How I Play: Stavroz – DJ TechTools

Author: DJ TechTools

Belgian electronica band Stavroz joins us this week for our latest edition of How I Play as we explore their intricate live performance setup. The release of their latest EP Kick Up The Dust this fall – available now – came a full year after their last album and features four tracks that range across genres from heavier techno tunes to more experimental sounds.

Dive into the video and check out each of the band members’ gear lists below.

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Gear that Stavroz uses

There’s no doubt that a four-person live band comes with a swath of instruments and hardware – and it’s an impressive list at that. They use multiple Macbook Pros running Ableton 11 in sync, and as the band shared:

“Because we are a live band living in a DJ scene, we try to be compact and flexible. That has forced us to come up with some creative solutions for performing in places that sometimes aren’t equipped for live bands. We don’t travel with a front-of-house engineer, everything happens on stage: creating, monitoring and even mixing.”

Here’s a look at the gear amongst the members:

Ijsbrand (synths, drum sampling, engineering)

• Midas M32 used on stage
• M Audio USB MIDI keyboard
• Sennheiser 4x Wireless Stereo In Ears system
• Instant Mastering Chain – portable mastering unit by Stimming (Editor’s note: Watch our How I Play with Stimming on his Instant Mastering Chain here)
• MOTU UltraLite-mk5 audio interface
• DJM 900 mixer
• Arturia Drumbrute Impact – made to measure in ears by variphone
• MacBook Pro

Maxim (guitar, vocals)

• Gibson ES339 electric guitar
• BOSS TU-3 tuner
• Midi Fighter Twister
• MOTU UltraLite-mk5 audio interface
• Audix Vocal microphone and an Optogate PB-5 automatic microphone gate – made to measure in ears by variphone
• Electro Harmonix Holy Stain pedal
• Hologram Microcosm pedal
• Moogerfooger delay pedal
• MacBook Pro

Pieter (sax, bass, vocals)

• Fender Precision bass guitar
• Selmer saxophone with a HornFX intraMic (internal microphone for the saxophone) by Viga Music Tools
• Audix Vocal microphone and an Optogate PB-5 automatic microphone gate – made to measure in ears by variphone
• Woolly Mammoth guitar pedal

Gert (beats/keys, arrangement, trumpet)

• Novation Launchpad Mini MK3
• Midi Fighter Twister
• MOTU UltraLite-mk5 audio interface
• Korg KAOSS PAD KP+, a real-time effects sampler and processor
• Besson Cornet trumpet
• Audio technical clip on microphone
• Audio-Technica PRO35 clip-on microphone
• Novation MIDI keyboard – made to measure in ears by variphone
• MacBook Pro

You can listen to Stavroz’s EP Kick Up The Dust on Bandcamp, and check out more How I Play videos here.