Jonas Rathsman: Desert Island Kit

Jonas Rathsman’s Gothenburg studio is filled with a considered selection of hardware and software, but one piece of kit tht stands out is his Roland Handsonic HPD-20. Designed as a percussion and drum sampler, it’s perfect for creating more organic ideas and sounds. Jonas explains how it’s his go-to gear when starting a track:

“There are so many essential tools in my setup that I always use, but the piece of equipment I really can’t live without at the moment is the Roland Handsonic HPD-20. I bought it second hand a year ago and I’ve used it on every single track since then. It’s the ultimate 'pots and pans' tool – it contains all kinds of high-quality drum samples and it's super easy to use - you can also insert your own samples. I tend to start any project by laying down a quick foundation with a groove from the Handsonic."

“It’s basically like playing on a bongo drum, and it gives you that human touch for your music which is hard when you’re programming beats in the box. It has a really good real-time pitch function, which I use a lot for pitching down different drum sounds to make nice basslines with.”