Octave One reveal their favorite gear for live techno

When it comes to live techno, few in the industry are as experienced as Detroit natives Octave One. The duo of Lenny and Lawrence Burden have been churning out live sets focusing on their relentless techno for decades and their dedication to the craft has allowed them to earn the reputation of being innovators in their field. Following the release of their sixth album ‘Love by Machine’, they’ve constructed a new live show, set to be featured at Movement Electronic Music Festival, which will showcase why they are revered masters of their hardware.

It’s clear from what they’ve produced on ‘Love by Machine’ that the human element is at the forefront, even if the music is machine-based. On the development of the new material, Lawrence says it was all about getting back to their roots: “We decided to go back to how we used to make our records, when we didn’t have so many ‘sophisticated’ audio devices. Back to when we interacted in the studio together as musicians.”

With Movement Electronic Music Festival on the horizon, Mixmag has tapped the Burden brothers to shed light on their favorite gear. Here they display their technical knowledge in order to provide a glimpse of how they develop their captivating performances.

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This unit serves as the master sequencer and master midi clock. It has two midi out ports for a total 32 midi channels. Enough channels to supply midi data to all of the synths, drum machines, and selected effect units. It also provides the master midi clock for various drum machines and samplers. It also has six audio outputs to send separated drum and synth hits to the mixing console. Right now it’s the Akai MPC1000, but possibly soon the Akai MPC live will take its place.

A combination drum machine, synthesizer, sequencer, and effect unit, it's very much underrated. Easy and intuitive to operate, it works well for on the fly sequencing of the onboard sounds and external synths. It also does a good job as an effect unit for external sound processing with the ability to run three different effects at once.

Because you have to have bass! This is an analog synthesizer that really only does one thing, pump out warm full bass. It has two Oscillators and a complete set of controls for tweaking the sound in a variety of ways.

A very versatile and compact analog synthesizer. Four voices that can be setup as four separate mono synths or four voice synths capable of playing chords or as a powerful unison. It's great for leads, additional bass, and a host of other sounds.

More than just a sampler, this unit syncs loops and phrases to midi clock and well as allows you to manipulate these same loops and phrases in many different ways that can bring life to a static sample. It has 6 audio outputs with great converters that are clear, loud, and punchy.

To see the ‘Love by Machine’ live show and the Burden brothers in action, catch Octave One performing on the Star Gate stage at Movement on May 27. View 2017 schedule here

For more on Movement, read about the greatest aspects of the festival here

Harrison is Mixmag's East Coast Editor. Follow him on Twitter here