Alessandro Cortini is an Italian musician, producer, composer, and instrument builder. 

Cortini is one of the foremost figures of contemporary electronic music, best known for his haunting, atmospheric work. Alongside being a longstanding member of Nine Inch Nails, he is highly prolific and has released a steady stream of his own heady music on luminary labels including Mute, Hospital, and Important Records for the past decade. Throughout his shadowy rise to fame, he has collaborated with the likes of Lawrence English, Daniel Avery and Merzbow (to name a few). Balancing dark ambience with smokey, pulsing rhythms, his compositions are perfectly restrained, textured and mesmeric. 

Cortini was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020 through his work with Nine Inch Nails, making history as the only Italian musician to have ever been honored with this recognition. 

In 2021, in collaboration with boutique synth builders Make Noise, Cortini released his own, custom-designed, semi-modular synth, “Strega” (Italian for ‘witch’). That same year, he used Strega to build his latest full length, Scuro Chiaro [Mute], which Pitchfork described as “pitched somewhere between purgatory and the planetarium ... consistently managing to thrill and surprise”. 

In addition to years of extensive worldwide touring, Cortini has also soundtracked fashion shows including Alexander McQueen, Dior, and several of Fendi’s presentations. In 2022, he exhibited a high-concept audio installation called “Nati Infiniti” for Sonar 2022 at Museu de Lisboa’s “Fábrica de Moagem.” A live version of “Nati Infiniti” is set to debut at Berlin Atonal in 2023.

Alessandro Cortini’s music has been licensed for use in television, film and documentaries, games, and commercials, including FX’s hit show The Bear, “Thank You Very Much” a documentary about Andy Kaufman, Samsung, BMW, Sony, and Netflix. Remixes have also been a part of Cortini’s identity – remixing the likes of Depeche Mode to Mogwai to Death Cab For Cutie, Yann Tiersen to Vatican Shadow, and more between and beyond.

Marble Machine is a progressive rock band from Argentina.

Bill Brown is an award-winning composer and creative force behind the musical scores of fan-favorite TV, film and video game thrillers, dramas and super-hero adventures. Widely recognized for his experimental approach to developing a unique sound and for creating dynamic orchestral landscapes, Bill is best known for composing the compelling musical backdrop for all nine seasons of the hit CBS series CSI: NY and also for creating cinematic game soundtracks for Wolfenstein, the Rainbow Six series, Lineage 2 and Captain America: Super Soldier. He also composed scores for feature films including The Devil's Tomb (Cuba Gooding Jr.), Brother's Keeper, Desiree, Negative, Layover, as well as the modern noir thriller Rushlights, and recently created an epic, multifaceted score for Season 2 of the Post Apocalyptic thriller "Dominion" for Universal (SyFy).

Bill's newest instrumental album "Dreamstate" released digitally in September 2018 and is a passion project that combines modular synths, piano and live orchestra in an emotional, hypnotic selection of tracks. check out Bill's social media for album updates and behind the scenes looks at the creation of the album (the limited edition vinyl album will be available October 2018)

Bill composed scores for a wealth of other popular titles in the gaming world including The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction from Vivendi Universal, the action-adventure shooter, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, the Ghost Recon series (RedStorm / Ubisoft), Command & Conquer: Generals and many more. Nominated for Best Original Music at the Canadian Video Game Awards, Captain America: Super Soldier (Marvel) exemplifies his creative talent for developing thrilling, complex orchestral music that combines heroic themes with eerie, pulsing cinematic atmospheres. Bill also received a Golden Reel Nomination for Best Music for Lineage 2: Gracia – The 2nd Throne, and has won awards from the ITVA, BMI, as well as the Music4Games Editor's Choice award. His scores have also received award nominations from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, L.A. Weekly, and the Game Audio Network Guild. He is represented by Randy Gerston at Fortress Talent Management, Los Angeles.

R&D Lutherie Lab for the Exploration of New Designs, Materials & Sonorities for Stringed Musical Instruments

Hello all!  This page will serve as a creative forum for users to showcase their compositions with the instrument in order to create a dialog of knowledge and inspiration amongst Shared System users and the world at large.

We started the Shared System Series back in 2012 in order for us to showcase the works of several artists using the same musical instrument, composed live with no multitracking, midi sequencing, or external effects. In this way, the series hopes to capture an artist’s raw compositional and emotional intent, while working outside the confines and comforts of digital automation and modern editing techniques.

If you would like to participate, please create a piece of your own that adheres to the same guidelines of the original series (please see full submission framework below). If you don’t have access to the Make Noise Shared System, that’s ok too, so long as your work is composed only using the modules within a single Shared System. When we released the first five records, the Erbe-Verb didn’t exist, so we allowed the artist to use the reverb of their choosing. Of course we hope you’ll choose an Erbe-Verb!

By submitting, you’d be allowing us to host your work; however, you would still maintain all creative rights. We also ask that your piece be unreleased and exclusive for a period of 90 days. After that, you may use and distribute your composition as you like. Should any issues come up after your content has been posted, please contact us and we’ll work to correct the situation in order to meet your needs.

As the Shared System Series is equally about sharing knowledge, inspiration, and system familiarity, we would also like to ask for either a photo of a patch diagram or a Modular Grid link in order to illustrate your unique approach to synthesis. Please feel free to continue the conversation with any other information you’d like to share!

Shared System Framework:

1. You must have access to the Make Noise Shared System or restrict your composition to using only the modules within a single Shared System.

2. Your recordings must be solely composed on the Shared System (no other modules, FX*, instruments, programs, etc may be used to compose your music. The point of the Series is to emphasize the gamut of capabilities within a single instrument as used across a wide variety of artists and musicians)
*external reverb is acceptable.

3. Your piece must be recorded live to stereo 2-track (no multi-tracking or post-production).

4. You piece mustn't exceed 10 minutes (if you have a piece that is longer and would still like to use it, please select your favorite 10 minutes).

5. Submissions should be made through SoundCloud via a private link with downloading enabled and we'll take care of the uploading. We only wish to serve as a host for these pieces and relinquish all creative rights to the artist. We ask that any submissions made be material that is otherwise unreleased and exclusive, and that it remains so for 90 days after it is posted. Beyond that point you are free to use it however you wish and change the track to public. If there is any complication with having your material online after a submission is posted, please contact us and we will act promptly to meet your needs.

6. Please include either a patch sheet diagram or a Modular Grid link.

7. Please include links back to your artist webpage, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, SoundCloud, Bandcamp and/or anything else relevant to your art.

The more info the better! This is an opportunity to express your personal compositional style and process through a shared medium! Help us paint a unique and diverse sonic mural that highlights the endlessly versatile nature of the Shared System.

-Shared System Series Team

Leonardo Piero is following