Skip to main content
MusicRadar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
UK EditionUK US EditionUS AU EditionAustralia SG EditionSingapore
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Artist news
  • Recording Week 25
  • Music Gear Reviews
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Controllers
  • Drums
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Guitar Amps
  • Software & Apps
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About Us
More
  • "That spark... gone"
  • Leonard Skinner
  • Prince and The Beatles
  • 95k+ free music samples
Don't miss these
Nile Rodgers
Artists “As soon as we played that, I screamed”: Nile Rodgers breaks down how he and David Bowie made Let’s Dance
Echotown Studios Main Room
Studios Echotown Studio: A world class recording studio in the stunning Dorset countryside
modeselektor
Artists "The 808 is still one of the sexiest drum machines ever built": Modeselektor on classic Roland gear
Semtek aka DJ Persuasion
Artists 7 great house and techno tips from Don’t Be Afraid label boss Semtek (aka DJ Persuasion)
verses gt
Artists Jacques Greene and Nosaj Thing on the making of their new collaborative project, Verses GT
MARIBOU
Artists “Each of our albums had a synth that really excited us. The first was a Prophet ‘08, the second was the MS-20, and this time the Moog Matriarch is on every track”: Maribou State on Hallucinating Love
Adrian Sherwood
Artists Dub pioneer Adrian Sherwood on embracing AI and playing the studio like an instrument
Silva Bumpa
Tech Breakout producer Silva Bumpa on the secret to creating sub bass and UKG rhythms
jim-e stack
Tech “You can make the best album ever with just a laptop and plugins”: Jim-E Stack reveals his production secrets
kid harpoon
Producers & Engineers “There’s a reason that the Juno-106 is still the greatest”: Kid Harpoon on vintage synths and studio secrets
Monolake 1990s
Tech How rowdy live sets, field recordings and misused gear helped Monolake create dub techno classic Hongkong
alex g
Artists "No piece of gear was more important": Alex G on the rare vintage compressor that shaped the sound of Headlights
Adam F
Artists Adam F on making '90s DnB classic Colours – and why he’s re-recording it for 2025
rudimental
Tech "It's one of my favourite synths": Rudimental reveal their favourite plugins for drum 'n' bass production
Elektron Tonverk
Tech “Made for expansive sound design and immediate play”: Elektron Tonverk is real, and it's out now
  1. Tech
  2. Recording
  3. Studios

In pictures: Venetian Snares' modular-stuffed studio

News
By Future Music ( Future Music ) published 1 March 2016

Aaron Funk on the gear and technique behind his latest album

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Venetian Studio

Venetian Studio

Like many electronic artists of his era, Canadian Aaron Funk’s initial mastery of gear derived from the use of rudimentary equipment.

With a colossal 29 albums under his belt, the breakcore innovator forged a reputation for self-depreciation, with releases such as My So-Called Life and Winnipeg is a Frozen Shithole. Yet Funk’s tongue-in-cheek designations belie his aptitude for innovation. Paying scant regard to genre templates, his intricate music pulverises the listener with meticulous, complex programming and deep, generative structures.

Despite Funk’s notorious dislike of interviews, we discover an artist never more at home than when talking about his art…

Page 1 of 12
Page 1 of 12
The beauty of modular

The beauty of modular

“You can build a complex sound or movement in any way you choose, only limited to what you have in there and what you’re already using. You can really sculpt things, and that not only goes for your sounds, but sequences and structures as well, including song structures.”

Page 2 of 12
Page 2 of 12
On modular as fashion

On modular as fashion

“I really hope it’s not a fashion thing that people are starting to use modular stuff more. It’s not set in stone, you know? It’s an instrument you are putting together yourself and always evolving.

“When you buy a synthesizer or a drum machine, you are limited to the parameters of that equipment, but when you have a modular synth you can constantly add parameters and route anything in any order. So if more and more people are getting into modular stuff, I’d hope it’s because they’re excited by the possibilities. If it’s a fashion thing, that’s gonna kill it.”

Page 3 of 12
Page 3 of 12
Traditional Synthesizer Music

Traditional Synthesizer Music

“Yeah, it [Traditional Synthesizer Music] definitely stands out from previous records because I’m not multi-tracking at all; every tune is performed live and recorded to a stereo track. I started making that record by accident.

“I did some stuff under the name Last Step, which was just basically live jams using modular patches, 303s and drum machines. I’d been using an 808 and 909 and other old drum machines for years and kind of got tired of the sound of them. Then I had this idea to build a Eurorack drum synth, which at first I was going to keep separate from my other modular stuff, but I ended up integrating it all together and making entire tracks with the whole system by cross-patching everything.”

Page 4 of 12
Page 4 of 12
Technical expertise

Technical expertise

“I guess you do. For me it all makes sense and is easy, but sometimes when I try and explain it to other people it seems like they have no idea what I’m talking about.

“Maybe I’m really bad at explaining it; I get ahead of myself and don’t explain things from their vantage point – I’m a bad teacher [laughs].”

Page 5 of 12
Page 5 of 12
The brains behind the new album

The brains behind the new album

“With this record, I’m clocking and controlling a lot of sequencers with other sequencers, and the main brain of it is an Elektron Machinedrum that I’m sending to this old Analogue Solutions MT16 module, which is basically MIDI to 16 trigger outs. So each drum sound on the Machinedrum corresponds to a note on that module that’s sending out a trigger.”

Page 6 of 12
Page 6 of 12
Generatively speaking

Generatively speaking

“It’s not that you don’t know the direction it will go, rather that I know I can point it in maybe five directions it could ‘possibly’ go.

“The Machinedrum isn’t making any sounds itself; it’s just being used as a sequencer, then I can clock other sequencers with that and have sub-sequencers triggering a sound or an event that will be a set of clock pulses driving a sequencer that can trigger another sequencer. Those might be feeding a sample or an analogue shift register, which are then spitting the control voltage (CV) into something else.

“It gets quite involved, but it’s really interesting.”

Page 7 of 12
Page 7 of 12
Rythmical

Rythmical

“I created a lot of the beats with rhythmic trigger generator modules like Mutable Instruments’ Grids and Noise Engineering’s Zularic Repetitor. You feed these modules a master clock and they spit out three or four triggers based on a vast array of drum patterns and the algorithms stored within them.”

Page 8 of 12
Page 8 of 12
Multiple choice

Multiple choice

“Grids is based on kicks, snares and hi-hat beats. You can then change the pattern being played with CV, so if you feed in a random voltage source things get really interesting, especially when I start and stop their clocks.

“Say I am feeding three percussive patches with Grids and clocking Grids with the Machinedrum, if I only put nine triggers in the middle of my 20-step Machinedrum pattern, it will start and stop Grids’ clock. So every time that pattern rolls by, those three percussive patches will be triggered in a different way.

“It’s like building a jazz drummer, telling something to consistently make a choice to recite some version of what it knows, yet constantly throwing a wrench at that by interrupting it.”

Page 9 of 12
Page 9 of 12
It's an expensive game

It's an expensive game

“I guess I’m lucky to have friends who have companies that make that stuff. I beta test prototypes for a lot of companies and share my ideas with them, and sometimes those ideas turn into modules, which is really cool. It’s a great community of people actually – a community of adventurers looking to create things that have a function that was previously unseen.”

Page 10 of 12
Page 10 of 12
More Elektron gear

More Elektron gear

“I’ve been doing some stuff with Elektron gear, messing around with the Analog Rytm and the Analog Four a lot – they’re these awesome, deep machines with really cool sequencers in them.

“They asked me a while ago to make something for their Analog Rytm drum machine, so I made this sort of living piece of music inside of it, which is really cool. Every time you play this piece of music it sounds different; it’s not going to do the same thing.

“The other stuff I’m making right now is all modular as well, but quite different. It has no melodies, basslines or whatever the tropes of musicality are; none of that – it just sounds like violence.”

Page 11 of 12
Page 11 of 12
Friends in high places

Friends in high places

“Last year, I convinced Steven Clements of Noise Engineering to create me something that was kind of ridiculous. He made the Confundo Funkitis, which is basically a module that’s like a DJ crossfader with a side A and a side B. You can put four trigger inputs into each side, so it has eight trigger inputs, and then instead of a slope – like you’d have on a crossfader on a DJ mixer – you have different probabilities.

“It’s a neat way to combine triggers and have endless variations, especially if you’re feeding it triggers that also vary endlessly. You could even use it so the left side is being fed triggers doing a fairly straight rhythm but the right side is producing more varied and chaotic triggers – for example, kicking the crossfader over to the right when you want some drum fills.”

For the full interview check outFuture Music issue 302, which is on sale now.

Page 12 of 12
Page 12 of 12
Future Music
Future Music

Future Music is the number one magazine for today's producers. Packed with technique and technology we'll help you make great new music. All-access artist interviews, in-depth gear reviews, essential production tutorials and much more. Every marvellous monthly edition features reliable reviews of the latest and greatest hardware and software technology and techniques, unparalleled advice, in-depth interviews, sensational free samples and so much more to improve the experience and outcome of your music-making.

All-access artist interviews, in-depth gear reviews, essential production tutorials and much more. image
All-access artist interviews, in-depth gear reviews, essential production tutorials and much more.
Get the latest issue now!
More Info
Read more
modeselektor
"The 808 is still one of the sexiest drum machines ever built": Modeselektor on classic Roland gear
 
 
Semtek aka DJ Persuasion
7 great house and techno tips from Don’t Be Afraid label boss Semtek (aka DJ Persuasion)
 
 
verses gt
Jacques Greene and Nosaj Thing on the making of their new collaborative project, Verses GT
 
 
MARIBOU
“Each of our albums had a synth that really excited us. The first was a Prophet ‘08, the second was the MS-20, and this time the Moog Matriarch is on every track”: Maribou State on Hallucinating Love
 
 
Adrian Sherwood
Dub pioneer Adrian Sherwood on embracing AI and playing the studio like an instrument
 
 
Silva Bumpa
Breakout producer Silva Bumpa on the secret to creating sub bass and UKG rhythms
 
 
Latest in Studios
Echotown Studios Main Room
Echotown Studio: A world class recording studio in the stunning Dorset countryside
 
 
subterra
Music studio complex opens in former nuclear bunker in The Hague
 
 
Adrian Sherwood
Dub pioneer Adrian Sherwood on embracing AI and playing the studio like an instrument
 
 
Adam Audio H200
“A good all round headphone suited to recording, mixing and mastering”: Adam Audio H200 Headphones review
 
 
An Arturia KeyLab 88 MkII synthesizer on a blue background
I’ve looked through all 372 deals in the Thomann Easter Sale - these are the 5 deals I’d grab right now
 
 
Universal Audio Standard SD-1
“A versatile and durable dynamic microphone suitable for a range of applications”: Universal Audio SD-1 review
 
 
Latest in News
Deals of the week
MusicRadar deals of the week: Score $170 off a PRS SE Silver Sky, $200 off a Casio piano, and big savings on a host of studio gear
 
 
Photo of Neil PEART and RUSH and Alex LIFESON and Geddy LEE; L-R: Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart, Geddy Lee - posed, studio, group shot,
Think you know your... Rush?
 
 
Nicholas Petricca (WALK THE MOON) and Bryce Vine at Anti Social Camp NYC 2025
PinkPantheress, Billy Bragg, Jamie Cullum and more to spill hitmaking secrets at Anti Social Camp
 
 
Dave Ball Soft Cell
"He will always be loved by fans who loved his music": Dave Ball, founder of Soft Cell and The Grid, has died aged 66
 
 
Squier Hello Kitty Stratocaster in new limited-edition white, photographed against a pink background with the new guitar strap and – freshly refinished in black – Hello Kitty op-amp fuzz.
The Squier Hello Kitty Stratocaster returns in limited edition white as Fender announces expanded capsule collection
 
 
Loog Hello Kitty Fender Stratocaster
Fender x Loog’s Hello Kitty Stratocaster it might be the cutest beginner guitar of all time
 
 

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

Add as a preferred source on Google
  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...