What kind of music are Tone2 into or aiming at?

[Nielzie]

I'm just wondering what kind of music are you guys into? I read that one of Markus' favorite songs is by Depeche Mode ("Enjoy The silence"). I'm a fan of them too Gladiator and FireBird (and also Vanguard) are pretty trance/techno sounding though imho. Is that coincidental or do you try to aim for that type of sound/music? Do you even aim for a specific music genre or sound (warm/cold/smooth/harsh, etc) when creating a synth?

[Markus Krause]

I personally are influenced by the 80s, Hard Rock, Synth Pop, Dance, Trance, Tekkno, Metal, Industrial, Electro and Freestyle.
But i only designed a part of the sounds for the synthesizers. The majority is done by freelancers with various musical preferences. A large part of the features which are included are requests from user-side.

When we design a synth we try to keep it as versatile and usable as possible. We do not limit it to musical generes, because this would mean that we also would also limit the creativity of the musician.

[Bastiaan van Noord]

I started out in the eighties as a scratch dj, so I was very much into old funk/fusion/jazz/etc breaks, basically everything scratch or sample worthy
From there switched to progressive and psytrance in '92. Lately I listen a lot to progressive house, but there are also days where I just listen to 80's pop/80's rap/Electro or whatever I feel like at that moment

[Nielzie]

So being one guy from Germany and the other from the Netherlands, how did you guys meet?

And in what language do you communicate with each other?

[Markus Krause]

I'm not completely sure. Bastiaan please correct me, if i'm wrong.

Some years ago Bastiaan was a Firebird customer. He used the synth a lot and created a large part of the firebird sounds. He had a lot of passion for audio stuff an knowledge about the products. He offered to help me with the old forum...

...Meanwhile Bastiaan is involed to the development of the products. He's the lead sound designer, does customer support and writes texts for the website. Besides that he designs own soundsets which he distributes on his website and on tone2.com.

Bastiaan speaks Dutch, which is similar to German. I mostly can understand it when he speaks Dutch, which is more like a heavy dialect, but we use to communicate in English.

[GeorgeZ]

Hehe. I speak Afrikaans (guess where I'm originally from )... so I would most likely understand Markus, and will most definitely understand Bastiaan (I watch Joernaal at work everyday at lunch, on the foreign TV channel here in NZ )

[Bastiaan van Noord]

I'm not completely sure. Bastiaan please correct me, if i'm wrong.

Yep that's about it, although I think I stepped in around the release of Filterbank2 and Firebird alphas.
 

Bastiaan speaks Dutch, which is similar to German. I mostly can understand it when he speaks Dutch, which is more like a heavy dialect, but we use to communicate in English.

I understand German as well, but our English is good enough to converse and get our ideas across. Both Dutch and German are apart from some minor differences quite similar actually.

[Bastiaan van Noord]

Hehe. I speak Afrikaans (guess where I'm originally from )... so I would most likely understand Markus, and will most definitely understand Bastiaan (I watch Joernaal at work everyday at lunch, on the foreign TV channel here in NZ )

Next support mail to you in all Dutch

Quite some differences between Afrikaans and Dutch though, I seem to remember for example your word for 'guest room' is 'vrijkamer', which is not exactly something you want to be knocking on doors and ask for here in Amsterdam

[GeorgeZ]

Hehe. I speak Afrikaans (guess where I'm originally from )... so I would most likely understand Markus, and will most definitely understand Bastiaan (I watch Joernaal at work everyday at lunch, on the foreign TV channel here in NZ )

Next support mail to you in all Dutch

Quite some differences between Afrikaans and Dutch though, I seem to remember for example your word for 'guest room' is 'vrijkamer', which is not exactly something you want to be knocking on doors and ask for here in Amsterdam

"vrijkamer"... no such word in Afrikaans so I won't make that mistake! Either way, awaiting my "Next support mail to you, in all Dutch". I have a secret weapon though, if you must know, my wife au paired in Utrecht after she finished school, and she can still speak a bit of Dutch to this day, so bring it!

[Bastiaan van Noord]

"vrijkamer"... no such word in Afrikaans so I won't make that mistake!

aw shucks and here I was trying to come off all smart and stuff  'Vrijkamer' would roughly translate as 'make out room' btw...I guess the kind of mistake that lands people into a darkroom instead of the hotel room they're actually looking for.

Either way, awaiting my "Next support mail to you, in all Dutch". I have a secret weapon though, if you must know, my wife au paired in Utrecht after she finished school, and she can still speak a bit of Dutch to this day, so bring it!

[yoda mode]

"then bring it will I"

[/yoda mode]