My Toolbox: Cassian

Australian producer Cassian has released his new album Laps. Known over the years for his blend of summery Australian melodies that have blended indie electronic and increasingly long, progressive house records, Cassian has started to emerge as one of the most promising talents from down under. The album is out on RÜFÜS DU SOL’s Rose Avenue imprint, a relationship that has burgeoned between Cassian and the star trio over the past few years. Cassian helped mix much of RÜFÜS DU SOL's latest album SOLACE and has remixed a few of their tracks.

That production prowess is found on the record that is as clean and crisp as a cold beer on a hot summer day. The many vocal features fit just right alongside well-layered drums and synths and the occasional guitar.

To get a better idea of how he made this album and the gear he uses to make his music in general, we had him do a My Toolbox feature to explain his essential pieces of studio equipment.

Listen to the album now and get a copy here. 

1. Prophet 6:

From the moment I bought this in late 2015 it's been at the center of everything I do. Whether it's writing chords, leads or creating sequences, 90% of my music starts on the Prophet 6. The saw wave, the filter and the way the LFO moves are so subtly unique. I set myself the challenge of making my whole album with just this and one mono synth.

2. Minimoog Model D Reissue:

I bought mine right at the end of the production run. It's a bucket list synth for me. The reissue sounds amazing & having midi is super helpful. There's a few great plugins which have led to Model D sounds becoming quite ubiquitous but the plugins just don't sound the same to me. I love the noise mod too.

3. UAD Apollo:

I recorded everything for the album through an Apollo, all the vocals, synths, everything. Ultra reliable, super clean & transparent for me. I have a quad in the studio, a quad at home and travel with a twin.

4. Korg Minilogue:

When I first put together my live show it didn't really make sense to be taking my Prophet 6 on the road. The Minilogue does a great approximation of those sounds for me and is super versatile. The modulation is fun & easy and the onboard fx are a nice bonus too. Really easy to organize patches from a laptop & if it ever breaks on the road you can easily buy another one which is a huge plus. A pretty amazing entry-level synth that I wish was around when I was starting out.

5. Fender Strat

This was my first proper electric guitar. I've had it since I was 15 and it just won't die. When I started getting into electronic music production I almost completely dropped guitar, but lately I've found myself reaching for it again in the studio and I think the next album will have a lot of weird guitar sounds across it.