The new collaboration between Sailor & I’s record label Arvet, artists Precursor and Bad Spirit allows each artist to bring their own unique style to the new independent electronic single "Biomarker". This emotional roller coaster takes the audience through the hardships of life, from happy ignorance to unfolding darkness.

Biomarkers are essential in medical practice, but may provide a harsh reality for those on the wrong side. The melancholy of this song pours out from the colorful palette, guiding the unpredictable forces in life. Primitive emotions are expressed by touching the language of those who have fallen into the cruelty of nature. 

Below, the forerunner lets us take a look at his studio and learn about the latest issue of "My Toolbox".

Text and photos of Precursor and Jimi de Groot

My first synthesizer was Korg Minilogue. After finishing my first album as Precursor, I bought it as a gift for myself. In most cases, I feel that I am not good at making pad sounds, and I hope to fix it by recording from hardware. I also don't know how to play the piano, so I want to practice some things while being able to make electronic music. Minilogue did not disappoint me. Due to its versatility and friendly price, it is an incredible first synthesizer for anyone. It has all the functions of a standard modern synthesizer, and the original version also has a cool delay effect. 

But the filter doesn't sound very good. In fact, I am very tired of filters and often use digital filters instead. A few years later, Korg revised it and launched a new version: Korg Minilogue XD. A stupid name, but a huge improvement to the synthesizer. They expanded it with additional (digital) oscillators, more effects, better filters, and overload functions. I immediately sold the old one and bought it, and now it is exactly what you need, even for an experienced producer. It's no surprise that artists such as Bonobo, Moderat, and Rival Consoles use it in their albums and live performances. I use it for all kinds of sounds, but mainly pads!

Today, my modular synthesizer is at the core of my creative process. In 2017, I invested in some Bitcoin and made a small profit before the inevitable crash that followed. I decided to cash out and start a modular system, which is something I have always dreamed of, but it seems too expensive and tedious. In a sense, it is tedious to use, connect it and decompose all sounds for each sound, but even a small system has almost infinite sounds, which can continuously inspire inspiration. The first patch I made ended up in my upcoming album, and the second patch I made eventually became the basis of my track "Verge", so it was obvious that this would have a major impact on my sound.

At the beginning, I will make a sequence on Beatstep Pro and let it generate notes in a loop. Then I continued to tinker and play the sound of the module until it started to sound interesting, and then I recorded it and used it in the track. These days, my creative process may become more difficult. For my latest single "Myelin" on Arvet Records, I used a random MIDI generator, and I am conducting a beta test for a small modular company to simulate seemingly random neuronal firing in the brain. I started layering these notes with modular different sounds, and let the computer join to randomize the notes and create more layers. In this way, I try to combine my love of science with my love of electronic music, and I am very excited about the sounds that can be produced by following this path.

Tanzbär is something I found while browsing YouTube, and I think this is the first time I really experience GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). I just like its appearance, it's a cool drum machine, that's why I bought it, even though the price is not friendly. On paper, it is a "clone" of the 808 and 909 drum machines, and each synthesizer has some sounds. In fact, it doesn't sound like a clone, it has its own characteristics. Producers like Ruede Hagelstein and Hannes Bieger have been using it, which makes sense: it sounds like techno. Berlin technology.

MFB Tanzbär and other drum machines

However, when I first got it, I kind of hated it. Programming is very difficult and not very intuitive. However, I soon discovered that I can program it with Beatstep Pro, which makes life easier. I still don't really use it for improvisation, and I no longer use it in live performances, but sometimes I use it for recording. Tanzbär's voice is not crazy-I think it's more like surgery and precision-except for the 808-style kick, it is definitely thriving. I think this is why people like it. You hardly need to mix it up, it sounds great on any track. The applause and the top hat are not exactly to my taste, but the percussion is very good. All in all, it can produce high-quality sound that only works in the track, and sometimes this is exactly what you need. In my new album, I used it extensively and recorded it with some tubes to make the sample have a good saturated sound.

One thing leads to another, and soon you will buy machines around. In my current setup, I am running dbx 166 (the original, unmodified version), which is essentially a stereo version of the famous dbx 160. It's not fancy, it's not expensive, and it doesn't have many options, but it's a good-sounding compressor. Usually when I mix for other producers, I use it to make drum beats pop. Before and after my compressor, I have an equalizer, so I can choose to perform the equalizer before or after compression, or both if needed. For this, I used the old Tascam PE-40. 

I really like the sound of it, although mine produces some ground loop noise. There are many digital equalizers that sound very good, but somehow, nothing sounds like analog. I always try to explain it by "Pushing a digital equalizer to add something on top of the sound, but pushing an analog equalizer will change how the sound sounds". It doesn't destroy phase or dynamics, it just highlights certain parts of the sound in a truly organic way. I often use it to highlight synthesizer sounds, vocals, or record certain parts of drums through it. 

Finally, I have an Aurex DR auditory exciter. This can provide some sparkling high-end products that some people associate with analog devices, and it's actually not expensive. My hardware is not effective, although they may be difficult to find so old. Recently, I added a pair of Behringer Vintager series-another equalizer and exciter, but with a tube to add some extra warmth to my recording.

The latest tool I have in the shed is Behringer ARP 2600. For me, the original ARP2600 is the most legendary synthesizer ever. It has been used to create the R2-D2 sound of Star Wars, and many great artists have used it, including techno artists like Stephan Bodzin and Hannes Bieger, and world-renowned artists like Stevie Wonder or Deadmau5. I have wanted to own one for many years, but the price of the original version is between 5.000 and 10.000 euros, and I will never get one. I have been thinking about buying a TTSH-4 ARP clone-a high-quality clone, almost the same as the original, sounds great, but its price is still beyond my budget...until Behringer announced that they are from ARP2600 Obtain cheap "clone". 

I don't want to discuss what Behringer is doing to reduce costs by cloning or recreating a large number of synthesizers, but for this almost impossible synthesizer, I think Behringer managed to recreate it at an affordable price is absolutely amazing for everyone. It may not sound as despicable and dirty as some of the originals (please note that they all sound different!), but it does have the characteristics of a real transaction. And because it's not so mean, it actually only requires a small amount of mixing to work on the track. I am very satisfied with it, it works very well with my modular synthesizer. I use it to deal with everything from main sound to SFX to pads and even drum sounds. I hope that one day I can replace it with the original one, but before that day comes, I am pretty sure that I will fully enjoy the Behringer ARP2600.

Get your copy here. 

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