Q & A with Robert - September 2018
Sept 28, 2018 20:40:31 GMT
NightMachines and thetechnobear like this
Post by admin on Sept 28, 2018 20:40:31 GMT
This is the second Q&A with Robert in which Robert answers questions from users of the forum and from emails and Facebook messages that were sent to him. If you have any questions to Robert, please post them in this thread and we will include them in next month's instalment.
fugubot asks: The AE modular system was successfully crowdfunded. Can you share how it felt to find support for your project? What did you learn from the process? What was it like interacting with the supporters and what do you think you've learned about building the community?
The crowdfunding project of AE modular via Kickstarter was totally amazing! The first parts of AE modular (it didn’t have a name yet in these days) were a personal fun project, without any aim to make something commercial out of it. The idea to launch a Kickstarter project came after I had shown the first prototypes to some guys from the electronic music scene, especially the Ableton user group in Munich. Even at the day of launching the campaign in the middle of November 2016 my attitude was “ok, let’s see what happens”, without big expectations to see it becoming successful. But after one single day where it was funded already by 25% things changed … It was totally exciting and overwhelming to see that so many people were waiting for modular systems in a lower price range, and to be suddenly in a global context with it. I received also a lot of ideas and I really enjoyed the direct interaction with all the backers, just the feeling “out there all over the world there are people who share my passion” - a total wow! This is something I want to keep up as much as possible, and with the great support especially from Carsten and Felix who established the forum as a great platform for the community this looks to be realistic.
locksley asks: I was wondering about the module creative process, how it forms and what average length of each step? How complicated are the modules getting, are the board processing getting more and more complicated leading to bigger modules and so or is it still just a one or few ICs and very small component count?
The creative process is always started by a longer time thinking about an idea in my head, accompanied by some research, looking at other approaches, reading datasheets when necessary, all quite unstructured - and usually many of them in parallel, sometimes too many... Then comes the moment (maybe after a longer pause with the specific module) of drawing a schematic and setting up a prototype on breadboard, if optimization is done here, the steps of routing a PCB, designing the front panel, testing the PCB (and usually fixing stuff) goes rather fast; especially PCB routing is something I love to do - almost obsessive!
About module complexity I want to say, that in the beginning of AE modular I was trying to simplify the circuits as much as possible, sometimes at the cost of “perfect” knob control ranges / behaviour, things like this. For the future I will try to find a good compromise to keep things still as simple as possible, but as I see AE modular growing into a real, “serious” modular synth, at certain points things will be designed less “rough”. If higher complexity makes sense or is necessary for certain modules, I will not avoid it - there is no dogma!
When it goes from testing to finished product - the assembly and soldering, is it done with SMDs mostly or do you have to do most of it yourself with just a circuit board and a few components to solder?
The boards are almost entirely based on SMD, this is the only way to make the small form factor of the modules possible. Taking potentiometers and sockets into account, there are only a few square-centimetres remaining for the components. And the soldering is done in a factory; except the prototypes and sometimes a first small batch of 10 pieces that I solder by myself.
What is your team? You mentioned you got someone helping getting the modules done, and someone else for marketing and sales?
In the Kickstarter production phase, I had two friends helping me a lot with the assembly work. Afterwards I returned to a one-man business which worked fine until July 2018 when the orders increased massively. So now I have to distribute the work again now. A big boost have been the excellent demo videos by Felix from tuesdaynightmachines. I knew all the time I should do videos like this, but, to be honest, I’m absolutely not good at this kind of public relations and marketing stuff. Fortunately a few months ago the heaven sent me Carsten who gives great support in setting up and running the forum, optimizing the website, structuring the release process, and a lot of other highly valuable support - big thanks to him!
NightMachines asks: Do you play other instruments? Did you get musical training of any sort as a child or adult?
Already as a child I liked to make all kinds of sounds, e.g. with kitchen equipment (annoying my mother, of course!). When I was a teenager, my father started to build an electronic organ (at this times there were DIY kits available) because he wanted to start making music besides his work as engineer. We built it together, and I learnt the basics of keyboard playing at this time, but only self-educated. Later, after the first phase of electronic music, I learnt to play Didgeridoo and Shakuhachi (the latter with a very serious, japanese style education).
Today, I always love to improvise a little bit if I get my hands on a piano and enjoy this very much.
NightMachines asks: Apart from the Organ you mentioned earlier, when you were 15 years old, do you have another favorite synth from that time or thereafter? Anything that impressed or inspired you specifically?
My first synth was a DX-9 (the DX-7 was too expensive) and it impressed me especially because it was digital! To be able to create and sculpt sounds like the famous “tubular bells” was super exciting! Understanding the FM synthesis and creating my own sounds was easy and fun for me.
How did you learn to "do" all the things required for the production of finished retail electronics, like the AEM? After development and prototyping, there must be a lot of international communication and organisation to get things finally made in bulk, checked for quality and shipped.
My professional work was in a small company producing electronic sensors; that is where I got my first impressions how a production process works. In the case of AE modular, it was driven by the typical "maker-style" of creating things: First, the possibility to get PCBs manufactured in China for incredibly low prices was a very important part of the game. All the other, mechanical stuff like case, frontpanel etc. I am able to make at my workshop with a laser cutter. Finding suppliers for components is also not a big problem via the internet. There were some things to learn regarding international shipping, tax stuff etc., but this was also learning-by-doing. Quality-checks: As I was working before in the field of software QA, I was familiar with the process of defining and executing test plans to cover possible use-cases; although I don’t do it strictly by checklist but more by my internal "test program" with the AE. Of course, if this work is done by somebody else, it will be more formalized.
Did you have Kickstarter/crowdfunding experience before the AEM project?
No. I just jumped into it, just with the mindset "ok, let’s give it a try, if it fails it’s at least a nice experience". I was totally amazed to seeing it funded after only four days of the campaign.
Do you perform live music and if so, what's your setup?
I sometimes gave performances at my wife’s exhibition openings. Up until now I mostly used Ableton Live and my own MAX-devices. For example, I had created a MAX instrument that uses pictures (the ones from the exhibition) as a source and converts their structures into an audio spectrum that is the basis for additive synthesis.
For the future, I will use much more AE (best: 100%) of course! This drives also the development; in the end I want to make “my” synth.
Have you ever designed other (non-modular) synths or instruments?
In the age between 30 and 40 I built acoustic instruments; these were my own creations with lot of strings, tuned to a chord/cluster over several octaves. Not for melodic playing, but "just for making sound".
Do you keep a notebook full of scribbles and ideas that you write down quickly between other other things throughout your day?
My main collection of ideas, web snippets, notes… is kept in OneNote from Microsoft; I have it synced on my mobile phone and on the desktop and it’s super useful. In the creative process I prefer to draw and sketch on paper!
Would you get a synthesizer-themed tattoo? Do you already have one?
I don’t have one; and I have never thought about it… at the moment I assume I will avoid it, but who knows??
What's the last music album you've listened to?
Interesting question; in the time I listen to music it is mostly not electronic music... I have a great appreciation for renaissance music, e.g. vocal pieces like from Thomas Tallis, or the music of Arvo Pärt. For me, they carry a quality that I can also find in electronic sounds, something like “opening a door into other realms of life”, as an attempt to describe it.
fugubot asks: The AE modular system was successfully crowdfunded. Can you share how it felt to find support for your project? What did you learn from the process? What was it like interacting with the supporters and what do you think you've learned about building the community?
The crowdfunding project of AE modular via Kickstarter was totally amazing! The first parts of AE modular (it didn’t have a name yet in these days) were a personal fun project, without any aim to make something commercial out of it. The idea to launch a Kickstarter project came after I had shown the first prototypes to some guys from the electronic music scene, especially the Ableton user group in Munich. Even at the day of launching the campaign in the middle of November 2016 my attitude was “ok, let’s see what happens”, without big expectations to see it becoming successful. But after one single day where it was funded already by 25% things changed … It was totally exciting and overwhelming to see that so many people were waiting for modular systems in a lower price range, and to be suddenly in a global context with it. I received also a lot of ideas and I really enjoyed the direct interaction with all the backers, just the feeling “out there all over the world there are people who share my passion” - a total wow! This is something I want to keep up as much as possible, and with the great support especially from Carsten and Felix who established the forum as a great platform for the community this looks to be realistic.
locksley asks: I was wondering about the module creative process, how it forms and what average length of each step? How complicated are the modules getting, are the board processing getting more and more complicated leading to bigger modules and so or is it still just a one or few ICs and very small component count?
The creative process is always started by a longer time thinking about an idea in my head, accompanied by some research, looking at other approaches, reading datasheets when necessary, all quite unstructured - and usually many of them in parallel, sometimes too many... Then comes the moment (maybe after a longer pause with the specific module) of drawing a schematic and setting up a prototype on breadboard, if optimization is done here, the steps of routing a PCB, designing the front panel, testing the PCB (and usually fixing stuff) goes rather fast; especially PCB routing is something I love to do - almost obsessive!
About module complexity I want to say, that in the beginning of AE modular I was trying to simplify the circuits as much as possible, sometimes at the cost of “perfect” knob control ranges / behaviour, things like this. For the future I will try to find a good compromise to keep things still as simple as possible, but as I see AE modular growing into a real, “serious” modular synth, at certain points things will be designed less “rough”. If higher complexity makes sense or is necessary for certain modules, I will not avoid it - there is no dogma!
When it goes from testing to finished product - the assembly and soldering, is it done with SMDs mostly or do you have to do most of it yourself with just a circuit board and a few components to solder?
The boards are almost entirely based on SMD, this is the only way to make the small form factor of the modules possible. Taking potentiometers and sockets into account, there are only a few square-centimetres remaining for the components. And the soldering is done in a factory; except the prototypes and sometimes a first small batch of 10 pieces that I solder by myself.
What is your team? You mentioned you got someone helping getting the modules done, and someone else for marketing and sales?
In the Kickstarter production phase, I had two friends helping me a lot with the assembly work. Afterwards I returned to a one-man business which worked fine until July 2018 when the orders increased massively. So now I have to distribute the work again now. A big boost have been the excellent demo videos by Felix from tuesdaynightmachines. I knew all the time I should do videos like this, but, to be honest, I’m absolutely not good at this kind of public relations and marketing stuff. Fortunately a few months ago the heaven sent me Carsten who gives great support in setting up and running the forum, optimizing the website, structuring the release process, and a lot of other highly valuable support - big thanks to him!
NightMachines asks: Do you play other instruments? Did you get musical training of any sort as a child or adult?
Already as a child I liked to make all kinds of sounds, e.g. with kitchen equipment (annoying my mother, of course!). When I was a teenager, my father started to build an electronic organ (at this times there were DIY kits available) because he wanted to start making music besides his work as engineer. We built it together, and I learnt the basics of keyboard playing at this time, but only self-educated. Later, after the first phase of electronic music, I learnt to play Didgeridoo and Shakuhachi (the latter with a very serious, japanese style education).
Today, I always love to improvise a little bit if I get my hands on a piano and enjoy this very much.
NightMachines asks: Apart from the Organ you mentioned earlier, when you were 15 years old, do you have another favorite synth from that time or thereafter? Anything that impressed or inspired you specifically?
My first synth was a DX-9 (the DX-7 was too expensive) and it impressed me especially because it was digital! To be able to create and sculpt sounds like the famous “tubular bells” was super exciting! Understanding the FM synthesis and creating my own sounds was easy and fun for me.
How did you learn to "do" all the things required for the production of finished retail electronics, like the AEM? After development and prototyping, there must be a lot of international communication and organisation to get things finally made in bulk, checked for quality and shipped.
My professional work was in a small company producing electronic sensors; that is where I got my first impressions how a production process works. In the case of AE modular, it was driven by the typical "maker-style" of creating things: First, the possibility to get PCBs manufactured in China for incredibly low prices was a very important part of the game. All the other, mechanical stuff like case, frontpanel etc. I am able to make at my workshop with a laser cutter. Finding suppliers for components is also not a big problem via the internet. There were some things to learn regarding international shipping, tax stuff etc., but this was also learning-by-doing. Quality-checks: As I was working before in the field of software QA, I was familiar with the process of defining and executing test plans to cover possible use-cases; although I don’t do it strictly by checklist but more by my internal "test program" with the AE. Of course, if this work is done by somebody else, it will be more formalized.
Did you have Kickstarter/crowdfunding experience before the AEM project?
No. I just jumped into it, just with the mindset "ok, let’s give it a try, if it fails it’s at least a nice experience". I was totally amazed to seeing it funded after only four days of the campaign.
Do you perform live music and if so, what's your setup?
I sometimes gave performances at my wife’s exhibition openings. Up until now I mostly used Ableton Live and my own MAX-devices. For example, I had created a MAX instrument that uses pictures (the ones from the exhibition) as a source and converts their structures into an audio spectrum that is the basis for additive synthesis.
For the future, I will use much more AE (best: 100%) of course! This drives also the development; in the end I want to make “my” synth.
Have you ever designed other (non-modular) synths or instruments?
In the age between 30 and 40 I built acoustic instruments; these were my own creations with lot of strings, tuned to a chord/cluster over several octaves. Not for melodic playing, but "just for making sound".
Do you keep a notebook full of scribbles and ideas that you write down quickly between other other things throughout your day?
My main collection of ideas, web snippets, notes… is kept in OneNote from Microsoft; I have it synced on my mobile phone and on the desktop and it’s super useful. In the creative process I prefer to draw and sketch on paper!
Would you get a synthesizer-themed tattoo? Do you already have one?
I don’t have one; and I have never thought about it… at the moment I assume I will avoid it, but who knows??
What's the last music album you've listened to?
Interesting question; in the time I listen to music it is mostly not electronic music... I have a great appreciation for renaissance music, e.g. vocal pieces like from Thomas Tallis, or the music of Arvo Pärt. For me, they carry a quality that I can also find in electronic sounds, something like “opening a door into other realms of life”, as an attempt to describe it.
