Solid State Logic, the world’s leading manufacturer of analogue and digital audio consoles, is pleased to announce that Peter Luts has installed a Solid State Logic Matrix, X-Rack and X-Patch at the heart of his home studio. The prolific Belgian dance producer first rose to prominence as a key creative force behind such global superstars as Ian Van Dahl and Anna Grace, as well as his own project, Lasgo, who’s debut single Something sold over five million copies. Also an in-demand remixer, Peter’s discography reveals a prolific desire to produce music and a hectic workload, which drove him to explore ways to improve his workflow and expand his sonic palette.
“I was looking for a compact system with a huge sound and a lot of routing options,” Peter begins. “I already had quite a bit of outboard that I wanted to integrate better in to my studio, and I also wanted to add some new SSL processing. The guys at Joystick Audio (Joystick.be) set me up with a demo of a few systems, and it was pretty clear that Solid State Logic was the way forward. So now Matrix sits at the centre of my studio and I’ve expanded its capabilities with X-Rack. And as an easy way to integrate my synths I picked up X-Patch.”
“When I was investigating Matrix’s capabilities it became clear that you can control pretty much everything in [Apple] Logic from the Matrix, which was another big plus for my setup. I have a lot of synths in my studio, both hardware and software, so while I was upgrading I also decided on an Alpha-Link MADI SX with MadiXtreme64 PCIe interface for my DAW I/O. Basically this is to give me all the ins and outs I need to mix analogue, but without the high price tag that is usually associated with multi-channel converters of this quality.”
Like so many professional electronic music composers Peter faced frustrations in patching his hardware synth’ collection, a challenge easily solved with X-Patch. “With X-Patch I have the flexibility to route any particular synth I need to an input of the Matrix. X-Patch deals with the -10dBV to +4dBu conversion for those (usually vintage) synths that have a relatively low output. Being able to route the synths I need to Matrix with a simple mouse-click in the X-Patch remote software is just so easy and fast! Once set up, it’s a no-brainer. And the front panel inputs come in really handy when I have to quickly patch an extra source into Matrix.”
For outboard processing, Peter relies on his X-Rack that houses six SuperAnalogue EQs that are constantly hooked up to Matrix and typically used for all the key components of his tracks. “With the X-Rack EQs I can really carve into the audio and create great sounds, even at extreme settings. And then there’s the Bus Compressor module – it just sits on the mixbus inserts of Matrix and adds that typical SSL ‘glue’ on a mix. The sound of those X-Rack modules is so tight and punchy. And big. No plug-in can come close to real analogue processing of this quality! And those X-Rack modules are also recallable, which is another big plus.”
“Having the SSL gear in my studio has really changed the way that I work. I use more outboard now, but that’s because with Matrix all of my outboard is much more integrated then it ever was in my old setup. This new setup really invites me to use real analog gear as it’s all so easily accessible. Reworking my studio to include the SSL gear has been a revelation, not only in terms of audio quality but the speed and ease with which I now integrate all of my vintage gear, be it synths or outboard. Now I get all of the sonic advantages of the analogue world but without any of the hassles.”