Das Reihenhaus

This Atari MegaSTE has 4MB RAM, a built-in SCSI hard drive with a capacity of 120MB and additionally a SyQuest 80MB removable hard drive. Atari computers still have unbeatable good MIDI clock jitter, the MIDI ports are connected directly to the CIA chip, making them ideal for tightly controlling large synthesiser arrays. AldiPower uses the original Steinberg Cubase 3.1 on this Atari to sequence his songs. Cubase was invented and developed in Hamburg. The Atari is located in the middle of the studio, and the recording or playback of a sequence is started with ‘0’ or ‘Enter’ on the number pad of the Atari keyboard, which creates a distinctive sound on it's own.

The sound of the C64 SID chip shaped an entire generation and is very noticeable thanks to its rich analogue overtones. Some sounds need a high cut from 18 kHz up, as they still contain a lot of information above this frequency, which can later lead to artefacts in digital signal processing. This C64 II uses an 8580R5 SID, which has different filters and a different manufacturing process than its predecessor, the 6581 SID, and therefore sounds a bit cleaner, but perhaps also colder. This C64 can be controlled via MIDI using the Mssiah cartridge.

Ensoniq was founded by Robert Yannes, who also developed the C64 SID chip. This means that this guy had a major influence on this album. The SD-1 is a rompler with 3.5 MB of sample ROM. The special feature of the SD-1 is waveform shaping, which can bend the samples in all possible directions. In combination with the excellent built-in effects such as reverb, delay, chorus, etc., the SD-1 can be used to create extremely atmospheric sounds with character. The Ensoniq SD-1 is a unique instrument and has no to my knowledge replicants. The keys themselves do not touch any contacts during play. They work by induction. Dirt on the keybed and other things do not impair their function.

With the CZ series, Casio offered a digital synthesizer in 1986 that was actually quite affordable. Its DCOs produce some very usable sounds. I really like the synth basses, and the percussive sounds and ‘human voice’ running through a characteristic reverb make this sound almost epic. The sound synthesis works through digital phase distortion and was intended to be Casio's answer to Yamaha's FM synthesis with the DX7, but obviously and fortunately, something rather different was created.

The Alpha Juno 2 offers snappy synthesiser sounds that everyone has probably heard in a song at some point without realising it. The sound is generated using digitally controlled oscillators, which are then fed into an analogue filter that gives the Alpha Juno 2 its warmth and powerful low end. Another iconic feature is the Juno's built-in stereo chorus effect. This chorus is even sold separately in a new edition today. The Juno 2 experienced its first renaissance in jungle and rave music in the early nineties. But that's not what I use this versatile instrument for.

With 4 MB of sample ROM, the Roland JV-880 rack unit offers a wide range of sounds to choose from. I appreciate the deep bottom end of this unit and the interesting sound effects that add colour to my songs. Its multitimbral capability, which allows 16 sounds to be played simultaneously on 16 MIDI channels, was very professional at the time this unit was released. I had to re-solder solder joints in the power supply to be able to turn this instrument on.

Em-mu did a great job compiling the samples for this rack unit and had to be very careful in doing so, as this unit only has 2 MB of ROM. These sounds integrate very well into my songs without any hassle. I really like the digital timbre of this device. Patch 125, called ‘Whistl'n Joe’, is the famous sound from the theme song of ‘The X-Files’. The seller of this particular device I have here told me that it was probably used in the music of ‘BR Alpha Space Night’.

The Intellifex was actually designed as a guitar effects processor, but it is so high-quality that it can easily be used as a studio effects rack unit. That's what I do. You can choose from 64 factory presets and easily customise them to suit your needs. But to be honest, I like the factory presets. Using them allows me to retrieve sounds at a constant colour. And the sound is great, deep, but at the same time rough. It has edges, but it's not sharp. It adds character and isn´t boring. The Intellifex is definitely a secret weapon. And its dynamic range is also great for its time. I use it in all my songs.

The x0xb0x is a complete reproduction of the original Roland TB-303 analogue synthesiser from the 1980s. An original TB-303 was taken apart and reverse engineered to reproduce the authentic sound through a rebuild. Roland thought the 303 could replace bassists in a band. But honestly, this thing doesn't sound like a bass guitar. Everyone just laughed. The x0xb0x is also MIDI-controllable, so I tried it out and played sequences with Cubase while adjusting the filter control. It sounded great. This particular device was hand-soldered by Henning, who kindly lent it to me. The 303 is famous in acid music, but also in many other genres.

This 8-voice, fully analogue mono synthesiser needs to warm up for 30 minutes to ensure tuning stability. Fortunately, it has a button for automatic retuning of the oscillators. Behringer has boldly cloned Sequential's Prophet here, and they've done a good job. The PRO-800 offers me a wealth of genuine analogue synthesiser sounds that I use in many songs. Together with the Intellifex, the sounds even become stereo. I also loaded the patch bank ‘The Voices Of The Prophets’ onto the device, which I can highly recommend. As an example for it's capabilties, this synthesizer forms both the bass and chord foundation of the song ‘Steuerungeheuer’ on this album.

The OPL Studio is a MIDI-controllable box from Cheerful Electronic that contains two Yamaha YM262 chips, also known as OPL3 (which also contains OPL2). The OPL3 was famous for its FM synthesis in SoundBlaster 16 cards and shaped computer game music in the early nineties. Since I also have SoundBlaster cards with this chip, but they have a very poor signal-to-noise ratio, and also need a special computer for it, I am very happy with this box, which does not have as much noise in the signal and is stand-alone. You can also use it as a General MIDI device for computer games, but I like to make music with it. Cheers to Cheerful.

First built in 1990, but still produced today, this drum machine is probably the longest-produced piece of electronic music hardware ever. I love the 16bit 80s-style drum samples and groove patterns that the SR-16 offers. They inspire me, and I refine them in the Cubase sequencer to get the groove just right for my needs. With a little trick, you can get 4 individual channels out of this device to mix them independently. Of course, this drum machine is fully MIDI-compatible.

This 12-bit/22 kHz (!) drum sampler comes with sample ROM clones of the original Linn Drum models LM1 and LM2, which have that famous and distinctive 80s sound found in many songs from that era. I also load my own samples onto it, which means I can programme drums with 808 sounds and much more. This device is very important to me and has become the rhythmic centrepiece of my studio. The fact that each channel has its own hardware fader and direct output, 16 in total, makes working with it very professional.

Professional digital hard disk recorders in the early ninties were very expensive. The Roland DM-80 was not supposed to be that expensive, but it was nonetheless. Mine features 4 independent tracks and you can mix and eq those tracks "in _this_ box". It has 16bit/44khz AD/DA convertes built in, with a distinctive sound that comes from the old filters. Internally it works with 20bit of digital dynamic range. The Roland DM-80 can be synced with a MTC (Midi Time Code) and so it happens that I do control this device via Cubase from my Atari and multitrack or layer a single instrument with it, dawlessly. It offers a varity of interfaces and connections at the back, SCSI for HDD extensions or backups, TRS ins and outs for each track and the master, AES, SPDIF, SMPTE, video sync, MIDI, etc..