Tzusing

Is there one piece of equipment that sits at the centre of your operation?

MacBook Pro Retina running Ableton Live. Hardware would be TL Audio Ivory 5013, Culture Rooster/Vulture, and Korg MS20. Other key VSTs are Soundtoys’ plugins and Native Instruments’ Kontakt.

** It was my junior year in high school 1998-1999 when I first got a Roland MC-505. **I bought it while on vacation in the US, but it failed to do what I wanted it to do. I wanted to make Mowax, Portishead type music. I had no idea what tools I actually needed to make this music. 2000 is when I got a cracked copy of Sonic Foundry’s Acid. Although it’s rudimentary, it was helpful in achieving this sound I wanted. Acid does almost nothing compared to today's DAWs but just the simple fact that it could sample music and I could use WAV files means that I was able to achieve the more organic sounds you hear in trip-hop, just by sampling the actual records themselves.

In 2011 I bought the Korg MS20, Metasonix S1000, and a Doepfer Dark Time. And yes, I still use them. I’m really happy with these purchases.

Is there one piece of equipment that sits at the centre of your operation?

MacBook Pro Retina running Ableton Live. Hardware would be TL Audio Ivory 5013, Culture Rooster/Vulture, and Korg MS20. Other key VSTs are Soundtoys’ plugins and Native Instruments’ Kontakt.

What were the key pieces of gear for the album? Do you like machines with versatility?

Ableton Wave Alchemy drum samples Korg MS 20 Overstayer Saturator SoundToys plugins U-He Diva Culture Vulture Culture Rooster Metasonix s1000 TL Audio Ivory 5013 Sherman Filter Bank Roland SH101 Shure SM58

You seem to love processing, whether that be samples, beats, basslines. What are your favourite techniques for sound mangling?

I’m really into saturation. I have both the Thermionic Culture Vulture and Rooster, an Overstayer Saturator, Niio Analog Iotine Core, Sherman Filter and a TLAudio 5013. Saturation adds a layer of warmth to the sounds and sonic characteristics that I’m really into. It was something I found lacking with an all in-the-box environment.

Tzusing utilizes the Overstayer Saturator NT-02A, as highlighted in the Native Instruments Blog article titled "Tzusing: ‘World Techno’ from a Truly International DJ and Producer."

As seen on top of MS-20: https://www.xlr8r.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_1400/MTU1MzE4NjE4MDUzMTU4MjY4/sml_180301_0089.webp

What were the key pieces of gear for the album? Do you like machines with versatility?

None of my hardware pieces have much versatility except for Ableton Push. I like simple, do-one-thing pieces of hardware.*

And you use the KOMPLETE KONTROL hardware with KONTAKT, right?

I have the **Komplete Kontrol S25 keyboard **for its browser capabilities. It enables me to quickly scroll through NKS enabled presets and the colored lights on the keyboard let me know what and where the samples are loaded. The ability to quickly preview and scroll through all the sounds you have in your computer regardless of developer or format – it’s one of the most significant developments in digital music. I hope this standard gets picked up by everyone because it can really speed up your workflow.