My Toolbox: Icarus – Magnetic Magazine

Recently, UK-duo Icarus remixed Paraleven’s Rose Avenue debut, Lucid. Icarus are longtime veterans of the Rose Avenue family and friends of RÜFÜS DU SOL and have supported the band on earlier tours and contributing various remixes to the imprint. This relationship thus makes them sensible additions to the Paraleven remixing fold. Icarus’ legacy beyond their work with the Aussies is vast, however. In under half a decade, the duo clocked in an Essential Mix, have made a name for themselves on Anjunadeep with heralded releases like ‘Unfold,’ and run their own label in Fly Boy Records. We invited our friends to stop by for the latest installment of our My Toolbox series.

Words and photos by Icarus

cc Ania Shrimpton

Korg MS-20 Mini

We’ve used this synth a lot over the years, especially during the making of ‘Unfold’. The filters on it are so gnarly, you can’t get close to them with plug-ins. We’ve dabbled slightly with the patching section, but there’s definitely loads more we’re still to get out of it.

Korg MS-20 Mini

Moog Voyager

When we need a thick, fat bass sound this is what we tend to use. The oscillators are really full sounding and the filter on it is nice too. It’s a bit more rounded and warm sounding than the MS-20 and is certainly a bit tamer, so it suits particular sounds better in that respect.

Moog Voyager

Modular Synth

We’ve only got a handful of modules at the moment, but getting into the Eurorack stuff has really helped us creatively and has definitely had an impact on the way we approach sound design. We often use the uBursts (Mutable Instruments Clouds clone) for ambient/fx sounds and the Nano Font filter paired with Plaits can sound wicked. Plus it’s fun to step away from the computer every now and then and make a patch.