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On this episode of DTB’s “Gear Masters”, David Phipps, keyboardist of the instrumental band, STS9, shows off the gear that he uses onstage. STS9 is currently supporting their newest album, Human Dream.
PLAY THE SAME GEAR:
Sequential Prophet-6 - 6-voice Analog Synthesizer - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/k0LVVV
Studio Electronics Tonestar 8106 Eurorack Synth Voice Module - https://www.studioelectronics.com/products/Tonestar/8106/
Rossum Electro-Music Assimil8or Eurorack Multi-timbral Sampler Module - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/en4grD
Custom Eurorack Modular Synthesizer System - https://amzn.to/4cbM2qx
Apple MacBook Pro - https://amzn.to/4qX8tTX
Ableton Live Software - https://amzn.to/4rzNcBa
Ferrofish Pulse 16 16 x 16 AD/DA Converter with ADAT - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/oNe0yn
Tripp Lite Power Conditioner - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/zzar2e
Korg SV-2 88-Key Stage Piano - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/6kbogV
Novation Launchpad Mini MK3 Grid Controller for Ableton Live - https://amzn.to/46nnIhR
Expert Sleepers Super Disting EX - https://www.expert-sleepers.co.uk/distingEX.html
VIDEO INFO:
Film Date - December 30, 2025
Location - Ramova Theatre in Chicago, IL
KEEP UP WITH STS9:
Facebook - https://facebook.com/STS9
Instagram - https://instagram.com/STS9
TikTok - https://tiktok.com/@STS9
Twitter - https://twitter.com/STS9
FOLLOW US:
Website/Email List - https://www.digitaltourbus.com/#/portal/signup
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/digitaltourbus
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/digitaltourbus/
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@digitaltourbus
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/digitaltourbus/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/digitaltourbus
Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/digitaltourbus/
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-tour-bus-llc
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/user/digitaltourbus
VIDEO SUMMARY:
00:00 Introduction
00:39 Skip Intro
00:50 Keyboard & Synth
06:22 Modular Synth
13:27 Rack
ABOUT DIGITAL TOUR BUS:
Digital Tour Bus is your backstage pass to your favorite touring artists! With daily video releases, we cover all genres, and have had the pleasure of featuring the likes of Matchbox Twenty, Twenty One Pilots, Megadeth, MGK, Papa Roach, AJR, Pierce The Veil, Simple Plan, A Day to Remember, and thousands of others over the past 15 years. "Bus Invaders" takes you inside an artist's home on the road, "Cooking at 65mph" showcases the culinary skills of artists on tour, "Gear Masters" unveils the equipment musicians use on stage, and "Stage Threads" dives into the meaning and inspiration behind the clothing artists wear during their performances.
Affiliate Disclosure:
Some of the links in this description are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you if you make a purchase. Your support helps me continue to create content like this. Thank you!
Buy official DTB merch at http://digtb.us/merch
On this episode of DTB’s “Gear Masters”, David Phipps, keyboardist of the instrumental band, STS9, shows off the gear that he uses onstage. STS9 is currently supporting their newest album, Human Dream.
PLAY THE SAME GEAR:
Sequential Prophet-6 - 6-voice Analog Synthesizer - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/k0LVVV
Studio Electronics Tonestar 8106 Eurorack Synth Voice Module - https://www.studioelectronics.com/products/Tonestar/8106/
Rossum Electro-Music Assimil8or Eurorack Multi-timbral Sampler Module - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/en4grD
Custom Eurorack Modular Synthesizer System - https://amzn.to/4cbM2qx
Apple MacBook Pro - https://amzn.to/4qX8tTX
Ableton Live Software - https://amzn.to/4rzNcBa
Ferrofish Pulse 16 16 x 16 AD/DA Converter with ADAT - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/oNe0yn
Tripp Lite Power Conditioner - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/zzar2e
Korg SV-2 88-Key Stage Piano - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/6kbogV
Novation Launchpad Mini MK3 Grid Controller for Ableton Live - https://amzn.to/46nnIhR
Expert Sleepers Super Disting EX - https://www.expert-sleepers.co.uk/distingEX.html
VIDEO INFO:
Film Date - December 30, 2025
Location - Ramova Theatre in Chicago, IL
KEEP UP WITH STS9:
Facebook - https://facebook.com/STS9
Instagram - https://instagram.com/STS9
TikTok - https://tiktok.com/@STS9
Twitter - https://twitter.com/STS9
FOLLOW US:
Website/Email List - https://www.digitaltourbus.com/#/portal/signup
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/digitaltourbus
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/digitaltourbus/
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@digitaltourbus
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/digitaltourbus/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/digitaltourbus
Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/digitaltourbus/
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-tour-bus-llc
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/user/digitaltourbus
VIDEO SUMMARY:
00:00 Introduction
00:39 Skip Intro
00:50 Keyboard & Synth
06:22 Modular Synth
13:27 Rack
ABOUT DIGITAL TOUR BUS:
Digital Tour Bus is your backstage pass to your favorite touring artists! With daily video releases, we cover all genres, and have had the pleasure of featuring the likes of Matchbox Twenty, Twenty One Pilots, Megadeth, MGK, Papa Roach, AJR, Pierce The Veil, Simple Plan, A Day to Remember, and thousands of others over the past 15 years. "Bus Invaders" takes you inside an artist's home on the road, "Cooking at 65mph" showcases the culinary skills of artists on tour, "Gear Masters" unveils the equipment musicians use on stage, and "Stage Threads" dives into the meaning and inspiration behind the clothing artists wear during their performances.
Affiliate Disclosure:
Some of the links in this description are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you if you make a purchase. Your support helps me continue to create content like this. Thank you!
Category
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FunTranscript
00:00I'm on this like minimalized thing and so to have as much as possible coming out
00:06of the smallest rack is is a goal. Analog output, Dante output, and Maddie
00:11output simultaneously.
00:39Hi, my name is David Phipps from STS9. We're here in Chicago for our New Year's run and I'm
00:46going to talk about my equipment. It's a pretty minimal keyboard rig these days. We've been
00:54playing together for over 20 years, 25 years, and at times it would be like your typical
01:00rock and roll keyboard rig, but now I use an 88 key controller and a Profit 6 and a small
01:10modular synthesizer and that's pretty much my hardware rig these days. So in the past I've
01:18had like vintage gear like a CS50 on stage at times or Rhodes 88 I've had. I used to
01:30have a left side that would had a lot of Korgs, MS-2000 and bigger, a lot more modular stuff,
01:39but as I've streamlined and focused sounds, sound design that go with songs and replicated
01:49some VST stuff, you know, that is just more reliable and transportable than a CS50 or an
01:59actual mechanical piano. Those come out for big shows or they stay in the studio where we're
02:06sampling or doing a lot of recording. We do run some backing tracks and sync across the stage,
02:15so there's a clock being sent to from Hunter's computer to my Ableton session. We use hardwired
02:27clock. We don't use link. I don't know why. It actually, I used it at a show a couple weeks
02:35ago
02:35and it worked really well. I was like, holy shit, I don't know why we don't do this. But we
02:40don't.
02:41But the clock hits this and the clock clocks the modular, delay times, appreggio times. We also send MIDI
02:53note information from the master session and that drives the modular, plays melodic sequences
03:03on the modular and cues. Everything from lighting changes to modular sequences from the master MIDI.
03:15And then a big part of my setup is just using a bunch of mappings on a launch control assigned
03:25to Ableton.
03:27So the profit has, of course, its internal sounds, but it's also driving up to six or seven different VSTs.
03:36And just simply on volume knobs. And then I have a master filter fader and master effect sends for delay
03:47and reverb on the synths
03:49and delay and reverb on the piano sounds separately. So, you know, there's nothing crazy innovative,
03:57but just run Ableton in a way that I don't ever look at it basically. Everything that I need and
04:05use in my Ableton session
04:06is mapped to these two controllers. This is kind of new. These are all program changes. So, these change program
04:18changes on the profit
04:19as well as VSTs to create stacks. I'm playing mostly synth lines, right, and piano chords.
04:28So, the bottom controller is either piano, Rhodes, Wurlitzer, or organ, or combos of all. And then there's strings
04:42layered underneath the piano sounds. So, strings and pads down here and then synth lines up here.
04:55So, this would be the profit sound, but I can bring in layers because it's also being used as a
05:08MIDI controller for the VSTs.
05:11So, the modular synth has been into Eurorack modular stuff for over 10 years. Love this stuff. Love Eurorack.
05:20This particular rack is running Expert Sleepers as the MIDI to CD interface. This does a lot of other things.
05:30But, what it's doing is translating the MIDI information either from the master sequence or even...
05:43This is tied to...
05:51I can play...
05:53I can play...
05:53This is...
05:54I can play...
06:00This is...
06:00Being played...
06:01The modular synth is being played melodically with this synthesizer, but I can also, like,
06:06latch an arp.
06:17So, the modular, or the MIDI, is mostly driving this one modular, a module, the Tone Star 8106 from Studio
06:29Electronics.
06:30These guys have been around for ages. They've always made really great recreations of classic synthesizers.
06:37And this is a full voice in a module. So, everything you need to make a synthesizer voice, an oscillator,
06:44a filter, and an envelope in one module.
06:47And this particular one is, you can kind of tell by the color scheme, Roland flavored, like a Juno 106
06:56flavored filter mostly.
06:59The filter flavor is a Roland topography.
07:04And so, I just love it.
07:05My first synthesizer was a Juno 106.
07:07And so, this is like one voice of a Juno, right?
07:13And then the rest of it also run a second voice on this...
07:21This is another electric expert sleepers, Disting EX.
07:27This is running the firmware of the Mutable Instruments plates.
07:31But, it's quad plates.
07:33So, it's like having four plates in one module.
07:38How can you say no to that?
07:40But, it's super, super versatile.
07:44This is a digital module that can be like 50 different things.
07:48It can be...
07:50It runs all kinds of different algorithms.
07:52And then the rest of this is like mixing, some more oscillator stuff.
07:58This isn't used in this run of shows that much, but it's Rossum Electrum Music.
08:05Which is David Wassum of Emu.
08:09Going back to the SB 1200 and the Proteus and all that gear.
08:14This guy, luminary.
08:18And happens to live in Santa Cruz where I live.
08:20And we had coffee and got an assimilator.
08:24It's fucking awesome.
08:24You know, it's really, really lucky to have this...
08:28The assimilator is like a...
08:31It's not only pricey, but it's...
08:34The quality and the glue behind it is just some...
08:39It's just really special.
08:41It's really special.
08:42You don't get a sampler that sounds like this very often.
08:46Even though it just looks like a Eurorack module.
08:48It's really, really, really kind of special.
08:51So, the top row is more or less fixed.
08:56In our catalog, we've probably up to like 20, 30 songs now.
09:03There's MIDI note information that is part of the song that is sent to the modular.
09:10And it's just part of the song or part of the show now.
09:14And that's...
09:15There's always two channels coming from him.
09:18As of right now, there's two channels.
09:20And so, I need two voices.
09:22Two complete voices.
09:24And I accomplish that with the Tone Star as a voice in a module.
09:27And the Disting EX as a voice in a module.
09:31Actually, a polyphonic synth in a module.
09:35So, those two mixed together is what's always consistent to...
09:39To just be able to run the sequences that are part of the show.
09:45And then everything below that is...
09:47I switch out every once in a while as more experimental.
09:52This one is...
09:55I don't know if it's made anymore.
09:57The Morphing Terrarium.
09:59See, a lot of the stuff I've just carried around for years.
10:02Or was given part of beta testing or whatnot.
10:07And so, the panels of my stuff are sometimes different than what the production was.
10:14But I have lots and lots of modular synthesizers.
10:19And so, yeah.
10:20The bottom row kind of switches out.
10:22This one...
10:22I literally installed this bottom row for this run.
10:26To have just a little more stuff.
10:30My first introduction to this format.
10:34This particular format of modular synthesizer was created by Dieter Doepfer.
10:43As like a...
10:45At the request of Kraftwerk, I want to say.
10:47If I know my modular synth history.
10:50They wanted a small format modular synthesizer.
10:54But the first time I saw one, I think, in person was Elliot Lipp had one.
11:01And he had been turned on to it by John Hughes of Hefty Records from here in Chicago.
11:07And so, we met John Hughes and worked with Hefty Records in the early days of 1320 Records.
11:16Our record label.
11:17And went to the studio.
11:18And he...
11:18It was the first wall of, you know, Eurorack modular synthesizer.
11:24And I was like, oh, that's super cool.
11:27Definitely have to get into that.
11:28And at that time, there was only, you know, five or six manufacturers.
11:35Like, the original Dieter.
11:39And Livewire.
11:40And Plan B.
11:43And there was like two stores.
11:45Analog Haven and Noisebug in LA.
11:47And that's where you went.
11:48Or you ordered the stuff.
11:51And now there's probably, I would say thousands, of Eurorack manufacturers.
11:57I was one at one time.
11:58These super modules.
12:00This one and this one was a company that I was a partner in.
12:04And no longer made anymore, you know.
12:08We stopped making stuff, luckily, before all the tariff nonsense.
12:13But we would have been shut down.
12:14A lot of this community is at risk because of tariffs and politics or whatever.
12:20But, yeah, it just, like, from the very beginning, early days, there's a forum.
12:33It's called Mod Wiggler now.
12:37And it was a small community.
12:41It's become quite large.
12:44A lot of people collect stuff, you know, for the sake of collecting.
12:49Which is super, it's one way to go, for sure.
12:53I like to try to make, like, I'm on this, like, minimalized thing.
12:59And so to have as much as possible coming out of the smallest rack is a goal of mine, you
13:06know.
13:07And so to have actually three melodic voices and a whole drum machine, sampler situation, mixing, filtering, LFOs, gesture sequencing,
13:22all in one rack is, like, I'm like, this is pretty cool, you know.
13:27So these racks were built for us.
13:31They're kind of new.
13:34Time goes fast.
13:36They're not as new as they were.
13:37But we were hardcore Universal Audio Apollo users until these rigs were built.
13:44And so, and I will shout out all day Universal Audio.
13:48They've supported us with plug-ins and hardware throughout the years.
13:53And so it's a little awkward for me to not be pointing to a Universal Audio Apollo down here.
14:01But we've made a lot of changes in our audio rig.
14:05And part of that was going to Dante and or Matty routing.
14:11And so before we would have, like, this crazy snake, you know, with the whole XLRs and 12 channels of
14:20keyboards and XLRs.
14:23And there's usually, like, a couple guys with flashlights over here, you know, for a lot of the day.
14:29And now it's, like, one cable.
14:32It's, like, an Ethernet cable.
14:35And so this interface is actually pretty versatile.
14:43So the Farrowfish Pulse 16 DX.
14:47Myself and Hunter are running this.
14:50It can be analog output, Dante output, and Matty output simultaneously.
14:58So there's, like, it's, we can fold back to analog if we need to.
15:09And Matty was, we were running Matty for a little bit, but now we're doing this whole Dante thing.
15:16So everything, all the analog stuff goes into this.
15:20The VST stuff comes out of this and it's set over the one cable to monitor world and beyond.
15:28And it's really clean.
15:31And one cable.
15:33Thanks for checking us out.
15:36SCS9.com is the website.
15:38We're on Bandcamp.
15:40All of our shows are recorded.
15:43All of our live concerts going back to the late 90s.
15:47Thousands of hours of live music on Bandcamp and the newest releases and studio releases.
15:55That's kind of where we feed our stuff first.
15:58So check us out on Bandcamp at SCS9.
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