Dante: Who and what is Mutation?

LE: The 'who' part is easy.  Mutation is LiquidEDGE, Spawn, Echelon and XenonCodec. What Mutation is, is a little more tricky. From the outset we had a vision of producing original DNB music that would be ever-evolving, progressing and mutating.  At its heart Mutation is scientific and technical music that strives to remain original and organic. The tag of 'Intelligent/Musical drum and bass with a dark edge' sums it up in a way. Simply put, it's our unique take on DNB (Drum and Bass).

Dante: When did you start using Scope?

LE: About ten years ago, first got the baby PCI card the 'LUNA' to test the waters, my first impression was one of dismay, it seemed so complicated!  Within a month or so I got my head around the routing capabilities and it fully dawned on me that to fully harness the power of the software I would need more DSPs. This didn't prove a problem as the upgradeable modular nature of the hardware meant I could simply (and affordably) add further cards to my existing LUNA set-up.  Then this year we upgraded to the XITE-1, and the power now at our disposal is amazing. It goes to show how robust the equipment is (and was) and the future proof attitude the company have.

Dante:  Do you use Scope for mainly synths or for the mixing and mastering as well?

LE: Every aspect of the Scope system is used, though more DSP power is used for mixing and mastering. The sound quality is most impressive and with the power of the XITE-1 a fully professional mixdown is achievable without the need to bounce stuff down continually to free up memory. This leaves the mind fully free to create and when mixing down and mastering, there are no distractions. The plug-ins/devices that find themselves in nearly every project are the Minimax and dubsub along with a plethora of Scope EQs, compressors, choruses, delays, distortion units and reverbs etc.  Every last one of the production tools basically and of course nearly all the synths are used at one time or another, they sound so good in the mix and the raw sound is clean and smooth. Mastering will most of the time have at least a chain of the PSY-Q, SBC, Soft Clip and OptiMaster.

Dante: Do you use Scope live or just in Studio?

LE:  Solely in the studio. The inputs and outputs on the XITE-1 are of a great quality and versatile enough for any input, mic, instrument, whatever.
The Studio basically consists of a PC running the Sonic | Core Scope XITE-1 using Cubase 4 as our main sequencer together with an E-MU Xboard 61, Reason 5, Korg Legacy, Emu Proteus x2, Komplete 6, various other plug-ins, and the outboard Virus TI2 all monitored through the Mackie Hr824 MK2's.  The XITE-1 comes with pretty much every tool a producer could desire for mixing and mastering, plus the synths are fantastic in the mix and I'm still yet to dive into the depths of the Modular synth system.  And on top of what comes with the XITE-1 there are some excellent looking third party devices (covering everything from vintage emulations to modern synths and processors).  Devices from D.A.S, Brainworx, John Bowen's Zarg Music, Adern and a few more caught my eye and that's not mentioning all the free stuff being made by the Scope community. So much quality. Plus that hardware Solaris synth just looks amazing as well.

Basically it never seems to outgrow me, the Scope system seems to have a never ending scope to its abilities. The tag-line 'Making obsolescence
obsolete' is so true. The modular nature of the system and its routing possibilities are unique and I can't see myself having to upgrade any time soon.  Anything can be connected to anything, in the box and outside it.  With Scope anything is possible, its limits seem to be boundless.

Dante:  So what is Mutation working on right now?

LE:  At the time of writing, 'First Contact, Peaceful Future' are the latest pieces of music created using the Scope XITE-1 for the complete mixdown and we believe the results speak for themselves.

www.mutationonline.co.uk