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AP synths and samplers special '02 how did you get involved in electronic-based music? to us, electronic music is about the possiblities in the sound itself. the guitar/bass/drums setup has a comparitively narrower set of sonic possibilties- these instruments generally sound like what they've sounded like since the '70's. simply, we're attracted to the idea of new sounds- or at least just mixing them together. who were your biggest influences? our imaginations. but morton subotnick, brian eno, coil, gary numan, and film soundtracks helped fuel it. what is in your basic live set-up? 2 roland jp-8000's, nord lead2, roland juno 60, korg mono/poly, pearl acoustic drums mixed with V-drums, spd-11 brain w/ external simmons pads, a few macintoshes, a mackie 1402 mixer, moogerfooger pedals, lots of toys, and 2 audio-technica vocal mics customized to work inside 2 vintage telephones. all the true analog synths are left at home, because they are temperamental and don't have patch-memory capability. we have some very quick musical changes in our sets, and we don't have time to have keith emerson's tech chart the analogs out for us! what's your all-time favorite piece of gear? the human mind. but a midi-modified roland juno 60 works well, too. hardware synths vs. software models: which do you prefer, and why? hard synths can't be beat if you play "hands on." soft synths are great if you look at a box and program. we do both, and we'll use whatever ends up working out the best for us. the choice of gear is never more important than the choices the person who's using it makes. samplers: useful tool or pox on modern music? like everything, it depends on how they're used. we don't use samples, mostly because we're not into referencing other peoples music. it seems that quite often sampling is used as a shortcut to appear "great" because you sample "the greats". not necessarily so. what's the biggest technical nightmare- in the studio or on the road- you have endured? we have our own studio that we do everything in, so it's a constant challenge to stay focused on the music while tracking down signal noise and wrestling with adaptors. live, we had an incredibly humiliating san francisco show because of a bum monitor mix. or mix engineer, we're not sure. critical technical problems lie in the amount of time it takes to set everything up versus the time you're alotted to set everything up in. never the same. what advice would you gice somebody who wants to begin creating electronic music? what gear would you recommend as a first purchase? same as exploring any music: listen carefully, be open, and don't follow the leader. ultimately, it depends on the kind of music you're interested in doing. i'd say a synth with keys is a good place to start. if you can play notes and shape sounds, you're going to be able to do pretty much whatever you want. -JASON PETTIGREW AP MAG
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