Shit Robot

Shit Robot – My Studio

My studio is a “room within a room” in the attic of our home outside Stuttgart, Germany. I trained as a Cabinet Maker in Dublin as a young lad, so I was able to build most of it myself. I’m always tinkering with the configuration depending on what my favourite piece of gear is for that moment in time, but this is the current set up.

DFA Prototype Monitors

My main monitors are the original DFA prototypes. Designed by James (Murphy) and built by myself. They are one of a kind as far as I know because the woofers were discontinued shortly after I built these and the new ones have a different design. They sound pretty great to me and you can’t beat the price. The little guys are the Radio Shack Realistic Minimus-7. They are the older metal ones, great for referencing or for just giving your ears a break.

Roland TR-808 & SH-101

These two should need no introduction. The 101 was my very first synth and is still my favourite. Everything I make starts here with these two. Usually, the 808 is triggering the sequencer on the 101 (or the Metropolis). A perfect example of this would be “In Love”, the opening track from my last album.

Roland JX-3P

The JX-3P is a criminally underrated synthesiser (especially by me). I’m ashamed to say I’ve had this thing for years and I only used it occasionally. I was always put off by the fact that you can’t tweak the programmer while simultaneously using midi. However, I recently started playing with it again and it is an absolute beast. The internal sequencer is amazing. I’m obsessed with it right now.

Roland Juno-106, Korg MS-20 & Roland CR-8000

I wrote almost all of my first album on the Juno. I just recently put four new voice chips into it, cleaned and fixed all the buttons and it’s running like new. It’s great to have it back again, the pads are just heaven to me.
The MS-20 is another old favourite of mine. I’ve used it for so many different things over the years, bass lines or running external stuff through the filters. I used it for all the wobbly sounds on ‘Grim Receiver’ and ‘I Found Love’. Right now I’m having loads of fun with it hooked up to the Korg SQ-1 sequencer.

The CR-8000 is modded by Analogue Solutions but is in dire need of some TLC.

Korg MaxiKorg 800DV

This Korg MaxiKorg 800DV is not actually mine, but luckily for me, it belongs to a friend who doesn’t make music. I forget how he came to own it but he said I could have it for as long as I want. It pays to have nice friends, I love this thing, it’s a monster. It is basically two MiniKorgs in one. You can’t trigger it by CV, it has no midi or memory and it’s a bit tricky to work out, but it sounds incredible. The bass sounds are amazing and I also use it a lot for spacey, weird sound effects, which you can hear on my recent Disco Dub remix for Forriner on Me Me Me records.

Moog Subsequent 37

The Moog Subsequent 37 is my most recent and probably most extravagant purchase. I’ve been trying to avoid going down the modular hole for a while now, so I just figured I’d treat myself to one of these instead. I’m very happy with it. I just used it for the bass line in a remix I did for Warmduscher, which is coming out on Leaf Records in October.

Rever

The Rever is a bit of a secret weapon. I bought it on Ebay for 14 euros based on a tip from Tim Goldsworthy (it has germanium transistors in it). It seems to be a homemade external aux send from some old console to a reverb chamber or tank. I don’t use it as intended; I just run stuff through it. It’s noisy as hell but it has the best distortion I’ve ever heard. It’s on pretty much everything I’ve done. You can really hear it on the ‘Soul On Ice’ track myself and Juan Maclean made as Autofac.

Intellijel Metropolis & Electrix Mo-Fx

The Intellijel Metropolis sequencer is ridiculous. It’s super easy and fun to create sequences with it. I built the case myself and I really want an Intellijel Atlantis to go next to it, but for now I have it pretty much permanently connected to the 101.

The Mo-Fx is a great stereo effects unit that was a gift from Juan Maclean. This is permanently patched to my aux send and I use it on everything.

The picture in the background is a really nice postcard I got from Pat and DJ from Museum Of Love. It’s a postcard that’s an actual working record and will play a MOL track when you put it on a turntable. I like that they are keeping an eye on me.

Universal Audio Apollo, Dbx 163, Dynacord VRS 23 & SRS 56

I don’t have much in the way of external compressors as I like to get my tracks mixed elsewhere and if I do mix here I like to use the Universal Audio plug-ins.

The 808 always goes through the Dbx 163, it really brings it to life and the RNLA does what it says on the tin.

I have a bunch of Dynacord delays and effects. You can pick up the tape delay and the VRS 23 on eBay for pretty cheap and they are great fun.

Record box

I love old record boxes. They are an artefact of a special time. I think if somebody made a photo collection it would make a great book or exhibition.

Tech room

This is where I fix my gear and keep all my memorabilia or basically all the stuff my wife won’t let me have in our place.