There is a fine line between vintage music production and pure sonic archaeology. For anyone obsessed with unusual arrangements, hidden-gem hardware, and sounds that instantly transport you to another era, standard studio workflows can feel a bit… sterile.
We wanted something different. Something completely unique.
That is why we went on a mission to build a worldwide, one-of-a-kind production environment. The goal? A setup where every single instrument, effect, and analog processing stage comes exclusively from the legendary East German (GDR) brand Vermona, manufactured by Klingenthaler Musikinstrumente.
Here is how we brought this beast to life, how we maintain it, and how we hybridize it with modern tech to keep things flowing.
The Heart of the Rig: Reviving the Vermona 1642
You cannot have a unique analog environment without a true centerpiece. For us, that centerpiece just received a major upgrade. We recently completed the fundamental maintenance and deep servicing of a vintage Vermona 1642 mixing console.
[Vermona 1642 Mixer] ─── (Analog Summing & EQ) ───► Final Stereo Mix
Made in the GDR, this 16-channel desk is a beautiful piece of engineering, but decades of dust and aging components required serious attention. After cleaning the pots, checking the internal routing, and ensuring the channel strips were perfectly calibrated, it is officially back in action. The 1642 provides a warm, distinct analog glue and characterful EQs that you simply cannot replicate with modern digital plugins.
With this mixer fully restored, our all-Vermona environment is officially complete. There is quite literally no other studio setup like this on the planet.
The Hybrid Approach: DAW as a 16-Channel Tape Machine
As much as we love the pure analog philosophy, producing entirely without modern convenience would make the workflow agonizingly slow. To bridge the gap between 1980s character and modern reliability, we treat our Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) as a vintage 16-channel tape machine.
The workflow is a perfectly balanced hybrid:
- The Analog Capture: All vintage Vermona synthesizers, drum machines, and analog instruments are played and recorded directly into the DAW.
- The Digital Anchor (Sync & Samples): Keeping hardware perfectly synchronized can be a nightmare. To solve this, drum sounds (like classic 12-bit PCM hits) are loaded as samples directly inside the DAW. This ensures the master clock is rock-solid.
- The Analog Mixdown: Once all the tracks are tracked into our “16-channel tape machine,” the individual tracks are routed back out of the computer and into the hardware channels of the Vermona 1642 mixer for the final, authentic analog mix.
The Sound: Pure 1987 Magic
When everything clicks, the results are mind-blowing. Recently, a chord progression that had been sitting in a drawer since spring suddenly came alive.
By pairing a lush, cinematic standard pad sound with a driving beat, the studio transformed. Bathed in summer weather, the rig instantly locked into a groove. In just a few hours, a track emerged that sounds like a lost, classic Italo-Pop anthem straight out of 1987—vibrant, nostalgic, and absolutely driving.
Limiting yourself to a single, historic brand forces you to think outside the box. It forces unusual arrangements and coaxes sounds out of the gear you didn’t know were there.
Stay tuned for the first audio samples from this unique setup. The spirit of Klingenthal lives on!