I’m Pete. I make electronic music as Dubdelay — dubby electronica, trip hop, house, techno and whatever else turns up along the way. Some of it is finished tracks, some of it is live jams. That’s the reason for all the gear in the first place.
Where it started
There was always music in the house growing up, from reggae to classical, with plenty of Bowie, Cocteau Twins and Sade along the way. Hearing The Prodigy on Dave Fanning’s radio show opened another door. Seeing Underworld at Féile a couple of years later really got me hooked.
Early Plastikman, The Orb, Orbital and UNKLE have all stayed with me. I like music that has room to wander, whether that’s a beat, a bassline or something a bit more atmospheric.
How I make a tune
I started with Reason and later settled into Ableton Live. Session View suits the way I work: get some melodies and beats together as clips, then play with the arrangement. It has a bit of the feel of DJing. If I’m making dance music, I’m usually standing up and having a bop myself.
I’ve been working on live sets too, one built around multitracks of my releases and another around sequences prepared on my Minilogue, with space to improvise the drums and dubs. That’s where getting the hardware talking becomes part of making the music, rather than a separate job.
Getting it all talking
MIDIrock came out of trying to get my own setup working. You sit down to make a bit of music and end up wondering why one machine won’t follow the clock, or why another isn’t getting any notes. A good evening can disappear into cables and menus.
I’m still learning too. I haven’t got my head around every bit of CC control, and sometimes just getting the machines playing together is enough. This isn’t me pretending to know everything. It’s a place to share useful answers so the next person has a bit less digging to do.
The guides point back to manufacturer documents, and say when a connection still needs a hands-on test. My own music-making is the reason for the site, not a substitute for checking the facts.
A bit of Dubdelay
My first album, Peace Fire, brought together tunes I’d made over the years. With Busking Parrots, I was working towards an album from the start. Different approaches, but both came out of learning, trying things and seeing what stuck.
If you fancy hearing what I’m making, there are tracks, releases and hardware jams over on Dubdelay.xyz. Have a listen. Hope you find something you like.
Read about MIDIrock on Dubdelay, or head back to find your gear here.
Cheers,
Pete