I’m up since 5 (don’t ask me about it), tired af, but I can’t wait to splash into Superbooth and the German capital to meet the music maker fam and loved friends from all around the world.

This year, I am super curious about hardware news from Vermona (they teased a drum machine), Elta Music (a mix extension for the Solar 42F), and Oxi Instruments (OxiOne MKII).

I also registered for a Tape Loop workshop on Saturday and some side parties on Friday (Modular Society and Raw Industries Live Hardware Madness).

See you in Berlin xxx

Here are some insights with "Elastic Stage", a Vinyl on Demand Service that I used for my latest album. I shared these on Discord in another group I am member, but the thread content is vanishing fast and I wanted to keep this without further editing - its just pasted from the other forum.

First of all, Elastic Stage is a Distributor as far as I understood. The release gets a EAN number and the tracks get their own ISRC numbers, but you can put in existing numbers too so you can re-release older albums on ES.

The workflow is pretty straightforward - you enter Metadata, upload tracks and Artwork files, for these they offer easy Templates (Illustrator or PDF format). After that’s done, you create your artist page and a release page, this is a bit like every other online website editor, except it includes the vinyl offering automatically.

Just wanted to share this little gear tip. I was looking for a cheap solution to label my devices and cables with my name. I had it a few times they cables or adapters got lost on a table with gear of a group of musicians so I wanted to mark my stuff with sticker.

The available options at printing suppliers where a bit pricey, but luckily I stumbled across this cheap little thermo-printer. It costs 20 euro at Amazon and the stickers are customizable in their accompanying printing app.

Thought it might be helpful for some. Cheers :)

… from 59 Perlen :)

Today I'm showing you the setup for the coming season :)

Hello everyone :D

I hope you have a nice and relaxing Easter :D

Until now, I wasn't sure whether I would be able to play a concert with the Solar in May. But the more I look into it, the more confident I become with the device and I've decided to base my setup for 2025 on it.

If you take a look at my calendar you will see a pretty full program! I have ambient events, art performances and guest appearances in other cities. I will be playing pure ambient sessions, but at the same time I will be on the road with a 2nd liveset thats more danceable. I'll be playing locally, but will also be on the road a lot.

… I got a little sequencer ❤️

Good evening my sweet Perlies,

late at night I have a special video for you guys. Special, because I created a setup with my brandnew LED light system ;) These are part of my upcoming shows. I use a little DMX interface to control the bars with Lightkey, a software for creating light animations. Right now, I was happy that all got connected haha there are no custom animations right now. But it works ;D

For the track, I use a new setup: The Solar 42F is routed into Albeton where I put some Big Sky Magic on top. I use this setup because I gonna add the Analog Rytm in the future and its tracks wiill be mangeled separately, so this setup is more of a preparation for upcomig tracks.

You can download this jam below, as usual. I mastered it a bit. The video is not on YouTub…

Hi peeps,

my new synth, the Solar 42F, is a really awesome device with lots of features. However, I wanted to hook up a groovebox to be able to play a wider range of tracks. The sequencer / arpeggiator in the Solar 42F (there are actually several of them) should of course run in clock with the Analog Rytm.

After most people in my community told me that I should use a MIDI / CV converter to get the clock signal from the AR into the modular, I watched out for other solutions to keep the setup clean and small ("Small" lol the Solar is 50cm).

I made a video how I solved the problem using the Analog Rytm's board tools: The Impulse Machine. Plus there is a little jam at the end :) Let me know if you have any questions!

Cheers

... but the Solar 42F demands for it. The stackable cables are super handy for passing a signal and double it. I still hope I gonna pass the Modular rabbit hole LOL

Hey folks,

It's always a special moment when you hold a physical medium with your music in your hands. Today was one of those moments: The test pressing of my new album ‘Zerfall’ arrived.

To be honest, the release is more of a test of the vinyl-on-demand service on which the album is being released - the music is kinda special. But I like releasing on vinyl and will include this distribution channel in the future for all my albums.

A copy of the record costs customers CHF 26 plus postage and packaging. I think the price is quite OK for on Demand production! I'll keep CHF 5 of that as profit. Quite OK :D But not my focus.

Back at the end of 2024, I sold tons of gear to get rid of stuff i rarely use and make space for new adventures. I choose the new (or futher existing) instruments very careully based on my future project orientation, whichi is clearly live performing and improvising rather calm ambient sounds. The Vermona Perfourmer MKII, for example, is such an instrument, also the Soma Lyra-8 goes clearly in the performative direction.

This beautiful pink monster is now the latest addition to my rig! The Elta Music Solar 42F arrived today and at first glance, I was really overwhelmed by the insane number of buttons and switches. However, the concept reminds me a little (albeit much more complex) of the Perfourmer, because it is a handful of identical function groups. Once you have understood one, you know the others. The number of buttons also reflects the principle of analog soun…

You heard it here first! I’m beyond excited to announce that my new album ‘Zerfall’ will be released on March 21, 2025 via Petite Victory Collective.

This release will be available on vinyl (Yep!) and selected digital platforms – a special moment for me, and I’m thrilled to share it with you first! As a member of this community, you get an exclusive first look at the album artwork before anyone else.

Also thanks to everyone who voted for the artwork layouts ;) As you can see, the result got a bit different as expected.

More details coming soon – but for now, let me know what you think! 🚀

Happy weekend xxx

Hi folks,

I will drop my latest performance as a little EP in a few days and I want you to ask about your opinion about the artwork layouts: Whats your favorite design? The graphic should match the music in a way - if you haven´t heard it yet, you can watch the video below.

Let me know and click your favorite one below.

Cheers xxx

Mat

Hi folks

As you may have already seen, I have a whole series of events planned for this year. I already started last year - I wanted to try out “SP Sessions Zurich” to see if I like organizing such events.

I had always organized the lighting and sound equipment at a local rental company, but that costs money and is quite inconvenient as I don't have a car. So now was the time to invest in my own equipment because I have a few more events coming up this year and the investment will quickly pay for itself.

In addition to the HK Audio Polar 12 system, I also bought a compact lighting system, the Stairville LED BossFx-1 Pro Bundle Complete from Thomann (it's their own brand).

The system offers 2 flood panels, 2 derby with LEDs in red, green and blue, a laser in red and green and…

Morning folks

Last night I played a little bit on my hybrid setup to practice for the event on 2/22. At a certain point a VST plugin on my Mac stopped working and Ableton crashed completely.

No problem - luckily my audio interface has a direct monitor feature so I was able to continue playing seamlessly the remaining hardware without restarting Ableton.

So I still had almost 40 minutes of fun with the trilogy of Lyra-8, Cosmos and Big Sky. The Vermona is played from the Mac and was lost due to the crash.

I have it in the setup simply because I thought I had to offer something melodic in the live set. But after the Lyra-8 only session I'm inclined to abandon the Perfourmer / Ableton combo completely and play the 40 minutes exclusively with this instrument. Right now, the Lyra-8 is processed with compression and limiter through…

I scheduled a number of events for this year and decided to invest in a PA. For my past events, I borrowed a RCF System which was not very comfortable - I had to rent a car to pick it up and bring it back, it was super bulky and filled an entire combi Volvo and it was not cheap on top.

To begin with, it was OK but now we have several events in 2025 coming up, it made sense to invest some money in my own sound system. The entire Polar 12 column weights around 37 KG, it's quickly build up in a few seconds and the sub goes quite deep (of course - the 45 KG sub of the RCF system is another ligue but for the size of my parties it will be fine).

At the end of this year, this investment will be amortized. If…

Hello folks,

hows everyone doing? I had a very. busy day with discussions about the future of the Zurich Synth Table and calls about upcoming events. I´m also researching for a PA that I´m going to buy soon and we´re checking out the location for the first "Sonic Hike" tomorrow. Exciting! That´s why Jamuary 18 is "just" a lttle drone Jam with the Lyra-8. Lay back, close your eyes and relax (best with headphones!).

You can listen the Jam on YouTube below or download the mastered audio edit as well.

Enoy xxx

Mat

Hi guys,

It's the time to look back on 2024 and, like every year, I am surprised how many talented and warm-hearted people I was able to meet on my travels and events. Thank you all so much for the great support and your positive vibes!

So much has happened - I released 2 albums (including my very first ever vinyl), 8 singles and my songs have appeared on 4 compilations. The tracks have been streamed 450000 times on all platforms. I played 17 shows, 8 of which were contemporary art installations. I hosted 4 events “SP Sessions Zurich” with over 20 guest artists, 4 newly created Zurich Synthesizer Table meetings and numerous podcast episodes.

Personally, it was a very moving year full of real life connections and many precious moments. But honestly I find it very difficult to think about the future at the moment with all the uncertain…

Hello happy musicians,

today, my Analog Four MKII found a new home - he was on sale with some other gears. I´m actually sad that he left my collection as I always liked his sound and versatility. But I purchased a new piece that costs some big money and in exhange some other pieces had to leave. There are some dust collectors, the A4 was actually not amongst these, and I won´t cry for them to be honest.

If you are living in Switzerland and interested, the items are still on sale on Tutti.ch

Erica Synths Zen Delay Elektron Model:Cycles

Erica Synth Bassline DB-01

Hi guys,

yday was my tightest performance to date! I was invited to play at the “Weisse Rose”, a super small, old and cozy restaurant in Zurich Niederdorf. The table for my setup was super tiny and the cable to the mixer was so short that we needed a “cable guard” to prevent people from pulling the cable and my setup off the table :) but in the end all went well and I was happy with my 55 min performance (divided in 2 parts).

Beside me, DJ Glannzman turned the tables with a sweet curation of chilled Dubtechno records.

Unfortunately, a nascent cold spoiled my mood a little, but it was still a cool, relaxed evening - even a few people from the Synth Stammtisch came by.

See you soon!

Picture of my "little" calm-down-setup. The Elektron Model:Cycles is running through the Lyra-8 which enables me to apply its deep double delay and distortion dirt before entering the Cosmos.

The Strymon Big Sky at the end of the chain glues everthing together, opens up space and gives flavor to the composition (interestingly I tend to call these tracks “composition” rather than "track" or "jam").

I think I will swap the M:S with the Digitakt and load up a bunch of sample collections for more rythmic and organic compositions. My basic idea is to work with sample collections rather than patterns or structures - I can imagine nice soundscapes using a bunch of mallets, for example.

Good morning my dear fellas,

GAS is back and brought a new piece of gear to my setup +++ You might have noticed on my Instagram that I have been to Cologne last weekend to perform at "Modular Madness". The event was a full success, we had a big crowd of around 80-100 people and the lineup was a blast - my friends Timmey (DE), Sholinger (DE) and Miles Kvndra (DE) made this event a night to remember.

But in Cologne is also one of the biggest gear stores in Germany, "Music Store", and before I left the city I coulnd't resist and stopped by. And yes, what can I say, a new piece of hardware is mine: I purchased the "Soma Cosmos", a looper pedal that creates the most wonderful ambient textures I ever heard, combined with a great build and excellent sound quality (what else to expect from…

Hello my dear friends,

Thought to share a bit of my current work with you. Maybe you have seen the post on instagram : my music project is 5 years old. A lot changed in these years and during the past months I finally got a very clear vision how my musical future will look alike.

For instance, I developed a strong aversion against Spotify, his unbelievably Despicable CEO and their business model. I decided that I don’t want to support these platforms any longer in the way I did in the past. I will focus on Bandcamp and music distribution on my website and most importantly, I will put my live shows In the center of my work.

Then there is also my work for contemporary art projects, which is an important part but not really visible on my website. I was thinking to open a second page and…

Hello my friends,

what a weekend ❤️ Sonic Playground Copenhagen was just a blast - it’s the place where Avatars get real. It’s so good to see smiling faces all around, chatting, connecting and enjoying the vibe of this fantastic family of friends is unique.

My personal highlight of course the performance with Bernardo San Rafael - I received so many positive feedbacks about it 🤩 I will share the video recording soon with you guys along some pictures and insights.

I will share audio, video, photo and background info soon with you guys. Until then, you can enjoy the attached gallery with some nice pics.

xxx

Hey my friends

I finally got my little Dawless board togehter and it works like a charm! Digitakt, S-1, P-6, Big Sky and there's a free little slot for #ThePillPedal. There's an optional controller with the onboard Knot USB Host and a 5-Port power supply for the effect pedals. The entire setup fits in the bag, is carry-on sized and weights just around 6kg. Super happy with it!

Digitakt is sequencing both Roland Aira´s and also supplies the reverb with a MIDI signal to get it synced. The audio of the P-6 is routed into the S-1, that into the reverb and that into the Digitakt. I only need a stereo Jack for connecting to the mixer.

Can´t wajt to travel with it xxx

Mat

Hello my friends!

Greetings from a sunny and chilled Sicily where I spend some days in the sun. Here are some impressions - it’s good to step back from music making and social media and recharge the batteries!

Later

X Mat

Hey my friends

just wanted to share this quick shot of the newest members of my rig fam: the Roland Aira Compact S-1 and P-6. The S-1 is a very good sounding Synth with a lot of sound design features, while the P-6 is an unbelievibly feature rich sampler and sample player. Brillant for travelling. I will post more about these guys soon (also with a jam!).

Happy weekend

Mat xxx

Hey folks,

hope you´ve had a great weekend all! I am super busy preparing my upcoming live shows with a new hybrid set of tracks. It comes out great :) I will surely provide some details and a recording.

I am also still preparing the recordings from the "Shopping Bag" performances. I am so behind with everyhting due to travels, releases and events so i am not done yet, but I want to show you some of the beautiful pictures of these super nice shows today. What a nice project this was, I am so thankful to be part of it.

All photos Anke U. Neumeister