Scott Hansen, better known as Tycho, is a renowned producer who has used an original Moog Minimoog Model D as one of his primary instruments for almost two decades. Kaelin Ellis, an incredibly talented producer whose fame has grown in the past two years thanks to his jam-packed beat videos, often uses Moog-style VSTs and a Behringer Model D clone, but hasn't worked much with the real deal.
Last week, upon the release of Moog's new Model D Reissue, we brought Scott and Kaelin together to hear how both artists use Model D sounds in their work. In a kinetic session, Scott and Kaelin traded patches and shared knowledge across two Minimoogs: one of the brand new Model D Reissues and Scott's trusty vintage model in his studio.
After unboxing the new synth Kaelin says, "Something like this was incredibly innovative at its time … it explains everything else that, plugin-wise, is out." "Yeah, this was it," Scott responds. "If you look at any synth these days, there's some element of it where they're following this model, where you have the oscillator to the mixer to the filter, controlled by the envelopes."
Part of a younger generation of producers, Kaelin approaches the Model D as he has the plugins and hardware clones he's most familiar with. He shows Scott how he sculpts kicks and snares out of the Moog's filter and envelope.
Scott, jumping from the Minimoog to his computer and controller, demonstrates how he creates and processes the type of melodic leads, arps, and pads that soar across the Tycho discography.
Together, Kaelin and Scott even uncover new ways that the Model D can sound. After Kaelin lands on a great kick-and-bass combo on one synth, Scott starts layering lines on top, in an organic jam that covers the sonic spectrum—all created from the two Model Ds.
Watch the full video above and then check out the new Model D Reissue on Reverb.