David started out as a young winner in two Roland music competitions, ranging all the way back to 1998 and 2000. Today he designs music and sounds for several Roland products and tours around the world with his trademark breakbeat-mix sound, to show everybody how the products are supposed to be used. He has extensive experience in most musical styles (everything from hard electronica to hip-hop and Rn'B), and is also a lead singer/rapper in several bands.
 

“I imagine this sound as an atmospheric lead - particularly suitable for breaks in hard electronic music, or for ambient and chill-out tracks. The sound has a subtle "babble" made using the formant assigned to the Step Modulator. This is of course tempo syncronized, so you can try using long dark notes - accompanied with, for example, a nice drum loop. Also, to make it really "alive", you can have some fun with the D-Beam Controllers - which changes the formant on each oscillator separately, and the Time Trip Pad - which changes the pitch of the oscillators respectivly. Aftertouch makes it "jump", and the modulation wheel does some slight filtering.”
 

“As the name implies, this sound is a funky clav that sounds kind of "broken". My first thought with this one is "mean, electronic funk with rap vocals". There is lots of filtering on this one. There's a velocity-sensitive wah-effect on it, and also, the aftertouch makes the filter go back up again. The Time Trip Pad changes the different oscillators' formant, and the D-Beams make a very drastic and effectful pitch raise. Also, try the modulation wheel for a deep chorus and extreme vibrato at the same time.”
 

“This is an analogue typ sound that works very well for both low and high notes. Beeing the big fan of filters that I am, I have assigned filtering to both the velocity-sensitivity and both of the D-Beams. The D-Beams control both filters independently, and also the corresponding resonance at the same time. On top of all this, there's also a random filter LFO on it, to make the sound really "blobby", even though you're not using any different velocities or controllers! The Time Trip Pad changes the pitch and pulsewith, and the modulation wheel has a brutal vibrato.”
 
“Ever played the (good?) old video games from the 80's? Those are what this patch reminds me of. Try the different controllers to make the sound go crazy. Especially the modulation wheel, which makes the shooting sound turn in to an "impact" sound. Aftertouch adds a subtle resonance.”
 

“A very moist and spacy lead - great for soft and atmospheric music - although the patch is still very distinctive. It sounds very "watery" - thanks to the filter LFO. This effect is greatly increased when using the aftertouch and/or modulation wheel. The Time Trip Pad pitches both oscillators to the max, and the D-Beams messes around even more with the LFO and also, the formant.”
 


“Here's a hard all-purpose lead sound. This patch, using the nasty supersaw waveform as the main oscillator, can be used for most musical styles pretty easily. Put it in an Rn'B track for the "hook", make a psychedelic trance theme or some of those Ibiza disco chords. Try the aftertouch, modulation wheel, D-Beams and Time Trip pad for some different filter and LFO effects.”
 

“Now it's getting erie... I named this one "ChipMonk", because of the two oscillators. On oscillator 1, there's an analougue waveform with an LFO assigned to the VCA, which makes it sound like those old 80's computer music (= chip) sounds (What is it with me and old computers?!), and on oscillator 2 there's a voice sound reminding me of a monk. I think the most important controller here actually is the modulation wheel, because it makes the chip sound "spin" faster as well as it changes the formant of the monk. Of course, there's also the pitch and filter effects on the D-Beams and the LFO and pitch effects on the Time Trip Pad. Also, note the octave added on the chip-sound when using aftertouch.”
 

“Somehow this reminds me of the old works of The Prodigy - which are still some of my biggest sources of inspiration. This is a disasterous, stormy and "metaly" sound using the feedback oscillator. The Time Trip Pad controls the filter parameters (cutoff and resonance), just as the D-Beams do. Aftertouch makes it pitch gradually up to an octave, and the modulation adds a strange "broken" vibrato. Try using it together with some brutal breakbeats!”
 

“If you need a strange, spooky vocal pad somewhere in your mix - here it is. Oscillator 2 adds a creppy feeling of some kind of electronic disturbance, and this effect increases depending on how hard you hit the notes. Use the D-Beams for some different filter and formant changes, and don't forget to mess around with the Time Trip Pad to wander around in the samples and "freeze" them!”
 

“I gave this patch this name for a simple reason: It's sound like an intro for something - preferably something big! Imagine tweaking this sound around for a minute or so before the lights come on and the gig starts! Mess with the around with all the controllers at random while the crowd is screaming for your act to really come and hit them in the face!”
 
(Patch explanation by David Ahlund)
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