hi, my name is x_e_n_ (on dis site it is ‘a boy named xen’ because for some reason somebody had already taken ‘x_e_n_’… which is weird, but ok.) and i produce everything from dance music to orchestral pieces. at the moment i concentrate more on dance music that range from drum n bass to house oriented tracks.

i have been writing music for over nine years now having started on guitar and then moving on to writing on my first synth (a korg N364 that i still use (as a controller) ). the first things i wrote on that thing were unconventional piano pieces with drums, strings, synth leads, wanna-be bagpipes. though i had originally intended to write dance music on that thing, what came out… came out. but, i am very happy with the results and will eventually go back to that music and revive it (i really want to put that shit out).

i am grateful to my family for buying that thing for me since it was the main instrument that taught me how to write and structure music, and PATIENCE (which is very important).

i got my first taste of making dance music on the computer when i found the shareware program ‘hammerhead’ and downloaded it into the family computer. although it was only a drum machine it taught me a lot about making beats. since it was the only program i had found at the time, i became very good at it that i would sit down and create a beat then morph it into other beats in real-time. that program taught me a lot.

i later i was able to get my first computer with the help of my friends and started making music in Fruity Loops (3, i think). that program taught me how to think differently in terms of structuring music because it was a big step from playing everything by hand on my N364 to record a track on it’s sequencer to being able to use a mouse and point and click to make loops. i learned that program well enough to finally create my first real ‘dance’ track called ‘flight’.

after becoming comfortable with fruity loops, i really wanted to get my hands on Reason since i had heard so much about it. i was finally able to afford it (version 2, with a friend’s help) and started chipping away at it. but, the transition from fruity loops to Reason kicked my ass and discouraged me for a while. it wasnt till about a year later and some hard work that i started to feel comfortable in Reason and started to write some things i really liked. the first one was something named ‘123’ which is now named ‘NO HANDLE (nameless)’.

*NOTE: now-a-days EVERYTHING i do lives in Reason, i may find sounds from other sources but everything ends up in Reason and is rendered from Reason in one form or another (usually another).

skip ahead a couple of years and here we are… im writing these words and ur reading them. i am currently working on finishing up my live set-up and rehearsing. i am really wanting to get out there and start playing live and being able to only concentrate on making art.

if u were to ask me to categorize myself u would see my face go blank and hear, ‘uhhh…’, because when i write i dont usually think, ’i’m going to make a drum n bass track’ or a house track for that matter… usually whatever comes out, comes out. i am always inspired by the sounds or virtual instruments i run across when i am looking thru Reason’s sound banks or anything else i can get my hands on. and experiments arent excluded from being implemented… hmmm, maybe im an ‘experimentalist’, u can decide.

if anyone likes what they hear and has a spot open for a show… i wont disappoint. im in los angeles by the way.

thanks for reading,

- x_e_n_

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