Synthesist and producer Julien Guillot started his project Stazma The Junglechrist back in 2008, in his words at “the super violent and punk end” of the breakcore scene, before breaking out into more experimental territory. Alongside his prolific output as an artist and a busy schedule as a mixing and mastering engineer at his own Electric Voyage Studio, he also teaches sound synthesis at Lyon’s venerable Les Escales Buissonnières. You can follow Julien’s adventures on YouTube at: www.youtube.com/@Stazma
On his entry into modular
I was always intrigued by these giant beasts filled with cables that I would see in album artwork, or inside CD or vinyl booklets. I got into Eurorack in early 2016 with only an Intellijel Rubicon, which I still have, that I sequenced and filtered with my Elektron Analog Four. I started adding mostly Make Noise modules to this, as I was really drawn to their dadaist interface‑ I blame Richard Devine’s videos for that! They also looked and sounded very different to the classic Moog‑style synthesis I was used to.
After I filled my first case I got more into a ‘one case, one manufacturer’ thing and built quite a few dedicated instruments like that. I like to dive into the design philosophy of one person and commit to it as an instrument, maybe because I was a bass guitar player at first. It has since grown way out of proportion, especially since I do the YouTube thing.
On his go‑to modules
That’s a hard one! I have so many now [laughs]. I’m still deeply in love with playing and sequencing with the Make Noise René — the old one — and Pressure Points together. That combo really feels like a perfect instrument interface to me. I also still consider [Make Noise] Maths as one of the best envelope generators ever. Being a sucker for the vintage Roland sound, I’m often going to my Intellijel Dr Octature II and System80 810 [3‑in‑1 Subtractive Voice Module] and 860 [filter] for acid bleeps and rubbery bass lines.
Even before I started working with Schlappi Engineering, I was super into the Angle Grinder [oscillator or filter and distortion]. I could have a full rack of just this thing! The Serge VCFQ [filter] is also one of my favourite things on this planet, not to mention other Serge designs like the DUSG [slope generator] and TKB [touch keyboard and sequencer].
And of course I’ve been enjoying anything Buchla‑inspired, such as the Verbos range‑ top mentions to the Harmonic Oscillator and Multi‑Delay Processor — and the recent Tiptop/Buchla 200t series — and I’ll give a special mention to the 296t. I’ll also add a shoutout to the Shakmat crew for their Bard Quartet, which I think is the best quantiser ever made!
On Electric Voyage Studio
I’ve been doing mastering and a bit of mixing for more than 15 years now, even though the official ‘studio’ is quite a recent thing. Sound engineering is the only thing I went to school for, all the rest I’m just an obsessive experimenter and manual‑reader! I love mastering as a job: to me it’s exactly the same kind of super‑precise, finicky process as patching a modular synth. I love taking time, listening to my client’s music and the process of making it sound like a cohesive thing and not just a collection of tracks that have been put together. I use both digital and analogue; I feel it’s important to really listen and ‘feel’ the way you alter the sound. Analogue is always better for that because you don’t overthink it. Digital is of course super convenient and can be much more precise. So I think using the best of both worlds is a great option that we have now.
On teaching modular synthesis at Les Escales Buissonnières
This is something of a dream job that I got thanks to my friend Stéphane Bernard, aka Uzul, who was already teaching Ableton Live and Dub technics at Les Escales Buissonnières before he got me in. I already had a big modular collection, so I could have a system‑per‑student, and I loved the idea of teaching and sharing my knowledge with others. I can answer the same questions over and over without getting mad, which is key! [laughs] I’ve met some amazing people during these teaching sessions, and I myself also learn new stuff every time.
I usually write patches on a white board, with the audio path and control path colour‑coded to quickly show how it is ‘supposed’ to sound, and I let everyone try it on headphones, then debug their patches and answer questions. We go further and further; we end up sync’ing systems together, then jamming and recording things. It’s a lot of fun — it feels more like a paid holiday to me than a job!
On the culture of modular
Coming from one of the most niche musical scenes there is, breakcore, I find a lot of similarity in the kind of punk, DIY, ‘we do our stuff and we don’t care’ attitude of the Eurorack scene. There are so many weird ideas being put into circuits, and the fact that there are still new ideas to be had is baffling. I also feel that the people making modules are super open, nerdy — in a good way — and fun to talk to. Superbooth last year was my first and it was great meeting so many of them at the same time.
I also love the retro side of it, the fact you can find all the pieces of your favourite cult synths and mix and match them together, even though I still prefer single‑manufacturer systems for myself. I’m not super happy with this trend that every module has to be as small as possible though: I like big panels and big knobs. I feel super small modules are often super hard to use, especially the digital ones with tons of functions. I prefer big things that can be ‘patch programmed’ — in the spirit of Serge.