Danjel van Tijn Interview

By Paul Clark via Email, December 2013.

Before we get started talking about Intellijel, can you tell our readers a little about yourself, specifically your background in electronic music equipment production?

I studied electronic engineering at university with the primary purpose of getting into professional music technology development. I had the good fortune to get a job at a music technology company called IVL/Electrix right out of school so I moved to the west coast and have been there ever since.

From a young age I was really passionate about electronic music and very curious about how to produce it; both as an artist and an engineer designing the tools. I ended up going back to school for a bit to study recording arts. After this I explored quite a few different areas of engineering including robotics, interactive design and even radio but after dabbling in several rewarding synth DIY projects I got right back on track to focus primarily on music technology. Once I got my first Eurorack system I was immediately hooked on modulars and have had endless ideas of things I want to try designing ever since.

What kind of electronic musical devices do you produce?

I primarily design synthsis modules in Eurorack format but I am very interested to move into full stand alone instruments. At this point Intellijel has a fairly comprehensive line up of modules including a variety of sequencers, analog filters, oscillators, controllers, mixers and utilities.

How did you get from an idea to the production line?

I never set out to start a company and to be doing this full time. I started very modestly with a small project that I simply wanted to make available in a small batch so that I could cover the costs of having nice panels and pcbs. Getting that first project out gave me the confidence to try my other ideas. My motivation was always to make things that I really wanted to use for myself. Any money I made was always re-invested into making more devices.

How do you make these modules available to users?

They can buy them directly from our website or from a variety of retailers located in Europe, Australia and North America.

What's on the drawing board for future releases?

We would really like to focus on more fun ways to interact with modulars and in sound processing (e.g. fx). We are also looking closely at how we use modulars as a whole, especially when jamming out to make dance music and trying to determine what major functional blocks or devices would really improve workflow.

Website: Intellijel