May 31, 2024
by GForce Software
Carl Lofgren, a.k.a. Plughugger, started Plughugger.com in 2009 as a music technology review. He has been writing professionally about music and computers since Atari ST were considered the hottest music technology. In 2010, he put together his first soundset for the Waldorf Largo software synthesizer – and today Plughugger has grown to include sounds for some of the biggest software instruments on the market and we have helped make factory sounds for companies such as Spectrasonics, Arturia, GForce, Tone2, Polyend and for the incredible Solaris synthesizer by John Bowen.
Plughugger, who contributed to Axxess and more recently impOSCar3‘s sound design, kindly agreed to answer a few questions.
Do you have any tips for getting great-sounding patches?
Always play to your strengths. Make the kind of sounds you love. That’s by far the most important ingredient for making inspiring sounds. Don’t be afraid to add elements of randomness or push things far beyond what is considered normal. Sometimes, you find really interesting sonic spaces that way.
Which of your impOSCar3 patches do you consider your personal favourite?
Whales Are My Thing Baby! I could possibly write a whole album just using that sound.
Is there anything, in particular, you liked about impOSCar3?
Fundamentally what I like about impOSCar is that it’s an organic synthesizer reminding me a lot of the old EDP WASP Deluxe. Version 3 adds wavetables, which makes it possible to work with sine waves which I am absolutely addicted to at the moment.
What’s your favourite synthesiser?
My favourite synthesizer of all time is the Ensoniq EPS 16+ (technically a sampler, but I use it as a synthesizer). Everything coming out of the EPS is pure gold.
Where can readers find out more about you?
I spend a lot of time discussing sounds and advanced synth-nerdery on my Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@ThePlughugger