The Signal Sounds team is growing! There are now seven of us working at our Glasgow HQ, so we thought it was time we gave you a little insight into who we are and what makes us tick…
Jason
What do you do at Signal Sounds?
I try to steer the ship through choppy waters to the best of my ability.
What's your favourite thing we sell?
Right now it's the Groove Synthesis 3rd Wave - incredible instrument.
What music-related stuff do you do when you're not at work?
Not as much as I'd like but I tinker around the edges of running a record label, Iridite, and mess around with various synths and instruments in the Signal Sounds studio.
What are your desert island discs?
- Model 500 - Classics
- LB Dub System - Unknown Origin
- Lou Reed - New York
- Talking Heads - Remain In Light
- David Bowie - Scary Monsters
What was the best gig you've ever seen?
Prince - Lovesexy Tour 1988
What's your favourite Disting Mk4 algorithm?
A-3 Full Wave Rectifier
Aleks
What do you do at Signal Sounds?
I run the B2B channel at Signal Sounds, which is a pretty great thing to get to do. I get to work with people who make synthesisers and see things come through the development phase. Then I'm responsible for making sure they reach as many good synthesiser shops as we can worldwide.
What's your favourite thing we sell?
At the moment, I love the Manifold Research Centre sir.clk. It's a 2HP CV to MIDI clock module that lets you clock MIDI gear at really ridiculous speeds. It also lets you introduce errors and jitter into the MIDI clock in a controlled way which means you can go all the way from adding a bit of 'human feel' to the sync signal to full-on-splatter-breakcore bonkers. Great fun!
What music-related stuff do you do when you're not at work?
At the moment, not much! My son will be 4 this July and he's been the main focus for me outside of work since the middle of 2020! The last thing I really got into was resurrecting a guitar that hadn't been played in more than a decade, getting some pedals together and trying to teach myself how to play again. Slow progress!
What are your desert island discs?
- Depeche Mode - Violator
- Black Sabbath - Master of Reality
- Cluster - Zuckerzeit
- Ivor Cutler - Jammy Smears
- Cappadonna - The Pillage
What was the best gig you've ever seen?
Either Sunn 0))) at Glasgow Uni, October 2019 or Jeff Mills at the Arches at some point in 1997.
What's your favourite Disting Mk4 algorithm?
F-6 Shift Register Random Quantized CVs - shout out Tom Whitwell! :)
Kyle
What do you do at Signal Sounds?
My main role is to deal with all the faulty, pre-owned or otherwise unloved things. Depending on the situation, I can either repair the synth in-house or we'll liaise with the manufacturer to get it fixed up. Outside of that, I also add all the new products to the website and do a lot of spreadsheet fiddling to make our massive range of products as easy to browse as possible.
What's your favourite thing we sell?
For Eurorack, it's the Der Mann Mitt Der Maschine Droid system. By far the most flexible and powerful modulation/sequencing/quantising/MIDI interface available in the modular format. Think Max/MSP in a module.
For desktop things, it's the SOMA Terra. I just love how they've designed it to be a standalone instrument instead of just another bit of studio gear. I'm sure we'll see more expressive instruments from them in the future.
What music-related stuff do you do when you're not at work?
I occasionally livestream experimental modular stuff on the EMS discord server. Outside of that I mostly just play drums or do a little synth DIY stuff for fun.
What are your desert island discs?
- Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer
- 100 gecs - hand crushed by a mallet
- Lay Your Cards Out - Poliça
- Cough Cough - Everything Everything
- Tables Clear - Paul Lanksy
What was the best gig you've ever seen?
The guys from London Grammar got us guest list for the Coldplay gig at Hampden stadium. I'm not a massive Coldplay fan but the production of something that huge is a thing to behold.
What's your favourite Disting Mk4 algorithm?
A-6 Quantiser
Luke
What do you do at Signal Sounds?
Help folk to make the noises they want to make, organise events, make social content and write some blogs!
What's your favourite thing we sell?
This changes daily, but it is quite often the Teenage Engineering OP-1 Field!
What music-related stuff do you do when you're not at work?
I write songs and produce with other artists in a variety of genres; I make ambient music on the internet.
What are your desert island discs?
- Madvillian - Madvilliany
- Elliott Smith - Either Or
- Bibio - Phantom Brickworks
- The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
- My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
What was the best gig you've ever seen?
Four Tet's quadraphonic set at the Barrowlands in Glasgow or Swans in a massive warehouse at Liverpool Sound City.
What's your favourite Disting Mk4 algorithm?
F-6 Shift Register Random Quantized CVs - who doesn't love a Turing Machine?
Molly
What do you do at Signal Sounds?
I help manage B2B communications with our distribution partners across the globe. I input your orders and make sure we get the goods to you!
What's your favourite thing we sell?
Acronym by WORNG Electronics.
What music-related stuff do you do when you're not at work?
Live-coding, DAW + MIDI controller, playing grooveboxes and sequencers… Anything that’s quite user-friendly means my kid can get involved as well!
What are your desert island discs?
- Kalbells - Max Heart
- Mrs Jynx - Shark Carousel
- XTC - Nonsuch
- Liturgy - 93696
- Perfume - Game
What was the best gig you've ever seen?
Autechre live in Philly, 2015. (You can also experience it: AE_LIVE_PHILADELPHIA_061015)
What's your favourite Disting Mk4 algorithm?
M-8 Chaos
Rob
What do you do at Signal Sounds?
I look after all stock items coming in from the suppliers, stock holding and make sure all customer orders are picked, packed and dispatched on time. And everything logistics related in between.
What's your favourite thing we sell?
Love the UDO Super 6. The Eurodesk-Z HEX-01 cable holder is also a winner for me. Oh and the Signal Sounds T-shirts are pretty cool too!
What music-related stuff do you do when you're not at work?
I write, produce and record my own music using my ongoing collection of modular gear and other noisy gadgets. I also enjoy reading synth manuals ... great bath time reading! :-)
What are your desert island discs?
- Various Artists - Objets D'Art
- Arca - &&&&& mixtape
- Can - Future Days
- Music from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop
- Boards of Canada - Societas x Tape
What was the best gig you've ever seen?
Autechre at Glasgow Art School 2005. Rhythm and dynamics masterclass in the dark.
What's your favourite Disting Mk4 algorithm?
G-8 CV to MIDI
Tom
What do you do at Signal Sounds?
I look after content and marketing stuff - basically telling the world about everything we do - as well as managing day-to-day operations at Signal Sounds HQ.
What's your favourite thing we sell?
I'm a big fan of ALM/Busy Circuits and Xaoc Devices modules. As for standalone instruments, I'd love to own a Buchla Music Easel one day…
What music-related stuff do you do when you're not at work?
I have a YouTube channel where I do demos and tutorials on modular synths, and I host a monthly show on Radio Buena Vida. Whenever I get the time outside of that, I make music - I've released stuff on various labels over the years and I recently branched out into production music.
What are your five desert island discs?
- Black Dog Productions - Bytes
- Model 500 - Deep Space
- Photek - Modus Operandi
- Herbie Hancock - Headhunters
- Steve Reich - Music for 18 Musicians
What was the best show/gig/set you've ever seen?
Kraftwerk at Tribal Gathering 1997 will take some beating. Honourable mention to Mad Mike and Jeff Mills doing X-102 live at Sonar in 2008.
What's your favourite Disting Mk4 algorithm?
H-4 Dual Quantiser