Unveiling My Current Setup

It's about stories for my current gears

Hello friends,

I uploaded this video on Instagram a little while ago, and I wanted to share a bit more about what’s happening behind it.

Lately, my live setup has been going through a quiet transformation. Not in a dramatic “everything must go” kind of way, but more like gradually reshaping itself around how I actually want to perform.

For a long time, my system was centered around Eurorack. I loved it, but over time, I started to feel a bit of friction, especially when it came to limitation of the sound palette it offers . I wanted something that could move with me more easily, without losing too much flexibility.

That’s where Elektron Tonverk started to find its place. It’s already taking over the role that Eurorack used to play in my setup. Being able to load sounds freely and bring everything into a more compact form has changed how I think about live performance. It’s not perfect yet—there are still things I hope will improve—but it already feels like an instrument I can grow into.

Alongside it is Elektron Syntakt, which was actually my first Elektron machine. In a way, everything started there. I initially thought of it as a drum machine, but it quickly became much more than that. It’s one of those pieces of gear that quietly becomes essential without you noticing.

If there’s a “brain” in this setup, it’s the Torso T-1. I’ve been using it since 2022, and it’s still the closest thing I’ve found to translating ideas directly into movement and structure. I did spend some time with Oxi One, but I ended up coming back to the T-1. It has its flaws, like most things, but it’s deeply aligned with how I think.

Interestingly, even though I’ve been moving away from Eurorack, I haven’t let it go completely. I still keep a small case in my live setup—not as the main voice, but as a kind of color palette. It processes sounds coming from Tonverk, adding small variations, textures, and moments of unpredictability. Modules like Intellijel Multigrain and Qu-Bit Data Bender are especially fun in that role. It’s less about building a system, and more about creating little pockets of surprise.

There’s also a visual side to this performance. On the iPad, I’m using Chromatose. I’ve been searching for something like this for a while—something flexible enough to be expressive, but simple enough to actually use in a live context. I tried other options, including VS by Imaginando, but this is the first one that really clicked for me.

All of these changes are really pointing toward the same thing: I want my live sets to feel more fluid, more responsive, and a bit less constrained by the tools themselves.

Going forward, I’d like to use this space to write more about creativity, process, and the challenges of making music independently, so posts like this might become a bit less frequent. But if you’re curious about anything here, feel free to ask—I’m always happy to go deeper.

Thanks for reading,
Hiroshi