Oli Freke is an artist and journalist whose works have appeared Sound in Sound, The Quietusagain Mixmag. This includes using math to explore the musical power of the Western 12 tone scale and a deeper dive into effects plug-ins. He even wrote a book that traces the evolution of the synthesizer from 1963 to 1995, documenting the transition from analog to digital and back.
His new project Beat Gemsa coffee table visual history of drum machines from publisher Bjooks. Like other Bjooks articles, Beat Gems it’s loaded with beautiful photos, fascinating historical stories, and practical advice for getting the most out of your gear, whether it’s a vintage Roland TR-808 or a modern oddity like Erica Synths’ Pērkons.
What’s the first app you install on a new phone or computer?
If I buy a new computer, it will probably be my music computer, so I’ll be installing Ableton Live right away. It’s an amazing piece of music software, with a feature set that still sounds amazing compared to when I started making electronic music with an Atari ST 520 that could handle MIDI, with no sound at all.
What social media do you use the most (if any)?
Maybe YouTube, if we count it as social media. It’s great to have experts in almost any subject explain ideas, concepts, and methods. I watch a lot of science, math, chess, and, of course, electronic music. I could do with a few attempts at algorithmic clickbait, which is one reason I’m not a heavy user of other social media.
What’s the most disappointing gadget you’ve ever owned?
Vegetable choppers and cubers seem like a good idea, but they never work well and never save any time or effort.
What game do you have the fondest memories of?
Elite on the Atari ST was unbelievable. He built a world on a shoestring (memory) with difficult technical constraints, and the results were truly ingenious.
What is one thing you wish you could create?
As a singer, I wish I had written a song that was known and loved by the world, and that fans would want me to play it at every opportunity – until I got so sick of it that, in the end, I wished I hadn’t written it. Maybe this has happened, and all these wishes have been fulfilled!
What is the best advice you ever received?
From a dad (I’m writing this fittingly on Father’s Day in the UK): “Say yes to any opportunity that comes your way — worry about whether or not you can later!”
What is your current obsession?
Drum machines! Research i Beat Gems the book reminded me of the importance of rhythm in the human experience of music; how drum machines have stepped into this need, and in doing so changed music culture over the past sixty years. It’s absolutely fascinating.
What do you do when you need to focus?
I log on to www.rinse.fm/kool, select a set of drum’n’bass rollers, and get really excited (and focused).
What do you do when you feel stuck?
Remind me of the infinite number of combinations of ideas. I once wrote an article that showed that there were quintillion (82^18) 10-note chords that could be written in an eight-note octave.
What was the last piece of physical media you purchased?
A song on vinyl from a great movie called The Resynator. It’s about an obscure synth from the early ’80s and a daughter’s quest to learn about her father, who invented it but sadly died as a child. Can’t recommend it enough.
What do you think you should spend on?
The ultimate road bike. Compared to cars, bicycles are cheap, and you can buy equipment not far from the price that high-end professionals use for reasonable figures. The difference between a good bike and a run-of-the-mill bike is huge. Cycling in the countryside on a good bike brings me great joy.
What would be the tagline of your biopic?
Watch a man type words into a computer. For years. Then watch him make music on the computer. And years. Then you see him doing normal things involving the house, family and car. He was turned away from boarding a plane to Berlin to launch his Kickstarter because they changed the rules blindly! Disappointingly, this does not turn the biopic into a Falling down-type status.
What was the last GIF or meme you used?
