Alessandro Flashmob shows us around his Milan studio, complete with everything from Roland synths to washing up brushes.
Flashmob – My Studio
Here is my studio in Milan. The monitors are Focal Twin6Be along with CMS50s for mixing.
Sequential Circuits Max & Roland JX-8P
The JX-8P, this baby I use for pads, chords and so on. It’s a totally analogue machine (apart from the control section) and it’s the last fully analogue Roland machine if I recall correctly. It was used extensively by the UK pop band Duran Duran back in the 80s. It’s polyphonic with 8 voices. I used this to play all the synths and chords on my new album.
Akai S1000
I’m using this with Mennie for an album track we’re doing together. It’s a 2MB memory sampler that can be used to edit and chop samples… very juicy. I got it from Mennie and I’m not sure I’ll give it back. Francesco found this for 100 Euro in an old market in Rome – a very lucky shot.
Audioscope Spectrum Analyser & RME FireFace
This is a spectrum analyser I use to work on frequencies and to see the slightest change in them. It’s also one of those pieces you just cannot leave out of your studio – I always dreamed of having one of these when I saw it in professional studio videos. It also enables me to see the two scopes of the separated channels, which can be very very useful. Before this, I used to use a spectrum analyser on the master channel in Ableton Live – it was good, but not as fascinating.
Back-Ball
This helps me get fit and not have a sore back during all my daily long sessions. You’re training while you’re producing and instead of having a sore back you end up being fit. In my opinion you need to lead an athletic life to play this game for real and at max power. I used to have a really big back problem – that’s why I got into this.
Mascots
In reality these should be used to wash dishes but I love them to be in the studio overlooking me on top of the door. I used to have these in a very small room I had in London when I was dreaming of doing what I’m doing now, so I’m particularly affectionate to them.
Rane xp2016s Mixer
I use this to control all the channels of the studio and to give the warm touch of an analogue mixer to everything I do. This mixer is also a representation of my love for old-school house, since all the old American DJs used to play on these. I have had this for two years now, and I bought it when I did my first very well paid gig. It was a dream come true.
Flashmob’s Sample Series: Raw Technique sample pack is out now. Check it out over at Beatport. Find him on Facebook, Twitter and SoundCloud.
06.36 AM
great section!
09.23 PM
what do you use to control the JX-8P? can’t see any pg-800, or BCR2000?
12.11 PM
JX8P is pretty easy to program without an controller. Once you get used to the flow its fast enough to keep you in the creative vibe. JX3P is easy without 2.
The fitness ball idea is great. This will be my studio addition for this weekend.
Rolling on the fitness ball listening to my new pair of Genelec 8351’s 🙂
Cheers,
Blastmode
02.06 AM
You can control the JX8P with the Pc-jx8p33beta4 software found on the internet free, it works with Windows 7 in compatibility mode use the win 98/ me mode. That makes programing super easy. The JX8P is still somewhat inexpensive and one of the last great analogs. Imo way underrated and only because people haven’t grabbed software to program it with.
PC-JX8P for Windows Version 3.3 Beta 4 – 10/21/2003
===== BETA NEWS === BETA NEWS === BETA NEWS =======
* 32 bit version with new design
* Added Alpha Juno synth (PG-300 emulator)
(In Menu MIDI – Setup: set Synthesizer to “Alpha Juno”)
* Work still in progress:
– MKS70 support
(In Menu MIDI – Setup: set Synthesizer to MKS-70)
Currently only the lower part editable,
patch parameters not available.
– Oscillator
loading and saving settings
– MIDI
Sysex receive function
====================================================
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
PC-JX8P for Windows is BETA VERSION.
It has been tested on several systems
without damage, but you should always
have a backup of your system!
====================================================
Marc’s JX-8P Resource Centre
http://www.synthzone.com/~mschreier/
08.02 PM
Anyone with a JX8P and an iPad should try the app – if you’re a mac user you can use wireless midi to control it = dreamy 🙂
01.05 PM
Great setup!
Got Focals myself and they really are beasts!!