“Before owning a Space Echo, I used to think a delay was just a delay. Shit, I was wrong.” Italian pianist and producer Rodion shows us around his studio.
Rodion – My Studio
In the studio. I’d compare the Minimoog to a muscled macho man and the ARP Odyssey to a gorgeous sophisticated lady. It sounds instant 70s – raw, inspiring – and it always fits smoothly in any mix, being it techno, indie or even jazz, without the need of much further processing. Its ring modulator and sample and hold circuit really open up wide cosmic sonic possibilities. The name Odyssey definitely doesn’t come by chance.
Elka Synthex 2
The one and only. A miracle of 80s micro computing technology. Italy is not famous for its synthesisers, but the Elka Synthex definitely deserves a place on the Mount Olympus of synth gods, cheek to cheek with the Memorymoog and Jupiter-8.
Roland Space Echo RE-201
Before owning one, I used to think, “Come on, a delay is just a delay, an echo is just a stupid echo.” Shit, I was wrong. This thing just adds magic to your sound, being it a bassline, a vocal lead or a synth hook. And I love the fact the technology involved here is so simple, primitive and still amazingly effective.
Moogerfoogers
There are two categories of effects processors. There are the static ones, often lying untouched in your rack: you choose a preset, you run your signal into it, end of the story. Boring. Then there are dynamic processors, like the Moogerfoogers, which beg you to tweak the hell out of their smooth knobs and their modular connections on the back. Those are a joy to play with. It’s like playing good music instruments, they’re inspiring and often lead you to weird and unexpected results. Also, being quality Moog stuff, they just sound good.
Roland MC-202
The perfect example of a kickass bassline synth: simple, round, tight, sexy, thick sounding. I used it for countless Rodion and Alien Alien baselines. Hook it up to an analogue sequencer or use its crazy internal acid Japanese sequencer. No matter what you do, this deceivingly small plastic toy always delivers. Bass heaven always lies just a few slider tweaks away.
Piano Music
Prokoviev – ‘Visions Fugitives’. I’m an electronic music producer, but playing classical piano music has always been my safe space, a way to take a refreshing break from four-on-the-floor stuff. And also a very effective way to gather ideas, stretch my brain and learn things that I could never have been learning otherwise.
Rodion & Local Sucide’s ‘Abu Dhabi’/’True Love Floats’ is out now on My Favorite Robot Records. Find him on Facebook and SoundCloud.