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Legowelt | |
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| Background information | |
| Also known as | Danny Wolfers |
| Born | January 8th |
| Origin | Scheveningen, The Hague, Netherlands |
| Genres | Electronic music, techno, electro, lo-fi house |
| Years active | 1990s–present |
| Labels | Bunker, Gold Coast, Strange Life, Ghostly International, Cocoon, L.I.E.S. |
Legowelt (real name Danny Wolfers) is a Dutch composer, electronic musician and visual artist, whose music spans a varying range of sub-genres.
Danny Wolfers was born in The Hague, The Netherlands and grew up in the coastal neighbourhood of Scheveningen.
Danny Wolfers has released projects on various labels and under over 40 different aliases, including on Bunker records, Clone, L.I.E.S, P.P.U. , and Rush Hour.
Around 1999, Legowelt started releasing a number of LPs and EPs on The Hague's Bunker Records. Bunker released Legowelt's first vinyl album Pimpshifter.
In 2002, the German music magazine Groove voted Legowelt's Disco Rout track of the year. Disco Rout was originally released on a Ghostly International compilation, and was subsequently licensed by Cocoon Recordings for a full vinyl release.
Apart from producing, Legowelt tours and performs all over the world. [1]
In 2004, Wolfers founded record label Strange Life Records, [2] self-releasing under the Legowelt moniker, but also various aliases such as Smackos, Franz Falckenhaus and Klaus Weltman. Strange Life Records also released albums and EPs by artists including DJ Overdose, DMX Krew and Ian Martin. Strange Life Records was operative until 2010.
In 2014, Wolfers founded Nightwind Records "releasing cassettes, cd’s, digital, graphic novels, zines and vinyl LP’s". [3]
Danny Wolfers has released albums and EP's under over 40 different aliases including: Alchemulator, Bontempi 666, Calimex Mental Implant Corp., Commanding The Beast, Coverti World, Danny Wolfers, Dickie Smabers & Moerwijk Crew, Florenza Mavelli, Franz Falckenhaus, Gladio, House Of Jezebel, Klaus Weltman, Lords Of Midnite, Nacho Patrol, Nomad Ninja, Occult Orientated Crime, Phalangius, Polarius, Ray Escortienda, Rising Sun Systems, Saab Knutson, Salamandos, Sammy Osmo, Satomi Taniyama, Seaside Houz Boyz, Smackos, Squadra Blanco, Star Shepherd, Tandy Ogmo, The Psychic Stewardess, Twilight Moose, Ufocus, Venom 18, and Westside Box Savants.
Wolfers has worked with various international synthesizer companies, including Novation (Peak, Summit, and Circuit Tracks) [4] and Roland (D-05), [5] designing preset patches. In 2021, Polyend released a limited Legowelt special-edition stand-alone hardware tracker, which includes more than 5000 customs sounds created by Wolfers, as well as a custom faceplate designed by Wolfers. [6] Wolfers also designed sounds for video games such as Next Space Rebels [7] and Hexagroove: Tactical DJ for Nintendo Switch and Xbox. [8]
Since 2013, Legowelt has been making sample packs available for free on his website, to be used by other artists in their productions. [9] The sample packs include custom sounds programmed from both well-known and more obscure synthesizers, including the Oberheim Matrix 1000, Roland Jupiter 8, JV-208, JD-800, Juno 106, Quasimidi Sirius, Kawai K4, Moog Minimoog, Emu Vintage Pro, Yamaha PSS-380, PSS-795, SY35, Korg Electribe ER-1, Mono/Poly, and several FM synthesizers such as the Yamaha DX100, DX200, TX81Z, DX21, DX7 and DX5.
From 2007-2011, Danny Wolfers hosted a radio show titled Astro Unicorn Radio which aired on Intergalactic FM. The show featured obscure music and interviews with artists such as Ron Morelli, founder of L.I.E.S., and Veronica Vasicka, founder of Minimal Wave Records.
Since 2014 Danny Wolfers publishes every year an online cyberzine written in ASCII which features articles, reviews, DIY manuals, studios tips, music interviews, games and ASCII art by Danny Wolfers and guest contributors. The Shadow Wolf Cyberzine is published yearly around the end of the year. In 2020 and 2021, compilation 'cover tapes' were released alongside the Shadow Wolf Cyberzine featuring several artists including Acidic Male, Dim Garden, Baglover, Alina Valentina, DJ Overdose, Franziska Lantz, Huren, Chupacabras, Jentlemen, and Elektrovolt. The term ‘cover tape’ stems from 1980's and 1990's magazine culture when printed magazines came with a cassette or CD containing music or software.
Danny Wolfers produces paintings and drawings which have been used for his music releases and which have been exhibited. [10]
In 2016 Danny Wolfers held a drawing competition centred around the theme of "the world of Nightwind Records" with as a first prize a vintage 1987 Yahama PSS 570 FM synthesizer, and other prizes including Legowelt CDs, tapes, t-shirt, and stickers. In 2021, another drawing competition was held, which had as prizes a Casio SK1 sampling keyboard, a Yamaha PSS 380 FM synthesizer, and an electro acoustic kalimba, among other prizes. All art entries were published on the Legowelt official website.
In 2017 Danny Wolfers published a 24-page printed graphic novel, accompanying the album Unfolding the Future with Amateur Space Jazz released under the name Danny Wolfers.
In 2022, Danny Wolfers collaborated with internet artist Rafael Rozendaal on Polychrome Music by designing a "generative music system that plays an infinite composition on 3 different audio channels, each with their own synthesizer". [11] Polychrome Music was published on 24 August 2022 on Artblocks. [12]
In 2021 Danny Wolfers founded Nightwind Animation Studios, through which he produced and published his first full-length animation titled "Ambient Trip Commander". [13] Ambient Trip Commander premiered on 7 May 2022 at the Eye Film Museum in Amsterdam and has been screened in several venues with live soundtracking by Legowelt. [14] The running time is 65 minutes of original frame-by-frame animation hand drawn by Danny Wolfers using watercolours and fineliners. Ambient Trip Commander took 14 months to complete. [15] In late 2022, Wolfers made the entire film, which is a self-funded grassroots production, available online on his youtube channel. [16]
A digital synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses digital signal processing (DSP) techniques to make musical sounds. This in contrast to older analog synthesizers, which produce music using analog electronics, and samplers, which play back digital recordings of acoustic, electric, or electronic instruments. Some digital synthesizers emulate analog synthesizers; others include sampling capability in addition to digital synthesis.
Frequency modulation synthesis is a form of sound synthesis whereby the frequency of a waveform is changed by modulating its frequency with a modulator. The (instantaneous) frequency of an oscillator is altered in accordance with the amplitude of a modulating signal.
Digital music technology encompasses the use of digital instruments, computers, electronic effects units, software, or digital audio equipment by a performer, composer, sound engineer, DJ, or record producer to produce, perform or record music. The term refers to electronic devices, instruments, computer hardware, and software used in performance, playback, recording, composition, mixing, analysis, and editing of music.
A music tracker is a type of music sequencer software for creating music. The music is represented as discrete musical notes positioned in several channels at chronological positions on a vertical timeline. A music tracker's user interface is traditionally number based. Notes, parameter changes, effects and other commands are entered with the keyboard into a grid of fixed time slots as codes consisting of letters, numbers and hexadecimal digits. Separate patterns have independent timelines; a complete song consists of a master list of repeated patterns.
A groovebox is a self-contained electronic or digital musical instrument for the production of live, loop-based electronic music with a high degree of user control facilitating improvisation. The term "Groovebox" was originally used by Roland Corporation to refer to its MC-303, released in 1996. The term has since entered general use, and the concept dates back to the Movement Computer Systems Drum Computer in 1981 and Fairlight CMI Page R in 1982.
Yamaha Corporation is a Japanese musical instrument and audio equipment manufacturer.
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The Yamaha DX7 is a synthesizer manufactured by the Yamaha Corporation from 1983 to 1989. It was the first successful digital synthesizer and is one of the best-selling synthesizers in history, selling more than 200,000 units.
Roberto Concina, known professionally as Robert Miles, was an Italian record producer, composer, musician and DJ. His 1995 composition "Children" sold more than 5 million copies and topped the charts worldwide.
Novation Digital Music Systems Ltd. is a British musical equipment manufacturer, founded in 1992 by Ian Jannaway and Mark Thompson as Novation Electronic Music Systems. Today the company specializes in MIDI controllers with and without keyboards, both analog and virtual analog performance synthesizers, grid-based performance controllers, and audio interfaces. At present, Novation products are primarily manufactured in China.
Face to Face is a punk rock band from Victorville, California, formed in 1991 by frontman Trever Keith, bassist Matt Riddle and drummer Rob Kurth. The band rose to fame with their 1995 album Big Choice, featuring the radio hit "Disconnected" which received heavy rotation on KROQ radio in Los Angeles and appeared in the movies Tank Girl and National Lampoon's Senior Trip.
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The music of the Streets of Rage series of beat 'em up games, released in the early 1990s, was primarily produced by Yuzo Koshiro.
A synthesizer is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and frequency modulation synthesis. These sounds may be altered by components such as filters, which cut or boost frequencies; envelopes, which control articulation, or how notes begin and end; and low-frequency oscillators, which modulate parameters such as pitch, volume, or filter characteristics affecting timbre. Synthesizers are typically played with keyboards or controlled by sequencers, software or other instruments and may be synchronized to other equipment via MIDI.
Japan 1996 Live is the eleventh full-length album by German electronic music outfit Cluster. It was the second of three live albums released by Cluster.
Rude 66 is a Dutch electronic musician and recording artist currently living in Amsterdam. Live and occasionally on records, his wife Shaunna Lekx is also part of the band as a vocalist and co-writer of lyrics. Rude 66 has been a longtime collaborator of the Bunker Records label, and has released influential records in both acid house and electro music styles of electronic music.
Edward Wynne is an English guitarist and keyboardist best known as a founding member, principal composer and the only constant member of psychedelic rock band Ozric Tentacles.
Aaron Funk, known as Venetian Snares, is a Canadian electronic musician based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He is widely known for innovating and popularising the breakcore genre, and is one of the most recognisable artists to be signed to Planet Mu, an experimental electronic music label. His signature style involves meticulously complex drums, eclectic use of samples, and odd time signatures, in particular, 7
4.
Yamaha Portasound electronic musical keyboards were produced by the Yamaha Corporation during the 1980s and 1990s. The name suggests the instruments' portability, with battery operation being a consistent feature across the line. Many of these keyboards were designed for children with small keys and simple preset functions suitable for educational use. In 1982, the line introduced a card reader system which allowed players to learn and play along with sequenced songs. The PSS line features mini keys and the PSR line features full size keys. Some of the higher-end keyboards have advanced features like programmable synthesizer controls, midi capability, and sampler functions.
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