Making the monster:
An interview with Urs Heckmann
Computer Music: Tell us a bit about your background in both programming and music? How did u-he get started?
Urs Heckmann: “I don’t have a formal education in either, so I guess you could even call me an amateur in both fields! I didn’t study music and never learned to play an instrument. It must have been providence, as I’ve been making music and programming software since I was 14 – with a Commodore C64, by the way.
“I do have a degree in industrial design. The university curriculum wasn’t limited to car design, sunglasses or cutlery: designing a synthesiser – like any electronic device – is a rather typical application of industrial design.
“In 2002, I decided to start building synthesiser plugins on a professional level. That way I could combine my passion for music with my programming skills, under the umbrella of my profession as industrial designer. Everything added up; there was no alternative. It just had to happen that way.”
: Where does your obsession with synths come from? Do you own/use many hardware synths?
UHe: “Back in 1978, the title music of the German version of Space: 1999 was a piece by Jean Michel Jarre. That was the initial spark that got me curious – it set something in motion that ended up as a total obsession with synths. I bought several digital synths during the 1980s.
“I only really started collecting analogue synths ten years ago, mostly because I could use ‘business interest’ as a pretext to fulfil a desire to own all the Jupiters, Prophets and System whatevers! I’ve also got a couple of Euroracks full of modern modular stuff. After seeing people like Max Loderbauer perform live, I’m slowly developing a curiosity for purely modular performance.”
: Can you explain the concept of the ongoing Berlin Modular project, of which Bazille is a part?
UHe: “A few years ago I wanted to build a proper modular software synth with patch cords and everything. It seemed that most existing products strictly separated the control-rate signal paths from the audio rate signal paths, while a real modular synth doesn’t distinguish between the two – one can, say, patch an envelope through a resonant low-pass filter to alter the shape of the signal.
“So I just started putting things together. It kind of worked as a proof of concept, but developing something akin to a Moog Modular this way turned out to be a hilariously ravenous CPU hog. So ‘Berlin Modular’ had to be pushed into the future. We’re making progress, but we still have to develop some core technologies before it can become a viable product. We plan to devise a special programming language for that.”
: What are some of your personal favourite patching tricks to use in Bazille and Bazille CM?
UHe: “One neat trick I haven’t seen very often in Bazille is to use one of the oscillators as a waveshaper. You just need to set that oscillator to zero Hertz and phase modulate it, linearly, from an audio signal – for instance the other oscillator. You get some pretty gnarly sounds.
“Another thing that could be explored further is classic DX-type FM. The full Bazille is capable of eight-operator FM, and even Bazille CM can do threeoperator FM using both oscillators and a resonating filter. It would be great if
Computer Music readers would investigate this mostly unexplored territory, and publish their results!”
: Tell us about the differences between Bazille CM and the full Bazille.
UHe: “Bazille CM has almost exactly the same modules as the full version, only fewer. Two oscillators and one filter instead of four oscillators and four filters, for example, and there’s only one LFO and no extra ramp generators. Having more modules lets you do crazy stuff that’s impossible in Bazille CM. Modular system owners know that adding just one module doubles the possibilities.
“One cool feature of the full version is the spring reverb, which has a great oldschool vibe in keeping with modular synth traditions.”
: What’s next for u-he?
UHe: “We recently announced a little synth called RePro-1, which we’re designing primarily as a slavish emulation of a certain vintage analogue. Technically, it’s another stepping stone towards Zebra 3 and Berlin Modular, as we’re researching a novel method of computing analogue oscillator models. We’re also bringing the analogue filter modelling used in Diva to the next level. RePro-1 will look like a simple synth, but the R&D we put into it will also benefit the complex synths we have planned.”
“One neat trick I haven’t seen very often in Bazille is to use one of the oscillators as a waveshaper”