This driver is able to be used for the AX-Synth Shoulder Synthesizer, too. This is the AX-Synth Editor for Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP and Microsoft(R).
As the Belgian drum and bass producer GOES GLOBAL, he tells us about the challenges of playing drum and bass with a full band and how Roland helps make it work. Boris Daenen, better known as Netsky, is taking on a new challenge. Having toured the world as a DJ and producer, he’s putting his high-tempo drum and bass onstage with a full band.
But keeping pace with the frantic drum and bass BPM is not the only challenge – he needs the fast, reliable instruments with the flexibility to trigger the sounds from his album and deliver the awesome stage-filling. As the Belgian drum and bass producer GOES GLOBAL, he tells us about the challenges of playing drum and bass with a full band and how Roland helps make it work. Boris Daenen, better known as Netsky, is taking on a new challenge. Having toured the world as a DJ and producer, he’s putting his high-tempo drum and bass onstage with a full band. But keeping pace with the frantic drum and bass BPM is not the only challenge – he needs the fast, reliable instruments with the flexibility to trigger the sounds from his album and deliver the awesome stage-filling sounds his fans expect.
With shows lined up all over Europe, he’s accompanied by drummer Michael Schack on the new and, and keyboard player Babl on the,. Boris himself is playing the AX-Synth and Octapad (it’s the first time he’s played an instrument onstage).
We caught up with Boris and Michael a couple of days before they went onstage at Brixton Academy to get the lowdown on going live. Hi guys, so how are you finding the TD-30KV? Michael – The TD-30KV is the fastest drum kit on the market and since we’re playing drum and bass – which is way above the typical 132bpm of dance music – it’s perfect. You need something that works quickly when you’re drumming at those tempos. How are you using it? Michael – The SPD-SX and TD-30KV are the drum combination of the Netsky live setup.
So all the songs are played live from the TD-30 and the SPD-SX. We’re also side-chaining the bass sounds from a computer. These bass sounds and some of the effects are the only things you’ll hear that are not played live. Boris – Yeah, the great thing is we can trigger all the kicks and snares that I use in my music with the drum machine – it’s so fast there’s no delay. I can put my own kicks and snares into the live setup using the SPD-SX. I just use it like a sampler so Michael can trigger it on his drum kit – and there is only a 2.9 millisecond delay.
We can side-chain everything else played and make it sound really pumping – like a proper drum and bass DJ mix, which is exactly what we were looking for. So how much of what we hear are you playing live? Michael – There are no drum sounds on any backing tracks or any computer tracks. It’s not a typical DJ-with-a-drummer concert – it’s completely live. It’s very different from many of the other acts. Which kits do you use on the TD-30KV? Boris – The kicks and snares are all from the album and the rest of the percussion comes from the TD-30 – we just needed to have that rock sound.
Michael – All the cymbal sounds, all the hi-hats, all the tom sounds, including some of the live-play drum effects. It’s a 100% controllable combination of everything. It took us a long time to get it right but as soon as we found it, it just clicked. Would you ever consider using an acoustic hybrid kit? Michael – No! It’s not possible for electronic music to make people move in the same way with any sound that comes from an acoustic kit. If you play dance, tech house, drum and bass or dubstep, people really need that electronic drum sound.
Boris – The most important thing is to have a good drummer! I’m very lucky.
I’m not even joking! There are a lot drummers who can’t maintain that tempo.
Michael’s the backbone of the whole sound onstage. He’s the whole rhythm section.
How fast does Michael have to drum? Michael – The average tempo is like 175bpm, but after an hour it feels more like 198! You must be exhausted Michael – I do a lot of demos to keep in shape. The most important thing for me is breathing. It’s the same for our keyboard player (Babl), who really has to play some of the licks very fast. Boris – We’ve got three massage girls on the rider wherever we go.
So after the show the musicians can have a massage. I’ll just be having a beer.
Can you play the drums Boris? Michael – Boris is an excellent drummer. That’s the advantage of working with him. The drum tracks he programmed on the album are very realistic. There’s no scientific programming; it’s all possible to play live. So the AX-Synth – who’s playing that? Michael – Boris is the AX specialist.
Boris – I’m not an expert yet, I’ll try to get there for the show though. Actually on Friday I’ll just be happy if I don’t play any false notes. I’m new to all of this but I’m very excited about it, I’ve been jamming in my bedroom and it feels amazing! I’ve still got to figure the out because it’s the first time I’ll be playing a proper instrument onstage. I’ve always been producing at home or DJing so I’ve never played an instrument onstage. What are your favourite sounds? I like the guitar sound, but I’m using my own sounds too.
I’m so used to software synths, I like to play them on that. It’s a great feel of control and you can do so much with it. What’s the audience reaction like when you play together? Michael – We did some DJ sets with Boris behind the turntables and me on a and once on the TD-20 V-Drums, and the reactions were amazing.
But now we’re taking it even further. We’re playing a real live concert so we’ll let you know how people react. How did you approach rehearsals?
Boris – We’ve been rehearsing for almost half a year now. It started very technically, just us looking at what we could do with the setup.
![Editors Editors](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/eH5S-V5ZwSU/0.jpg)
But now we have a keyboard player too, I think this the eighth practice we’ve had. We’re focussing for the Brixton setup for Friday. How did you two start working together?
Michael – It was really weird. Boris and I got in touch through Facebook. I was posting on his wall and at the exact same time he was positing a comment on one of my demos. We arranged to meet up the next day, we lived nearby, and that same evening I was on stage with him with an Octapad. Boris already had it in his head to do a complete live show, so we just started jamming and took it from there.
Boris, you’ve just come back off tour – how was that? Boris – I just spent a month in South Africa and America. The most I slept in a night was three or four hours. I was exhausted but it was fun. It’s amazing to see the genre growing like that in America and to get such a great reaction in South Africa.
I was playing to crowds of 6,000 people and all the gigs sold out. I’m really keen to bring the live set out there – it looks beautiful and the crowds are great. Where was the best place you played? Boris – Definitely Cape Town.
My two favourite countries for drum and bass are New Zealand and South Africa. What have you got coming up this summer? Boris – We’re doing Rock Wertcher in Belgium, which is one of the Europe’s most famous rock festivals. We’re also doing Lovebox in the UK and Global Gathering and I’ve got quite a few DJ shows booked up too, so it’s going to be busy.
What music do you listen to? Boris – I listen to Michael’s demos all the time Michael – So you know, a lot of Abba, The Three Degrees Boris – Actually, I’m really into my hip-hop and I grew up with reggae, so I still love all that.
I’m checking out a lot of electronic music because I want to keep up with the scene. I’m really into Ed Banger and also like Sebastian and Justice. But I listen to all sorts of music.