DivKid's Month Of Modular Issue #8 May 2016 | Page 9

This month I chat to Ben Davis from Malekko - Hey Ben (good name by the way), tell us who you are and what you're doing. People that recognise you will most likely know you from recent work designing modules with Malekko.

I’m originally from North Carolina. My first musical instrument was the guitar which I started playing in elementary school. I didn’t get into synthesizers until much later. The thing that got me interested in synthesizers was most likely discovering artists like Aphex Twin, Autechre and Squarepusher. I picked up any keyboard or drum machine I could get my hands on to get started making electronic music. I made a few tracks but never released any of them. I started building a Synthesizers.com system probably around 2008. At this time my mind wasn’t open to the possibilities of a modular system and I basically used it as a keyboard monosynth. I eventually started learning some of the unconventional uses of this 5U synthesizer. This system sounded great but wasn’t quite what I was looking for as far as making really experimental music. I saw people like Richard Devine and Surachai posting pictures of eurorack modules and I had no idea what they were at the time. I started doing some research and realized the eurorack format was a better fit for me. I sold all my 5U and over the next few months had filled up a 12U rack. This was around 2010 just as more manufacturers were getting into eurorack. I played shows around North Carolina performing solo and as part of an industrial band called Mecanikill. I’ve always enjoyed performing live and my focus with Malekko is to make modules that work well in a live rig.

Have you worked with anybody else before Malekko regarding modular?

Yes, I moved to Michigan 3 years ago to start the company Macro

Machines with my friend Nico Raftis. Macro Machines started with a

module called the Storage Strip which took advantage of the MIDI

capabilities of the Mungo 0 series modules. These modules could all pick

up on program change messages allowing them to save and recall

multiple presets. The storage strip made it possible to manage these

settings into 16 locations and sequence through them or recall them

manually. We also put out a dual 4:1 switch called the Dynamic Destiny.

Nico has been working on a new module called the Omnimod which is a

complex modulation source and should be available soon.

So what experiences music or technology based led you to eurorack?

My first experiences with modular were with software like Bidule, Reaktor and Max/MSP. While these options were very capable they just weren’t fun to use and took so much work to get results.