Afterlife Music Studio Talk is an opportunity for you to hear about the the gear that is making a difference in my process. My music is, more often than not, an organic process born from analogue gear. Xaoc Devices in Poland make some prime synth modules and one especially is quite unique and extremely versatile. Sofia is a 1976 Transcendent Waveform Analog Oscillator, and sounds like it too! As the latest addition to my set-up, Sofia is already making a difference to my creative process.
Sofia is based on a unique waveforming idea that centers around a core oscillator with two waveshaping sections called “ripple elements”. These elements use time-domain components like density and decay to modulate the main core oscillator. According to Xaoc, this is a method that’s called FOF [fonction d’onde formantique], a technique to create formant sounds and one that I’d never encountered before.Sofia creates the fattest saturated bass lines, lots of organic sounds, squelchy acid tones, which are all easily modulated . Check out this demo.
Sofia in practice.
Soon after unpacking the Sofia, I created the first musical piece centred around this exciting piece of kit. I came up with a spacey, sitar type sound which has evolved into a dub track. Sofia is supplying acidic skanks that I then put through the Alborosie Dub Station.
AudioThing, creators of the dub station, sampled, analyzed, and carefully recreated the original filter, echos, and spring reverb pre-owned, modified, and used by the legendary Osbourne Ruddock “King Tubby” – producer, studio engineer, and pioneer of dub reggae from the golden era of the 70s. The result is a fully authentic Plug-in which adds that unique palette of sounds, in the box. Watch a demo here.
The front panel is a beautiful design that would be at home in a 1960s physic lab. No menu diving, just twist the knobs and listen. I’m in love again…
I look forward to sharing the results. You can find more insights into my music and the gear that I use, here.
(By the way, none of the links in the article are generating money for me. I am simply sharing information about kit that inspires me, and will hopefully inspire you too.)
One Love
Steve x