Sabercatte

Syndrome My January 2026 track, Syndrome.

Just uploaded my first track of this 2026 track-a-month project, Syndrome! soundcloud.com/sabercatte/s...

Pardon my sonically-unimpressive demo: I only have two hands. 😅

I bought something a bit out-there recently, a Melbourne Instruments Nina, which is a 12-voice multitimbral analog polysynth with motorized knobs. It’s cool because it gets around one of my main frustrations with analog synths with patch saving, loading something and having the knobs all be wrong.

But as with any music production tip, it’s just that: a tip. If you write something that breaks this “rule” and it sounds great, then to hell with the rule.

YouTube video by Joni from Outsider Sound Don't rely on melody in dance music (do this instead)

This is one of the more useful tips I picked up this year: dance music is largely about groove, not elaborate melodies, and a catchy riff and variations on it will often work best. I think I was already kinda doing that instinctively but it’s good to have it presented: youtu.be/aTcZ3d1BzWQ?...

Something about the Phrygian mode tickles my brain in a way the others mostly don’t. If a random bit of music pops into my head there’s like an 80% chance it’s in Phrygian.

I can use a sound on the Move that’s kinda what I want, then when I move it to Live and want to tweak it I can constrain my choices to similar sounds rather than be faced with the entire library.

I like starting tracks with a constrained set of options and finishing them with my whole toolbox, which is what makes the Ableton Move great for me. I can’t start a track in Live: I just get option paralysis looking at the enormous library of sounds.

The Mummy “when the bass drops and it’s 10 times filthier than you could imagine” meme

Been messing around with a Bass Station II so expect some of this soon

An electronic music production controller featuring a touchscreen display and illuminated pads. The screen shows a menu for selecting various drum kits, including "DECAP DTX" options.

The great thing about Ableton Suite: an almost-infinite variety of presets.

The not-so-great thing about Ableton Suite: an *almost-infinite* variety of presets. I’ve been auditioning drum kits for like 15 minutes and I’m only on D.

Carbonite Something I made for a class.

Just uploaded my very first song to Soundcloud, Carbonite! It's something I did for an Ableton Live class: soundcloud.com/sabercatte/c...

Sabercatte - Heckatronics SSX Freeride 07-18-25 My opening set from Heckatronics' SSX Freeride event on July 18th, 2025.

My set from @hecka.space's SSX Freeride event on the 18th: www.mixcloud.com/Sabercatte/s...

Gonna be playing tomorrow at @hecka.space's DJ SSX Freeride! I'll be opening at 6 PM Pacific. vrc.tl/event/14474

Playing live tonight at 10 PM EST at Kymarera in VRChat! You’ll need to be age verified (either through VRC or through Kymarera or an affiliate). It’ll be Group+ so you can toss me a request though I might not get to it immediately for obvious reasons.

A grey Arturia Minifreak synthesizer sitting on top of a wood and stone coffee table.

Traded a surplus-to-requirements groovebox for an Arturia Minifreak, which I’ve wanted since the Hydrasynth narrowly edged it out as my first synth.

Wow, the OPUS-QUAD and the OMNIS-DUO finally got... streaming service support. Yeah, Pioneer released them without that table-stakes feature for standalone DJ controllers and it took them ALMOST TWO YEARS from the first's release to support it.

Hm, I haven't seen 'em in release firmware yet but it's possible I need to update.

I feel like the Prime 4+ does everything the XDJ-AZ does but for significantly less money. Good ol' Pioneer tax.

I was going to say maybe the AZ has better stem support (Prime 4+ stems are still in beta) but apparently it doesn't support stems at all??

Had some medical stuff going on so I've been a bit delayed in getting stuff together, boo.

Pondering a mobile PA type thing and I really like the Yorkville EXM Mobile 12 I used at Howl, but I wish it had wheels and a handle because it kind of sucks to lug around. But it seems like the systems that do (e.g., JBL Partybox) mostly don't sound as good. Anyone have any suggestions?

To tide you over, here are some of my sets from back in 2012-2014 when I played as GeDM: m.mixcloud.com/GeDM/

I'm also mulling over submitting a demo to play at Vancoufur 2025 so that'll be posted here too if I do. That one may be harder stuff, more electro house/"mainstage" since people will be dancing. My room party set was more tech/deep house.

Couple pics from the room party I played at Howloween! Unfortunately I wasn't able to record the set for technical reasons but I've got an external recorder now and am thinking of recreating and posting it when I have a bit in the next few days.

Just added my logo, from @woodsmoke.bsky.social! Should have a set to share here before too long, and I’m working on setting things up so I can DJ in VRChat.