Parametric Design _ Interview With Opuswerk

You were telling me that you had a bit of a problem with your computer very recently. What happened? Did it cause much trouble? I think the thought of some kind of computer problem makes most peoples hears skip a beat.. Is it sorted now?

It seems a RAM slot of my macbook died because of the heat. So all of a sudden, my computer was frozen and beeping. I did kind of stress out, especially as it’s my work tool, and that I was reading everywhere new macbooks were coming so it was the worse time to buy one now. But it did build up a little bit of pride of my hardware setup, as I could still make music even without the computer . Also helped me realize how much space and time that computer was taking in my life. I got it kind of sorted now, but the diagnostic of the apple store was wrong so I have to get there again (after having bought 2 new RAM chips…)

It’s a bad luck computer now. You’ll have to get a new one haha. Have you bought any new bits of kit recently? I think I saw you getting excited about a new delay on Facebook? You got an Octatrack too, didn’t you?

The studio has indeed been building up, mainly with the addition of an Elektron Analog4 and very recently an Ensoniq DP/2. I had been looking for a DP4+, but found that instead. I’m running out of Auxes on my desk anyways, so I’ll need to upgrade that before getting any new piece of gear :P.

I was thinking back to something you said about people feeling like they need the latest plugin or sample pack etc.. Could the same be said about hardware? Has any of the new stuff featured on your recent releases?

All of my gear is all over my recent stuff. The HISS 1292 project is basically 2 guys playing around with synths and FX. There is one difference with hardware though, in the sense that you get somehow limited and that gives you a peculiar “sound” related to the elements of your setup. So sometimes you need / want another bit to get rid of that sound or to give it a different flavor. But the fact you can tweak all those machines live give them a different appeal to software and in my opinion a longer lifespan. Plus you never need to bother with upgrades, and the likes. They work straight of the box.

Yeah, well.. You sound like you were trying out some new stuff on that Hiss : 1292. Love the stripped back one, B2..

The goal of me getting into hardware was so that I could play my tracks rather than program them. So if you feel the man behind the machines on those tracks, I feel like we somehow succeeded.

HISS:1292 was born very organically. François X was in town, and we hook up to play with knobs and faders. At first with no goal but to have fun (in a very platonic way of course). One thing led to another and we had some really cool tracks. It was great working with him, he gave me some discipline and taught me loads about techno. He’s like a living encylopedia of techno really. As he wasn’t so used to using hardware, I had to force him to jam rather than automate, but I think he now can work the uWave XT pretty well. He does the best filter sweeps  But most of all he really knows what works in a track or not. I can’t wait until we get to sit together again and finish some of our drafts.

Any other releases coming up?

I was very lucky last year to have releases on 3 great labels. The first one was the Plak024 which you worte about last time we spoke, then one on Knotweed records, which works a threat in the clubs and a track that came out on Brendon Moeller’s own Steadfast records.

Currently, I’m still working on a record I’m doing for Krill Music. It’s only missing one track now. But I still have to find the proper time to do it. Hopefully there will be more HISS 1292 stuff being made too. And some other secret project I will certainly tell you about when it’s mature.