Espen Kraft

There will often be days when you lack inspiration and creativity is long gone. That's when you pull a trick out of the hat. This is one of them. By setting your synth up for a "Negative Pitch Follow" you will reverse your keys so that the highest note will be at the bottom of the keys and the highest note will be at the top. Now try to play a few chords. Not so easy is it? Everything is in reverse and the usual chords are not possible to play using the finger settings you're used too.

The SSL SiX has been a cornerstone in my setup for every single day for the last (almost) 5 years. As a monitor mixer, recording mixer and audio hub. It feeds all my monitors, audio interfaces and the preamps are crystal clear with lots of headroom. It's built like a tank and everything is quality.

A reverb using real recordings from all the places you never got to go. Then you can use that space as your reverb.

Famous for being the sequencer of choice by Liam Howlett of the Prodigy, the Roland W-30 from 1989 had a very capable, easy to use and great 16 track sequencer. Pretty much the same as the MC-500mk2, but with a bigger screen. The MC-500 only had 8 tracks. In this video I'm not using any internal sampled sounds at all. I'm using the W-30's sequencer to trigger external sounds over different midi channels as usual, but instead of using a midi module of old, I'm triggering different plugins inside Cubase 11 pro. Setting up the different plugins to respond to different midi channels. Don't forget to filter out the other channels from each plugin inside Cubase if you're going to do this.

My Top-10 list of synths to buy in 2025 includes... NOTHING. I can't find ONE synth that I'm interested in buying. Not ONE synth that will make me a better composer. Not ONE synth that will make me a better player and not ONE synth I find original enough in terms of sound, and therefore it won't make an impact on my creativity. It will be much cheaper to dig in and use what I have instead of just buying new stuff.

In 2016/17 I did a remix of a Robert Parker track called "85 again", for a remix competition he invited to. I think this was on Soundcloud. At the time I thought it was a good move to kick-start the channel. Why my remix never ended up on his Soundcloud playlist with about 75 other entries, I have no idea, but for the short period it was on there I read that many listeners said my version was far better than his original, so I guess he didn't like that.

I like to protect my most valued vinyl records and laserdiscs with outer sleeves. I've never had much problem with that, but over age the plastic has often yellowed, crimped and generally become quite unpleasant. If these Big Fudge protective sleeves will end up like that I have no idea, but I assume I'll be dead when that eventually happens, and as such I don't give a rat's ass about it. For now I'm very happy with these. They're transparent, crystal clear, wrinkle free and they hold everything from 12" maxi singles up to triple gatefold laserdisc releases, quite thick. No problems whatsoever.

The Korg Mono/Poly belongs to a friend of mine who (if my memory serves me right) did find it in a garage somewhere, alongside a Roland Jupiter-4 which was beyond repair from what I can remember he said. This is a short edit from a longer video I once had on my channel. Oscillator 1 on the Mono/Poly did not work and that prevented me from doing a couple of things with it, but it still worked and what you hear in this video is what I got out of it. Only the kick drum is a sample. The rest is the MP you see here.

The best Yamaha DX samples and patches inside your Prophet X. I've layered and recorded my best patches from over 30 years with the DX7, TX816 and TX802. All put into 64 epic multi-samples which I've recorded with focus on making the most beautiful and musically DX patches you'll ever need in your PX. Some of the samples have up to 5 velocity layers.

A short edit of a longer Yamaha TX16W sampler tutorial that can be downloaded if you're on my Patreon page. All the sounds in this demo song are coming from the TX16W. Everything sampled from analog synths. Drums are sampled drum machines.

How do you make authentic sounding 80s pop/synth-pop in 2025? In this video I will look at chords, sounds, arrangement and how we can put together everything to make it sound like it could have come from the 80s. Tons of tips and tricks from over 35 years of experience making this type of music.

Just to be clear, out of all the extended versions Suno did of the template, this is the only version where everything came together in a cool way. Every time I fed it the 30 sec template it didn't produce something I really liked. Sometimes the vocals (vocal sound or top line melody) were bad, sometimes the sounds, structure or just everything.

8 worst vintage synths you can get today. I never ever want to play or see these synths again.

My 6 recommended vintage synths are: 1. Yamaha DX7 2. Roland D-50 3. Roland Alpha Juno-2 4. Kawai K3 5. Yamaha Electone Organ models 605, D-65 or D-85 6. Commodore 64 (I accidentally say this is a 4-voice, when it has 3 voices. It has 4 waveforms in the oscillator though.)

I'm using an Intel i7 2600K system from 2011 as my main computer because it runs so smoothly. I have no plugins or software that requires any online connection (I don't even have a network card installed) and my 2005 32-bit DAW (Nuendo/Cubase) is set up exactly how I want it. Newer versions are simply inferior to me for daily work. I'm also relying on so many useful plugins that will not run on a 64-bit system. As such I have to do regular backups of the hard drives as well as having spare components at hand that works as a direct swap if problems occur. That's really the true risk of running an old system like this. Spare components.

In 1984 Simmons began to expand their product line with smaller kits and pads, including the SDS 800 (bass, snare, and 2 tom system). This was aimed at acoustic drummers who wanted to add a couple of Simmons pads to their kit on a budget. This is an edited reupload of a longer video I once had on my channel.

The video showcases a collection of 12-inch maxi singles, including popular tracks from the 80s like "Reflex" by Duran Duran and "Life on Your Own" by The Human League. The owner discusses their significance as learning tools for understanding music production and highlights specific examples of differences between the 7-inch and 12-inch versions.

Michael Omartian, Oingo Boingo (Danny Elfman), Anthony Marinelli, tips & tricks, patches, ads and much more.

The Golden Boy is by far my most popular and known track. First heard on my 2017 album "Those Days", but also part of compilations. It's also been used in documentaries, games and it's also been released on vinyl.

Stock, Aitken and Waterman used a lot of DX7 basses in their hits. In interviews in the 80s they would occasionally talk about their cartridge with DX7 bass patches and how no one would get access to it. Many decades later and the patches can now be found online. Just to make sure I asked Phil Harding if he was able to verify that these are indeed the real mythical patches and he, in turn, asked Ian Curnow. Ian Curnow is of course the guy that actually did the programming of most of it. He also made the Fairlight patches/sounds for "Never Gonna Give You Up" which uses one of these bass patches. Ian Curnow did confirm this is it.

The ultimate memory cartridge for your old 80s Roland gear. It's equivalent of 64 Roland M-64C carts. Fully compatible with all the Roland gear that could use these. It's also battery free using F-RAM tech and as such i will hold the stored data for 100 years or more without ever needing a battery.

You can get fully customised "plug and play" displays that looks fantastic, but cost upwards of $150 or more. Or, you can buy the cheapest you can find online, do the legwork yourself and it'll cost you less than 10 bucks. In this video I do just that. I install a very expensive one in my Yamaha QX3 sequencer and I install a very cheap one in my Roland MC-500.

Working in the box, even with a retro sound, is not difficult these days. There are lots of software and plugins that emulate vintage gear very well. The quality/authenticity is no longer an issue ITB.

Top 20 Keyboard/Synth Intros // All of these songs were chart hits

A brand new sample pack for the Roland S-10, MKS-100 and S-220. 51 different samples taken from my vintage collection of synths and drum machines. These are QD image files so you have to have a QD floppy emulator installed in your S-10 to use these. Price is $15USD or €15Euros if you prefer that currency. Send me an email if you're interested. I only sell these through email. You'll find my email in the "about" here on my channel. All the sounds heard in the demo video are coming from this pack. External reverb is on some of the samples in the video. I think the Roland 12-bit S-samplers from the 80s has a special sound to them. If you have a S-10/MKS-100/S-220 and you just want some new cool sounds for it then this pack might be for you. These sounds can not be found anywhere else. They're all made by me one way or the other.

Yamaha KX88 - the gold standard of 80s master keyboards. After 40 years it's time to change out the original factory battery to be able to store setups and controllers etc.

NewsBreak: Bandcamp is kicking out PayPal for Stripe. I think this is bad news as I've made my whole payment infrastructure on PayPal. I don't like the idea of having to migrate like a digital lemming every time someone gets political ideas or whatever. This is the bitter reality though, when you're building on someone else's land.

I've worked with DAWs since 1992 (Cubase Audio) I've spent a lot of time (experience) finding out how to work as fast and efficient as possible in the DAW. I live by all these tips myself as I don't like to waste time.

This offer is only available from me directly. Not from other sites that sell my patches. Send me an email and get 50% on everything! Email address: espenkraft69@gmail.com Copy the whole line(s) of the pack(s) you want and paste this into the email.

The Donner Essential L1 analog mono synth. A desktop portable synthesizer that pays tribute to the classics with legendary sound. Equipped with a detachable magnetic keyboard system, allowing seamless switching between playing modes anytime, anywhere. Easy to operate, full of playability.

Synth history lesson with Espen Kraft - Episode 1: Roland DX7 Today, I unravel the untold — and totally factual — story of the Roland DX7, the most important instrument in human history. Forget the Beatles. Forget Bach. Forget electricity. None of them matter without this plastic, key-covered slab of pure divinity. Join me as I dive deep into the cold, glassy soul of the DX7 — the synth that defined the ‘80s, ruined countless ballads, and made everyone think they could program FM synthesis (spoiler: they couldn’t).

A collection of the absolute best Roland Super Jupiter MKS-80 AND Sequential Six-Trak samples and patches inside your Prophet X. A fat powerful VCO collection ready for your P X. I've layered and multi-recorded 32 sounds from a Super Jupiter MKS-80 (Rev.5) and 18 of my best custom sounds from the Six-Trak. All put into 50 epic multi-samples/instruments for your P X.

Scammers are targeting YouTubers by pretending to be potential sponsors. They often send you an email or DM offering a “sponsorship deal,” then include a link or attachment. If you click it, you could be exposing your computer to malware, phishing attacks, or even losing access to your entire channel.

The Roland MKS-80 Super Jupiter is a mix of the Jupiter-6 and and Jupiter-8. Fat, lush and powerful analog sweet/rawness. Used on a numerous 80s hits. This patch bank is brand new with 64 new tones/patches. In a sysex-format.

I'm back with another in-depth breakdown/tutorial where I talk about my thought process when making the song that would kick off my 2017 album "Those Days". The song "Jenny, please come home" had certain criteria I needed to fulfil for it to be the banger I wanted it to be.

Bandcamp is now forcing everyone over to Stripe as the way of being paid for the music they sell. PayPal is out. Unless you comply, Bandcamp will simply take your money. Like stinking thieves. Stripe is known for really bad security and they sell your personal info to anyone paying them for it. That includes your passport picture and data, as well as other info. Good luck with Stripe. My days at Bandcamp are now over and may the rot in Hell.

DX Reverb Light from Anwidasoft. Released 2005. Free, light on the CPU, easy to use and it sounds great.

If you're going to ask me for advise, provide some context. Don't think I'm Marvin the Mindreader.

Quick demo of how I use the Yamaha DM3 digital mixer as my audio interface for Cubase. Routing and patching physical inputs to USB outputs. Synths and external effects processors going to the DAW. 18x18 USB interface.

SonEQ from Sonimus. Released 2010. A free, great sounding Pultec styled EQ.

Ferric TDS - Tape Dynamics Simulator I use this as a bus compressor/saturator and it's superb for that. Use your ears, more than your eyes when you do music. We're after emotions, not science.

I'm always on the lookout for great electric piano patches I can use in my own music or for other purposes. I've found that piano patches from the D-50 will blend nicely with DX7 electric pianos, like Rhodes-type of sounds. The more slick timbre of the D-50 combined with the more course DX7 piano takes effects very well and smooths everything out beautifully. It's crucial to find the optimal blend (mix) between the patches for the track I'm working on. I use the combined patch you hear here in one of the songs coming on my new album which I'm working on between other tasks.

Spectrasonics Omnisphere 3 seems to be a lot of synth for the money. So much that I can't really see much use in hardware workstations any more, especially since these now are glorified VSTs in a box. They all have small computers inside them anyways, so it's just the hardware knobs and faders that are different.

When using a very transparent type of electric FM piano it can be very cool to have a dense, lush and saturated type of strings/pad underneath, pretty low in the mix. The D-50 can do very nice thick and dense strings. Much more so than any analog synth which can also be nice, but analog isn't always the better solution. For the second patch combo I use the TX802 for the more airy, blowing attack type of sound. Usually this is where the D-50 shines with its PCM attack samples, so it was fun to turn it around and create a cinematic timbre with D-50 filling out instead.