alppIVhouz





"The studio set-up has changed dramatically during the years. When I first started working with electronic music in 1988 while still living with my parents in Kemi, everything was set up around a 4-track Fostex cassette recorder, a Yamaha keyboard, Alesis drummachine and an Amiga 500 computer which functioned as a sampler and a sequencer. All mixing was done with a budget batteryoperated Vivanco Dj mixer. I didn't really call it a studio, and hence I had no name for it. Some of the tracks created there ended up on the first Lumi releases."

"In 1994 I moved to my first own apartment to the city of Oulu, namely to a section of the city called Alppila. An extremely small apartment, but it was a penthouse on the 8th floor, facing south, to the sea; an inspiring view. The first version of Alppi-Houz studios was born. More vintage stuff here (SH-101, Yamaha CS-15, Siel Opera-6, CR-8000, TR-707, DX-100, Hohner String Performer...), plus my first real mixer, Boss BX-16. Alongside the Amiga, there was now an Atari running Cubase. Also, for beats I was mainly using Roland R8mkII. This was basically the set up for Selkäsaari Tracks. Engineeringwise this was a fun time; it was quite often when a book would be holding a key down on the String Performer while I was playing the CS-15 live on one hand and tweaking the knobs on the Opera on the other, fading in a channel on the mixer with my foot, all going down live to DAT... Very dynamic."


the original Alppi-Houz, sometime in 1998 I believe


"In March 1997 the MPC-2000 took over sampling and sequencing from the Amiga and the Atari. The first track I did with the MPC was Let Me Luv U. After that I've never really used computers too much in the studio -apart from running the software for Clavia NordModular, my new fave synth later in 1999. Also Kawai 100 F came in, BassStation, Casio CZ1000, and a new mixer, Soundcraft Spirit Folio. Both The Spirits Inside Me and When No One Is Watching We Are Invisible were recorded with these equipment. "

"Alppi-Houz mkII was the result of my move to Helsinki in the beginning of 2000. Most of the old analogue stuff was now gone, some replaced by others. New stuff in were mainly Alesis S4 and Akai S-6000. Also, finally I got a decent mixer, Mackie 24-8. It was in this relatively digital and midi-based environment where I worked the 2,5 years that I lived in Helsinki. This is where Different was born."

"In 2002 it was time to move a again, and a new studio was born, Alppi-Houz mkIII. Technically this wasn't different from mkII. Only some remix work and an odd EP was done here. Then, in the end of 2002 the next set up, AlppiHouz mkIIIb, came to existance. The difference to the previous model is that now, for the first time, I set up my studio in a separate room; previously I'd always had my studio just in the corner of a room, almost as part of the furniture. But now I have enough room for the Mackie expansion, a bunch of old analogue stuff (CV/Gate! DIN-sync!), and some harmless but useless, fun gadgets."

"The latest addition and also a big change in terms of making music has been switching from MPC based sequencing to computers, in late 2003. I'm still using a lot of hardware, and most of the sounds originate from hardware, both old and new. But basically all audio is now being recorded on the computer and mixed virtually.This gives more freedom and control in terms of everything basically. And now there's even more analogue stuff, and more CV/gate, hence the mkIIIcv. This is the environment "Dualizm" was born, with excitement of trying new techniques, and using old machines in a way where they were more controlled."

"In 2007 the great change of separating the "home" and "studio" took place. For the first time I now have a dedicated environment for making music, and also the 12'000 plus recordcollection fits here nicely. I give you the alppIVhouz."


set up alppIVhouz, Feb 2008

Steinberg Cubase SX3

Akai MPC-2000
Akai S-6000
Alesis S4 Quadrasynth
Armon Concert
ARP Odyssey
Casio CZ-1000
Casio DH-100 saxophone
Casio PT-31
Casio VL-1
Clavia Nord Modular G2
Clef Microsynth B30
Creamware Minimax
Doepfer custom A-100 based Analog Modular System feat dodgy homemade modules
Echo Musicos Shruti Box
Faemi 1M
Hohner Stringperformer
Korg PS-3100
Novation BassStation
PAiA Theremax Custom Theremin
Roland SH-101
Roland SH-5
Roland SVC-350 Vocoder
Roland System 100M
Roland TB-303
Roland TR-808
Roland CSQ-600
Roland U-110
Siel Expander 80
Tama Techstar TS-305
Yamaha CS-60

Yamaha FX-310A Electroacoustic guitar
Yamaha Pacifica Electric guitar

Keystation Midicontroller 61
M-Audio Trigger Finger
Korg microKONTROL
Doepfer MCV24

Mackie 24-8 mixing console + 24 expansion
Studer 269 custom mixing console w/ dynamics
Mackie Big Knob

Behringer Virtualizer Pro x 2
Boss SE-50
Boss Delay
Alesis Compressor 3630 x 2

Pioneer EFX-500
Pioneer DJM-600
Pioneer CDJ-800
Technics SL-1200 mkII x 2

Alesis M1 active x 2
Genelec Triamp S45YA x 2

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