This year has brought screen fatigue and club withdrawal alike, so here’s our friend Florian Meindl to cure both of them at once. Get ready for hands-on hardware – even on a tight budget.
Small, but wild.
Florian has been doing a terrific series on techno tricks for his Riemann Kollektion imprint of samples and tutorials. And this really gets at the heart of techno as open to everybody: it’s about being able to dig into yourself and express how you feel without barriers, to let out whatever weirdness you have. So maybe you don’t need esoteric secrets or expensive gear that’s out of reach.
Florian’s rig here is compact but has some massive sound:)
There’s KORG’s devilishly simple micro sequencer, the SQ-1.
Independent Berlin-based legends Jomox have their T-Resonator II box for processing.
And there’s our very own MeeBlip geode in a starring role. (I’ve heard it on big club systems – it works!) [CDM co-produces the MeeBlip with the instrument’s Chief Engineer, James Grahame.]
Florian told me he likes the geode for techno in the vein of Jeff Mills’ frenetic, exposed synth lines – for when you want to be “extremely raw and energetic and wild.” Here’s a quick summary of Florian’s tips:
- Try variations with different waveshapes and mixing
- Use noise for percussion (useful for background percussion, build-ups, and break)
- Detune the two oscillators – and he uses some extreme, dissonant detuning for extra, uh evil
- Get nasty filter snarl and even acid-style sounds pushing the resonance (that’s our unique twin-T analog filter on MeeBlip anode, triode, and geode)
- Bring noise in and out on either oscillator with filter cutoff or by changing the waveform position
- Modulate over time with LFO – routed to filter or pitch (he’s used the oscillator pitch warping up and down as a live performance trick)
Since all of these are a flick of the wrist away, they work well for live performance – which was our whole idea in designing geode.
Speaking of live techno, let’s talk about Florian’s live sets. Here he is with a geode prominently joining some other gear (including a modular) – plus some great tracks he’s DJing with.
MeeBlip geode is now available to ship directly from Berlin for the first time – meaning European customers can now get our hardware faster and without worrying about owing additional tax or import duty when it arrives. Just head to meeblip.eu for Europe, and the usual meeblip.com for North America and worldwide shipping.
Right now we’re offering free shipping inside the EU to celebrate:
MeeBlip geode synthesizer [meeblip.eu]
And we have free shipping for geode to the USA and Canada, too:
MeeBlip geode synthesizer [meeblip.com]
Check our samples and tons more tips and tutorials from Riemann Kollektion – tons of bundles on sale at the moment:
https://riemannkollektion.com/
And watch the tutorials section for lots of sound design ideas. I’m not joking – I’m breaking out my geode again after watching this, and I’ve come up with loads of patching ideas in Reaktor and VCV Rack watching his hardware modular sets.
Riemann Kollektion YouTube channel
See also Florian’s brilliant label, too – in case you need some Berlin club experience at home:
https://flashrec.bandcamp.com/
I’m relieved to have both MeeBlip stores shipping, especially with all the challenges of this year. And I’d love to hear what you’re making with this or any other instruments – so hope Florian’s tips give you some added inspiration. Let me know if you have any questions or ideas and – stay safe and blip on.