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Salva

"Paul Salva is a funky motherf*cker," says The Fader. Heralded by the Numbers, Ernest Endeavors and LuckyMe crews in the UK, the Low End Theory residents in LA and his own Frite Nite label/crew in San Francisco, Salva’s debut album Complex Housing (Friends of Friends) received glowing reviews from FACT, Resident Advisor, and XLR8R.

SALVA PRESET FREAK MADE ON TABLETOP

We reached out to Salva to get some early feedback and testing on Tabletop. We were thrilled when he obliged us and contributed a drumkit for the Gridlok Touchpad Sampler plus several demo tracks that you can check out inside Tabletop.

SALVA MICROCLIMATE MADE ON TABLETOP

How does Tabletop compare to the way you normally make music?

"While it’s a step away from my normal process, anybody who understands the basic studio flow and the most simplistic of patching of essential sound modules can dig right in. It took no time at all for me to acclimate. I had literally never touched Tabletop before and within minutes I had some crazy stuff rocking."

FULL INTERVIEW COMING SOON TO THE RETROBLOG

Exillon

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Like a true obsessive compulsive, Exillon aka Jay Fields can often be seen quietly working on his laptop polyrhythms during his lunch break, on the bus, or on the train. He has releases on Ad Noiseam, Zod Records, Component Records and Puzzling Records. Most recently he released the Mean Rich Mud EP for Detroit Underground and Spheres of Fury with Hecq for Contortion.

We were excited to work with Exillon, and you can hear his custom sound design in the RS3 and M8RX.

EXILLON PAD IN SPACE MADE ON TABLETOP

How's the experience of creating on Tabletop?

"It's a great tool for sketching out ideas or just playing for fun on the couch. All the basics are there — drum machine, synth, matrix grid, effects and the arrangement sequencer (and then some). Within seconds I was up and running, jamming out a beat and playing a bassline over top. The whole experience was quite refreshing, not having to think too much about routing and templates. It’s all very straight forward and painless."

FULL INTERVIEW COMING SOON TO THE RETROBLOG

nowaysj

nowaysj is a tireless sound designer and producer, working on his own and with Ofilia Kayser as Fellah Mengu. We reached out to him when first developing the features and sounds of Tabletop. He was instrumental in the completion of Gridlok, creating many of the presets as well as fine-tuning the functionality. We were excited when he also worked on presets for the M8RX and RS3. To show off his familiarity with Tabletop, we invited him to our office to perform live a Fellah Mengu song, “Bullseye.”

Have you used any other iOS music apps? What do you think the strengths and weaknesses of the platform are?

"Weaknesses first: I want a 2-foot by 4-foot iPad, and I want it NOW! Strengths... strength as a term doesn’t even begin to describe what is happening now. Multitouch interfaces like the iPad and applications like Tabletop will fundamentally change the way that we create and perform music. It’s as simple and profound as that. A completely new era in music is beginning to unfold right before us."

FULL INTERVIEW COMING SOON TO THE RETROBLOG