Explained: Techno Hardware Live Act Florian Meindl

Latest update: 22 May 2020

Are you the one always trying to lean behind the booth to see what's going on? Here we get up close and personal with Florian on his banging latest live set, and break it down one piece of gear at a time.

For the full deep-dive interview, see Florian's chat with CDM. But here we've got all the tips and gear-spotting in one place.

ARTE Concert at Riverside Studios Berlin + United We Stream, Electronic Beats, VICE, Groove, DJ Mag:

 

Studio LIVE Stream April 2020:

Advice for live techno making you can copy from Florian's approach:

• Two are better than one. There are two more-or-less independent small rigs here that add variety, and either can take over if someone spills a drink on the gear. (It happens!)
• "Woodshed" time. Florian devotes some time to practicing, experimenting, learning new gear and new techniques, and creating sounds - even months at a time. That means when he returns to making a new track or new live set, he's got material and a fresh, new take.
• Tweakable sounds. The advantage of the modular gear is, you can make hands-on live adjustments to drum sounds, melodic lines, and filter - plus an additional live mixer module (from Roland).
• Ready-for-live samples. Florian's Riemann oneshots are imported to the Toraiz (and also into the PICO DRUMS), with crunchy sounds that don't need extra compression or saturation. You can apply the same approach to your own samples, and take advantage of the Riemann Kollektion, too.
• A mixer to glue things together. Florian uses a vintage Mackie desk - but part of the secret here is using a little touch of analog clipping, plus an outboard compressor.
• This is acid. A little acid doesn't hurt, either - that 303 sound just works.

Okay, so what gear is he using?

Let's go side by side.

Front and center:

RE-303 from Dinsync is a replica of the original TB-303 - with some additional features and a sleek black paint scheme, that is. Florian says it's the instrument he's playing most, because acid.

Acid FX. BOSS Bluesdriver distortion, reverb stompbox - not all gear has to be expensive.

The Toraiz + MicroFreak side:

Pioneer Toraiz SP-16 sampler. MIDI clock source, drum samples, vocal samples, song samples. Plus audio input lets you add additional effects, plus use the onboard Dave Smith (Sequential) filter for live filter sweeps. 

 

Samples used in the SP-16 sampler:

Riemann Techno Oneshots Bundle 2020 

2837 x 24bit WAV Oneshots (Kicks, HiHats, Snares, Percussion, Fx, Chords...)

 

Arturia MicroFreak synth. This unique compact synth is routed into the Toraiz (so its signal flows through the Pioneer sampler's effects and filter).

The modular side: 

Case. TipTop Audio Mantis Modular.

Mixer. Roland System 500 series - 531 MIX module.

Oscillator. Mutable Instruments Braids.

Sequencer. Intellijel Metropolis.

Filter. Bastl Instruments Cinnamon. (and you can use this to cut the sound completely, with the filter closed)

Tunable, tweakable drums. Drum modules from MFB (snare), Erica Synths (Bass Drum), Noisengineering (percussion), and Tiptop Audio (hat and ride). 

Instant sounds. There's also the Erica Synths PICO DRUMS drum sampler for that nice crunchy 12bit sound.

Sequencing. Arturia Beatstep Pro holds together the modular rig.

And the extras:

Eventide Space Reverb is set up as a send from the mixer, for those moments when you want a cavernous reverberation. 

Roland Boutique SH-01A Boutique synth is available for some "extra spice" + Electrix Pro Filter Factory filter.

Novation Circuit Mono Station paraphonic synth with some ready-to-go, pre-programmed techno sequences made in advance.

Don't forget the Riemann sounds:

Riemann Kollektion Oneshots 

Distorted Drums [also in the PICO DRUMS, but you can grab them separately]

See the full interview for more details, plus some of Florian's inspirations and how he works:

How to bang: a deep dive into a live techno set from Berlin’s Florian Meindl

 

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