. Here's your long-term podcast after two.
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months of pause. I hope that we can do this
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You can publish at the same time.
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Please leave the Ministry of the Interior alone. Boys,
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otherwise, hello, nice again something from
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To hear you. Thomas, Sascha, how are you?
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I'm fine. I'm fine. So to me
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It's better, let's say. I am
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Not yet, I'm over the mountain, I can also
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I can move again, I can sit again,
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This is what happens when you have surgery.
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Yeah, there's something going on in the shot.
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Who's shooting at your groin?
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Yeah, well, what do I want to say. If only you had been hit on the road for the first time.
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Yes, I think you took an equally painful thing from both of us, or let you take it with you.
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More specifically. What was that, an electric roller dressed in you?
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Yes, such an electric roll with two minors on it.
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Details. Well, so life's hard, man. Okay. Speaking of the worst transition in the world. We were before we were all sick and demolished.
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We were a fairly regular podcast about music production. And since we all come a little bit from the electronic, it always had that synthesizer focus.
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And when you talk about a synthesizer focus, and we've been talking about wanting to do this for a really long time, and I'm glad it worked out today.
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We've got the man with us who's pretty much everyone, no, that's maybe a bit exaggerated,
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But we have a man with us who has not only played a lot of synthesizers, like us here,
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He made it up, at least part of it.
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And I'm very happy that we're almost in this hopefully a little less painful podcast
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Let's start again, after two episodes we couldn't send.
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Yes, with a very great guest we have Axel Hartmann. You are very welcome.
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Thanks for the moderation. I am happy to be able to participate here.
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It's always an exciting topic. I've never done a podcast.
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Therefore – and in German, of course, it is also nice,
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It's mother tongue. So very wonderful,
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I am very happy. I am
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Unusually healthy, so I'm missing
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Nothing at the moment. It may be an
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A little warm here in the office, that's it.
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The only one. I might sweat a little
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Excessive, but you can see and hear it
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Yes, not. Hopefully.
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Otherwise I'm fine and I'm happy,
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that you have re-entered and
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I've been interested in what we're doing here in Ravensburg all day.
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Me and my small, mini-small design team.
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So, Axel, you're an absolute legend.
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Let me list some synthesizers, some devices.
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Of course you did a lot more.
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So I can here, I give now only a tiny selection.
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It starts in 1989, Waldorf Microwave, then it goes on, Waldorf Wave, Alesis Andromeda,
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Waldorf Q, Hartmann Neuron, Moog Little Fatty, Moog Voyager, Studio Logic, the Numas series,
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Then Arturia Origin, Arturia PolyBrute, Studiologic Sledge, the Schmid Synthesizer, the MatrixBrute,
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the Waldorf Quantum, the Moog One, the Udo SuperSix, the Roland Phantom, Arturia Minifreak,
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Waldorf Iridium Keyboard and, and, and, it doesn't stop, it goes on and on.
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now, last year, Kurzweil K2061/2088 also designed by you. I have already mentioned Toja Astrolab.
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I could go on like this. That's not even nearly half of them.
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Products where you designed the design. What I wonder if I
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I have a legend on the microphone. How to become a synthesizer designer?
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That wasn't my plan. I originally wanted to be a musician. The musician is linked
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But somehow in my young years, so after graduation, I thought I had to listen to music.
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study. I'm a pianist, I come from the piano, I've always been musical and I've done that.
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Learned from the pike on and played in bands and so on. Then my career wish was originally
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Musician, pianist, pianist or, in case of doubt, music teacher. But even that is lost to me.
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Classic or a bit of jazz or maybe pop and rock?
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Yes, pop and rock. So I had a classical education at the piano with a very dear but also very bad piano teacher,
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which actually could not show me so much technically, which certainly hindered me, because somehow to pass the entrance exam at the end.
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I tried this at the university in Saarbrücken and I flew through it clinking,
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Because I didn't have hearing training. And all the things you do when you really
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I had never studied music before. I've practiced piano, he's taught me
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Let me play what I wanted, which might have been an advantage afterwards. And so am
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I then slipped into this band thing at some point, so with 13, 14 so my first
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Gathered band experiences and thought, yes, I'm going to be a musician. As I said, the dream was
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In principle, I was taken as I flew through this recording formation. And then I stood
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I didn't know what to do because I didn't have a plan B. And then I first got into
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My confusion is studying law for two to four semesters. I got in there somehow, that's
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I'm kind of interested, but only because I even watched Petro Celli on TV.
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You probably don't know that, you're too young.
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Of course, who doesn't know? I'm so old.
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I really liked Petro Celli. He was always so excited and then home to his
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Caravan and then built his house with bricks. I found that somehow,
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I thought maybe that was for me, but of course it was a complete mistake. And
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At some point I remembered that we had taken an exam in high school,
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Which profession is good for me? In the tenth grade, the design came out. Da
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I thought, while I was studying in Saarbrücken, law or not, I
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Go to the Saarland University. Then there was the university of applied sciences in the course of study
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Design. And there I once reingerochen and immediately felt comfortable and then I
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Started design studies, that is, industrial design, what you can touch.
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I was interested in industrial design. I've always been good at art and so have I.
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Always interested in things that were cool, well made, tech-savvy, something like that. And
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Then I went to college and at some point along the way I realized I could do it somehow.
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Combine later. So that was already
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Once the goal is reached, it will eventually
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Also expressed in my diploma thesis.
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There was a gambit, but maybe there was a gambit.
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I've seen it on the website,
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That was the exit for me.
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the study, the entry should, the
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into this world of
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electronic music equipment manufacturers.
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That was my dream that I would go with
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this work can end up somewhere with a manufacturer and these two in me
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existing streams of music and art or then design as a trained designer that
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Someone wants to be an in-house designer. And so everything has
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started. I've written a lot of applications to everyone.
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possible companies that existed at the time, which had stayed in the synthesizer area.
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That went to the USA, to Australia, everywhere I sent wars and got nothing back.
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In the end, Wolfgang Düren hired me.
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Ex-PPG, then in the refoundation of Waldorf. That was my first job.
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Yeah, and that's how I got in there.
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Okay, how do you imagine that? Then Wolfgang comes to you and says,
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"Look, we have a new product here, we have a synthesizer that has wavetable synthesis. Let's have a user interface.
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Yeah, like that. Yeah, sure. It's similar because I'm a musician. I already knew all the devices when I was nerd for a long time.
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Of course I knew PPG, I always dreamed of. If I couldn't afford it, it was too expensive.
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And of course I knew what it was all about.
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Wavetables and that's what I knew.
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I was familiar with the subject and it was a bit sad for me,
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that it was only about 19-inch devices for the first time,
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because this is not such a beautiful task for an industrial designer,
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It's like going into the three-dimensional so completely.
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That was just to design a front panel
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And somehow a way, how does the instrument become accessible.
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I was also allowed to work there.
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I also did sound design, I demonstrated the device at the time.
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It was so nice to come in at Waldorf because it was such a small, very familiar environment.
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And the good thing that Wolfgang...
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Did you mean to say a start-up?
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Yes, a start-up. It was also closely linked to Steinberg at the time.
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who have corrected it a bit, have worked together,
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They probably put in some funding.
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In any case, I was allowed to participate
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It made me feel like the king of the world.
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That was fantastic.
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So we were all about the same age,
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We were all a little crazy.
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Focus on this topic.
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We are now building a synthesizer in Germany,
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It's near Bonn.
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Yes, it was super nice and just as you imagine it,
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you sit together, say, yeah look, that's practically the engine,
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which we have at our disposal.
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We built an ASIC.
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He can do this and that and that. How do you put a good user interface on it in 19-inch format?
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And how can this or how can this look, so that it somehow also stands out a bit between the entire 19-inch devices?
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At that time, this was the dominant mode of production or appearance of synthesizers.
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That was just the beginning, master keyboard, sound engine in purpose.
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Did I get it right now?
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So you weren't just a designer for the exterior,
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But you said yes, you also made sound design.
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I also made sound design, which I had at Waldorf back then.
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It was a team of five or six people.
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Everything, or many, there were a few keyboardists, also a few,
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Claudius Brüse, for example, from Cologne, who is also a very good studioman and keyboarder
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And that also studied music, he knew himself really well, even a total nerd.
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And then there was Tommy Kircher, who made the hardware, also a musician.
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And me too, musicians and also one, I have of course already before
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He played and programmed a lot of synthesizers. I've always had bands.
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We also had our own material and that was my life.
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Make sounds and play them.
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And that's why it was so great to be able to get in at Waldorf.
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How cool is that? So, somehow bring the two together.
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I think it's different from the end result,
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If you're a bit involved with the device,
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Instead of just giving people 6 buttons and an encoder when you count yourself short.
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That's my secret sauce to this day.
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So, if I, of course, appreciate the knowledge of my customers,
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when they talk to me about a rather complex instrument,
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like a Schmitt synthesizer, which is really complex,
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Or even, I just listed the devices,
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that I consider myself an okay designer,
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Yes, so there is certainly equivalent aesthetic and panda technique,
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Designers in this world who can do what I can.
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But what may be special is that I speak a language with the manufacturers.
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I immediately understand what they mean if they somehow want to explain a signal flow to me
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or if they say what functions you can now bring forward with this device.
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It's like talking to people who are dealing with the same issue.
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And you might have that with a designer who isn't so deep into this matter.
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There are plenty of designers out there who are so confident.
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Yes, there is.
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But maybe not many who have gone so deep.
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Yes, it's just the question of what you want there.
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But I don't want to run a colleague shelter now,
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But I've also played things where you've really noticed,
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good. The designer has an idea of design and he has an idea of design. And that's it.
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Yeah, maybe that's it. I often have a ….
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It doesn't have to taste, it has to work.
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Yeah, that's right. There is also such a thing as this technical design. And that thing stops,
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Because I'm also my own consumer, I often have such an idea how to
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Now it looks like I really like it. It takes a bit of technical,
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It's a bit of an ugly cool thing, a device. I'm watching Mark VIII of Rhodes right now.
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What I have here as a pattern. This is a pure aesthete, it probably would have been so
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Made like the Mark VII, which was a total blow to the water. Total misorientation, I think.
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The Mark VIII brings back what people expect from such an instrument.
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and what also appeals to this nerve, that you deal with something technical, with something that perhaps
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is also a bit more complex in access, busy. And I don't understand that through
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It's what I'm learning, it's what's inside me. That's been inside me since I was 13,
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It was 14 years old. When I saw a synthesizer on stage, it kind of got me
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fascinated, these many buttons, the array, how the panel looks at you, how is the
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assembled. That has always fascinated me. And that's what I do professionally.
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do and what my customers might appreciate or why it's just
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There is also such a cumulation. So many people don't do that. And that goes for both
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directions. So the one example I had already, the other, if I now look at the eye cancer here
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Look at the website that I deliberately don't call by name, but I alluded to it
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in the store and there I have to say, okay, this is aesthetically willing now not my case, but
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It was so logical and so conclusive. I could use it without even thinking
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must. And that's worth a lot more in many ways, isn't it? Even if it looks,
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It's like throwing out a Google Nest Hub. Yeah, that's right. And that's it,
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I think I can find that balance.
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between design school, yes and there
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I'm really strong at this one.
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The phrase "form follows" is used too often.
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function" always oriented, and the,
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Which is purely functional. You can
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0:17:20 – 0:17:22
Everything that is functional is also beautiful.
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0:17:22 – 0:17:24
In a way, in a way,
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0:17:24 – 0:17:25
It's kind of clever, too. It is yes
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0:17:24 – 0:17:27
It's not just the claim I'm making.
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0:17:27 – 0:17:30
must comply with the customer's
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0:17:30 – 0:17:32
offer equipment, i.e. to the end customer,
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0:17:32 – 0:17:33
What makes it aesthetic and
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0:17:33 – 0:17:36
functionally convincing, but it must be yes
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0:17:36 – 0:17:39
It also serves the manufacturer's purpose.
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0:17:39 – 0:17:41
This is also another completely different
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0:17:41 – 0:17:44
translation. He's not just looking at them.
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0:17:44 – 0:17:47
Aesthetics and like a UI somehow
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0:17:47 – 0:17:49
It is functional, but the
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0:17:49 – 0:17:51
I'm also interested in how I can
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0:17:49 – 0:17:54
Do I assemble it? How much does it cost? Where can I have it made? What are the components,
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0:17:54 – 0:17:59
Which I can use? There are so many questions that we have to practically merge. Then
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0:17:59 – 0:18:05
I have to like my client first. And he's hoping, of course, that's why he's probably coming.
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0:18:05 – 0:18:10
It also tastes good to the end customer. And we are so in the middle of what we do.
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0:18:10 – 0:18:24
When I scroll through the gallery on your page and I look in my studio area
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0:18:24 – 0:18:34
In here, I kind of see … Okay, I think I only have synthesizers that are made by you.
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0:18:34 – 0:18:45
co-designed. Very good, that's excellent. Good choice. But this is actually
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0:18:45 – 0:18:50
Unaware. So I didn't choose these instruments because I knew
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0:18:50 – 0:18:54
Axel put his hand on it. I knew this from an Arturia, for example.
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0:18:54 – 0:19:00
Not a mini freak. I just saw this in preparation for the show.
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0:19:00 – 0:19:07
You were also involved in this instrument. And I find it very successful. It is a very
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0:19:07 – 0:19:13
Exceptional design, which I find very eye-flattering.
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0:19:13 – 0:19:21
Yes, thank you. Of course I like to take that. Arturia is our hardware design partner,
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0:19:21 – 0:19:28
Actually, from the very first hour. So everything you find from Arturia that you can touch,
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0:19:28 – 0:19:31
has been drawn here in Ravensburg.
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0:19:31 – 0:19:35
Watch out, this is complaining about the pussy green master keyboards.
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0:19:35 – 0:19:38
Oh, yeah, they're not mine.
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0:19:38 – 0:19:45
The gentlemen in Grenoble actually like to do color experiments themselves.
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0:19:45 – 0:19:48
And I'm scared myself sometimes.
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0:19:48 – 0:19:51
Now you have an orange one. What was that now?
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0:19:51 – 0:19:54
I know, I saw, this is a keeler.
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0:19:54 – 0:19:59
It's really tasty. I try to talk myself out all the time to get this thing.
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0:19:59 – 0:20:03
Yes, it has become very beautiful.
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0:20:03 – 0:20:08
I mean, if the base is nice and okay, then there's almost nothing you can do wrong, I guess.
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0:20:08 – 0:20:12
There are a lot of people who really like orange.
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0:20:12 – 0:20:16
We also had the orange fiber with Waldorf.
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0:20:16 – 0:20:19
That's just such a glossy color.
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0:20:19 – 0:20:24
But that's what Arturia always does on her own initiative.
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0:20:24 – 0:20:26
I am often not involved either.
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0:20:26 – 0:20:30
First of all, I see a baby blue Key Lab.
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0:20:30 – 0:20:32
Then I sometimes frighten myself,
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0:20:32 – 0:20:36
I think, ah, we could have talked together before.
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0:20:36 – 0:20:38
But I think it's also a joy for them,
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0:20:38 – 0:20:43
They generate a little bit of these derivatives themselves.
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0:20:43 – 0:20:48
Yes, I think after the camouflage M50 by KORG ...
|
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0:20:48 – 0:20:50
Or was it x-feet?
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0:20:50 – 0:20:56
The Japanese designers are very experimental.
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0:20:56 – 0:21:00
Yeah, but I'm a fan of that.
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0:21:00 – 0:21:06
Because on the guitar market you really have everything from the anime character to the grained wood.
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0:21:06 – 0:21:13
And I sometimes think, why do I have to look for three days before I even find a white master keyboard,
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0:21:13 – 0:21:17
In the midst of all the black.
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0:21:17 – 0:21:23
I can only remind you of the innovation Mininova,
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0:21:23 – 0:21:27
in the Moroder edition.
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0:21:27 – 0:21:31
With Moroder heads on the case.
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0:21:31 – 0:21:35
Yeah, right, that was cute, too.
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0:21:35 – 0:21:39
This is really such a fan article, you have to say.
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0:21:39 – 0:21:46
Georgia Moore has the time. I could imagine that it went quite well for innovation as well.
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0:21:46 – 0:21:55
I have no idea how much data was sold, but I always like such an idea.
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0:21:55 – 0:22:02
I think we have an Iridium desktop like Baldorf with the Thompson Twins, I think.
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0:22:02 – 0:22:10
These are just so special scenes, which often helps the manufacturer to fill a small gap,
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0:22:10 – 0:22:16
if you simply dip an existing device into such a fanboy paint.
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0:22:16 – 0:22:21
This might appeal to a few people who then buy such a device afterwards.
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0:22:21 – 0:22:25
As I said, individuality.
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|
0:22:25 – 0:22:27
Yes, yes.
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|
0:22:27 – 0:22:32
You can also do a lot yourself, but I always think so when I spray the …
|
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|
0:22:32 – 0:22:36
So I briefly thought about getting out the black spray can to black the north
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|
0:22:36 – 0:22:37
to make.
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0:22:37 – 0:22:39
That's what I left behind.
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0:22:39 – 0:22:42
This is going to be difficult, yes, especially when it comes to product graphics.
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0:22:42 – 0:22:49
But now there are obviously people who do it semi-professional.
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0:22:49 – 0:22:53
When you look at social media, there are a few black people.
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0:22:53 – 0:22:54
It's funny, isn't it?
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|
0:22:54 – 0:23:02
This is the fire that started with red and will eventually stop with red.
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|
0:23:02 – 0:23:06
And many people think it's great because it's instantly recognisable.
|
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|
0:23:06 – 0:23:12
Of course, this is a super present thing on every stage.
|
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|
0:23:12 – 0:23:14
You can see it right away.
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|
0:23:14 – 0:23:18
The community is very creative.
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|
0:23:18 – 0:23:22
And this is for example for all the small Roland devices, here for the small
|
|
|
0:23:22 – 0:23:29
Boutique series, their mini synthesizers, there are numerous on Etsy and other platforms
|
|
|
0:23:29 – 0:23:36
there are providers who simply offer overlays for, because sometimes simply on the
|
|
|
0:23:36 – 0:23:38
Devices are not all features printed.
|
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|
0:23:38 – 0:23:44
So something like this has already, in my opinion, can also add value.
|
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|
0:23:44 – 0:23:45
offer.
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|
0:23:45 – 0:23:50
There's an overlay on it, so I see all the functions. This is also true for those,
|
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|
0:23:50 – 0:23:55
for the, what's the name of the thing here from Novation, the Analog Synthesizer, Base Station,
|
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|
0:23:55 – 0:24:00
There is also a base station. Yes, that's for the base station. There used to be,
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|
0:24:00 – 0:24:06
I think even for some non-programmable synthesizers, such overlay cards,
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|
0:24:06 – 0:24:08
Somehow, the sound is reminded.
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|
0:24:08 – 0:24:09
Exactly.
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|
0:24:09 – 0:24:12
The whole Moog 32 series there.
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0:24:12 – 0:24:13
Yes, yes.
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0:24:13 – 0:24:17
So it's very interesting.
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|
0:24:17 – 0:24:19
We've been to Brand Identity before.
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0:24:19 – 0:24:22
Sorry, Thomas, I liked the question.
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|
0:24:22 – 0:24:23
Sorry.
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|
0:24:23 – 0:24:24
Can I see her?
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|
0:24:24 – 0:24:25
Pull her back.
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|
0:24:25 – 0:24:26
Withdraw my comment.
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|
0:24:26 – 0:24:27
No, that's fine.
|
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0:24:27 – 0:24:29
It was a nice comment.
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0:24:29 – 0:24:30
We've all learned from it.
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|
0:24:30 – 0:24:32
No, what I wanted to ask,
|
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0:24:32 – 0:24:35
We just got it from Brand Identity.
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|
0:24:35 – 0:24:40
As you have to say, I scroll a bit through the timeline with the
|
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|
0:24:40 – 0:24:43
Instruments that you have beautifully presented on your website.
|
|
|
0:24:43 – 0:24:54
There you really have a fireworks display at different companies, at different concepts as well,
|
|
|
0:24:54 – 0:24:59
So from the digital workstation to the fully analog, actually electromechanical
|
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|
0:24:59 – 0:25:00
Instrument.
|
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|
0:25:00 – 0:25:02
It's really all there.
|
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|
0:25:02 – 0:25:07
Nevertheless, it also speaks its own formal language in a certain way.
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|
0:25:07 – 0:25:16
You said before, your approach is to think quasi from the synthesizer
|
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|
0:25:16 – 0:25:21
and then make the design, also through your musical backgrounds and just these design backgrounds
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|
0:25:21 – 0:25:22
and this cooperation.
|
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|
0:25:22 – 0:25:27
But let's put it this way, let's take it a bit more optically.
|
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|
0:25:27 – 0:25:29
Do you have a style like that?
|
|
|
0:25:29 – 0:25:36
So "industrialist" is probably already a bit of the wrong term, but it goes a bit into that?
|
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|
0:25:36 – 0:25:42
Or how would you describe it? So your basic optical tendencies.
|
|
|
0:25:42 – 0:25:47
Is there a name for? Is there such a language among designers?
|
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|
0:25:47 – 0:25:53
I don't know. I am the non-king of design language.
|
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|
0:25:53 – 0:26:00
I've always been stunned, so this design talk, these are so empty
|
|
|
0:26:00 – 0:26:08
Things, I don't need that. It's never been my story. What I like to do is,
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|
0:26:08 – 0:26:12
I like to sort. I always notice when I start sorting such a surface, so the
|
|
|
0:26:12 – 0:26:17
Push buttons and bundle functions together and something like that, there comes at some point with me also during
|
|
|
0:26:17 – 0:26:23
Work such a flow. And when I'm in there, I know it's going to be good. And
|
|
|
0:26:23 – 0:26:29
I won't stop until everything is really well balanced. This is so mine
|
|
|
0:26:29 – 0:26:34
Always striving. I love doing that, too. This is the best job for me.
|
|
|
0:26:34 – 0:26:42
Organizing a panel, pushing it, looking, how does it belong together, how do I find it?
|
|
|
0:26:42 – 0:26:47
A sturgeon who also somehow gives me such a fixed point in this whole order. For example:
|
|
|
0:26:47 – 0:26:53
What Sequential has never achieved to this day, I find now. I don't want to say that as a criticism,
|
|
|
0:26:53 – 0:26:59
But that's always the case with Sequential. So all one. And I always try,
|
|
|
0:26:59 – 0:27:06
to give a user interface also such points that visually such a small hook
|
|
|
0:27:06 – 0:27:11
surrendered. That's what I always try to do across the board. And I'm natural
|
|
|
0:27:11 – 0:27:19
Also someone, I'm also a bit vain in what I offer my customers
|
|
|
0:27:19 – 0:27:24
will. This means that the fire is always the top priority for me. When a mood comes to me and
|
|
|
0:27:24 – 0:27:28
says, there must be this Cosmo button on it, I want the panel in your face, that must be this and
|
|
|
0:27:28 – 0:27:33
They have that inclination. For me, this is the frame in which I move and in which
|
|
|
0:27:33 – 0:27:38
I also have a certain creativity. A good example is the Little 30, for example,
|
|
|
0:27:38 – 0:27:43
where it was said that this must somehow have a slope of at least 40 degrees,
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|
|
0:27:43 – 0:27:49
so that you have this "in your face", then only the Cosmo knobs are allowed on it,
|
|
|
0:27:49 – 0:27:53
As I have already explained. And that limits you so much,
|
|
|
0:27:53 – 0:27:59
There are only a few doors left. And then I try to go through them.
|
|
|
0:27:59 – 0:28:06
Sometimes it's also an ingenious idea, so just this swing that we have back there in the back
|
|
|
0:28:06 – 0:28:11
have. It happened to me at some point when I was sketching. I always draw on paper like this,
|
|
|
0:28:11 – 0:28:18
If I'm designing something, first, before I put it here in my 3D shop afterwards. And this
|
|
|
0:28:18 – 0:28:26
Perhaps a peculiarity of mine is that I always try to give this to the fire,
|
|
|
0:28:26 – 0:28:30
What she has in her heart. This was also the case for Kurzweil. I was also myself
|
|
|
0:28:30 – 0:28:34
I've always been an entertainer myself and I've seen them...
|
|
|
0:28:34 – 0:28:39
That was partly so chunky, the design what they had.
|
|
|
0:28:39 – 0:28:43
And there I tried to bring back a little bit of the finesse, of this fineness
|
|
|
0:28:43 – 0:28:48
with the 2000 series that we redesigned.
|
|
|
0:28:48 – 0:28:50
We didn't actually make a new design.
|
|
|
0:28:50 – 0:28:54
but we just got the case from the 88er,
|
|
|
0:28:54 – 0:28:58
have set on it, a new UI, we thought
|
|
|
0:28:58 – 0:29:03
And this is drawn much finer, as it was in the previous model, and then on the 61
|
|
|
0:29:03 – 0:29:09
transferred. This may all have a bit of a similar language to what you're talking about.
|
|
|
0:29:09 – 0:29:14
You can find the website, but it is always very much inspired by the brand.
|
|
|
0:29:14 – 0:29:22
It's "cooperated identity." So, I was … at first so, funny detail, Thomas gave me
|
|
|
0:29:22 – 0:29:26
sent a link, so with us in the Slack. I clicked on it and got a little
|
|
|
0:29:26 – 0:29:32
The Midi Master Keyboard. And the first thought was, what? Why does the website start
|
|
|
0:29:32 – 0:29:36
with it? The second thought was, wow, of which he will probably sell more than of
|
|
|
0:29:36 – 0:29:43
All the synthesizers he's ever designed. And the third one was, okay, I'd have
|
|
|
0:29:43 – 0:29:49
I don't think so, but it makes sense. But I still saw an AK MPK first,
|
|
|
0:29:49 – 0:29:55
isn't it? That was so. So, Brand Identity, are you packing it next to the MK3? And how is it
|
|
|
0:29:55 – 0:29:59
Okay, so someone has taken up the topic of masterkeyboard again, hasn't they?
|
|
|
0:29:59 – 0:30:02
That's exactly what you're saying.
|
|
|
0:30:02 – 0:30:10
You can put that in front of your MPC One Retro and it's Arcai design language.
|
|
|
0:30:10 – 0:30:17
Exactly, and that's the core of what we're doing here, I think. We always try,
|
|
|
0:30:17 – 0:30:23
when we work on a brand, i.e. when a customer comes to us who already has a legacy like Arcai,
|
|
|
0:30:23 – 0:30:30
Akai just wore the 90s with all the samplers and master keyboards and
|
|
|
0:30:30 – 0:30:34
I think they really had an outstanding industrial design. This is then
|
|
|
0:30:34 – 0:30:41
so a bit improved over time and with the MPK Mini, that was a totally nice job,
|
|
|
0:30:41 – 0:30:46
'Cause I, I really tried just a little bit of this magic
|
|
|
0:30:46 – 0:30:52
Bring in the 90s. So with the horror again. We also have a black
|
|
|
0:30:52 – 0:30:58
variant. Also the idea came from us that we make two color variants, similar to the Apple also makes,
|
|
|
0:30:58 – 0:31:03
always offers a few color variants, which per se makes a product more interesting on the website
|
|
|
0:31:03 – 0:31:11
power. And that's what we wanted to give Akai. We wanted to get away from this devil,
|
|
|
0:31:11 – 0:31:17
This previous product looked so toy-like because there was way too much red. And red in plastic
|
|
|
0:31:17 – 0:31:26
It usually doesn't seem expensive or valuable. That's why it had to be reduced. And we also have
|
|
|
0:31:26 – 0:31:30
found a formal language that goes a bit in the direction of what people do with the
|
|
|
0:31:30 – 0:31:36
Samplers and stuff. It was always a bit blocky, not so organic shapes and stuff.
|
|
|
0:31:36 – 0:31:41
We tried to bring it all in. And then of course always pay attention,
|
|
|
0:31:41 – 0:31:49
This thing has to be really cheap to make. Nevertheless, it must look good and good. This is
|
|
|
0:31:49 – 0:31:56
It's a challenge, it's a task. It may be that you, too,
|
|
|
0:31:56 – 0:32:04
Are you influenced by other synthesizer designers? 'Cause I don't want to imply anything now,
|
|
|
0:32:04 – 0:32:07
It's just an observation from me.
|
|
|
0:32:07 – 0:32:10
A very individual look.
|
|
|
0:32:10 – 0:32:14
I find this very sexy, this MPK Mini 4.
|
|
|
0:32:14 – 0:32:19
Especially this red Arkei logo on the sides
|
|
|
0:32:19 – 0:32:23
With the gray, that's a really nice contrast.
|
|
|
0:32:23 – 0:32:29
It reminds me of teenage engineering.
|
|
|
0:32:29 – 0:32:32
with the K.O. Samplers.
|
|
|
0:32:32 – 0:32:35
Ah, that's a little playful.
|
|
|
0:32:35 – 0:32:36
Yes, yes.
|
|
|
0:32:36 – 0:32:42
A little bit like you said, so blocky, almost Lego-like.
|
|
|
0:32:42 – 0:32:47
Yes, but my thought did not go away, although I very much like to copy with the best, if
|
|
|
0:32:47 – 0:32:53
because teenage is great, they do totally horny stuff, I don't want to minimize that at all,
|
|
|
0:32:53 – 0:32:55
But this corner, for me, was Minecraft.
|
|
|
0:32:55 – 0:33:01
I've always watched my son on Minecraft games and I found this so cool, this
|
|
|
0:33:01 – 0:33:03
Because it's so bad, somehow.
|
|
|
0:33:03 – 0:33:04
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
|
|
|
0:33:04 – 0:33:06
But also again such a small sturgeon.
|
|
|
0:33:06 – 0:33:09
But that also makes you look there
|
|
|
0:33:09 – 0:33:10
Then there is the logo.
|
|
|
0:33:10 – 0:33:11
Yeah, that's right.
|
|
|
0:33:11 – 0:33:13
So that was the inspiration,
|
|
|
0:33:13 – 0:33:14
I have to be honest.
|
|
|
0:33:14 – 0:33:16
And if this looks a bit like the K.O.,
|
|
|
0:33:16 – 0:33:21
The K.O. looks like a calculator from 1974.
|
|
|
0:33:21 – 0:33:22
They're so naughty with Tienich.
|
|
|
0:33:22 – 0:33:25
They're getting the bonds in the computer business.
|
|
|
0:33:25 – 0:33:28
So even the OP-1 was in principle
|
|
|
0:33:28 – 0:33:35
A rebuilt Siemens computer keyboard from the 80s. One to one. But they do this
|
|
|
0:33:35 – 0:33:42
so good and so consistent and so detailed. So fantastic. I've also had several times
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0:33:42 – 0:33:47
I mentioned when I had an interview, so I respect that extremely. They are really good,
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0:33:47 – 0:33:55
The boys. And whether you feel inspired or let yourself be inspired, that happens. This is like
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0:33:55 – 0:34:01
When you make music, you get your ideas. Everything has been played before,
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0:34:01 – 0:34:07
Everything has been drawn before. I can also look at the Apple portfolio, I know
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0:34:07 – 0:34:14
Also that Jonathan Ive or that he has leafed through quite, very much in Dieter Rahm's book.
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0:34:14 – 0:34:23
It's all brown design. Of course, there are inspirations, but what you add to it
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0:34:23 – 0:34:28
must and what then somehow fascinates people afterwards, as now also with the
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0:34:28 – 0:34:34
K.O. from Teenage Engineering is that you suddenly have such a reuse of such a design that you
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0:34:34 – 0:34:40
actually have somewhere else on site, I'm now doing music with this table calculator,
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0:34:40 – 0:34:48
That's funny. And that speaks to people, obviously, gell? I want to go to two
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0:34:48 – 0:34:52
Re-introduce devices that are already
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0:34:52 – 0:34:56
A little older. Let's go
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0:34:56 – 0:34:58
Of course, what we do with
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0:34:58 – 0:34:59
internal preparation, which we
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0:34:59 – 0:35:02
We discussed what we had with you.
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0:35:02 – 0:35:05
to discuss, Axel, we must
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0:35:05 – 0:35:09
Of course, ask about history.
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0:35:09 – 0:35:11
around the Hartmann Neuron.
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0:35:11 – 0:35:16
Because it's just, I think, a great
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0:35:16 – 0:35:18
It's history. How did it come about?
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0:35:16 – 0:35:25
So how did it come about? I was, that was in the year, so around the turn of the millennium 1999/2000 I was at the fair in Munich.
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0:35:25 – 0:35:30
There's such an electronica, it's called, such an electronics fair and there I'm so rattled for myself,
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0:35:30 – 0:35:33
Because I was always on the road at trade fairs before.
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0:35:33 – 0:35:37
And then the thought came to me that I would actually like to make a synthesizer myself,
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0:35:37 – 0:35:43
So without any kind of brake, budget or brand or anything,
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0:35:43 – 0:35:48
I just wanted to feel for myself how it is. And I actually did it in full.
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0:35:48 – 0:35:54
Lengthened, I can tell you. From beginning to end. Then came the thought,
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0:35:54 – 0:35:58
I was at Alps and I saw, they have these little stick controllers,
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0:35:58 – 0:36:03
I thought they were doing some kind of synthesizer with stick controller, something with some kind of
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0:36:03 – 0:36:08
Technology that may not exist yet. So where you can't analyze the sound
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0:36:08 – 0:36:12
assemble, but where the sound
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0:36:12 – 0:36:15
will be analyzed and then I will get touchers
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0:36:15 – 0:36:16
for the sound. That was the idea, so this
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0:36:16 – 0:36:20
What do we do in 3D when we
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0:36:20 – 0:36:22
what modeling. And we have in
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0:36:22 – 0:36:24
Principle something in cerebral furrow. And then I have
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0:36:24 – 0:36:26
Someday at the Musikmesse
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0:36:26 – 0:36:28
Wolfram Franke asked, I told you I
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0:36:28 – 0:36:30
I would love to have my own synthesizer.
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0:36:30 – 0:36:33
make. I would like you to be there
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0:36:33 – 0:36:35
Somehow a sample in some form.
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0:36:35 – 0:36:37
I can make a model that I
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0:36:35 – 0:36:40
You can do things with this sample. Who can help me? And he says,
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0:36:40 – 0:36:44
Do you know Wolfram Franke? He worked at Waldorf and later at AXS.
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0:36:44 – 0:36:50
Super good sound programmer. Also a cool guy. And there he said,
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0:36:50 – 0:36:57
I have to go to Stefan, at that time still Sprenger, who is now Stefan Bernze, from Karlsruhe.
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0:36:57 – 0:37:02
Company ProSonic. Am I at the fair, Frankfurter Musikmesse, gossiped to him,
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0:37:02 – 0:37:08
I have T.L. I'm the Axel. We only know each other because I once made your packaging for your program.
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0:37:08 – 0:37:11
I would like to build a synthesizer, that should be able to do this and that. Can you do that?
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0:37:11 – 0:37:20
Jojo, no problem. And then I practically had a programmer and then I looked at how we finance the whole thing.
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0:37:20 – 0:37:29
We brought in all our friends and that's how it started, with great enthusiasm and with
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0:37:29 – 0:37:35
technology that I think many people would have used if they had actually done so,
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0:37:35 – 0:37:42
What she promised would have been holy grail on Synthesis. So a kind of deer synthesis based on
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0:37:42 – 0:37:52
of deconstruction. We made a model of piano and this model includes
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0:37:52 – 0:37:57
already or already recognizes which parameters could be interesting and sound forms
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0:37:57 – 0:38:05
It offers the most efficiency. That's how it started, and then we got it.
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0:38:05 – 0:38:07
built on the computer and then in hardware afterwards.
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0:38:07 – 0:38:14
You have been with this product and also with this synthesis form, there you are,
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0:38:14 – 0:38:24
I'd say it was 20 years ahead of everyone else. They now have resynthesizers.
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0:38:24 – 0:38:29
This is now available as an iPad app and I think the computers were also available at the time.
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0:38:29 – 0:38:33
Not as efficient yet. Exactly, we were 20 years before,
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0:38:33 – 0:38:39
In fact, I see it that way. There was simply no platform that could do that.
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0:38:39 – 0:38:46
So the Stephan Bernsee is really an outstanding programmer, but he programmed
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0:38:46 – 0:38:52
in a way that is extremely resource-hungry. And has probably learned,
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0:38:52 – 0:38:57
At that time on the Silicon Graphics, which he got in his dad at all. This, of course, is an
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0:38:57 – 0:39:02
good starting point to write code that is very powerful, but not particularly
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0:39:02 – 0:39:09
Cleaned up. In any case, that was all
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0:39:09 – 0:39:11
It's too data-intensive to be on the
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0:39:11 – 0:39:14
the platform we had planned,
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0:39:14 – 0:39:21
Then to walk. Yes, that was actually
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0:39:21 – 0:39:21
the crux that we don't really
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0:39:21 – 0:39:26
were able to realize the sound result,
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0:39:26 – 0:39:31
What we do with advertising
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0:39:26 – 0:39:33
promised. Then it went
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0:39:33 – 0:39:35
At some point in the problem,
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0:39:35 – 0:39:38
Of course, the company also
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|
0:39:38 – 0:39:41
In the end, he killed. But we have
|
|
|
0:39:41 – 0:39:43
nearly 500 of the devices in the field, the
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|
0:39:43 – 0:39:45
We must not forget. They are:
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|
0:39:45 – 0:39:49
Some were built that died.
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|
0:39:49 – 0:39:51
all because they are battery, buffer and
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|
0:39:51 – 0:39:53
There are several other problems as well,
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|
0:39:53 – 0:39:55
Bringing them back to life. I have
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0:39:53 – 0:39:58
Even four pieces are still standing here, I will watch them again this year, that I somehow get them to race.
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|
0:39:58 – 0:40:09
Yes, interestingly, there are still a lot of people who really appreciate the technology and what you can do with it.
|
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|
0:40:09 – 0:40:13
So if you listen to the Fündesheiser bubble here in Germany,
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|
0:40:13 – 0:40:18
People are still raving about the neuron.
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|
0:40:18 – 0:40:28
It's just an interesting concept, the operation is interesting, just an exciting instrument.
|
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|
0:40:28 – 0:40:36
Yes, what was interesting was the user interface, hold these semi-transparent joysticks.
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|
0:40:36 – 0:40:52
Yeah, I mean, I've been sitting in front of one before, too. I thought from that point of view, today it looks different, because today the synthesis form is a common one, but that had really hard to figure out.
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0:40:52 – 0:40:53
Yes, yes.
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0:40:53 – 0:40:58
And above all, I found this very complicated to solve if you wanted to get your own material in.
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0:40:58 – 0:41:02
That didn't work. That was very difficult.
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|
0:41:02 – 0:41:10
Exactly, you needed special network cards, which were plugged in via USB, because not everything was running.
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|
0:41:10 – 0:41:17
And then make the analysis on the computer, then transfer the data. That was really complicated.
|
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|
0:41:17 – 0:41:27
I'm sorry I was ready. But the results, when you got it halfway understood what you could do, that was impressive.
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0:41:27 – 0:41:29
Definitely for that time.
|
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|
0:41:29 – 0:41:36
You could do it with your phone today, but it was 2002 or so.
|
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|
0:41:36 – 0:41:37
Yeah, that's right.
|
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|
0:41:37 – 0:41:41
It was 2000, so really where you made the development.
|
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|
0:41:41 – 0:41:46
Even before the Iraq War. That's why it's called Nuke.
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0:41:46 – 0:41:52
Yeah, that was insane.
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|
0:41:52 – 0:41:59
No, back then, Stefan Sprenger, Stefan Bernsee, gave me a few sound examples,
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|
0:41:59 – 0:42:05
with whom I actually flew to Hans Zimmer and to Steve Porcaro of Toto,
|
|
|
0:42:05 – 0:42:10
always my greatest role model, I got appointments everywhere and am there with this sound example
|
|
|
0:42:10 – 0:42:14
I went there with my first renderings of what this thing should look like and they were all bright
|
|
|
0:42:14 – 0:42:19
Excited. After all, Hans was part of the company afterwards, and he joined the company. He was the first
|
|
|
0:42:19 – 0:42:24
Synthesizer was meant to be 5.1, so everything you could animate with these sticks,
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|
|
0:42:24 – 0:42:33
You could record and move freely in 5.1, i.e. really in this room. Surrounded by. The device has
|
|
|
0:42:33 – 0:42:41
There were only two votes left, but that was the plan. And
|
|
|
0:42:41 – 0:42:49
And the sound that this has produced, you may not have heard it before,
|
|
|
0:42:49 – 0:42:52
And so do these interventions.
|
|
|
0:42:52 – 0:43:00
The biggest of all problems was, yes, that's clear to me, how do I get a sample cleanly analyzed?
|
|
|
0:43:00 – 0:43:06
I never managed to do that either. I've tried it, I've tried it hard, and it's always been difficult.
|
|
|
0:43:06 – 0:43:15
And it has always produced interesting sound material, but if you then with this engine that was available,
|
|
|
0:43:15 – 0:43:21
with the sound engine, when you then went and started to make changes,
|
|
|
0:43:21 – 0:43:25
Then the sound quickly disintegrates into chaos.
|
|
|
0:43:25 – 0:43:30
We were also not so aware of what would happen if I came from a piano side, if I had an influence on the length,
|
|
|
0:43:30 – 0:43:37
or if I lead the piano side from metal to rubber in this model.
|
|
|
0:43:37 – 0:43:39
I could do that, that would be the idea.
|
|
|
0:43:39 – 0:43:41
This will suddenly make a noise.
|
|
|
0:43:41 – 0:43:43
Very, very fast.
|
|
|
0:43:43 – 0:43:46
The sweetspots were always relatively small.
|
|
|
0:43:46 – 0:43:48
They still wanted to work on that,
|
|
|
0:43:48 – 0:43:51
We just didn't get the time anymore,
|
|
|
0:43:51 – 0:43:54
Because before that cock was turned on again.
|
|
|
0:43:54 – 0:44:09
But the original thought, my thought, was that you are of good sounds, that you can grasp those and change certain attributes, continuously.
|
|
|
0:44:09 – 0:44:22
What has become of it, as an instrument, is a drone machine, I think, where you can really generate magical, spatial sounds.
|
|
|
0:44:22 – 0:44:27
That's what people, I think, actually did in the end.
|
|
|
0:44:27 – 0:44:33
Yes, and also somehow manipulate sounds in a way that sounds outrageous.
|
|
|
0:44:33 – 0:44:40
Yes, it is on the one hand the mathematical problem with the large numbers and on the other hand it was yes
|
|
|
0:44:40 – 0:44:45
It is also a problem with the performance of the hardware. Exactly. That one stops at the analysis
|
|
|
0:44:45 – 0:44:52
or so could not go deep enough, stop in an appealing time. So what is this,
|
|
|
0:44:52 – 0:44:57
If I have to run the analysis for four days. Yeah, that. And then it was so,
|
|
|
0:44:57 – 0:45:06
We couldn't do multi-sampling. We have practically been able to record a sound for
|
|
|
0:45:06 – 0:45:12
Analysis and how he behaved over the keyboard, that was partly abstruse. Da
|
|
|
0:45:12 – 0:45:17
I would have needed a multi-sampling. That was all in the making, but then,
|
|
|
0:45:17 – 0:45:23
As I said, no longer fulfilled. And the journey ended at some point, because I mean, the nuke,
|
|
|
0:45:23 – 0:45:29
This little controller and the software was supposed to save us back then. We were
|
|
|
0:45:29 – 0:45:40
So financially also a little bit at the attack and then the first 1000 devices were then over the
|
|
|
0:45:40 – 0:45:45
Music store sells, simply because also the manufacturer who bought the devices for us back then
|
|
|
0:45:45 – 0:45:52
He drilled. He wanted to avoid the risk that he really had a big financial loss.
|
|
|
0:45:52 – 0:46:02
That was basically the end of Neuron and Hartmann. Yeah, that's how it was. And fortunately,
|
|
|
0:46:02 – 0:46:08
I have to say, after that, so it didn't hurt me. So it could have been,
|
|
|
0:46:08 – 0:46:13
Some will turn away. Also the thought that I could practically use my own instrument
|
|
|
0:46:13 – 0:46:17
Come on the market and maybe have made my customers a bit of competition with it.
|
|
|
0:46:17 – 0:46:25
It was all somehow with the game. Nevertheless, my design work does not have that,
|
|
|
0:46:25 – 0:46:32
Even to customers, fortunately, not sustainably influenced. I am very happy and grateful for it.
|
|
|
0:46:32 – 0:46:40
I have another question. If you have an analog ship like the Andromeda
|
|
|
0:46:40 – 0:46:48
Takes. How difficult it had been to place these thousand filled buttons like this,
|
|
|
0:46:48 – 0:46:52
That they make sense and that all this still remains operable?
|
|
|
0:46:52 – 0:46:59
Yeah, I hope that's it. The idea was natural – that is why it is also called Andromeda,
|
|
|
0:46:59 – 0:47:04
the device, that was not the original name – I had the idea at some point,
|
|
|
0:47:04 – 0:47:12
so to build galaxies from the different synthesizer modules, so that you can create a central
|
|
|
0:47:12 – 0:47:16
has controller that controls the most important, the most important sound parameter and that then outwards
|
|
|
0:47:16 – 0:47:25
the less important parameters are spread and served. And from this principle have
|
|
|
0:47:25 – 0:47:30
very nice to display the oscillators, filters too, and it has every module
|
|
|
0:47:30 – 0:47:34
Somehow I got my own face.
|
|
|
0:47:34 – 0:47:36
through this. That it's so scary now
|
|
|
0:47:36 – 0:47:37
There were a lot of functions, that was
|
|
|
0:47:37 – 0:47:39
Once again, the madness that
|
|
|
0:47:39 – 0:47:40
It went through with them.
|
|
|
0:47:40 – 0:47:43
Guys I've been with
|
|
|
0:47:43 – 0:47:46
I have developed. The basic idea,
|
|
|
0:47:46 – 0:47:48
that you just walk away from these
|
|
|
0:47:48 – 0:47:49
horizontal, vertical structures, such as
|
|
|
0:47:49 – 0:47:52
As you can see on all synthesizers,
|
|
|
0:47:52 – 0:47:54
I've wanted Waldorf before.
|
|
|
0:47:54 – 0:47:56
sell. They didn't want that.
|
|
|
0:47:56 – 0:47:58
They'd rather have everything and
|
|
|
0:47:56 – 0:48:04
And the Andromeda was one of several designs. We always do our design work in several
|
|
|
0:48:04 – 0:48:08
Steps and the first step for our customers, which always includes two, three,
|
|
|
0:48:08 – 0:48:17
Sometimes four different basic designs. And with the Andromeda, it was so that this galaxy panel
|
|
|
0:48:17 – 0:48:24
That was one. I had only scribbled on this and saw, there is somehow potential,
|
|
|
0:48:24 – 0:48:30
Suddenly you get your own aesthetic. And I have Alesis then
|
|
|
0:48:30 – 0:48:36
These four designs are presented. It was all in 2D at the time. We haven't been there yet with
|
|
|
0:48:36 – 0:48:42
3D is working. So they've actually only seen 2D drawings of me and they're
|
|
|
0:48:42 – 0:48:48
I immediately jumped on that draft. Maybe he had something innovative, too.
|
|
|
0:48:48 – 0:49:00
There were and still are many opponents. Many say that this must be left and right and beautiful everything in right angles.
|
|
|
0:49:00 – 0:49:13
But I was then surprised myself afterwards, how much, also because you mentioned this, how many functions can be arranged in this way,
|
|
|
0:49:13 – 0:49:18
So there's always some kind of homogeneous, one unit. If you do all this
|
|
|
0:49:18 – 0:49:24
want to make beautiful in the cart and also want to connect somehow after functional impedance and after
|
|
|
0:49:24 – 0:49:31
Importantly, you might have needed a lot more space. And this little bit freer,
|
|
|
0:49:31 – 0:49:37
They all fly anyway, which is then integrated through these obal circles and also through
|
|
|
0:49:37 – 0:49:42
Lines, that somehow gave a little more freedom, more space, more space,
|
|
|
0:49:42 – 0:49:45
to accommodate with these many, many functions.
|
|
|
0:49:45 – 0:49:51
So the few times I played it, I found it very easy to use.
|
|
|
0:49:51 – 0:49:55
That was the purpose of the exercise.
|
|
|
0:49:55 – 0:50:04
If one has understood and knows the basic function of this synthesis, then this opens up.
|
|
|
0:50:04 – 0:50:09
Of course, this is impressive when you have such a monster, which somehow has feelings out of it in the knock.
|
|
|
0:50:09 – 0:50:11
Yes, it is a substractive synthesizer.
|
|
|
0:50:11 – 0:50:13
So that's what I think … can do.
|
|
|
0:50:13 – 0:50:15
It is a substractive synthesizer.
|
|
|
0:50:15 – 0:50:17
So when you understand, you know what that is.
|
|
|
0:50:17 – 0:50:19
But it's impressive when you're there ….
|
|
|
0:50:19 – 0:50:21
It's not an entry-level synth.
|
|
|
0:50:21 – 0:50:23
It's impressive when you stand in front of it
|
|
|
0:50:23 – 0:50:25
You really have ….
|
|
|
0:50:25 – 0:50:27
I don't know how many buttons he actually has.
|
|
|
0:50:27 – 0:50:29
It felt like a thousand buttons.
|
|
|
0:50:29 – 0:50:31
Yes, there are many.
|
|
|
0:50:31 – 0:50:33
I don't know by heart either,
|
|
|
0:50:33 – 0:50:35
I really should count.
|
|
|
0:50:35 – 0:50:37
The Matrix Brute
|
|
|
0:50:37 – 0:50:49
From Arturia is also a panel synthesizer with a very expansive, with very many and very much expansive buttons.
|
|
|
0:50:49 – 0:50:58
But you only have one voice, or okay, that's not triple paraphon, but you can, I think, you can't necessarily compare that now,
|
|
|
0:50:58 – 0:51:04
Because the Andromeda is a polyphonic, substractive synthesizer, but...
|
|
|
0:51:04 – 0:51:11
Yes, but the polyboot is going in the same direction as the matrixboot, right? And there
|
|
|
0:51:11 – 0:51:16
I had very little to do with the panel. So that came from Arturia,
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0:51:16 – 0:51:22
or even from a co-worker, and I've just moved a little bit nicely,
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0:51:22 – 0:51:27
various elements still inserted, which are also a bit disturber-like on the way,
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0:51:27 – 0:51:32
There you have such a button, where you think, where does it belong now, why is it now on the panel, because it also has a certain importance.
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0:51:32 – 0:51:35
Well, that's it, I sorted it out again.
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0:51:35 – 0:51:43
But there was the main performance of us to pack this in an attractive case, which is also easy to produce afterwards.
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0:51:43 – 0:51:48
But so the actual panel construction, that was already virtually there.
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0:51:48 – 0:51:57
Did you have an advisory role with the PolyBrute 12?
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0:51:57 – 0:52:00
I drew it completely. It was one of the hardest jobs.
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0:52:00 – 0:52:06
Which I did with Arturia. The PolyBrute, which is already in itself
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0:52:06 – 0:52:15
relative chunks, which are then equipped with heat sinks or with surfaces,
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0:52:15 – 0:52:18
It works, or even with this one.
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0:52:18 – 0:52:21
Polyfone Aftertouch Keyboard That's Scary
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0:52:21 – 0:52:24
build up high. That was really a
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0:52:24 – 0:52:27
Difficult birth in some form.
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0:52:27 – 0:52:31
Something that still looks aesthetically pleasing.
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0:52:31 – 0:52:34
and closed and not too clunky
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0:52:34 – 0:52:37
Looks like. We have a lot of
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0:52:37 – 0:52:40
Drawings made. Someday
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0:52:40 – 0:52:42
It would be so exciting if everyone
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0:52:42 – 0:52:44
Designs that we put on the way
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0:52:42 – 0:52:47
until you have the product, what the customer sees, what happened in between.
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0:52:47 – 0:52:56
That would be super exciting. Yeah, definitely. I think there will be a lot of interested parties.
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0:52:56 – 0:52:58
I think so too, yes.
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0:52:58 – 0:53:05
I would like to mention a synthesizer in your career from 2015,
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0:53:05 – 0:53:17
Studio Logic Sledge/20. How did it come about? Because this is so for me,
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0:53:17 – 0:53:28
if I have an aesthetically wonderfully drawn and stylish synthesizer in industrial design,
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0:53:28 – 0:53:36
I have always remembered this 20 from you and I think it just looks wonderful.
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0:53:36 – 0:53:49
Yes, thank you very much. It was a benchmark in many respects. So
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0:53:49 – 0:53:55
First of all, after my recent experience in the 2000s, it was clear to me that we wanted to use the Designbox
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0:53:55 – 0:54:01
At that time my shop was still together with Stefan Leide. We wanted something like 20 years of Designbox,
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0:54:01 – 0:54:07
Now we're doing something like an anniversary thing. And that's where we came up with the idea with the 20.
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0:54:07 – 0:54:12
and I didn't want to develop my own sound generation anymore, because I already used it
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0:54:12 – 0:54:18
I fell badly on my nose. We thought we were going to get something that already exists.
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0:54:18 – 0:54:23
And then it was obvious that we had just designed this sledge, which we had designed a few years earlier,
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0:54:23 – 0:54:31
which is not a bad synthesizer, that you take it as an engine and still a bit
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0:54:31 – 0:54:39
pimps with SPL technology, there is somehow such a special converter still in it,
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0:54:39 – 0:54:45
And just ruthlessly does the coolest design you can ever imagine.
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0:54:45 – 0:54:53
So we just have it all, every fuzz of things we've drawn and here
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0:54:53 – 0:55:00
Drawn in every detail and then let it be built.
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0:55:00 – 0:55:03
It's milled from a block.
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0:55:03 – 0:55:07
I was just wondering if this was an aluminum block, but that actually looks like it.
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0:55:07 – 0:55:09
This is an aluminum block.
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0:55:09 – 0:55:12
And also the panel that is foldable is also made of the same aluminum block,
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0:55:12 – 0:55:16
so that it has the same color when anodizing.
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0:55:16 – 0:55:19
It's all just hanging high.
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0:55:19 – 0:55:27
We have the label "laser edge", so this is not acceptable, it always stays there, nothing happens there.
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0:55:27 – 0:55:38
And what I personally did not recognize again is that in such a device actually,
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0:55:38 – 0:55:44
In such a statement, even an actual analog synthesizer would have been heard.
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0:55:44 – 0:55:51
Some more valuable sound generation. That was the problem of the 20th. He has outward,
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0:55:51 – 0:55:56
is it, how can you say that, Porsche, but inside it is anyway, that Dirk Matten has once nice
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0:55:56 – 0:56:03
In other words, there's still an Opel in there, yes, an Opel engine that you can't blame. This
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0:56:03 – 0:56:08
Zedge is a very horny synthesizer, especially with this production by this,
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0:56:08 – 0:56:13
what is that, such a high-rolling technology, what SBL has there. It's based on the Blofeld.
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0:56:13 – 0:56:20
So, it's kind of a bit different, it's slightly structurally different, but in principle it's a bit different.
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0:56:20 – 0:56:25
Waldorf Blofeld, what kind of invention does he have? This isn't a bad synthesizer.
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0:56:25 – 0:56:33
It is often sold and still sold. Yes, but it's just a 399 Euro synthesizer.
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0:56:33 – 0:56:39
That's true. And that's the engine that's in half in a $20,000 device.
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0:56:39 – 0:56:46
And our mistake was, I always like to be convinced by someone who is very
|
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0:56:46 – 0:56:51
Comes strong. My partner at the time said we were just making such a strong name. This
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0:56:51 – 0:56:55
It works. And I was actually skeptical from the beginning, because I felt that somehow
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0:56:55 – 0:57:00
It doesn't fit. And we did it anyway because we thought it worked. We wanted
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0:57:00 – 0:57:06
20 Blacks and 20 Silvers build, but in the end we have three Silvers and one Black
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0:57:06 – 0:57:13
built. And I still have a lot of controllers here. You have to let them do it for
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0:57:13 – 0:57:21
the total number of pieces. Fortunately, we were not able to build the housings on stock.
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0:57:21 – 0:57:26
The housing effort alone, i.e. this aluminium package, which is around it,
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0:57:26 – 0:57:33
It cost almost five-figure dollars to buy. That's why it's so expensive. Not,
|
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0:57:33 – 0:57:38
because we wanted to make ourselves so incredibly rich, but because it was completely ruthless
|
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0:57:38 – 0:57:42
You just have to be as horny as you can make it.
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0:57:42 – 0:57:53
It's the same tragic story, just the other way around. Previously has
|
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0:57:53 – 0:57:56
They took over and now they wish they had taken over internally.
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0:57:56 – 0:58:04
Yeah, that's right. Maybe next time I'll collect the blood again. But
|
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|
0:58:04 – 0:58:08
I think the area within me is actually saturated now.
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0:58:08 – 0:58:17
At some point you think, okay, no, come on, cobbler, stick to your lasts and make design.
|
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0:58:17 – 0:58:21
And I'm so nicely involved with Waldorf and I'm allowed to live out a little bit of myself there.
|
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|
0:58:21 – 0:58:25
And there were also special series, which then grew on my nest,
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|
0:58:25 – 0:58:30
Which I'm just as proud of and where I enjoy a lot of freedom.
|
|
|
0:58:30 – 0:58:35
So the Soothisizer market now, 2026, is no different than it was before.
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|
0:58:35 – 0:58:37
Yes, and the car is three times more expensive.
|
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0:58:37 – 0:58:40
All three times as expensive.
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|
0:58:40 – 0:58:43
And of course there are other players in the field.
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|
0:58:43 – 0:58:49
Waldorf is almost, is back, has great products.
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|
0:58:49 – 0:58:52
Yes, then Wolf Wörmann, you have to say, gell.
|
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|
0:58:52 – 0:58:57
So the wolf is already one, I know a lot of developers,
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0:58:57 – 0:59:05
And this is already one of a handful of world charm, which can do so much and is also so motivated.
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|
0:59:05 – 0:59:09
And a great developer, you just have to say.
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0:59:09 – 0:59:12
Rolf is also a...
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|
0:59:12 – 0:59:15
We want to say the same thing, Thomas.
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|
0:59:15 – 0:59:17
Rolf has been here a few times and I'm always surprised,
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|
0:59:17 – 0:59:23
with what ideas the man comes around the corner and also what thoughts are behind it,
|
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|
0:59:23 – 0:59:28
When he does things, he tries to break it down plastically.
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|
0:59:28 – 0:59:33
There's only one person left who makes this better for me and that's Peter Vorländer from Dorsum.
|
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|
0:59:33 – 0:59:39
But we can also invite him again.
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|
0:59:39 – 0:59:43
Yes, Wolf is already a capsule, as they say here in Swabian. He knows what he's doing.
|
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|
0:59:43 – 0:59:49
And he can do a lot, too. It's not just programming.
|
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|
0:59:49 – 0:59:54
I want to do some training in all areas and it's very busy.
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|
0:59:54 – 0:59:58
But it's always a pleasure to work with him, I have to say.
|
|
|
0:59:58 – 1:00:03
Whereby the Stefan Stenzel, who had previously somehow held this role at Waldorf,
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|
1:00:03 – 1:00:07
That's one of them. It may be a little harder to deal with,
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|
|
1:00:07 – 1:00:13
It's also awesome in its own way. The Waldorf certainly saved once,
|
|
|
1:00:13 – 1:00:18
He developed a pulse from a filter idea.
|
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|
1:00:18 – 1:00:22
He said we wanted to build a filter, but you can build an oscillator.
|
|
|
1:00:22 – 1:00:32
And somehow he developed and built one of the best analog, small, monophonic synthesizers of the modern era almost on his own for Waldorf.
|
|
|
1:00:32 – 1:00:41
This is already a very good developer, who above all, I think, can write very compact code and also has a very good hearing, has a very good ear.
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|
|
1:00:41 – 1:00:44
Two things that should not be underestimated.
|
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|
1:00:44 – 1:00:48
So, now I would like to, but also because we come now so time a bit at the end,
|
|
|
1:00:48 – 1:00:54
I'd like to talk about one thing before I have two more devices. But now
|
|
|
1:00:54 – 1:00:59
I liked the word "we" all the time and I'd like that "we" a little bit.
|
|
|
1:00:59 – 1:01:05
unlock. So you have a team, you have people you work with. Tell us about it
|
|
|
1:01:05 – 1:01:10
Let's talk a little bit about it, so that we can imagine something under this "we"
|
|
|
1:01:10 – 1:01:19
Yes, we've been two for five or nearly six years now. This is Johannes Echner, who does the complete 3D work for me here.
|
|
|
1:01:19 – 1:01:26
I'm just gaining a bit, Zwinker, who's standing at the back of his desk, constructing a new device for a customer.
|
|
|
1:01:26 – 1:01:35
And I do styling and rendering and practically the character development and he builds it in 3D and we discuss that.
|
|
|
1:01:35 – 1:01:41
We are basically two creatives here in
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|
|
1:01:41 – 1:01:44
Ravensburg. Then we have another human being.
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|
|
1:01:44 – 1:01:46
He is well-versed and well-versed in
|
|
|
1:01:46 – 1:01:49
construction, which is also often used in the
|
|
|
1:01:49 – 1:01:51
projects are involved. But mostly,
|
|
|
1:01:51 – 1:01:54
For most of our customers, we
|
|
|
1:01:54 – 1:01:57
our work, i.e. the design of a
|
|
|
1:01:57 – 1:01:58
device in the form of 3D data and the
|
|
|
1:01:58 – 1:02:00
They will also take over their
|
|
|
1:02:00 – 1:02:01
Design department. We are not at all
|
|
|
1:02:01 – 1:02:04
So many people. We've been before
|
|
|
1:02:01 – 1:02:07
A lot more when I say to myself. At design box times, when I still had a partner, we were partly
|
|
|
1:02:07 – 1:02:14
Somehow ten designers. But then you lose yourself at some point in the process and don't even have
|
|
|
1:02:14 – 1:02:21
more so much. That's a cook's problem, isn't it? That and also, you're organizationally a lot
|
|
|
1:02:21 – 1:02:27
More involved than he loved me. I want to make creation, I want to draw things,
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|
|
1:02:27 – 1:02:32
can influence. And this is now
|
|
|
1:02:32 – 1:02:35
for me at the stage of my life
|
|
|
1:02:35 – 1:02:37
It's also the ideal setup for me.
|
|
|
1:02:37 – 1:02:39
We are well-rehearsed people.
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|
|
1:02:39 – 1:02:43
John has been with me for six years,
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|
|
1:02:43 – 1:02:44
He knows exactly what I want.
|
|
|
1:02:44 – 1:02:47
We are so fast, even in the
|
|
|
1:02:47 – 1:02:49
cooperation that I no longer
|
|
|
1:02:49 – 1:02:55
People want. I don't want to get bigger.
|
|
|
1:02:55 – 1:02:55
That's enough. That's us.
|
|
|
1:02:55 – 1:03:01
Okay, somebody just has something else in that direction, otherwise I'd want to talk about devices again.
|
|
|
1:03:01 – 1:03:06
I have a question. There was some design element throughout the site,
|
|
|
1:03:06 – 1:03:13
What did you really want to achieve, but did the manufacturer cancel it for cost reasons?
|
|
|
1:03:13 – 1:03:21
Yes, that already existed. I had once thought of such a controllable, so practically such a mouse,
|
|
|
1:03:21 – 1:03:27
which should be integrated in the synthesizer, so in part like such a one, which I called Rollbar,
|
|
|
1:03:27 – 1:03:32
what you can push on such a roll, what you can push back and forth and what you can also practically do
|
|
|
1:03:32 – 1:03:37
as a poti, as a lying poti, as a wheel, with which you can also use, because the idea was,
|
|
|
1:03:37 – 1:03:41
that you can also push it and that it has a certain weight and somehow an LFO
|
|
|
1:03:41 – 1:03:46
It's slower when it runs out, that kind of thing. I'd have Alesis scary
|
|
|
1:03:46 – 1:03:51
I like to sell at that time. So there was a counter-proposal to Andromeda, to what you now
|
|
|
1:03:51 – 1:03:57
I know where I brought such a thing in. But that was too much development for them. You learn
|
|
|
1:03:57 – 1:04:04
That, too, with time. I mean, that's been since 1989, that's almost ten years,
|
|
|
1:04:04 – 1:04:12
I am 37 years old in this profession. And then you learn over time how far you can go and what
|
|
|
1:04:12 – 1:04:16
What works and what doesn't work. I know so much about the interior,
|
|
|
1:04:16 – 1:04:24
from the devices, that this teenager just times something like that, I notice there times worthin,
|
|
|
1:04:24 – 1:04:29
as well as the stick on the neuron with the four displays and all in-house development and such.
|
|
|
1:04:29 – 1:04:36
Over the years, you somehow get a better feeling for what the manufacturer,
|
|
|
1:04:36 – 1:04:42
The one I'm working for right now. That's why this doesn't happen to me so often anymore,
|
|
|
1:04:42 – 1:04:44
I have an idea that I want to push through.
|
|
|
1:04:44 – 1:04:47
Most customers are not suitable for this either.
|
|
|
1:04:47 – 1:04:49
There are some who are, others aren't.
|
|
|
1:04:49 – 1:04:53
What you have described,
|
|
|
1:04:53 – 1:04:58
This sounds a bit like the Morph controller on the Poggybroot.
|
|
|
1:04:58 – 1:05:00
I was just trying to play on it.
|
|
|
1:05:00 – 1:05:03
In the sense of, there was something like that again,
|
|
|
1:05:03 – 1:05:05
Where did you get something?
|
|
|
1:05:05 – 1:05:07
Another wild idea?
|
|
|
1:05:07 – 1:05:09
The morph, we've broken it ourselves.
|
|
|
1:05:09 – 1:05:16
They actually wanted to persuade the touché guys, I remember, but they didn't want to do that.
|
|
|
1:05:16 – 1:05:22
And then we put on the French star and said, well, then we develop something ourselves.
|
|
|
1:05:22 – 1:05:28
And that was a development, I tell you. I think they've been screwing around on this thing for two years.
|
|
|
1:05:28 – 1:05:28
That's the way it is.
|
|
|
1:05:28 – 1:05:30
But it works well.
|
|
|
1:05:30 – 1:05:31
It's gotten great.
|
|
|
1:05:31 – 1:05:38
Also the Polyfone Keyboard, the one with Polyfone Aftertouch, in the Polyboot.
|
|
|
1:05:38 – 1:05:43
I'd like to have this thing in a master keyboard instead of just new colors.
|
|
|
1:05:43 – 1:05:48
Yes, they would like to, but that's round tax for the time being.
|
|
|
1:05:48 – 1:05:55
You always have to look, what is a person willing to pay for a master keyboard, how much can I sell then, is it even worth it?
|
|
|
1:05:55 – 1:06:00
These are always things that are relevant to the manufacturer.
|
|
|
1:06:00 – 1:06:03
Now you might have to see how much the Explosive E sells from its CE.
|
|
|
1:06:03 – 1:06:07
And then maybe with something for two Honis could follow less with the Full Touch.
|
|
|
1:06:07 – 1:06:14
Maybe, yeah. But that's another story too. On such a controller
|
|
|
1:06:14 – 1:06:20
I think a lot of people have been waiting. It's also a bit revolutionary. me
|
|
|
1:06:20 – 1:06:23
I think it has sold quite well. I would have liked to do it.
|
|
|
1:06:23 – 1:06:29
There are other creative people in the world.
|
|
|
1:06:29 – 1:06:34
That's what it looks like. Numa looks good too. This thing is great. I've got this sitting on my
|
|
|
1:06:34 – 1:06:40
Hammond. The stones are in my office and it's up there. And I have to be honest
|
|
|
1:06:40 – 1:06:45
I haven't turned it on yet. It's just standing there. I just don't have enough time
|
|
|
1:06:45 – 1:06:53
for this. Then let's talk about two devices again, in the sense of the creativity of others
|
|
|
1:06:53 – 1:06:57
Because I'm really interested now. When I scroll through a timeline,
|
|
|
1:06:57 – 1:07:03
On the website I suddenly see "Axis Virus Polar". And that was it,
|
|
|
1:07:03 – 1:07:10
If I see the time right, 2010. What could be improved on the virus in 2010?
|
|
|
1:07:10 – 1:07:16
Has it been 10, 12, 13 years? So what do you have with regard to
|
|
|
1:07:16 – 1:07:20
Do you still want to or can do corporate identity?
|
|
|
1:07:20 – 1:07:27
Yes, I have to say, I used to be very involved in the Karteg design at Access.
|
|
|
1:07:27 – 1:07:30
We also made brochures, trade fair appearances and such.
|
|
|
1:07:30 – 1:07:41
And at some point the TI came and I said of my own free will,
|
|
|
1:07:41 – 1:07:43
I would love to make a synthesizer for you.
|
|
|
1:07:43 – 1:07:45
They actually work with a different designer.
|
|
|
1:07:45 – 1:07:55
And I would like to draw a device for you, which would correspond to 100 percent of my idea for a virus.
|
|
|
1:07:55 – 1:08:02
And that's how this little 37-key TI came into being.
|
|
|
1:08:02 – 1:08:12
That's in my timeline because that was, I'd say now, a slip, I've unfortunately never made a hardware design for Access.
|
|
|
1:08:12 – 1:08:18
I say unfortunately, because I really like people totally and am also friends with Christoph,
|
|
|
1:08:18 – 1:08:22
but he somehow has his buddy, he makes the design for him and the Christoph
|
|
|
1:08:22 – 1:08:27
I think I want to be a bit of a leader as well. And I had with Christoph
|
|
|
1:08:27 – 1:08:36
I've done other projects and I've always thought of it as a challenge. It wasn't so easy,
|
|
|
1:08:36 – 1:08:42
Because he really is someone who wants and has to determine a lot. And this
|
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1:08:42 – 1:08:45
The bad thing is that success proves him right.
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1:08:45 – 1:08:48
It always has to be something like that and something like that.
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1:08:48 – 1:08:52
So I'd love to, maybe I can draw something for Excess someday.
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1:08:52 – 1:08:56
But so far it's the TI, was the only one.
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1:08:56 – 1:08:59
I'm also pretty proud of it, even though it came out a little bit different.
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1:08:59 – 1:09:00
Like what I drew.
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1:09:00 – 1:09:03
I think I did some renderings from back then.
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1:09:03 – 1:09:10
But the inspiration was, I think, quite nice for Excess as well.
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1:09:10 – 1:09:13
They really went in such a design direction.
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1:09:13 – 1:09:17
Yes, these are a few renderings in this section,
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1:09:17 – 1:09:21
They look a bit different than what they did in the end.
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1:09:21 – 1:09:22
Exactly.
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1:09:22 – 1:09:24
Among other things with such wheels, where I think,
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1:09:24 – 1:09:26
Well, they didn't take it.
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1:09:26 – 1:09:29
But that is a personal preference.
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1:09:29 – 1:09:30
Yeah, yeah.
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1:09:30 – 1:09:33
Those were the discs we made.
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1:09:33 – 1:09:34
They were discs, yes.
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1:09:34 – 1:09:35
Yeah, that's right.
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1:09:35 – 1:09:39
They look great, but I already have it in my hand,
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1:09:39 – 1:09:43
I imagine having to serve them.
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1:09:43 – 1:09:47
In the meantime, we simply express everything that goes, where the fingers have to go.
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1:09:47 – 1:09:51
It is important that you try it first.
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1:09:51 – 1:09:55
That's the way. You make such a drawing first,
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1:09:55 – 1:09:59
I want to show the idea somehow and think, oh, that looks good.
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1:09:59 – 1:10:03
But then you always look at them
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1:10:03 – 1:10:07
Real-life testing with printed elements.
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1:10:07 – 1:10:11
Or now you can drink 3D, in the past you made model making.
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1:10:11 – 1:10:17
Round tax. But if you really want to make product design seriously,
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1:10:17 – 1:10:21
Then there is no way around it. The Japanese always do that.
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1:10:21 – 1:10:25
They always trust everything first.
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1:10:25 – 1:10:29
And then they try. And that's why they make good, very good,
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1:10:29 – 1:10:35
and also instruments in the synthesizer field, which survive for many decades.
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1:10:35 – 1:10:41
The other thing I'm still seeing here, and that's funny, that's the Hartmann device I'm using on
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1:10:41 – 1:10:50
Most of them have to do because a bandmate uses this, the Boguitar Amp 1. That's so far
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1:10:50 – 1:10:56
The rest of what you've got on the timeline. This is definitely not a synthesizer.
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1:10:56 – 1:11:01
No, it's not. There are also many other products that are not synthesizers.
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1:11:01 – 1:11:06
We also have speakers and interfaces and stuff like that. I didn't pack everything.
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1:11:06 – 1:11:15
Thomas is an old friend of mine. We rehearsed rehearsal room to rehearsal room in New England as very young men with our bands.
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1:11:15 – 1:11:24
And I've always been an admirer of his game and I think at some point he just called me because he kind of also called my timeline a little bit,
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1:11:24 – 1:11:29
Or what I've been doing has been a bit of a follow-up. And there it was, I don't know.
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1:11:29 – 1:11:39
12, 14 years. That was a while ago. I can see it here in 2015. Yeah, that's where he came out.
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1:11:39 – 1:11:45
Yeah, well, I'm sure it's been two or three years. Exactly, you always see each other beforehand. And there,
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1:11:45 – 1:11:50
It was so beautiful, Thomas is also a heart. So we are, really has a great friendship
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1:11:50 – 1:11:54
Developed over time. We see each other and don't hear each other so often, but then we get very, very
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1:11:54 – 1:12:00
because he is a Saarlander. He chats just like me, so the same Saarland
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1:12:00 – 1:12:08
Things. And the Saarlanders are also so special. And we get along incredibly well. And that was
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1:12:08 – 1:12:13
Really a nice project too. At that time he had a bit of fun with Jutgesen and Kettner.
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1:12:13 – 1:12:18
released. This was also the case with his employer in St. Gwendel. It's all so close to my
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1:12:18 – 1:12:23
home. I'm a Hunsrück boy. I'm from, no, I was born from Ida-Oberstein. Whole
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1:12:23 – 1:12:27
just past the Saarland, but of course I was always in St. Wendel as a young people
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1:12:27 – 1:12:33
And that sort of thing. I also studied. And so it was somehow so close to the bands and then also
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1:12:33 – 1:12:38
So close to Thomas. It was super nice that he called me. He also has a
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1:12:38 – 1:12:43
Names. Great cooperation to this day. So everything you see from him, including the MbX and so on, the
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1:12:43 – 1:12:50
I just wanted to ask, the Mpx, it looks very classic again.
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1:12:50 – 1:12:53
Great device, also the way it works.
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1:12:53 – 1:13:02
Yes, Thomas is also an absolute detail freak and nerd and of course he is also an incredibly good guitarist.
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1:13:02 – 1:13:04
Yeah, he's a fantastic guitarist, I just wanted to say it.
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1:13:04 – 1:13:07
You see the musician again, you know?
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1:13:07 – 1:13:17
In the musician board, i.e. in the forum, no idea if you know this, so the term prevailed at that time, build a Roland.
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1:13:17 – 1:13:23
And that was just for this one, where you really noticed, there's no musician sitting there.
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1:13:23 – 1:13:28
It's really had a time where you realized, okay, now you've got a usable device,
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1:13:28 – 1:13:33
but if you were to optimize that, every time some manager would have to commit Seppuku and then at some point you won't have any.
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1:13:33 – 1:13:38
More and that's why it stays the way it is now. It then rocked up into the
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1:13:38 – 1:13:44
Yamaha mounting with its fixed midi channels. To this day, I believe this is the example of
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1:13:44 – 1:13:51
Build a Roland in this forum. But yes, and if you compare it now with the things of
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1:13:51 – 1:13:55
Today, I think we have already chewed it through in the podcast a few times, this topic,
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1:13:55 – 1:14:01
There's a musician involved, you can tell. Yes, and especially Thomas, as you say,
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1:14:01 – 1:14:12
I think one of them can play anything. This guy is crazy, so he's really crazy. And he's an absolute "never give up" guy.
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1:14:12 – 1:14:17
He keeps going, he's tireless. Sometimes I wonder where the energy comes from.
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1:14:17 – 1:14:22
So he still makes 400 appearances a year with his different bands and so on.
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1:14:22 – 1:14:29
controls this ship Blue Guitar, which certainly also, there are also many ups and downs,
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1:14:29 – 1:14:34
That's fine, but he doesn't give up, that guy. And above all, it always lasts so long,
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1:14:34 – 1:14:39
Until he finds it good. And that's a property, that's fantastic,
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1:14:39 – 1:14:42
gell. I think that's totally down-to-earth, people don't even realize that.
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1:14:42 – 1:14:45
Maybe that's the secret recipe, you know?
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1:14:45 – 1:14:46
Maybe, yeah.
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1:14:46 – 1:14:49
Until you find it good yourself. There is such a thing as Dorsum,
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1:14:49 – 1:14:54
I'm in the beta testing team on the server.
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1:14:54 – 1:14:57
And he made a nice plugin, Symbiont.
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1:14:57 – 1:14:58
That would have been finished in March.
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1:14:58 – 1:15:00
And he wrote that on the website,
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1:15:00 – 1:15:02
I have a little insight, of course.
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1:15:02 – 1:15:04
And then he said, this thing is horny,
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1:15:04 – 1:15:05
But I have an idea how it gets even hotter.
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1:15:05 – 1:15:08
And I don't publish it a day earlier. Point.
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1:15:08 – 1:15:11
Yeah, that's really cool.
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1:15:11 – 1:15:12
I mean, Thomas publishes anyway.
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1:15:12 – 1:15:15
The Mpx sitebank, there he is now.
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1:15:15 – 1:15:18
But he can do it because he's just being honest.
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1:15:18 – 1:15:23
And also being honest with people. And he doesn't sell it until it's 100 percent right.
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1:15:23 – 1:15:32
Great guy, I can only say. Great collaboration and I'm super proud of this thing. This is already
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|
1:15:32 – 1:15:42
It has become a very cool design. All in all, the whole package. Yes, yes. Yeah, then. I think
|
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|
1:15:42 – 1:15:47
Now we can really talk about any device. And who knows, maybe we'll do it
|
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|
1:15:47 – 1:15:50
At some point, we have to get to the point.
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|
1:15:50 – 1:15:52
And I...
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1:15:52 – 1:15:53
So, let's do it again...
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1:15:53 – 1:16:00
I have one more question that I end up asking each of our interview guests,
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1:16:00 – 1:16:01
At the end of the broadcast.
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1:16:01 – 1:16:06
What does Axel do to relax,
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|
1:16:06 – 1:16:10
What if he's not busy designing synthesizers?
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|
1:16:10 – 1:16:14
Watching TV? No, no.
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|
1:16:14 – 1:16:16
So I'm driving a long-distance bike.
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1:16:16 – 1:16:19
You look, that's a good answer.
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1:16:19 – 1:16:21
Yes, I do too.
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|
1:16:21 – 1:16:23
Yes, I also like to do with my wife.
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|
1:16:23 – 1:16:28
Of course, I'm still actively making music with my band "Record Player".
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1:16:28 – 1:16:37
There we play our old favorite songs of, I don't know, Toto, Christopher Cross, Supertramp, something like that.
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1:16:37 – 1:16:39
Cover music at a very high level.
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1:16:39 – 1:16:41
I also sing, play and sing.
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1:16:41 – 1:16:43
That's a great challenge.
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1:16:43 – 1:16:46
I hope it also helps me not to stupefy.
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|
1:16:46 – 1:16:48
Do you play guitar or synthesizer?
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|
1:16:48 – 1:16:49
No, no, I play keyboards.
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1:16:49 – 1:16:51
I am a piano player.
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1:16:51 – 1:16:51
Okay.
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1:16:51 – 1:16:52
Exactly.
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|
1:16:52 – 1:16:57
I like to do this very, very much, also for relaxation and also for programming,
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1:16:57 – 1:16:59
Recreate the sounds, recreate them.
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1:16:59 – 1:17:01
That gives me a lot of joy.
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1:17:01 – 1:17:05
And optimize the equipment over which Toman orders,
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1:17:05 – 1:17:09
Hover button with my finger and order the subwoofer, yes.
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1:17:09 – 1:17:14
This always calms me down and makes me happy at the same time.
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1:17:14 – 1:17:20
I cycle a lot of miles every day when I can.
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1:17:20 – 1:17:22
It hurts.
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1:17:22 – 1:17:24
I'm very, very happy to do that.
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1:17:24 – 1:17:29
I like to do that too, but this is vinegar until the end of autumn.
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1:17:29 – 1:17:32
I'm so old, I don't even have to be hit to make my shoulder hurt.
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1:17:32 – 1:17:36
I have a bit of impingement with the right shoulder and the left shoulder.
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1:17:36 – 1:17:37
My fingers always fall asleep.
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1:17:37 – 1:17:43
So in terms of shoulder technology, I'm completely with you, but I'm still riding a bike.
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1:17:43 – 1:17:46
The pain can't be big enough.
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1:17:46 – 1:17:49
Shoulder impingement is available from Ralf Blume on YouTube.
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1:17:49 – 1:17:51
There are some good videos on how to get this off.
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|
1:17:51 – 1:17:53
Oh, yeah, I have to remember.
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1:17:53 – 1:17:59
Ralf Blume is a former coach at BSC Hertha.
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|
1:17:59 – 1:18:03
No, Hertha BSC. He used to be a football coach.
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|
1:18:03 – 1:18:05
Make me a note.
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|
1:18:05 – 1:18:13
I'll find flower on the net. And then just look for Impinchment. Impinchment, that's very good. You can find the stock on YouTube.
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|
1:18:13 – 1:18:24
So cycling, going for a walk, I really like to run. I like to talk to my wife very, very much.
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1:18:24 – 1:18:32
I also like to go on vacation, I like to go abroad. But everything close by. I like to be in Italy, I like to be in France.
|
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1:18:32 – 1:18:41
Such a properly selected hobby now actually does not live outside of music.
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1:18:41 – 1:18:48
It's wonderful. Axel, it was a pleasure and an honor to chat with you.
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1:18:48 – 1:18:57
We are curious to see what you and Johannes, what you are doing together with the other companies.
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|
1:18:57 – 1:19:07
Yeah, me too. We're doing something nice right now. On Monday, John Simpson came to visit me.
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|
1:19:07 – 1:19:13
Duprec doing the stylophone. We also made this teramin. So there it will be too
|
|
|
1:19:13 – 1:19:21
There seems to be something new coming soon. Let's have a look. Exciting. Yes, it is good and exciting that we are still in the
|
|
|
1:19:21 – 1:19:27
There are races. It's just the industry crunches and complains, you might get that too.
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|
1:19:27 – 1:19:35
It's not a good time. I think we just talked about half a Superbook episode.
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|
1:19:35 – 1:19:42
Yes, and we are glad that we have to do that, that it still feeds us. And I hope
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|
1:19:42 – 1:19:47
That it stays that way. I always thought I was sitting well in the saddle, but there are just a lot of
|
|
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1:19:47 – 1:19:54
You can tell from my clients that the projects like to come a little later or they won't.
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1:19:54 – 1:20:01
You did it the way you first interpreted it or something like that. Sometimes you can't even
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1:20:01 – 1:20:06
believe, as much as was presented, but then stop, yes, of course you get that too
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1:20:06 – 1:20:13
with much earlier. We get this very early because we just have to go from, yeah, we have to go a year,
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1:20:13 – 1:20:20
Two for big products now thought for Phantom times, that's what you're sitting on five years before.
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1:20:20 – 1:20:30
They already have development times. Others like now protein or something, that's what Rolf Lörmann has to offer.
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1:20:30 – 1:20:39
Let's get out of here quickly. Stupid guy. Yeah, okay, that was super fun with you guys, I was having fun,
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|
1:20:39 – 1:20:43
I enjoyed the fact that you listened to me and asked good questions.
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|
1:20:43 – 1:20:45
I really enjoyed it.
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|
1:20:45 – 1:20:50
I also like to tell you a little bit about life and hope that your audience will also be interested.
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1:20:50 – 1:20:52
I think so.
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|
1:20:52 – 1:20:57
Yeah, thank you again.
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|
1:20:57 – 1:20:59
Very, very happy.
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|
1:20:59 – 1:21:03
Until maybe, who knows, someday and otherwise. All the best.
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1:21:03 – 1:21:06
Yeah, that's right. Let's see you on the superbus.
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|
1:21:06 – 1:21:10
I'm always on the road. Maybe we'll have a non-alcoholic beer or something.
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|
1:21:10 – 1:21:15
We've been talking about this since the podcast in this composition,
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1:21:15 – 1:21:20
That we have to go there. Yeah, why don't you make a regulars' table?
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|
1:21:20 – 1:21:28
After the superbuff. Yeah, that's a good idea.
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|
1:21:28 – 1:21:31
That would be a good idea. That's really a good idea.
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|
1:21:31 – 1:21:35
Sorry, now I've hit my microphone. Sorry.
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1:21:35 – 1:21:40
You know, we could still talk about the book two months ago?
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|
1:21:40 – 1:21:41
No.
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|
1:21:41 – 1:21:48
Well, then I'll wait for my arm to run and then I'll cut the shit back.
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|
1:21:48 – 1:21:53
Be careful, my colleague here is lost. Many, many, many, many thanks. Thank you,
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|
1:21:53 – 1:21:56
That you were there. It was a lot of fun.
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|
1:21:56 – 1:21:58
That's it from me.
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|
1:21:58 – 1:22:10
Cool, yes, Infamief is good. So, am I gonna hang up or are you gonna do this? How's this going? How do you do it properly?
|
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|
1:22:10 – 1:22:15
So, we all say goodbye now, then you can stay inside and then we can say goodbye.
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|
1:22:15 – 1:22:17
Exactly, okay, that's how we do it.
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|
1:22:17 – 1:22:19
That's how we do it.
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|
1:22:19 – 1:22:26
Dear listeners, this was the rehearsal podcast. Until next time. Bye bye.
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1:22:26 – 1:22:28
Tschau
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1:22:28 – 1:22:35
[Music]
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1:22:35 – 1:22:38
[Music]
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1:22:38 – 1:22:44
[Music]
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1:22:44 – 1:22:50
[Music]
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1:22:50 – 1:22:56
[Music]
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1:22:56 – 1:23:02
[Music]
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1:23:02 – 1:23:05
[Music]
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1:23:05 – 1:23:11
[Music]
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1:23:11 – 1:23:14
[Music]
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Back to the roots. Before we became a gerontocratic regular who talks about his constant, more or less life-threatening pains and then never publishes the episode, we were known to make a program about music, the technology and the people behind it, and everything that goes with it. It's high time to start again – and what better way to start than with the man whose work we – and not just us – constantly have under our fingers and in our ears? Axel Hartmann is a failed professional musician and all the more successful industrial designer whose ideas run through the last forty years of music history – from the first microwave to the latest Rhodes, from startup to global corporation and from the most expensive boutique to the cheapest controller. We talk to him about his career and work, some of his most famous and/or strangest creations, about galaxies, mice and humans, and so much more.
Thematic breakdown:
- Sickness & Comeback: Return to the rehearsal room after a two-month forced break due to groin surgeries and roller failures as well as the presentation of the guest Axel Hartmann.
- From law student to synthesizer designer: Axel's original dream of being a pianist, the short excursion into law and the final discovery of industrial design.
- The start-up phase at Waldorf: The entry into the synthesizer industry, the design of the 19-inch format for the microwave and the early symbiosis of hardware development and sound design.
- Design philosophy & Musician advantage: The importance of ‘form follows function’, the deliberate integration of ‘interference’ (visual anchors) on control panels and the massive advantage of being a designer in understanding the technical signal flows of engineers.
- Corporate Identity (Arturia & Akai): The close design partnership with Arturia (including discussions of unconventional color experiments from France) and the redesign of the Akai MPK Mini, inspired by Minecraft and 90s samplers.
- Hartmann Neuron – Genius & Limits: The deep insight into the visionary concept of resynthesis and 5.1 spatial sound control via joystick. The enormous hurdles caused by a lack of computing power in the early 2000s and the tragic end of the groundbreaking project.
- Alesis Andromeda & complex interfaces: How to arrange hundreds of parameters sensibly. The path from the rigid grid to the innovative ‘galaxies’ concept, which groups functions into circles according to importance and module affiliation.
- Sledge 2.0 Black Edition (Studio Logic): The concept of an uncompromising luxury synthesizer. Milled from a massive aluminium block with laser engraving – and the controversial decision to fit a low-cost Blofeld engine into a high-end case.
- Discarded ideas & Prototyping: Workflow in the Ravensburger studio setup, the immense importance of physical test models over pure 3D renderings and unrealised hardware concepts such as the integrated ‘rollable’ controller.
- Amp1 & BluGuitar: The long friendship with Thomas Blug in the Saarland music scene. The fundamental difference in hardware development when passionate musicians are at work instead of pure managers (Building a Roland phenomenon).
- Life away from the synthesizer: Relaxation while cycling, equipment optimisation when shopping online, live performances with the ‘record players’ association and dealing with typical physical signs of wear such as impingement syndrome.
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Contributors to this episode
Axel Hartmann
Tobi
Emergency power
Sascha
Playing time: 1:23:14
Date of admission: 08.07.26
This episode is from season 4, there are a total of 4 seasons.
One According to Funk Publication Cartel Production - Where stories are transmitted unmistakably.
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Author: Sascha Markmann
Sascha Markmann is a creative mind with a moving biography – and a person who has rediscovered life after a stroke. After working as a paramedic and elderly caregiver, Sascha found his way into creative expression. As a blogger, podcaster, musician and visual storyteller, he brings together things that just don't fit at first glance: He combines his keen enthusiasm for technology – from self-hosted servers to electronic music production – with emotional depth and an oblique sense of humor. His contributions are somewhere between borderline, acid basslines and assistance – honestly, directly and with a wink. Guiding principle: “Audio-visual dullness with no usefulness – but perhaps that's why it's so valuable.” View all posts by Sascha Markmann
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