Hailing from Hungary, Myon & Shane 54 have achieved extraordinary success in the international dance music scene.
They produce for some of the biggest names in music, are constant fixtures in set lists of some of world’s best known DJs, and regularly feature in a multitude of EDM radio show playlists. Myon & Shane 54 also host their own weekly radio show 'International Departures', frequently one of the most popular music podcasts around due in large part to their shameless, all-encompassing approach to mash-ups. In addition, their extensive tour diary 'International Departures TV' provides an in depth view of life on the road for the well-traveled duo.
"We love plugins, and they a joy to work with. But somehow the handful of hardware we've had slowly infiltrated us. Working in the box is surely easier, but some of these synths sound like nothing else, so they lend a much different character when we blend them with virtual instruments. This way we get best of both worlds really."
Here are the boys' Top 5 favourite hardware synths:
Oberheim Xpander
Myon: It is one of the most famous synths ever built. It has a very pleasing sound, the pads are legendary. Shane has it for more than a decade, which it spent mostly at Above & Beyond's studio. We used it on our single with Late Night Alumni, 'Under Your Cloud'."PIF" Synthesizer
Shane: Myon's favourite toy synth. He has a few of those, but this Russian gem is clearly the winner. Looks like a toy, that got it's name from a French comic book character (badly drawn on the faceplate) It has 2 knobs, 5 buttons, a speaker and that's it! The sound though is surprisingly powerful and fat. You have to play it manually, there's no MIDI, USB or anything like that. Operated by batteries.Quasimidi Sirius
Myon: Rave-synth from the late 90s. It's the most German sounding synth we have. Due to it's army of knobs it's easy to tweak, and it also has a vocoder. Very hard to find, this is the only unit in Hungary, and we've yet to see another one in general. We mostly layering it in our lead sounds, but it has a pretty fast envelope, so it's great for short, arpeggiator-type sounds.Roland JD-990
Myon: Rack version of JD-800, an extremely programmable synth. It has so many classic sounds it's not even funny. Great, warm sound compared to the fact it's digital. On our Lana Del Rey remix it was used as one of the layers the piano riff was made out of.Suzuki Omnichord
Shane: An autoharp. A hybrid between an analog synth/preset drum machine, an accordion and a guitar aimed at people with absolutely no musical backgroud or knowledge. Still they could play it and stay in tune. Due to the foolproof design it's a hella lot of fun to play. If you put the right effects on the somewhat dull dry sound, you're in for a treat. An instrument so far from how we usually make music, we use it as a tool to think outside the box and come up with ideas we wouldn't necessary do using conventional methods. Two words: 'Strangers' pad...Myon & Shane 54 Tour Dates
Fri 18 Sep – Platinum (Gold Coast)Sat 19 Sep – HP (Adelaide)
Fri 25 Sep - Home (Sydney)
Sat 26 Sep – Alumbra (Melbourne)
Sat 26 Sep – Room 680 (Melbourne)
Sun 27 Sep – Gilkisons (Perth)
