Producer and founder of the UNCAGE imprint, Marco Faraone shows us around his studio.
Marco Faraone – My Studio
As you can see, this is my home studio which features many keyboards and synths. The actual studio sounds very good so it doesn’t need a lot of treatment to improve the quality and I know the sound of my monitors perfectly. The Yamaha HS80s are what I’ve been producing my music with for many years so I am extremely familiar with them.
Moog Voyager
This Moog is on the higher end of the market, due to its exceptional qualities, and could also be the most expensive Moog out there. This synth takes characteristics from the Model D Moog that was first produced in the 70s and adds incredible modern features to create the ultimate Minimoog. Some of my favourite new features are the three-dimensional touch pad and the extensive patching facilities. It’s also finished off perfectly, in a beautiful wooden case, giving it its signature, classic look. Unique!
Polyphonic Synths
The Roland Juno-106 is very common and a regularly used synth for me and a huge amount of producers in electronic dance music. This is probably because of its simplicity – as in, it’s very straightforward to use but also has the best and most powerful sound quality. It also has a large patch memory storage which is very useful for me. As an analogue synth, you still get that warm analogue sound but it also has the great MIDI features too.
Roland SH-101
A legend! This synth is perfect for me. If you specialise in techno and house then you will love this synth. It holds many cool features but is still very simple and easy to use. Some of my favourite features include the white noise generator and a great real-time sequencer. For me, this is one of the best synths if you are looking to get a good bass sound or some bouncy effects.
Cyclone TT-303
Although there are many substitutes, the new TT-303 Bass Bot from Cyclone Analogic is great, If not better than the Roland one. Cosmetically, there are very few differences from the original. You will notice that all of the knobs and buttons are in the same place, as are the connections on the back panel. There are a few new modes on the selector switch beyond the original track and pattern play/write modes. These include an arpeggiator, MIDI and Preset, which is a powerful pattern generator. There are a few more functions underneath the black keys than before. And finally, the LEDs are under the panel and can be 13 different colours, which not only looks cool but can be very useful onstage. Definitely one of the main parts of my tracks.
Doepfer Dark Time and Dark Energy
The Dark Time is my main analogue sequencer. It helps me to play all the machines and synths, to give notes and clock tempo. The Dark Energy is a crazy semi-modular synth that can create very dirty and crazy sounds – it’s amazing to jam with.
Akai Rhythm Wolf and Roland TR-8
I always get the original sound out of all the drums I use, but I process them into effects, so you never know where they come from!
Mixers
I use two mixers, one to connect all the stuff, one only for pre-listening to everything in different ways.
Friends
Just me, the music flow and these guys, my friends.
Find Marco on Facebook, Twitter and SoundCloud.