Synth guru Enrique Martinez shared his video, offering his take on the best of Knobcon 2018.
We’ve known Martinez for a few years through his ‘day job’ at Novation – where he does a great job of representing gear like the Circuit.
But recently he’s also been putting out a fantastic series of videos on his own on Youtube, sharing his insights on all types of gear. He brings a unique perspective to his videos, and like The Daydream Sound and a few other musicians we feature regularly, he’s got next-level video chops that make his videos look extra tasty.
In his latest video, Martinez shares his thoughts on the Top 3 Things at Knobcon 2018. Making a ‘best of’ list from an event like this is always tricky, but he’s got some great picks and shares a personal take on why they impressed him so much.
Martinez also offers his perspective on the Behringer RD-808 drum machine – and his view is one of the most articulate and insightful takes we’ve heard. Yeah, the RD-808 is going to be a cool piece of gear – but Behringer has the money, the engineering talent and the buyers – so there’s no reason that they couldn’t take the analog drum machine to the next level, without needing to ride on Roland’s coattails.
Martinez focuses his video on the best gear at Knobcon – but even more important at the event is having the opportunity to meet or reconnect with so many people that love synths.
We had opportunities to meet or catch up with Martinez, Suit & Tie Guy, Ziv from loopop, master synthesist Michael Boddicker, Polyfusion co-founder Ron Folkman, Automatic Gainsay’s Marc Doty and dozens of other people doing fascinating stuff in the world of synthesis. And we got to have musicians like Matt Baxley melt our faces clean off. The biggest frustration of Knobcon is that there’s so much going on that you can’t take as much time as you might like to catch up with people.
Check out the video for Martinez’s take on the ‘best of Knobcon’. And, if you made it to Knobcon this year, leave a comment and share your take on the event!
Enrique’s lecture on the Novation Peak was excellent. I’ve had one for about 10 months, but I still picked up a few good pointers. It made me want to get back at making sounds on it, and dig a little deeper.
This was a great video. Good to see someone who loves gear and has the insight and ability to articulate what makes products exciting.
I love Enrique’s take on the Behringer 808 as well. They could have taken it a couple of steps further and packaged it brilliantly as their own unique device, instead of playing off the fame of the original Roland. Heck, it seems to have worked quite well with their Neutron synth — it’s an original, and people seem to love it.
To summarize, here is what this guy likes:
1) Delphtronics LBD-1 SE https://delptronics.com/ldb1se.php (Kit, build it yourself, no individual outputs)
2) Toraiz SP-16 sampler https://www.pioneerdj.com/en-us/product/production/toraiz-sp-16/black/overview/
3) Handsome Audio Zulu passive tape simulator http://www.handsomeaudio.com/
The top 3 are the first half of the video. He talks about other stuff he likes in the remaining 8 minutes.
great video you explain things well. was glad to meet you! pity you never had time to play on the polyfusion like us no play all work.
He is so right about the 808 clone. OK to clone and build upon, but why copy the visual identity and give no credit?
Could not agree more regarding Behringer’s 808 clone. Why be redundant and unoriginal? We’re all standing on the shoulders of someone else – in life itself in many ways – but nowhere more demonstrably than the music world where each component plugs into another just like each musician does with each other and their listeners. Its OK to be inspired but then go beyond. That’s how you pay proper tribute AND further the cause.