SF: What is one of your earliest creative memories?
In elementary school I would clean the music teachers chalkboard in exchange for more time to play the wooden xylophones. That was the first time I figured out how to trade a skill I had for access to more instruments and experiences I wanted, so I consider that to be my first act of all around creativity.
SF: Who are your creative influences or what have been your most influential or impactful collaborations / contexts?
My most impactful and influential collaboration in my modular career so far has been with Yasi Perera. Yasi doesn’t even play eurorack but somehow I’ve learned a lot about how I want to approach my own system through various conversations and explorations with our musical project, Quite Eyes of Air. Our collaboration has inspired me to learn, read, play, travel, speak, sing, and even scream. I also should shout out to Aaron Mace, Henna Chou, Lisa Cameron and Jonathan F. Horne who all played a very unique role in Texas and beyond in the cultivation of me expressing myself through musical contexts. The Church of The Friendly Ghost in Austin was a special experience of getting to learn an incredible amount about music, through a kind and generous community. I could list of all my friends here but i don’t think anyone actually wants my full gratitude journal. I am thankful I have so many amazing friends and inspirations all around me.
SF: What does your compositional process look like? What are the main challenges of composing music for you? What are the parts that feel easy, if any?
My composition process varies depending on who I am playing with. Usually it starts with listening to a lot of hours of lectures and Youtube videos. If I’m playing with Quite Eyes of Air it also looks like reading poetry a lot. If there’s an easy part to my process it’s probably that part. Afterwards I have to start narrowing it down, and that’s where it gets hard. Once my samples are in my modular I play with just a eurorack, and I also record into it. At home I sometimes use little pods or recently the HTCC from Landscape to supplement my synth, so I set up my desk with all hardware. Then I patch, usually with 3 sound sources, split through different things, and always with delays. I often leave patches playing while I do house chores to see how I feel and making my patch is usually a long process. By the time it gets to performing i’m always just improvising, so my composition process is mostly about preparing myself with the right tool box to draw from.
SF: How has the process of making music changed for you over the years?
The biggest shift I can see other than playing synth, obviously, is the inclusion of computers. My musical process really changed with the release of the Stereo Triggered Sampler. Since I work primarily in eurorack I was limited by short sample times. Once I had the freedom of long form samples I switched to using those as primary sound sources. When the wav recorder was made I switched to recording into my synth too, so now I have 2 modules that use micro sd cards. I even carry a little zip-case for my cards now. I had tried playing banjo, clarinet, saxophone, musical saw, guitar, singing, but never really computers.
SF: What got you into modular synthesizers?
4MS did, probably Dan Green specifically. I had tried it a lot though and wasn’t personally swayed to patch regularly until the SMR came out. All my music sounded like a creepy carnival before then, and I was glad to have a break. Once I got used to playing I felt like I could start to actually learn what’s up with patching. I still have a ton to learn. Luckily, I can read manuals now, but even that took a while. At first I felt like something about modular synthesizers was like too hard for me or something. I wish VCV rack had been invented like a decade ago.
SF: How much are you dependent on technology and how much are new technological inventions important for developing your sound?
Rampa Labs/ČIPKE INITIATIVE (Ljubljana)
Photo: Katja Goljat
I feel very dependent on technology. My instrument itself doesn’t work without electricity constantly flowing, and I barely interact with acoustic instruments. My process is also prone to change depending on the new innovations available to me, and I enjoy incorporating new instruments and options into my set-up. At the moment, I can imagine my future being even more linked with technology as I hopefully learn more. I do also want to learn piano though.
SF: What attracts or draws you into exploring or learning a piece of hardware or software? What instruments or tools inspire you?
I’m generally prone toward exploring, but I’m most likely to notice gear that has been introduced to me directly. Learning from manuals alone can be hard, and there’s also too much information and too many options in general. So, if someone has something and shows it to me IRL that’s the quickest way. I’m attracted to a lot of instruments but I lack the self discipline to learn most of them, so for now I’m playing synths. Inspiration can come from a lot of directions for me, and sometimes it’s nothing to do with music or technology, but an inspiration to express myself. Or someone else doing something. Poetry, nature, regular life, and lectures are all big sources of inspiration and also themes you can find in my music.
SF: Is there something that you’d like to be able to do with technology in your work that you can’t at the moment?
Yes. I feel super inspired by Moisés Horta Valenzuela and I wish I could wake up tomorrow and suddenly be able to make games in VR and make musical face filters. Or do boss visual art in general. There’s also modules I wish people would make for me :)
SF: How did you get involved with 4MS? What’s your role there?
I met the 4MS crew in Austin. Dan Green and I met through COTFG and Jeannot Quenson who is now my co-worker used to be my neighbor in Texas. We all ended up in the PNW because Texas got too hot. My job title is Communications and Community Outreach. We’re a small office so we all do many things. I really love workshops and education though, and so does everyone at 4MS, and luckily I get to help facilitate that.
SF: How did Synth Library come about? Do you consider it a political project? What’s your teaching style? What got you interested in music pedagogy? Is there anything specific you want your students to walk away with?
Punctum/TRIGGER SOUNDCHECK (Prague)
Photo: Mary C.
The Synth Library came about from a desire to share resources and synthesizers with people who may not normally access them. Specifically, I felt lonely as a woman working in the synth industry, and I was hoping to see a shift in the demographics at events and around. I researched a lot of ideas on my path to thinking of the library, but everything just clicked when I found S1- and Felisha Ledesma and I co-founded the first library, thinking it’d be some gear in a closet. It quickly out grew the closet, and luckily the gear has been shared with a lot of people over the past three plus years, and is now run by a great team of people.
I wish I could say exactly what my teaching style is, but I’m not totally sure. I can say that I’m into active learning, and I know I myself learn more with a story telling/hands on combo approach. Just in case, my style is to try to cover all the bases by saying things, playing things, writing them down, and telling stories about them.
Usually I just want my students to walk away feeling capable to learn more. That isn’t a light concept, especially with modular synthesis because you need to know what certain words mean to even be able to read more. It’s kind of like learning another language, and it’s a long process.
SF: In the vein of Eno’s Oblique Strategies, could you share a few suggestions, patch techniques, or exercises for composition for incorporation into a music-making workflow? (This can be as abstract as strategy 00 or as in depth as 16 from our Percussion Synthesis: Building Blocks article.)
Once my bandmate Sam Hamilton said to me “ if its bad just play louder ”.
Alissa DeRubeis currently resides in Portland, OR, where she works for 4MS and S1.
A co-founder of the S1 Synth Library and Synth Library Prague, Alissa enjoys teaching intro workshops at home and around the world, patching pre-amps and resonant filters, and playing improvised music.