“This thing will consume any spare time you thought you had. And any spare cash you thought you had as well.”

It’s hard to mention modular synthesis without drawing confused looks. Curious folk are intrigued by the architecture of knobs, wires and flickering LEDs – but learning to master them is a whole different question. But that challenge hasn’t stopped Elbee. The Sydney producer talked us through the method behind his madness before playing a live set on Future Face.

Recently graduating from a course in Sound and Music Design at the University of Technology Sydney, Elbee has been seeking inspiration beyond the bounds of a computer. Dabbling in the world of live synthesis, his quest led him to the very hands-on, knob-laden Eurorack synth.

“The system I’ve got here today is a development I’ve been working on for the last couple of years,” he explains. “For anyone who has no idea: a Eurorack takes a lot of planning. This thing will consume any spare time you thought you had. And any spare cash you thought you had as well.”

“I’ve picked and chosen a whole lot of different bits and pieces that suit exactly what I want to get out of the synth. I’ve pretty much set up a custom performance environment for me to express ideas and experiment.”

Elbee crafts an array of immersive, minimalist sounds using a drum machine, gritty electronic components, and his beast of a synth.

Listen above and get a glimpse of his full setup below. Keep an ear to the ground for Elbee’s future wizardry.

Elbee live in the studio on Future Face with his Eurorack Modular synth setup and Elektron Analog & Octatrack – Madness! #synth #modular #Sydney #producerlife #radio #studio #Eurorack #Elektron #future

A video posted by fbiradio (@fbiradio) on Sep 8, 2016 at 7:00am PDT