The story behind "Cygnus X - Superstring" by Matthias Hoffmann | Muzikxpress 120
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ส.ค. 2024
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Matthias Hoffmann is a German producer and composer. He is known for projects under names such as Brainchild, Odyssee Of Noises and of course Cygnus X. Back in the year 1990 Matthias started one of the very first ever trance labels in the world, together with Heinz Roth and Sven Väth. The legendary Eye Q Records.
For this week’s vlog I sat down with Matthias in his studio, to ask him about the story behind the Cygnus X classic “Superstring” and more. He hardly does interviews, so I'm very happy about this one!
I did another interview with Matthias, for which we spoke about the Cygnus X classic; "The Orange Theme";
• The story behind "Cygn...
Enjoy and thanks for watching!
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#cygnusx #superstring #eyeqrecords
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What is your favorite Cygnus X track?
Positron is brilliant. Looking forward to the interview!
Positron & the Armin Remix
Kinderlied
Superstring ! (classic)
The Madagascar remix is very underrated
This dude exudes positive energy, great interview
Yeah, Matthias is great! Thank you, glad you enjoyed the interview!
Church organ has inspired a lot of Trance. Good interview, Twan.
Thanks so much Chris!
I always thought there is a connection between "Superstring" and "Snap - Green Grass Grows". Finally, now I know the story behind it. Thank you
Yes, great story! thanks Twan
In Germany VIVA’s Housefrau TV featured the steal.
I can't believe '99 was 21 years ago, these records still sound as good as they were.
Both the original superstring version and the Rank1 remix are wonderful ❤
Fun fact : In Belgium this kind of bangers was also played a lot in the biggest nightclub of that time : Zillion . I was way too young but if i hear the stories about the 90s . Mustve been a wonderful time 🎉🎉
@@Gantoise89 did you see the Zillion movie? So good! Also never had the chance to go to that club myself, bummer hehe
@@muzikxpress i guess 3 to 4 times since it came out .. based on the life of Frank Verstraeten. although the reality was, it was too crazy in there to keep going 🤣 all what happened between those walls , we can only imagine
@@Gantoise89 Such a cool movie right? Someone from my town has a track in the movie, I did an interview with them about that one: "Systematic Parts - Violin De La Nuit", in case you missed it ;-)
Good to see for the younger audience of this channel who the big names were back in the day when it all started.
And good to see for the older audience what the big names from back in the day are up to now haha ;-)
I was only 1 when this came out :)
@@janegibbon1532 I was -4 when this came out :D
Rank 1's remix was really what made this track happen. It was monstrous and really took it to another level. I had just moved to Amsterdam in 2000 from London and a dutch work colleague took me to a club night called 'Sensations' When this track dropped i was already off my face on Ecstasy and I damn near pissed my pants when that big synth riff dropped.
Rank 1 rocks! Once this whole COVID stuff gets better, I hope I can finally do my interview with them (in the works for a loooong time already hehe), since I would love to get them both together for the interview. Fingers crossed!
@@muzikxpress Great news, thats one vid I would love to see. Totally loving your channel bro. keep up the good work. Greetings from lockdown London!
@@394pjo I hope I can make it happen somewhere early 2021, fingers crossed! And thank you, stay safe!
@@muzikxpress How did it go? Would love to see the Rank 1 interview. How they created the characteristic intro synth & percussion sounds. (Played the theme a lot on my JP. But those few extra sounds give the track another layer of depth).
@@azadzeeman1243 still in the works! Due to COVID I had a lot of stuff going on, so I haven’t had the chance yet to make this one (and some others) happen. My job situation is more secure now (I do work again in the event industry now there’s events again!) but I have less time for interviews now unfortunately. But…. Hopefully I can make it happen next year! 🤞🏻
Still listening to Cygnus x superstring in 2023 💪
You're a legend Twan, you're bringing the spotlight to a side of trance no1 else in the world sees, unique! Legend keep it up, hours of entertainment
Thank you Mark!!!
Funny that so many people love this classic and he's like "Not at all" when asked how big it was for his career! I guess the impact wasn't financial or tangible at the time but hope he's proud of it in any case :) Love your work as always Twan
Thanks so much! And I think he means that it could have been "bigger" for him if he was a DJ, so it would be beneficial for his DJ gigs. I'm sure he's proud of it. Loved his stories, super happy with this interview :)
It's interesting what he said about not returning to producing trance because he is not 'in the scene anymore'. Not being in the scene would mean that you're not influenced by all the other music being released and would most likely result in something fresh and individual. Everything sounding similar is a problem and individuality is always welcome. Its a shame! I would love to hear what trance he would come up with in 2020!
I was thinking the same thing. He's in the perfect position to be interesting.
This resonated with me too... in a way he is right - there’s years worth of production techniques that have changed the overall sound and the fastest way to get up to speed would be to know producers who are willing to share them... As for the actual material though - we all seem to agree that it’s all too samey and heavily compartmentalised in to homogenous banality. At worst he would make something forgettable and at best he would “create a new genre” - otherwise known as everyone photocopying his idea to oblivion.
That is the right approach, we need freshness and a new kind of euphoria, the music is everywhere stale and it would be a perfect time to innovate without fighting too much
Na I wouldn’t we’ve heard it all now
You are the trance historian, Twan! Thank you so much for doign this and preserving this incredible history. What a great time it was to be alive
Thanks a lot! But you have to thank the producers who made all these great tracks. I'm just trying to get them to tell their (sometimes untold) stories. Loved Matthias' stories, he was there from the very start with Eye Q etc :)
@@muzikxpress yes I agree but youre doing some amazing work taking the time to contact each one and sitting down to interview them. This history should not be lost! Thank you!
@@s3vR3x thank you for the nice words!!!
I love the Eye Q stuff. My first DJ vinyl was Firedance from Odyssey of Noises. Would be cool if you could get Ralf for an episode of the story behind.
@@ronage6 he’s on my wish list, but unfortunately I don’t have a travel budget right now for a new trip to Frankfurt. Hopefully in the future 🤞🏻
Truly an underrated music producer.
I'd be surprised if one of my songs re-entered the top 20 charts only 5 years after its original release.
Thank you Matthias. Between Eye-Q records, Cygnus-X and especially Positron (Original) - which I adore, your music inspired me to start writing electronic music in my early teens in the 90s and still inspires everything I write today. Total legend!
@muzikxpress "Hill Den Boy Tell" ;) Great interview, always loved the tracks and never knew about the people behind. Thank you!
Thank you very much! :)
Thanks for this interview !! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
You’re welcome! I hope you enjoyed it!
Omfg he cracks me up, what a character, he’s so out of it and so careless about the sale. If you wanna have fun, you must hangout with this guy😁
Haha, he's great right? I was super happy when he emailed me back after I finally found him and requested to do an interview for Muzikxpress. He was super nice and he had so many good stories! Thanks Saham! One more interview with him to come (about "The Orange Theme").
The Orange Theme is another great track. I love your questions Twan, they are always spot on and keep the engagement going. Great interview as always. ❣️✨
Also I love how he talked about female techno artists breakfast pictures haha.
5:50 - gear in the studio around that time was:
Roland JD-800
Roland U-220
Korg Wavestation A/D
Oberheim Matrix 6R
Oberheim Matrix 1000
Akai S-1000 sampler (x 2)
Waldorf Microwave I
Yamaha DX-7 IIFD
Roland DEP-5
Ensoniq DP4
Atari computer
DAT recorder, etc...
Thanks for this update!!
These guys originated the Frankfurt trance scene… wicked interview
Super happy I managed to track him down and that he was up for 2 interviews, what a legend!
The ex-trance and non-trance interviews you do like this one are excellent!
Thank you very much!!!!
Cygnus X and Brainchild ❤️ That bassline for the Orange Theme is magical
There will be an interview about "The Orange Theme" soon as well ;-)
muzikxpress awesome , can’t wait 👍
I first heard it on the eye trance compilation as a young teen. Instant love!
thank you so much...when i listen Cygnuns X " Superstring " ...i became goose bumps :-)))) it was my time in the 90s... Eye Q was Great !!!!!!
His music is amazing...so inspirational...proper trance. I remember hearing "positron", at 8am, at an after-party in 1996 and was blown away..! Changed my life this type of music..😃
So many great tracks right? Hope you enjoyed the interview! :)
I remember a version of this on Sasha northern exposure 2 - amazing
Amazing interview as always, Twan! I love Rank 1's remix of Superstring!
Together with "the orange theme" one of my favourite German trance evergreens!!! 🥳
Another great interview, thanx Twan... keep up the good work!!! 👍👍
A wonderful interview. Good job, Twan. I didn't know anything else about Matthias outside of his Cygnus X work. He is an interesting person and seemed candid in his interview.
Thanks a lot Hersh! I'm very, very happy with this one! Matthias is a great guy! :)
Man, I can't stop watching your vids. So much nostalgia from these artists. Hearing positron kick off the second cd of the Northern exposure 2 mix by Sasha & Digweed brings happy memories.
Glad you enjoy it!
The rank 1 remix of Superstring is my one of my top 5 trance track. Great watch
Awesome video, all these labels you talk about shaped my life all the way down in Melbourne Australia, still remember the first time hearing the orange theme by Cygnus x, such great memories.
This was and still is one epic track
Great interview!
Thank you! Still super happy I managed to track Matthias down for these 2 interviews!
One of the TOP from EyeQ!!
I love his remix of "Easter Island"!!
Great interview - very interesting he was one of the rare few that never DJed and he has had anything to do with Trance for a long time even though he made some classics. Symmetry C was another,wouldve loved to have heard what he thought of the 99 era and the Moonman remix of The Orange Theme.
Thank you!! And I did an interview with him about “The Orange Theme” as well, that one will be online in a few weeks! 😉
Legend. I remember being on a small dancefloor the first time I heard Superstring. My friend played it and I was blown away. I still don't own a copy. :/
What a legend 🙌!! It's interesting to see that his interest in music started with listening progressive rock as those bands were pioneer users of the earliest synthesizers. And oh Snap!, that's awful what they did :(. The part with Sensation / Rank 1 remix is really amusing 😆, but the funny thing is that Sensation crowd STILL worships Superstring, exactly as in 2000 - I was at Sensation The Final in 2017 and it was played, say, 4 times in different versions, also in completely orchestral version, composed by Benno of Rank 1. Tho Cygnus X was overally obviously hugely worshiped by the best Dutch trance producers as Rank 1, Ferry, Armin...:)). Amazing interview Twan, keep doing the great work 🙌!!
Thank you Suzana!!
Jouw kanaal is prachtig! Heel interessant om verhalen achter deze klassiekers te horen! Ben zelf 28 dus heb helaas de vroegere house, trance, techno scene niet meegemaakt.
Dank je Rudi!! Ik ben zelf altijd nieuwsgierig geweest naar de verhalen en de mensen achter de classics / hits. Vooral over veel dance dingen van vroeger is helaas maar weinig te vinden, vandaar dat ik destijds mijn TH-cam kanaal ben begonnen. Mooi om te lezen dat mensen de verhalen ook interessant vinden! Goed weekend!
@@muzikxpress Heel tof dat je hebt besloten zelf een kanaal te starten en de verhalen van de artiesten te ontdekken, Is best wel animo voor! Thanks, jij ook goed weekend😁🙌
Excellent interview. Lovely bloke! Loved the stories. My fave Eye Q track of all time too.
Thank you! Just finished the editing for the 2nd interview with him, so that should be online soon-ish as well 😉
Thanks for this great interview! Now I am associating faces with the heroes I listened for decades
Thank you very much! Super happy with this rare interview, so a massive thanks to Matthias for letting me interview him! :)
In Holland this track was so big ❤️ great memories from my youth 👍
Im loving your Channel my friend. i discovered you through the old podcast so i was so happy to find you here after. As an old dance DJ from the 80s through to the 2000's (im 50 this year!) your interviews are perfect. I'm telling all my friends about your channel as many of them are producers and music lovers. You deserve many more subscribers. Good luck and thank you :)
Thanks so much! And just curious, which podcast are you taking about exactly? And thanks for spreading the word, much, much appreciated!!!!
@@muzikxpress My pleasure! I realised after, it wasnt your podcast I was listening to before. It was History of Dutch house music with Giel Beelen. My mistake :)
Keep up the great work and congratulations on securing some great producers and DJS.
Ah awesome! Giel did mention my channel at the end of one of his interviews (Jeroen Verheij / Joris Voorn) btw, so that was a nice surprise for me! :) Jeroen is also on my wish list, I hope he wil say "yes" as well when I do ask him hehe. Thanks Jason!
@@muzikxpress Jeroen would be as great one. especially after his Global underground mix. So many classic tracks produced by that guy over the years. it does make me feel old though :D
This music is so important to where EDM has gone. Even if it became commercialized AF.
I love these classic artists attitudes and passion towards music compared to today's music superstars
What a great Musician and great Interview!
Thank you so much!!!
Very cool guy
Thank you Muzikxpress for this interview 😄🙌🏻🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🤩♥️ O boy I have heard Cygnus X tracks and Remixes but I had almost forgot about the Name☹ he did a remix of a track of Art of Trance called Madagascar and if I recall it correctly during the 90's he had a track called Turn Around 🤩👍 but superstring yeah it became my favorite too, I thought it was someone else ...thank you for this interview 😄🙌🏻 both Matthias sir and Muzikxpress 😄👍
So nice guy Matthias !!
Děkuji cignus x
its about the reaction of the people what you have done!!
Very cool man
Excellent interview! Classic track.
Thank you Michael!
Cygnus X remix of Art of Trance “Madagascar” is my fave trance track of all time.
Great work as always. It's interesting to hear from someone that is no longer within the dance music industry and isn't a dj.
Thank you!!
This is def one of my favorites!
Love the interviews!
Thank you very much! :)
It was the theme song for the very first Sensation in the year 2000 in the Amsterdam Arena. It was magic I can tell you! But just a tiny detail: the White theme didn’t come until the 2nd edition. The very first Sensation was a very eclectic night with name ls like Judge Jules, Rank 1, Tiesto, Carl Cox, Sven Vath al playing on the same night (trance, house, techno.. didn’t matter as long as it was good.. it was a build up). It was great. The second edition was also not a Sensation White edition (strictly speaking), but they encouraged everyone to ‘be part of the night, dress in white’.
The whole separation between Sensation White (strictly trance) and Sensation Black (strictly techno) came with the 3rd edition. That was a pity. We didn’t go anymore after the 2nd edition. An eclectic mix to build up such a huge night delivers far better imo..
Thanks for the interview, would've been interesting to know where his A.C.Boutsen-alias comes from, since it sounds Dutch ;)
Matthias is a legendary Trance-pioneer, but I would love to see a interview with Oliver Lieb and Sven Vath as well... for me the true founders of the genre back in the early 90s
I would love to do 1 or more interviews with Oliver Lieb as well. Both times I went to Frankfurt to record interviews I reached out to him, but so far no luck :( Hopefully I will be able to speak to him in the future. Saving for another trip as we speak and hopefully Frankfurt can be done another time as well. Fingers crossed! Sven never made his own music, so he's not really on my (looooong) interview wish list. He wouldn't really be able to tell anything about the production process etc. Plus, even more important, my sources already told me he doesn't like to talk about his trance past, so .... that interviews won't happen ;-) But I really hope I can sit down with Oliver Lieb one day for 1, 2 or even more interviews, big fan of his work myself as well.
@@muzikxpress Ah yeah, i didnt know Sven never made his own records, Lesperanza is a classic, but he is trully one of the founders of trance, so its a kinda shame that he doesnt want to talk about it
@@rowanoofficial yeah exactly… now let’s hoor Olivier Lieb will be available and up for some interviews next time I’ll travel to Frankfurt 🤞🏻
Absolutly Superstring (Rank 1 Remix :-)
Sempre lembro aqui no Brasil a Sensation da ID&T usando esta musico como um hino do Trance e do Evento na festa em Amsterda desde o ano 2000 na primeira Sensation 2000
Cygnus X - The Orange Theme (ORIGINAL MIX) :D
Wow very interesting interview, never knew the Snap story.
Thanks Twan and Matthias.
I played superstring many times. :)
much love to snap!
Great interview. I relate so much I don't even have to hear half of what he's saying.
❤ ❤❤❤❤
thank you for doing this on some trance classics. would love to see one of Follow Me with Jam El mar (jam and spoon)
Thank you Marc! I just posted an in-depth interview with Jam El Mar about "Stella" earlier this month. And I did 2 more interviews with him, which will be online soon as well. One is about "Dance 2 Trance - Power Of American Natives" and the other one is about the Storm classic "Storm". So that's 3 interviews with Jam El Mar ;-) I would love to visit him again for 2 or more interviews, hopefully that will happen one day in the future :)
@@muzikxpress thank you for the work, i am looking forward to it. love this channel
Excellent like always 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Another great interwiew Twan. I dreamed of becoming a trance producer when trance was at its best between 2000 and 2006. Interwiews like this with Matt about so memorable track makes me think "WOW, that's the guy, that's what it looked behing the scene".
Thank you so much! I couldn’t find much info about Matthias online, so I’m super happy I had the chance to talk to him. Such a legend!
Church organ was the carrier/backbone of “Positron” too which is the Cygnus X track that I first heard thanks to Sasha & Digweed c/o “Northern Exposure II” incidentally it was misprinted and was mistakenly listed as superstring!
Awesome work in this channel as always. Would be nice if you could interview Glenn Morrisson or Deadmau5 for the brilliant track "Contact" :).
Thank you! And since this is just a hobby for me I don’t have a travel budget for these vlogs / interviews. That means I can only do interviews with people that live close to me (I’m in the south of The Netherlands). The producers I spoke to from abroad were mostly here for gigs or for example the Amsterdam Dance Event etc. So I am dependent on people that do gigs / tour. But as you know there aren’t really any gigs / shows right now unfortunately.... Both Glenn and Deadmau5 are from Canada and they hardly do shows here unfortunately.... I would love to interview them of course, but I have to be realistic too. But.... still lots of great interviews lined up for the next weeks!
@@muzikxpress Tysm to have the time to answer me. Yes, I know it´s kinda hard to interview them, and no worries, do you have an epic hobby! I had the pleasure to visit your country last year in April, I used to stay in Assendelft, walking around in Amsterdam, and of course Castel De Haar in Utrecht :). I fell in love with the Netherlands! Keep doing this amazing stuff, my best wishes from México.
thank you
Matthias, Please forget this the new trance or techno sound. We want pioneers like you to create unique sounds like Superstring or The Orange theme
I was curious how he transcended from rock to electronic music? Did you ask him?
Big tune
yeah i have many vinyls from him
Fkn Legend
He also worked with Quincy Jones? "Matthias started his career as a studio guitarist for bands such as Quincy Jones and Sheila E. but changed his musical course after listening to dance music" www.discogs.com/artist/209095-Matthias-Hoffmann
Electric Salsa was 1986 (Matthias said it was 1989-90) and it wasn't a solo Sven track - it was OFF
When will we get the Vin Diesel - Feel Like I Do interview? xD
Please interview SNAP!
I would love that, but one of the 2 producers moved to the USA and the other one... no idea.... I tried to locate Luca but he’s also very hard to find...
@@muzikxpress Het gaat je vast een keer lukken Twan. You've got the Power!
@@devmiles Ik hoop het, zou echt top zijn! :)
Anyone heard 'Green Grass Grows' by Snap? Basically it is singing over Superstring.
Check around 7:07 in the interview where Matthias is telling about that one 😉
@@muzikxpress Great - thanks! I've just discovered your channel now and I'm looking through so much! It's great! 😊
@@MyMpc1 Welcome! I hope you enjoy the interviews! Thanks for subscribing!
@@muzikxpress gosh I can't believe they did it without crediting him. So unfair. I heard they never paid out the singer of the Power either! Rhythm is a Dancer is also sample based. God knows what else they stole.
@@MyMpc1 I still love Snap! Hehe... would love to do an interview with at least one of the producers, but they both moved out of Germany according to my sources, plus.... very hard to find and not a fan of interviews (bummer!)
I thought this was the inspiration for Superstring th-cam.com/video/EYYdQB0mkEU/w-d-xo.html if you go to time 4:50 you'll hear it. Also, is it just a coincidence that Rush has an album named Cygnus X-1?
Komt er ook een interview over "the orange theme" ? :)
Als je het interview helemaal afkijkt (of de video beschrijving leest), dan weet je het antwoord 😉
I'm all for pineapple on pizza!
now do the REMIX!
Sorry, what do you mean?
Rank1 remix
@@muzikxpress u didn't get it? lol of course I meant Rank1 remix the track you were played behind ahaha
@@OfficialAbass oh I don’t do interviews about remixes. Only about originals. Stories about remixes aren’t very interesting usually and most of the times artists rather talk about their own (original) work instead of a remix they made for someone else. Rank 1 interview about “Airwave”,is in the works though, hopefully later this year!
13:19 😂😂😂
19:55 indeed nobody knows who was Cygnus X
But now you do! :P
@@muzikxpress Yes and Thanks to you For this amazing Interview, we know a lot now 🙏🙏
@@syedsaffan8419 thank you so much!!