Having had a lot of fun with Deuxd (pronounced DUDE!) from Mehr Music Machines the past few weeks and today releasing a video demo of the module, I wanted to learn more about Mehr Music Machines, who looking at their website have been releasing a solid range of Eurorack modules for some time now. Enjoy the interview and check out the video demo.
BEN // Hey Adam, thanks for taking the time to chat to us for an interview alongside the deuxd video we just released today. With you getting in touch I realised you’ve been making modules for a while now so take us back as early as you’d like with you getting into music and technology, how did it all begin?
ADAM // Hey Ben, thanks for having me, and thanks for taking the time out to meet me and familiarize yourself with my new module Deuxd. I guess I have always had a fascination with sound and I’ve been experimenting with ways to make sound, both electronically and physically for as long as I can remember. My experimenting really accelerated when I was in high school. I started taking electric guitar playing very seriously, and my family bought me a beautiful Marshall 100 watt tube amplifier. Naturally my first real test was loudness. I grew up on a golf course and a good friend of mine lived on the farthest opposite end of the course. So I wheeled the stadium-ready half-stack out to our garage and asked my friend to walk outside of his house and to call me if he could hear me . He called within a few seconds laughing hysterically to inform me that yes, in fact he could hear me “loud and clear”. My parents immediately realized they made a bad decision in buying that amp, but for me, it was a real eye/ear opener. Hearing the way the sound ripped into this ferocious, powerful tube-saturated force, and how it would feedback and respond to the smallest of movements or tone changes… It was really something. So from that point on, “sound” and its behaviors became somewhat of an obsession.
BEN // Were you working in music or music tech spaces before you started designing things for yourself and getting into starting Mehr Music Machines?
ADAM // Yes, I’ve been involved in music production since I was in college. Most of my work up until the pandemic was in recording studios. I was recording and mixing albums for friends in college, and then started working professionally in studios around Los Angeles. Around 2016/2017 I started to really become attracted to modular synths. The Moog Mother-32’s release was the real gateway drug into my modular obsession. I bought two of them and would experiment for hours with cross-patching the filters, running them in and out of effect pedal feedback loops, and I would sit there for hours, experimenting with these crude noisy free flowing soundscapes. It was a very nice contrast to my work in the studio, which of course focuses on control and maintaining the the best possible audio fidelity. Fast forward a year or two and I was trying to get my hands on as many Doepfer modules as possible. Before long I started studying circuit design and building modules for personal use. The real fun kicked in during the pandemic, as I started combining my knowledge with some of my own ideas and turning that into unique modules.
BEN // What was the first module you released?
ADAM // Officially my first module was called Poodleface. It was in many ways, the seed that grew into Deuxd. It was a 3 in one module. A single OTA filter, a sample & hold with onboard clock (for audio sample rate reduction), and an overdrive / feedback section. Each section was independent, but they were meant to be patched in series. The idea was, create a module that could span as wide of a range as possible. It can be patched as a very soft and delicate filter, all the way to an auditory massacre of analog feedback. The module saw a few iterations, and I’m still selling a few of them today.
BEN // Do you have an overarching goal or theme for the modules you design? Are you looking to work towards something specific, like a whole voice or system at one point, or exploring certain themes that fit within the franken-synth nature of Eurorack in general?
ADAM // I am definitely working a roadmap to a complete system. I have more ideas than free time, but I have many things in the works. I love the idea of a complete system and wish we saw more of that love in Eurorack. But of course, I have quite a few franken-synth cases and it’s great, there’s no shortage of fun to be had.
BEN // You work at Noisebug, a specialist synth store in Pomana California. How has working alongside vintage and modern synthesizers, modular systems and studio gear influenced your own work?
ADAM // In a big big way. I have access to some of the most incredible vintage modular synths of all time. I have especially found inspiration from the complete Serge and Hordijk systems we have at the shop. Many of these single function modules can be used in dozens of ways, its so fascinating to me, especially when you really explore them and discover new uses. These incredibly simple devices offer more flexibly than many of these modern patch-in-a-box modules coming out these days. Don’t get me wrong, the new technology is impressive, and modules that ship with a predetermined use-case are certainly fun. But to me, they feel more in line with plugins on a computer than that of a modular synth. But to each their own.
BEN // It’s a pleasure to work with and release the video Deuxd, how did you come up with the idea of a stereo filter with cross modulation? At the time this released (the summer of 2025) I aren’t sure if that was something that was done before. We’ve had some self modulation, audio in routing the frequency mono filter things but this might be the first to release with stereo cross modulation in a filter, something we’d more commonly (or not so commonly) find on say a pair of oscillators.
ADAM // It was really a product of playing and experimentation. I’ve always loved the sound of the Oberheim Xmod and Sequential Polymod. I therefore always found myself using some level of audio rate filter modulation in Eurorack. One day I was playing with two of my Poodleface modules, they were just droning in self-oscillation. I started to cross patch them. And then took things further by bringing oscillators into the mix. It started to become an every-patch situation. I shopped around to try and purchase something that would give me these desired effects right out of the box. It is after all always easier to just buy something than design and build it. But I was surprised to find it didn’t exist. At least not in a true stereo configuration that checked all of my needs off.. so I started drafting my ideas.
BEN // Do you have a favourite or go to patch with deuxd? If you were showing this to people what’s the special sauce of a patch to get people excited?
ADAM // Very simple starting place for people: run two saw oscillators at into each of the inputs. Lower the frequency cutoff on both sides, crank up the resonance, turn the two FM trim pots up about half way, bring in a little X-mod, and just watch with your ears what happens. Sounds began to dance and ripple into each other. Its kind of a magical thing.
You could gradually change the intervals of your oscillator and your sounds are suddenly in a completely different place. Even if running two of the same oscillators in unison (one on each side), you’ll find even a slight difference in phase will create movement. It can be mesmerizing and I encourage everyone to experiment as much as possible.
BEN // Looking to the future what are you currently working on? No need to reveal specific modules or features but is your head in a certain topic or idea that we’ll see you explore with something in the future?
ADAM // I have a number of concepts in the works. A few fresh spins on classic utilities, and a more ambitious oscillator and sequencer prototypes. I’ve been having so much fun designing these tools and it feels like I’m really just getting started. Lots of fun stuff in the pipeline.
BEN // As we close things out, anything else you’d like to mention
ADAM // I would love to encourage everyone to go check out a Deuxd near you. If anyone has any questions for me/about my modules, feel free to send me an email or message on Instagram @mehrmusicmachines Thanks so much Ben, it’s been a pleasure.
