Talk-Zone #14 Interview with Rob Papen (Plus Give Away)

we had the great opportunity to do an exclusive interview with Rob Papen. For sure Rob belongs to the family of the most famous sound designers and plug-in developers.

At age 12 I started playing organ, which was very popular in the 70ties. These ‘cheesy’ home organs. But around the same time I also heard ‘Oxygen’ of J.M. Jarre and this was the game changer for me. At age 15 bringing each day newspapers and with the help of my parents I could purchase my first synthesizer the Korg MS-20 and SQ-10. A bit later I did purchase a 2nd Korg MS-20 to be able also play solos while the other Korg MS-20 was connected to the SQ-10 sequencer.

So my background is ‘synthesizer music’. The music created ahead of the time that ‘House’ and ‘Dance’ started :D

Well, I had my own vision on synthesizers and the ‘software’ gave me an opportunity to built them. First project was with Linplug, but I soon found out that a own team was much better. So I searched for a good programmer and found Jon Ayres. Together we form RPCX, which is behind all the current products.
IMO opinion he is the best DSP coder out there. There is nothing impossible with Jon Ayres!

Our daily team is 4 people included me and next to this we have 3 people that work allot for us.

Presets don’t have to be ‘spectacular’ to be effective in music. So my focus is always ‘music’ although it can be fun to make an interesting preset…which is hard to use :)
These days also other people do contribute to our library. Look at RAW which has allot presets of DJ’s
My presets are useful for a wide range of music, but I don’t cover all. Sometimes I have to get into a type of music to understand it, before I am able to make presets. And instead of copy other presets…I rather find it more fun to be inspired by the style of music and do some new stuff.

Overall I am very fast in making presets…..very fast. Some might have seen this on trade shows, when I do some examples. But it also depends on the type of preset. Some presets simply need more work if you like to use allot of features.

Rob Papen

I love creating new stuff and ‘more ideas’ then time!
We go with the flow…which makes that our next release is again something that most will not expect. But if there is an idea and Jon Ayres does send me a ‘beta plug-in’ …. if I hear a great sound and it makes sense to have it as Plug-in we make it.

The most ‘pain’ part are the tutorials. Always hard to tell the right thing. Some users know allot about plug-ins and other do know little. So what to tell and how…
But once it is ready, I am always happy. But they are a pain for me… because they don’t come easy.

I am way bad in statistics…
But IMO the SubBoomBass is the best selling product ever. Maybe because everybody needs a great synth bass and it covers all styles of music.
Of course Predator is way popular and among ‘deep synth’ lovers BLUE-II is an icon.

There is no favourite, since all have their own focus and strength.
But if you would put me on an island with only 1 synthesizer, it would be BLUE-II because the man behind the synth is the limitation.. not BLUE-II

Recently we started working on a new PERU album. Will be electronic music or as some call it synthesizer music.

Sure I play music myself, but not that often. I also love silence and no sound around me.
My head is always analysing sounds and music…. The moment the wake up radio goes every morning and music starts to play, first thing I do is listen to the music and analyse what I hear….
This never stops and I can’t do other things if music is active in the background. A kind of sound disorder.
So I also enjoy ‘no sound’ at given time.

I must admit that I am way lazy when I make music. I do everything with the computer and plug-ins. Although I have top notch synthesizers…. my workflow is now all inside the computer. Of course I use ‘knobs’ for controlling the synthesizers. For the envelopes, filters etc… This to have knob feel while making presets. I often start from scratch, but use also presets.

Crappy stuff…. IMO there is only ‘crappy music’

This year two products. One is a fantastic sounding tool, you need like a carpenter needs a saw. And Prisma, which is released hopefully this year. But still much work.

We had regular request for iOS or Android. But for audio quality you need ‘CPU’ power.
Also ‘good DA converters’ to get a good sound.
We keep an eye on it, but currently we had not the manpower to release something cool.

In the virtual music world there are a countless number of different EQ’s available…so why another one? Well, Rob Papen is all about sound and he was convinced he could add something special to the EQ plugins.

But the ‘sound’ of this EQ is the main power. Very warm, clear and silky :)

Knowledge is the best tip I can give.
Invest in knowledge and do your own thing.

Full time composer of music….

Limitations makes creative people creative!

Rob Papen was so kind to give away a copy of RP EQ to two of our happy readers.

All you have to do is to do something funny. Then write it into the comments below.
You can tell us a nice joke, send us a link to a funny picture or a video.

The two best/ funniest entries will be picked on October the 10th. We will announce the two lucky winners on this page and by email. (Only one entry per person is allowed).

More information: Rob Papen Website