Bio

Bits of history

Hi! My name is Rutger Muller. I was born 5 January 1984. I grew up in Beek, The Netherlands. In my childhood I developed a love for electronic music through Commodore Amiga Games. In high school I lost interest in electronic music, and at the age of 16 I was mainly listening, and drumming, to (punk) rock music. Around my 18th year I discovered experimental electronic music through for example monotonik.com, and when I was 20 I decided to start composing electronically. I got started in the comprehensive virtual studio called Reason, but am now devoted to the great Ableton Live and a bit of Max/MSP. And of course Korg DS-10!

Philosophy ;-)

DS-10 Dominator is my ode to Korg’s DS-10, which put a wide sonical spectrum and an intuitive interface in the palm of my hands. But it’s also dedicated to any other way of making music with low-cost and accessible instruments. We live in a time that makes music composition, production and distribution more accessible than ever. I hope this project may be an example of that and inspire a few people to pick up any instrument that seems inspiring.

Me and Korg DS-10

As soon as I heard Korg DS-10 was released in Japan I ordered it from an import website. It was a logical step for me because I had always been intrigued by pocket sized setups, (virtual) analogue equipment, chiptune-like music, other dance music, and live electronics.

While we were drinking looking at an open DS, the shape looked like a KORG MS-10! So we said, “Let’s put a MS-10 into a DS!” Also, the very first synthesizer I bought was an MS-10, so that was another reason why we chose that model. -Nobuyoshi Sano @ Destructoid Interview, Nov 2008

Summer 2008: Getting inspired

This is the summer I received my Korg DS-10 cartridge in the mail, and had to buy a Nintendo DS especially for Korg DS-10. I started to experiment in different styles and realised a 100% Korg DS-10 powered dancefloor oriented project with space for live improvisation would be awesome. I dedicated myself to getting the most out of this little beast, hence the name DS-10 DOMINATOR :D . But when the summer ended I got enrolled in a new study which took up most of my time and I took a little break of the project.

Spring 2009: First release

By Spring I finished 20 tracks, ranging from weird minimal techno to party electro to harsh dubstep. A great deal of it was composed while traveling by train. A little time later, April 7th 2009, these tracks were released as a free album called ‘Cheap Dirt‘. The album was distributed by the netlabel mp3death, run by the nice Jordan/K9D/Starpause, who promotes many low-budget, lo-fi and chiptune artists. Within a few months it was downloaded over 4000 times (see archive.org stats). It’s licensed [ Creative Commons BY ], which means anyone may freely distribute (copy) the music or use it as a part their own creations, as long as credits are given to DS-10 Dominator.

mp3death art and poetry (click image to listen/download):

start with your mixing desk
to hook up to the one-person-project
an auto filter to put the raw
electric bass lines on 

Enchanted with drum & A computer on
and jupiter is cut everything else,
turn the Most synthesizer preset
bass and then boost that notoriously famous 

sessions by soundsystems
no midi control so your beat can offer
that paradoxically mix primitivistic
lo-fi and comfortable again.

cutoff album cover is not hard
to analyze but a dark,
unknown planet, that is bass bins.
This synth allows it

let's come
together,
i got a collection of abstract sounds killer.

Spring/Summer/Winter 2009: LIVE SHOWS!

My first show took place on the 9th of May 2009 at the ‘Club 3VOOR12/Utrecht Festival‘ in Db’s Studio’s. Most of the other acts playing were bands, so I wasn’t sure how the audience would react… It turned out that in stead of going home, quite a lot of people stayed for the DS-10 Dominator (after) party that lasted for almost an hour and a half.  The booker was so pleased that he later arranged me an amazing gig as the support act of Alec Empire! I also met many lovely people of the chiptune scene, for example at 10 Years of Micromusic. Other heartwarming experiences were for example Klub Radar 07 (Tivoli, Utrecht) where I was reminded of my punk rock roots while crowdsurfing the audience haha. And Stroom (De Boulevard, Breda), where I jammed in the midst of a dubstepping mob.

Winter 2009 / 2010: New Album, New Shows

coming up….