Krista Bourgeois, a Berlin-based hardcore industrial techno live modular artist from the US, delivers an abrasive and unapologetic sound drenched in corrosive grit. Her experimental approach merges industrial soundscapes, dystopian textures, and unrelenting percussion with analog warmth. With each composition and live performance, Krista explores the boundaries of the genre, infusing it with the raw power and versatility of modular synthesis.
Words and photos by Krista Bourgeouis
There’s nothing quite like performing live with a modular system. I feel like live sets give you the opportunity to be completely genuine with your sound. Rather than searching for tracks primarily made by other artists to compose a DJ set, creating a live set is the essence of your own individual sound which I find really special.
Coming from a DJ background, the necessity of ensuring my sets are both dynamic and polished enough to fit in between DJ sets in a club atmosphere is always front of mind. I spent, and continue to spend, a lot of time iterating on my live setup to make that possible. The basis of my live performance is a mixture of live patches in my eurorack case and stems (primarily recorded out of the modular into Ableton) all triggered by an external sequencer, the Squarp Hapax.
I began using modular as a means to sound design for my compositions in Ableton. In the winter of 2022, I decided to make the leap to taking my modular on stage with me. This started my long journey of designing a live set, which meant acquiring and learning how to work with a lot more modules.
My live rack is housed in a 14U 104hp Amalgamod travel case which is perfect for traveling to gigs and being able to leave all my patches intact. My top boat is voices, filters, and some effects while the bottom boat is master effects, mixing, and output modules.
The voices in my case consist of:
● The Industrial Music Electronics Piston Honda which I use for pads and long metallic stabs.
● The Noise Engineering Manis Iteritas which I like to use with a delay to either use it as a simple stab or increase the delay and make it into a feedback patch.
● The Noise Engineering Basimilus Iteritas Alter which I split the output via a mult, sending one signal into the Sovage Engineering L’ECORCHEUR filter and the other signal into the x1l3 Shard. This creates two distortion patches that have their own unique characteristics. Both of these outputs go into their own Modulaire Maritime Isotita (a 5 band EQ) to shape the distortion to fit the mix a bit nicer.
● The Erica Synths LXR mostly for leads and some drums
● The Hexinverter Mutant Hihats.
Modulation is covered by the Xaos Devices Zadar with the envelopes mult’d out to various areas of my rack. I adjust the decay on the envelopes live to have more percussive or more long drawn-out hits as I see fit. The 4ms Mini Peg modulates parameters on my Sovage Engineering L’ECORCHEUR filter.
The Bastl Dark Matter and Qu-Bit Data Bender are some of my other favorites for sound design but they don’t always have a permanent home in my live rack. Both are used heavily in my productions. Specifically, the Data Bender was used to create all of the glitch sounds in my track Riding With Death as well as the long glitchy sounds in the breakdown.
For non-eurorack, I built a DIY kit of the Error Noise Lab which can be heard in both the intro of Riding With Death and after the breakdown. I also recorded and cut up bits of the Noise Lab to layer with other glitch sounds throughout the track.
All of my kicks are created in Ableton and then played back via the Assimil8or. This enables me to heavily process my kicks and ensure they will have the necessary power that I need them to have for the style of techno I play.
Signal routing between the top and bottom boats is streamlined using Octalink modules directing outputs into the Boreddrain Stereo Xcelon Mixer. The mixer is a new addition to my live setup and so far, the best I’ve encountered for live performance. I have two stereo send and return FX setup. Both are Erica Synths Pico DSP modules, each set to different algorithms. I really enjoy playing with the FX send knobs on each voice live to change the character of the sound.
The Boredbrain Xcelon mix out goes into the Cosmotronic Cosmix V1 because I love the overdrive on it. Then the master signal goes into the Cosmotronic Messor compressor then the WMD Overseer filter and lastly, the Boredbrain Monitr output module.
In a recent evolution of my setup, I’ve transitioned from the Octatrack to the Squarp Hapax for all of my sequencing alongside the Rossum Assimil8or and 1010 Bitbox for stem playback. I sequence everything over midi via the Expert Sleepers FH-2 and cv expanders.
Something that was essential for me was finding a way to recreate the functionality of Octatrack scenes in my modular. I was able to build this functionality using the Droid Master with the Droid X7 expander and 2 Droid P2B8 modules. With those, I can control parameters on my master chain effect modules by selecting different ‘scenes’ with the buttons on the Droid P2B8. I use this system to control parameters on the Xaos Devices Timiszoara, Noise Engineering Desmodus Versio, and WMD Overseer as well as sending a gate to a 1U Intellijel Dual VCA to switch the kick on or off. These ‘scenes’ are driven by the Intellijel Xfade 1U Crossfader acting as a macro controller, allowing me to create breakdowns and other creative effects that would otherwise be impossible with two hands. This helps with transitioning between different moments in my live set which can be one of the more challenging aspects of performing live.
For composing tracks, I record individual elements from my modular into Ableton and then cut up and process the recordings. I like being able to EQ, clip, time-stretch, and otherwise add FX that I just don’t have in my modular. I think having the ability to combine modular elements with elements sound designed fully in Ableton lends to more flexibility when producing. I enjoy certain soft synths VSTs that I haven’t found a comparable Eurorack module for. There are a lot of possibilities when combining both hardware and digital sound design. The great thing about Eurorack is the unique textures and sounds I can design with my modules that would take ages to get even close to creating in Ableton. I find sound design with modular to be more immediate, visceral, and full, which is important to my sound.
For those interested, here is my modular grid.
