Jammin Unit¶
Jammin Unit aka Cem Oral, a German musician, producer, and mastering engineer. Starting as an audio engineer in Frankfurt in the 1980s, Oral became a key figure in Berlin’s 1990s electronic scene, known for pioneering dub techno and experimental electronic music. As Jammin Unit, he released influential albums like “Jammin’ Unit Discovers Chemical Dub” (1995) and “Deaf, Dub And Blind” (1997), blending dub, techno, and ambient sounds. He also co-founded projects such as Air Liquide and Ultrahigh, and collaborated with artists like Wu-Tang Clan, Nine Inch Nails, and Mad Professor.
Live Setup and Instruments¶
Benjamin Weiss: You’ve been playing live for a long time and quite a lot. What does your current setup consist of?
Jammin Unit: Ever since it came out, I’ve had an MPC. After the MPC 60, I’ve had almost all of them. It’s my central tool. Then I have a Roland Aira TB-3, various analog filters, a delay, and a small synth. I’m actually selling the Hydrasynth again. It has a great sound, but I notice I use too many presets because it’s too much effort to dive into the details. I avoid menus. And when I use it with other instruments, you can’t hear it anymore. You can turn it up as loud as you want, but it doesn’t cut through. When it does, it sounds like a mess. That doesn’t work for me. I just got the new Sequential Fourm, which is exactly what I was looking for. It cuts through. Is that because of the analog technology? Very possible.
In the studio, I also have a Yamaha organ, the Reface YC. I love it because it’s not about oscillators, cutoff, and resonance, but about “registers.” Those are overtones, and it’s incredibly fun and expressive. The rest is packed away; I don’t use it anymore. What I use a lot are analog filters that I connect between devices. Instead of using a cheap mixer EQ, I work with analog filters, which gives me much more.
Requirements for Live Gear¶
Benjamin Weiss: What’s the most important thing about a device you use on stage?
Jammin Unit: The most important thing is reliability. The MPC, for example, has jumped patterns due to high vibration. That’s a disaster when something suddenly happens that you didn’t want. Reliability is the most important thing for live performance.
The second thing is accessibility. When playing live, I don’t want to search through menus and have to be careful about what I touch. You should be able to be a bit rough with it.
Benjamin Weiss: Is design or visual feedback important to you?
Jammin Unit: It’s the same with my mastering work: knobs need to show you where you are. They need to directly display their value. That’s difficult with devices that have pattern recall or table recall, but I think it’s important. That’s why I prefer a lot of analog gear.
Studio Philosophy: No Computer¶
Benjamin Weiss: Is playing live closely connected to your studio work for you?
Jammin Unit: It’s actually the same. I don’t even have a computer in my music studio anymore. I have a computer in my mastering studio, which is a meter away, but there’s none in the music studio. There’s a cassette recorder for recording and the MPC for sequences.
I just made an album, and everything is one-take, sometimes ten minutes or longer. That goes from the cassette to the computer. In very few cases, I did overdubs. For that, I use my Fostex x15, a 4-track cassette recorder. I do editing and cutting on the computer, of course; I don’t curse computers, they just annoy me in the music studio.
Benjamin Weiss: Have you ever used computers on stage?
Jammin Unit: Never. Ingmar (Dr. Walker, with whom I make Air Liquide) had one during the second phase of our collaboration, but I didn’t. I focus on beats, synths, and the 303. You have your recipe. With the MPC, you can do updates or change the style. It’s a basic framework that I prepare in advance. I don’t start from scratch. In the past, I did live sets with just the MPC 3000 because it was inspiring to do everything with one device. It was incredibly powerful.
Feedback on the TBD Prototype¶
Benjamin Weiss: Have you ever had devices that you could program yourself?
Jammin Unit: Never done it, never looked for it. Although I’ve often thought that some plugins should be usable on stage.
Benjamin Weiss: [Shows the prototype] What would you do with this?
Jammin Unit: First, put on my glasses! I’d ask myself what the jacks mean. Inputs, outputs, MIDI interface. Otherwise, it looks very clear. If the device has enough memory and can theoretically do everything, I’d replace parts of the MPC if samples fit. Maybe I’d install a synth or effects that I can route through. If the sound quality is right and it has enough punch, I’d use it in the studio and live. First, I’d test it as an effects unit. Since I’m always looking for new instruments, I’d also try it via MIDI. I don’t need CV-Gate because I don’t have a CV synth. Recording with it would also be interesting. So far, I’ve only used a looper for acoustic-electric instruments like bass and guitar, not in the studio.
Benjamin Weiss: How would you want to configure it?
Jammin Unit: With a user-friendly program that comes with it. Maybe something where you can click things together in a browser, with some images.
Haptics and Design Check¶
Benjamin Weiss: The idea is that you can have up to 16 firmwares. One firmware is basically a completely new device. [Shows the interface].
Jammin Unit: Is that the headphone volume? I like that. Direct access, so you don’t have to go into a menu first. And you can connect controllers like a keyboard. I’m a bit clumsy. For me, this is almost too tight, but compared to Eurorack stuff, it’s absolutely acceptable. The fact that you can load 16 different instruments like samplers or 303s as plugins is cool.
What puts me off is when things get too deep. If you’re looking for tuning and stand there for half an hour because you don’t know how to find it. The concept of a Microkorg is the opposite: no matter how you twist it, it always sounds good and stays musical.
Benjamin Weiss: What do you think about the housing?
Jammin Unit: I like the steel housing. It keeps its distance from the “beer puddle” on the table. It’s more like an enduro than a street vehicle. But those sharp corners are too harsh; I’d recess them.
One problem: if you sit directly in front of it at a desk, the knobs are in the way when you want to look at the display. I’d prop it up. A small metal bracket at the back would be nice, but I usually help myself. The spacing of the knobs is thick-finger-friendly; you can turn them without adjusting the others. The form factor is good, small and portable.
Interview: Benjamin Weiss (MID)
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