I wanted to interview the brains behind Home of the korg
ds 10 "Ugo Capeto". His blog is very informative and
gives the korg ds 10 user allot of background of the
monosynth being emulated on their nds. Also on his blog
you can watch 20 videos of his music as well as download
his first korg ds 10 album. Here is what I found out
about him:
mchl nrvs: Do you perform live?
Ugo Capeto: No, never. I am always amazed at the people on
youtube playing the patterns, changing the mix and
"turning the knobs" of the synth live. Can't do it myself
but more power to them!
mchl nrvs: Do you make all your music on 1 nds?
Ugo Capeto: Yes, just the one! I am pretty happy with the
6 tracks the DS has to offer. I think I would be happy
even if there were fewer tracks. I am not too demanding
really.
mchl nrvs: Have you studied music or sound theory?
Ugo Capeto: Yes, I have studied music theory. I think
it's very important to be aware of it. The best part
is that it's not that hard and the rewards are
tremendous. In my opinion, of course. Ok, sound theory
now... Well, I have studied that stuff very recently
to make better use of the DS. I think you have to
experiment a lot but reading a book or two about how
to make sounds is pretty good. It gets a tad frustrating
at times because you have to admit the DS-10 is not the
most advanced synth out there. Let's just say it's
missing a lot of things on the synth front.
mchl nrvs: When did you first hear of the korg ds 10?
Ugo Capeto: Early 2009 I think. I was using nitrotracker
before that and a bunch of trackers on the commodore 64.
Always wanted to own a synthesizer (I wanted to build one
when I was a kid) so when the DS 10 came out, it
was almost like a dream come true.
mchl nrvs: do you own or would you consider buying a dsi?
Ugo Capeto: Honestly, no. I like my DS 10. Of course, who
never changes his mind is a frickin' idiot.
mchl nrvs: what or who are some of your influences? (music
or sound related)
Ugo Capeto: Well, I am a big fan of the Chemical Brothers
but I like a l like all kinds of music, really, as long as
it's melodic somehow.
mchl nrvs: what's your favorite old computer and do you
perform with lsdj or other
trackers?
Ugo Capeto: Well, that would be the commodore 64. I've got
2 blogs about it. One for music: http://c64-music.blogspot.com
and one for games:http://c64-games.blogspot.com. I think
the music stuff whether it'smusic editors, drum machines,
sequencers was really good for the time. For the DS, I've
used nitrotracker but can't say I use it much
nowadays.
mchl nrvs: is the ds 10 your platform of choice because of
portability,functionality or just plain fun.
Ugo Capeto: Yes, no doubt. I love that thing. I actually
bought it to make music. Jam sessions, Daighasso bros and
Elektro Plankton, to name some of the carts I have and
enjoy.
mchl nrvs: if there where any additions to the software
you could make what would they be?
Ugo Capeto: Well, I would add an ADSR envelope for the
filter. Right not, there's just one for the amplifier.
I think that would be great to have but then again,
the Korg MS 10 doesn't have it, so... The problem is
that you don't want to make it too complex either. I
mean it's already pretty advanced and the learning
curve is a bit steep if you want to craft your own
sounds.
mchl nrvs: are you participating in the elvis
competetion?
Ugo Capeto: No, I am not good enough for that kind
of stuff. I am not a good arranger, I just like to
write melodies.
mchl nrvs*: How do you exactly go about writing a
song?
Ugo Capeto: Now, that's a good question. What I
write are not really songs, they are just mini-songs,
if that. My secret is to choose a scale (key),turn on
my Casio keyboard and improvise a few phrases in that
key. I then put the phrases into a few patterns on the
DS-10 and go from there. It's a very simple process.
mchl nrvs*: Do you play any real instrument?
Ugo Capeto: No, not really. I can play the keyboard
but not very well. I've tried to learn to play the
guitar for years but can't, really. It's just too
damn hard, especially when you have sequencers around.
Anybody that can play an instrument deserves the
greatest respect, I must say.
