The Time Machine
Tone Scientist's Time Machine studio first began in 1995 when he started taking the initial steps to build a studio in order to get out some of music and ideas that were floating around in his mind. At that time he was a student of Jazz studying on the upright bass. He was also enrolled in an audio engineering class learning how to operate a small studio that was located at the university he attended. The idea of a studio as an instrument had already been percolating in his mind, no doubt heavily influenced by dub music but also just as influenced by jazz-funk fusion music that was his first introduction into jazz. In particular he was influenced by particlar records from Weather Report and Herbie Hancock which really opened his ears to the potential of synthesizers. Already by that time a huge record collector which had turned him on to many breaks through which he entered hip-hop through the back door as a beatdigger and beathead. Then a trip to London the summer of 1995 introduced him to the sound of Jungle / Drum & Bass which were using the same breaks as in a lot of hip-hop and which were already present on a lot of the records owned by Tone Scientist. This was finally the point at which things had reached critical mass and the early version of the studio was born.
Already known from the beginning that the studio was going to an extension of himself which through he could create and conjure, he set about learning the basics of synthesis and midi teaching himself as he went along using his first synthesizer, the Roland Juno-106. In short time an Alesis MMT-8 and a Roland MKS-70 analog synthesizer were brought in alongside a couple of old drum machines and an early sampler by Roland, the MKS-100. Soon after that an old Mac computer was obtained and loaded up with a midi sequencing program called Opcode Vision and this was the main studio setup of Tone Scientist up until 1999. In 1999 Tone Scientist obtained the means to greatly expand his studio, purchasing an Akai S5000 sampler, some new synths and processing gear. The gear aquired at this time has still been at the heart of the studio, with the main upgrades being the computer, software and various other things like mics, etc.
In keeping with his concept of keeping his studio and sound unique, Tone Scientist has kept most of his old gear and uses it in conjunction with the latest updates with computers and software. By working with gear ranging from the 1970's to the 2000's and applying solid musical ideas to that, alongside playing live instruments and using live vocalists, Tone Scientist strive to make a sound that is his own. Hence the name Time Machine, because when you are playing 30 years of technology and applying futuristic concepts to it you are making some time warps.
Instruments Used
Synths
- Roland Juno-106
- Roland MKS-70 w/ PG-800 programmer
- Roland MKS-50 w/ PG-300 programmer
- Roland JV-2080 w/ 8 Expansion Cards
- Roland JV-1080 w/ Vintage Synth Expansion Card
- Novation BassStation Rack
- Yamaha CS-5
- Yamaha TX81z
- Korg NS5R
- Casio CZ-101
Sampler
- Akai S5000
Drum Machines
- Boss DR-5
- Korg ER-1
Effects
- Ibanez AD100 analog delay
- Roland DC-10 analog delay
- Univox EC-80A Echo Chamber tape delay
- Zoom Studio 1204
- Lexicon MPX-100
- DOD Dimension 12 digital delay
- Ibanez DM-1000 digital delay
- Korg Kaoss Pad KP-2
- Moog Moogerfooger Low Pass Filter
Keys & Controllers
- Rhodes Seventy Three Mark I Stage Piano
- Akai MPK49 Keyboard Controller
- Akai APC20 MIDI Controller
- Akai LPK25 Keyboard Controller
- M-Audio O2
- Korg NanoKontrol MIDI Controller
- Novation Nocturn MIDI Controller
Processing
- Rane ME-15B Graphic Equalizer
- Rane SP-15 Studio Parametric Equalizer
- Symetrix 525 Dual Gated Compressor/Limiter
- DBX 266XL Compressor/Gate
- BBE 462 Sonic Maximizer
Mics and Preamps
- Electro-Voice RE-20 dynamic microphone
- Audio Technica 3035 condenser microphone
- Shure SM-57 dynamic microphone (x2)
- Sennheiser 835e dynamic microphones (x3)
- Rode NT5 matched pair small diagphram condenser microphones
- PreSonus TubePre
- Bogen Model CAM 4 Channel Mic Preamp
Bass Equipment
- Fender Jazz Bass Fretless
- Fender Jazz Bass
- 3/4 size German Upright Bass
- Gallien-Krueger 800RB Bass Head
- Bag End 115 Bass speaker
Miscellaneous
- AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4GHz computer (Windows 7 Ultimate)
- AMD Athalon 3 ghz computer (XP Pro)
- Dell Studio 1535 customized laptop (Vista)
- Abelton Live 8 Suite
- Reaktor 5
- Mackie 1604 VLZ mixer
- Mackie 1202 VLZ mixer
- PreSonus Firepod 8x8 Firewire Soundcard
- M-Audio Firewire 410 Soundcard
- M-Audio Midisport 8x8 midi interface
- Event 20/20 passive moniters
- Hafler TA1100 Power Amp
- Technics SL-1200M3D Turntables (x2)
- Rane TTM-56 DJ Mixer
- Traktor Scratch Pro
- Tascam CD-RW700 CD recorder
- Sony MDS-JE520 Minidisc recorder
- Alesis MMT-8 midi sequencer
- Furman PL-8 power conditioner
- Furman PB-48 patch bay
- Klipsch KG4 speakers