Jonas Blue

"The EXS24 is my go to for drums but from time to time I'll bring out the EMU SP1200 to sample bass notes. I did actually use my Korg Minipops 7 on the breakdown of one of my tracks because it has pre-programmed patterns. I also love my Akai MPC3000, because it was my first ever drum machine."

"The ARP Odyssey is my punk synth, with the ring mod some of the sounds you can get out of it are crazy, but then Herbie Hancock created some sweet bass sounds on it. I've actually got the limited edition 'Whiteface' version; it's got the Moog infringement filter in it, which sounds great."

Are they more like vintage toys or do you frequently use them in the studio?

"I do use them on my tracks. If something needs to be done quickly I'll turn to plugins, but I also take the time to use outboard gear, especially the Yamaha CS80, which I use a lot for pads, or the Minimoog for bass.

"Everything does have its purpose and I know what to go to. The way I've got my studio rigged up, a lot of the synths have MIDI retrofit, so you can stick them on a MIDI track and send them out to whatever board you want to use."

What was your entry point into hardware?

"My first bit of gear was a Roland JV-1010 sound module. I used to hammer the hell out of that. Then, when I was about 12 or 13 I got a Korg MS2000 and started to learn a bit about synthesis. I loved the sounds and the vocoder in it. It's actually quite a complex synth, it's not straightforward like a Juno-106, and I used to get the most amazing sounds out of it.

What was your entry point into hardware?

"My first bit of gear was a Roland JV-1010 sound module. I used to hammer the hell out of that. Then, when I was about 12 or 13 I got a Korg MS2000 and started to learn a bit about synthesis. I loved the sounds and the vocoder in it. It's actually quite a complex synth, it's not straightforward like a Juno-106, and I used to get the most amazing sounds out of it.

Are they more like vintage toys or do you frequently use them in the studio?

"I do use them on my tracks. If something needs to be done quickly I'll turn to plugins, but I also take the time to use outboard gear, especially the Yamaha CS80, which I use a lot for pads, or the Minimoog for bass."

"The ARP Odyssey is my punk synth, with the ring mod some of the sounds you can get out of it are crazy, but then Herbie Hancock created some sweet bass sounds on it. I've actually got the limited edition 'Whiteface' version; it's got the Moog infringement filter in it, which sounds great."

Is Modular an area you'd like to explore?

"I'm not getting into that. The closest thing I've got to modular, or semi-modular, is the Korg MS20 and the ARP 2600 - but that's how it's going to stay. Modular doesn't serve a big purpose for the music I'm making because it's not really blippy kind of stuff, but it's nice to have those machines and get some weird sequences out of them."

Is Modular an area you'd like to explore?

"I'm not getting into that. The closest thing I've got to modular, or semi-modular, is the Korg MS20 and the ARP 2600 - but that's how it's going to stay. Modular doesn't serve a big purpose for the music I'm making because it's not really blippy kind of stuff, but it's nice to have those machines and get some weird sequences out of them."