First of all, congratulations to all of you who have successful CD
projects and live gigs underway or completed.

I'm very much an amateur musician, but I hope to have a self-produced
CD completed in 2002 as well.

I've been moving toward an all-electronic sound, as time and equipment
budget allow. Last year I finished off the A-100 cabinet with four
rows of modules, comprising a fairly comprehensive three-VCO voice and
a sequencer row. For analog percussion I added a Vermona DRM-1 II, a
MAM MB33 II for 303 sounds, and a Spectral Audio Neptune for Minimoog
sounds. I also added a Regelwerk for creating drum/bass patterns, and
for real-time interaction with the A100 and Matrix 1000. (I find
having the Regelwerk's faders and buttons patched into the A100 via
the A191 module to be a very pleasant way to work.)

Unfortunately, my Matrix 1000 has suddenly joined the MemoryMoog and
Juno 106 on the sick list. Now I'm without an analog polysynth,
putting the whole business on hold until I repair the Oberheim or
replace it.

The last piece of the puzzle is a Vocoder. The Doepfer Vocoder modules
would be nice, but chances are I'll either get a standalone Vocoder,
or replace the Matrix 1000 with a virtual analog machine with built-in
vocoder effects. I'm trying to decide how much of an analog purist to
be. The Waldorf Q and Access Virus both seem nice, but if I can scrape
together enough, I'd rather have a Jomox SunSyn.

Another new direction for me is that I'm spending less and less time
in front of the keyboard, and more and more time in front of the A100
and Regelwerk, creating live interactive music with the step
sequencers, random LFOs, switches, buttons and faders. There's lots
more to explore in this area, and I expect this to be a major focus
for me in 2002.

Joe