Transcription: 0321 - Omri Cohen

Released: April 12, 2020



Darwin: Okay. Today I have a chance to talk to somebody that's new to me. This is somebody that one of the listeners wrote in and said, "Hey, you need to talk to this guy." So I reached out and I was lucky enough to get his attention. And I think that that attention is pretty valuable because when I look at the body of work he's done, you know, he's done a Baker's dozen albums on Bandcamp, but he's also done countless number of videos on YouTube. He's really focused on working with modular systems and so it's a perfect match for kind of the people we're talking to right now. So with that, I am going to shut up and we're going to speak with Omri Cohen. Hey man, how's it going?

Omri Cohen: Hi. Thanks for having me.

Darwin: Yeah, thanks a lot for, for joining up. I look at your body of work and I just imagine that you're just like grinding out videos.

Omri Cohen: Yeah. There's so much to explore. You know...

Darwin: Well I think that you have caught a lot of people's attention primarily because a lot of your videos, not only are they modular-based, but an awful lot of them are very focused on VCV rack. And you know, I just know from my podcasts, anytime I talk to somebody and VCV rack comes up, I get a huge spike in listenership because people love VCV rack. The community is amazing. The community of builders is amazing, but also the amount of sharing that occurs in that world also is amazing. And so when this listener said, "Hey, check it out!" and I did, I thought, man, this would be perfect because I would love to hear both your perspective on the community, but also your perspective on VCV rack. Because the other thing that I find really interesting is the extent to which you do a lot of work that's a hybrid, which is both hardware and software modular and you'll mix and match pretty freely.

Omri: Yeah, exactly. It's the same instrument - VCV Rack and my hardware module or my other toys that they have here are for me the same instruments. As soon as they start patching and playing the music - playing the sounds - I don't notice anymore what is virtual and what is real actually.

Darwin: Well that's really cool. Now, it begs the question though, what makes you decide when to use one or the other? I mean, there's a lot of stuff in VCV rack. There's a lot of stuff available in the modular. How do you decide when you're going to lay your hands on the modular and when you're going to lay your hands on a new VCV rack module?

Omri: Yeah, well, I started out with VCV Rack actually, more than two years ago; I found out about VCV Rack on Facebook and this was my start or beginning in the modular world. Actually before that, I was composing for piano and stuff like this. So I started with modular actually with VCV Rack learning it. Of course having fun with it, falling in love with it, even falling in love with the modular environment, with the modular thinking. And then after awhile I just had to get more of a tactile experience. And actually the module that made me go modular, go hardware, was Morphagene, from Make Noise. So this was, this was the module. Because of this module I bought the case, I got the case and it's a different experience to have a module in your hands and to have a module in VCV Rack and playing it with the mouse or with the MIDI controller.

It's a totally different experience. And some of those like the Morphagene, for example, or like other modules that I have, like the new Arbhar, for example, from Instruo - which is a really nice granular module or processor. So it's a different experience. Turning the knobs and looking at it, in real life. Then in VCV Rack there other things that are nice, like effects, like sequencers for example, the amazing sequencers in VCV Rack. So for now the hardware, I'm using what I have, it's not like I have so much choice. I mean it's not like in VCV Rack that I can just add another module. I can actually just use what I have. And I also use things in VCV Rack with it. It's like they are completing each other in a way, I guess.

Darwin: Sure. Now when I, when I went over to Bandcamp and I looked at your releases there, it's really a pretty wide variety. I actually got pulled over there because of one of your videos that was the setup that you used to create the song "Mesa". And I just thought that was a beautiful track. And so I went over to Bandcamp to check out what you've done. And I saw this big stack of releases and I started kind of digging into them and each one of them kind of has its own life. But I would also say that they all kind of the touch on a few things. And one of the things I notice is that you seem to have, or it at least sounds to me like, there's a nod towards classic Berlin school type of music. The stepping sequencers that are laid at different time streams and then maybe pads or a melody lines over the top. This is something that you do a fair amount. Does that feel right to you?

Omri: Yes, totally. I love sequencers. I love arpeggios. Also when I start composing, I start with a sequence, or with an arpeggio. It inspires me the most. I guess this movement... I can listen to a sequence for hours, just a sequence without anything - a bit trivial maybe, but nothing else. I can listen to this for hours just playing with the cutoff of the filter or something like this. That's all I need, really. That's the only thing I need. So I always start with this, when I start composing or building a pitch. A lot of my albums, they have - at least I'm trying to have an idea behind the music. So there are some albums, for example, there is one called "Cosmic Foundry", which was inspired by two modules in VCV Rack. One is a sequencer, which is called Foundry.

Omri: And the other one is a voice. It's a phase distortion oscillator, which is called the Cosmic Oscillator. And this is why the album is also called Cosmic Foundry. So the whole album is based on those two modules and because the Foundry is a four channel sequencer, you can create also create like four note chords. So there are a lot of chord progressions in this album, and also a lot of those melody lines with the Cosmic Oscillator, for example, or there is another album which is called Divisions, which is all inspired by Stages from Mutable Instruments, which is also in VCV Rack, by the way. But I used it as a sequence - again, I love sequences and I love sequencers. So the whole album, I'm using Stages as a sequence when you can really hear a lot of weird sequences. Like here, there was a five step sequence and then there's a six step, there're only six steps with the Stages in VCV. So it's also something that really drives me to create a whole album is to have something behind it. Like a module. It inspires me - or like chords for example, I will make an album now with [where] I'm surrounded with chords or something.

Darwin: That's really interesting. But then it also implies that in order to maintain the excitement and the juice of that, once you kind of hit on an idea, you must really work hard to finish the album quickly. I mean, because if nothing else, one of the things I've noticed is the contents of your modular system is always changing. So I would assume that if you're building something off a module, you probably try and get that done relatively quickly.

Omri: Totally. Yeah. So it's really hard for me to go back to all the stuff I made and work on them. So to me, when I want to work on an album, I make sure I have time - like a week or like a week and a half or like two weeks. And all I'm doing is only concentrating on composing and recording. Because it's really hard for me to start something and have a break and then start again or continue it. It's something I cannot seem to do. I don't know why, but it's like I'm changing. So when I go back to something that I've done before, it's like not me anymore. It's not who I am. Really, I really feel like this, you know, so when I work on something, by the way, the compositions, I try to record every week a piece of music, a composition: not to say "Wow, it's my best.", but just as a practice for example, when it's really hard for me to start something one day and finish finishing it in the next day.

So usually all of those recordings are usually done one in one day. So I start in the morning, I start with the patch, listening to the sounds, listening to what inspires me and I try my best to record it also in the same day because, again, it's really hard for me to go back and work on something that I started a while ago. And it's the same also with albums. So I record sometimes... for example, for Divisions, there were days that I recorded two tracks in one day because I started one, I finished it. I said, okay, I have a bit more time. I started it and I said, I will not go until it's finished.

Darwin: Well, it's interesting you say that because that, that parallels something that I felt, which is that oftentimes when I'm working on a patch, depending on how complicated is, but even as relatively simple patch, I get the most out of it on the day that I've patched it. If I come back the next day, oftentimes I'll look at it and I'll don't remember, maybe I won't remember what it was that excited me or maybe my connection to it is a little bit different or isn't as well connected or whatever. But for some reason I find that the next day I just don't have the excitement towards that patch and it's almost like, "Well, I'll just tear it down and do something else..." - which kind of breaks down the ability to make some music. What I don't understand is when I see people who go to a gig, for example, and they open up their case and it's all prepatched with craziness and that's their instrument, right? I look at that and I can respect what they've done, but at the same time, it's hard for me to wrap my head around it because coming back to a patch is something that's really somehow not super satisfying to me.

Omri: Yeah, totally. I can totally understand it. It's something I think it's connected to. The way also modular music is, actually, because when you look at it, modular is always running, right? The oscillators are always running. The sequencers are always running. When you stop this because you have to stop it or you want to come back to it tomorrow, something something dies in there. The magic disappears somehow, you know? I mean, you stop the sound, you stop the music. I don't know. Something is going away, I guess.

Darwin: Sure. Yeah, that makes sense. Well, I want to get into this a little bit more, but before we do, one of the things I like doing in my podcast is talking to people about their background and how they got to be the artists and makers that they are. I'm curious about you because you said that really prior to VCV rack, you kind of did very traditional composition in music production and that it was VCV rack that kind of changed your head. I'm curious about where you're coming from. How did you get into music in the first place, but also working with VCV rack and being comfortable with it implies a certain comfort with technology as well. And I'd like to know where you're coming from and how those things all came together.

Omri: Yeah, well actually I started as a drummer in high school for a few years. It's a story I have to tell because I tell it all the time. I'm in high school, two friends of mine came to me. One was, he wanted to play the bass and the other one played guitar. They came to me, they said, "Omri, you are going to be in our band!" And I said, the first thing I said - "That's amazing. I'm going to be your crazy synthesizer guy!" This is what I said. In my head it was like a guy, you know, with a white robe with cables everywhere and synthesizers. This is what I wanted, you know. And they said, "No, you're going to be our drummer."

And I said sure - I mean, why not? So I was a drummer for a few years and this is something that follows me until today, actually, I still feel like a drummer. I still feel, I mean the drums, they were amazing. I loved playing the drums and I'm still a drummer in my soul, I guess. I don't know how to explain this, but everything I do has something to do with the rhythm. I always have to play with something in my hands. I always have to drum on my legs with my hands. I'm still a drummer in me, right? But so I was a drummer for a few years. Then I stopped with it and I started listening and also trying to create electronic music. I'm originally from Israel and the Psy Trans scene is huge until today even, and I was also into it.

I was really into Psy Trans and electronic music back then and I really wanted to give it a try myself. I started with Cubase. It was Cubase 2... something I forgot already. And I went and I, learned synthesis and electronic music production for a year or something like this. And actually back then I started learning with Reaktor, which is also modular, but back then I couldn't understand anything. What is the clock? What do they want from me? Why do I need a clock? All of a sudden I have Cubase. Everything is running well, where's the clock? I mean, I remember this, that I was really confused about this. I was not really connected to it. After awhile I stopped with electronic music because this and this. I understand now that I just couldn't work in a DAW. It was just not for me.

This cut, paste, control-D, control-C... I understand now: it was just not for me and I just a deserted it. I couldn't do this anymore. And then I started listening somehow. I don't really remember, I think it was a piece by **Alba Nuni**. I started listening to classical music. I think it was from the Doors actually. The Doors - a few songs they wrote, there were some influences from classical music. Of course you had the doors. I mean, they're amazing! So I started listening to classical music and I really got into it to Beethoven and Mozart and Vivaldi and all of those. And also this, I wanted to try this by myself when I started playing piano, a bit. And then guitar, I mean, I played guitar also before, but just chords, you know, just jamming.

But then I started really learning how to play the guitar pieces of music. Actually on the guitar, which was really fun. And I started with classical music then to learn this and to study this. My problem was, and it's funny how everything is somehow connected to what I'm doing now because somehow I wanted to play everything, all of the instruments at once and live. This is something I always wanted to do, you know, even as a drummer. Yeah. I mean really, even as a drummer, I remember, I wish I could make the guitar now like this and the bass now like this. And then when I played the piano, I wish I could bring the flute now in and I want to play everything.

Darwin: It's like you're a born producer...

Omri: I don't know why. Maybe I have no idea. I mean, it's just something that was in my head that I wanted to do everything live. I couldn't understand how to do this stuff so that they will sound like live, but not, for example, in Cubase, in a DAW that I was working with, because to me it was everything - it was like, it was flowing. Everything was linear. It was not like loops that are on top of each other, vertical on top of each. For me, everything was horizontal. It was really hard for me to try and record something because I wanted to do everything. Also later when I came back to synthesizers a bit, also back then, I just wanted to play everything, you know, I wanted to open the cutoff here, but at the same time I wanted another voice that will come in and at the same time a different voice will go out - something like a conductor I guess. And now everything is somehow connected somehow. Somehow it's like a circle, you know? It's like somehow I have all of my voices. I have my little orchestra, right? With all different voices of the modular. It's not really controlled, but I can interact with the voices.

Darwin: Well, again, kind of like a conductor, a conductor doesn't grab the violinist bowl and pull it, but they influence the direction of what the violinist might be doing. Right?

Omri: Yeah. And sometimes also not, I remember there was a famous conductor (he's dead already) Herbert von Karajan - maybe you heard of him, I'd say he was German, so it was famous. He was conducting and then all of a sudden he closed his eyes and he didn't do anything else. Just listen to the music and the orchestra kept playing and he was famous for this and he just let go. We just let the music lead itself. And this is, any module is also really almost the same. I mean, because you let the voices play themselves and you interact with the voices. You have a conversation with the voices, conversation with the modular. It's amazing. It's like everything I wanted.

Darwin: Yeah. Well, it's, it's interesting because that that helps kind of tie together a lot of stuff that I both saw in your videos and in your releases. There is an extent to which, you know, you talk about loving sequencers in arpeggiators and stuff like that. It's clear that you love the ordered nature and the ability to set the table with ideas and stuff. But an awful lot of stuff you do is what I would call semi-generative, right? Where you set the table and you let them run and then you interact with them and you caressed the sound. But this background is moving and doing its thing. And that seems to be at the heart of a lot of what you've done.

Omri: Yeah. So I think this is an influence I got from VCV Rack because in VCV you cannot, you don't have two hands and you don't have 10 fingers, you have a mouse. And so I tend in VCV Rack, I tend to patch a lot of things that they are working by themselves. From the very beginning it was like this. Instead of going with the mouse and click here and click there, I tend to make the patches and VCV Rack more generative, let's say. More playing by themselves. And I think from this I got the influence to have part of my patch playing and I'm not interfering with it. And part of my patch I more playing. And then also I'm here again, it's this circle closes because I bring my piano, for example, to my patches now, and my flute. I also played the flute a bit a few years ago and now I bring it back. I record the flute into the Morphagene, for example, or into VCV Rack. So everything is now connected somehow. It's like I'm closing the circle and I'm completing a circle now with all of what I've done in the last years and what I'm doing now. And it's really, it's amazing. I feel, really, that I have something that they can work with finally in, feel comfortable with.

Darwin: Right now. One of the things that I've noticed in as you've been talking about it and not so much what I saw in the video, but when you talk about your modular, it seems like a lot of the modules that drive you are more oriented around audio effects than synthesis. It seems like, whether it's the, I don't know you pronounced it - the Arbhar - or Morphagene, I saw in some cases, you - like I - found that the Grayscale implementations of the Clouds with having more hands on control really helped me appreciate that module more. And it seems like that a lot of your module excitement comes from working with audio effect. What is it about being hands on with the effect that is particularly interesting to you?

Omri: Well, I don't really look at it as an effect. I actually look at it as an instrument by itself because as soon as I record, for example, my flute or the piano, kalimba or whatever into the Morphagene, the Morphagene is now the instrument, the kalimba is not any more the instrument - now the Morphagene is the instrument. So I look at the Morphagene as an instrument by itself and I have, yeah, I have Arbhar, I have Morphagene and I have also Magneto now I got recently and the Mimeophon, there is something about manipulating, if we can call it a manipulating time, even, you know, especially with the Morphagene for example, you can take and close the window of the sample so much that you get just a really short grain, let's call it I guess.

And you can really manipulate time and you can zoom in into the sound itself. It's mesmerizing for me - it really is. It's like also Arbhar is really nice. A granular processor, and also granular sampler maybe. And also you can really go inside the sound. You can really search between the waves. I don't know. It's really, it's like this whole idea of manipulating sound is fascinating to me. So that's why I think I have a lot of those modules. And also I think I have the modules and hardware - as we spoke about before - that it's important for me at least to have hands on control with them, like with the Morphagene, or Arbhar, and the Mimeophon, for example. It's really important for me to take and use them as an instrument or as the voice of my instrument and have hands-on control and doing everything live.

Darwin: That's really interesting, though, that you think of them as the instrument and so then at some point your flute or your guitar or whatever, that's just almost like an oscillator or something for you, it's like a source material that you use to sort of sculpt what eventually is going to be sculpted into what is eventually going to be the actual song, right?

Omri: Yeah, exactly. Again, I'm looking at my setup at the modular, I'm looking as if it was an orchestra. So for me the Morphagene is not in effect, it's a piece of my orchestra. It's a piece of my sound. It's an instrument between other instruments.

Darwin: That makes sense. You talk about having run into the situation where working with Cubase and the frustration with working with Cubase made you realize that DAW is not for you, but still you create music. So my question is, what do you use for a recording system? Do you have something that you developed in VCV rack? Do you just like dump it to Reaper or something like that? Do you, do you get involved in a lot of multi-tracking or do you try and do everything very live and just capture the result?

Omri: Okay, so first of all, my problem was not with Cubase itself. If it was just with a DAW. But now what I'm doing now is I'm multi-tracking everything into Reaper. Reaper has this really cool plugin, it's called Reroute or something, that you can have sound between software - on windows at least. So I'm routing the sound form VCV Rack into Reaper and everything for my modular out. Everything from outside the route into VCV Rack. So my hub - the mothership - is VCV Rack. And then, from there, everything is being multi-tracked into Reaper. I'm doing everything live and trying 99.9% of where my music is live. Also the albums and everything is live and performing everything live because again, this is what I always wanted.

I wanted to play everything live at the same time. And this was really important for me. So everything is recorded and performed live again, 99.9%. Also some things that I couldn't record. For example, there was a piece in which I use the software called Ultimatum. And for some reason I couldn't record it into Reaper together with VCV Rack - technical issues, I don't know why. So I had to record this first and then record all of the other things. So this is an example for something that I didn't talk about live for example, but everything else, all of my music I record and perform live and I multitrack it into Reaper from VCV Rack. But the other things you can do, for example, you can also multitrack record inside of the VCV Rack. There are modules that are modules that can do this. So I think recording is not really, not really an issue. But yeah, I'm using Reaper - and Repear is just my recording machine. Let's say I'm not editing, not doing almost anything but mixing and that's it.

Darwin: Yeah. And do you do a lot of automation or is it pretty much turn up the faders and let it rip? When you're mixing, do you spend a lot of time mixing or is it again, you're just really trying to capture the live creation?

Omri: Well, I'm not spending a lot of time mixing, actually. I don't have the tools, the knowledge for this. Also I'm just, I'm trying my best to have the sound that I want live. It's hard. It's a difficult thing to do. But, but yeah, my aim is to have this set up what they have here to perform live. So if I need a lot of post-processing, a lot of mixing or whatever, I prefer to not to do this. So also, when I play live, it will sound the same like the music - but yeah, I do, I have EQ, a compressor sometimes. Sometimes they are weird noises coming from, I don't know from what, from the recording or something they have to take down, but I'm trying to do as little editing, little mixing as I can.

Darwin: Sure. Now you mentioned performing live and it seems to me like this method of recording would make it hard to emulate a track live, you know, so you probably are not going out and performing your "Geometry of a Mushroom" album, right?

Omri: No, no. Once it's recorded, it's away, that's it. There's no going back to it. Yeah. Yeah.

Darwin: And so like with that, though, one of the things I notice - and even as we're talking - a lot of what you do is sort of oriented around loops, but in kind of an atypical way. So you can think of an arpeggiator as a loop, kind of think of a sequencer as a loop. You have things like the Morphagene that kind of defy the typical vision of a loop. What still is loop-like you have things like the Magneto, which is very loop oriented. These granular tools are very tiny, loop oriented, they kind of make events out of that. How is it that you can take this kind of looping structure and make it so that it doesn't sound like, you know, a bunch of little square loops that are just all running simultaneously. Cause I would say your music does not feel that way. Usually, you know, I hear sequences and stuff but there's always movement and there's always overlays and stuff and it doesn't come across as like the typical square-corners sequenced-production that is typical of taking the easy road.

Omri: Yeah. Well the first thing I think that I do is I don't, at least now in my setup, I don't sync anything. So nothing is synced to anything. I have a sequence and I have an arpeggio and they are not synced. They're running in different tempos and also the loops. And I know there are loopers that you can record sync to a clock. So it will recall four bars or eight bars. I don't have anything like this. I don't use it. I just record it, I started recording a record, the loop that I want and I stop the recording and this is what we look, so imagine you have like four or five different groups that are running in different tempos and different speeds in different frequencies that are interweaved in each other going in and out of phase, so this is something that I think and I hope that is contributing a lot to this movement, feel that everything is always moving. And also the tools that I'm using, again, the instruments that they have, like the Morphagene for example, it will not play the loop from the beginning to end and that's it.

No, it will jump all of a sudden to the beginning, jump to the end. All of a sudden the loop itself will get short and will get longer - and also with Magneto. All of a sudden it will play in reverse or it has this really nice feature, this shift. Yeah, it's really nice. This is a shift function that will transpose the different taps of the delay. I'm not using it as a delay. I'm using it as a looper. And also the Mimeophon by the way is also, it's supposed to be a delay but most of the time I use as a looper because the delay time is around 40 seconds or something. So it's like you have a looper that you can record up to 40 seconds and it will just repeat itself.

And also when you play with the rate of the delay, it will change the loop itself and you have built in reverb. You have, this is also exactly why I'm saying that it's not an effect, it's an instrument by itself because it has so many things it can do to sculpture, to mold the sound that it's an instrument by itself. And yeah, I love this, this looping things really. It's again, this idea of manipulating time. It's really fascinating that you have something that is running and then it's the same but not really. Then again, it's looping, but again, it's not really the same, but it's reminding you of something that came before, but it's not really exactly the same is it? Not the same. All of a sudden you hear - it sounds like an oscillator, but it's not truly an oscillator was just a really short loop repeating itself really quickly. So it oscillates, right? So all of a sudden the loop becomes an oscillator and yeah, it's amazing. It's really nice.

Darwin: That's wild. Now actually, I'm going to have to come to your house sometime and have you spend time getting me up to speed on a Morphagene because that's actually like one of the few modules that intimidates me from its complexity. It's not something that I can look at and immediately intellectualize how I would use it.

Omri: All right. It's amazing. Again, this is the reason why I went hardware just for them, not just for the Morphagene, but the Morphagene was the reason that I had to buy a case and to have the Morphagene I really want to do have it from a long time. It's an amazing tool. It's an amazing instrument. And now the Mimeophon also, it's also the same also from Tom Erbe. Form Soundhack. And other amazing instruments.

Darwin: So when you go to a live performance, what does your live performance rig look like?

Omri: Well that's a good question. And actually I still didn't made any live sessions or live events, let's call it or concerts or whatever because I didn't have the tools to make it. Just recently I got a laptop, which was the missing link because I wanted to take, of course, VCV Rack with me. And I needed a laptop for this and I just got a laptop, I think, two weeks ago or something. Depends on when this will be online. And now there is no chance I'm going on any concert anytime soon.

Darwin: No, just in time to get locked into your house, right?

Omri: Yeah, exactly. Yes. So yeah, but I am planning to go live on YouTube or something like this. I have to figure this out. So my set up now it's, I have my case, the modular. I have the laptop with VCV Rack, I have the O-Coast again, Make Noise, another beautiful, beautiful instrument I also have now it's a, I need to repair it because it's a bit broken, but I have, it's, it's called the Midilar and it's a modular MIDI controller designed to use with VCV Rack. But of course it's a MIDI controller that you can use with anything you want, but you can get those modules that sometimes they look like modules in VCV Reack and sometimes they'll just be a generic modules and they sit in your case in the modular, and they control VCV Rack.

So you have the actual modules next to the MIDI modules and you can control really VCV Rack with knobs and faders and buttons and whatnot. So these I also have, and I will take, of course, some controllers, like the Key Step, it's the Pro and I have my other instruments like the flute, kalimba, stuff like this that I will record it live and manipulate it live. So that's the main idea behind all of this.

Darwin: You're going to bring a big truck and dump it all on the stage?

Omri: Actually it's not so much, actually when you look at it, it's not so much, it's like two or three bags and that's it.

Darwin: Although, you know what, in my head there is something that, when you talk about adding acoustic instruments... so I'm a guitar player and I have a classical guitar that I like using sometimes on stage and so luckily I have a pickup on it. So it's easy to integrate into an electronic system. But for me, when you talk about bringing your flute along, all of a sudden that gives me a little tremor because it's like you have to have a microphone and cables and a mixer and all this is starting to look too much like work.

Omri: Yeah. Actually the microphone for the flute is really small. I mean it's a special flute mic that I got and he just goes to my audio interface and that's it. And from there it goes to the modular or to VCV Rack. It's not so much, I don't have to bring so many things. I will bring also a microphone of course, because maybe I would want to record my voice also, which is also really nice. And there's also a few times say it's, it's fun. Listen, it's inspiring and fun. It's I mean love with this really, I'm so happy that that I came to this point that I discovered all of these modular modular world and again, it's thanks to be VCV Rack and yeah, VCV Rack is amazing.

Darwin: It is. So, one of the things that you said earlier is that you started as a drummer and you still kind of feel like you're a drummer in your mind at least. Where do you see that most often coming out in your music? Where do you find your drummer nature showing up in the music that you create?

Omri: Yeah, well, I guess the sequencers and arpeggios and my really rhythmic, and again, I usually I have, when I have sequences, they have at least two or three that are running in different lengths. So I have also polyrhythms and polymetric stuff going on. And rhythm. See, rhythms are everywhere. Even if they're not synced they are still there, the rhythms are still there and really influencing me. And I actually, it's funny because most of the time, I mean, let's say 85% or 90% of my music has no drums in it. At all, no drum sounds. I mean, right. So it's funny that I was a drummer, but there are no drum sounds even no electronic ones or anything. Yeah, but the rhythm is there all the time.

Darwin: Well Omri, I'm afraid to say our time is just about up. Before I let you go, can you tell us where people can go to find more of your work online? Where, what's the best way to see your videos? I guess YouTube - you can do a search, but for people who wanted to start tasting your work, one of the things that happens is when a ton of work gets released, it's hard to know where the starting point is. So if you were to say "Here, folks, start off by looking at these things or by listening to these things.." - what of your videos and what of your album releases would you like people to start with?

Omri: Yeah, so Bandcamp I think is the best place to start with music. They will have all of my albums and on YouTube I have playlists. I'm about almost everything what I've done until now. Actually I looked before and I have close to 500 videos already. So yeah, it's a bit of a mess to know where to start. But, for example, the playlist of the music and where I have all of my weekly jams that I have recorded. And if, if people are interested in starting with modular or starting with VCVRack, most of my videos or really VCV-oriented; that's mainly because of two things: because it's free VCV Rack is free so anyone can use it and because it's free people can do exactly or almost exactly what I do in the videos. So if I would use my modular, my case maybe some people will not have Morphagene or some people who not have this or that. So it's a bit harder to show things. In VCV Rack, lots of things - or most of the things - are available for free so you can just download it and experiment with it. So I guess there is a also a good place to start. I have a whole playlist on how to begin with module and how to begin with VCV Rack. And the most important, I think is to have fun. So, yeah.

Darwin: Yeah. There you go. Yeah. Well, I'm gonna, I want to thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule - your busy video production schedule. My God, 500 videos, I can't even imagine. But, I want to thank you for taking the time they have this chat and, for spending a little time talking about your work.

Omri: Thank you so much for having me. It was really fun.

Darwin: Yeah, likewise. Okay. And with that I'll say goodbye. Have a good one.

Omri: Cheers. You too. Ciao.

Copyright 2020 by Darwin Grosse. All right reserved.