The Beginning
I was born “Marshall” in Albuquerque, NM in 1986. My father abandoned us when I was young, so majority of my life was raised in a solo household, with a mother who was never home.
Memory of raising myself is limited. Most of my time was in front of a TV, either playing games on the NES, or watching whatever attention grabbing shows that existed. At some point in the mid 90s we got a Windows 3.1 PC that had a modem, and this was my first introduction to the “internet”.
Living in a house where your parent is constantly away with work, many would assume meant that I had free reign to do anything I wanted. I did, in the confines of a very constricting protestant christian upbringing. The type of movies I could watch, music I could listen to, games I could play, all of that was heavily restricted. My life consisted of private school on the weekdays, youth EDP and Sunday school was my weekends.
As the years progressed, and especially as the internet began moving away from access-per-minute pricing, I was expanding my grasp of art and media online. Things that were off limits to me were now becoming easily accessible. It was the first time that I could remember finding music, or a band on my own that I could call a favorite, and not have it be something forced, or “allowed” on me.
Early stuff I enjoyed were of course pop/radio friendly, easily accessible music. Jamiroquai was a massive favorite of mine when 'Virtual Instanity” was just released. I was also really into Eagle Eye Cherry (well, that one song). At some point though, I found myself listening to more Electronic music. I loved a lot of stuff from The Prodigy, Orbital, Underworld, and when I was able to sneak in the TV at night, I'd try to catch episodes of AMP on MTV. I know its cliche to say, but the first time seeing Aphex Twin's 'Come to Daddy' video changed my understanding and fascination with music.
I'm guessing around 1998, I purchased a 'music making' bundle from Office Depot. In it was Sonic Foundry Acid, and a CD with various loops on it. I became addicted to the idea of making my own music, and now I was (kinda). Stuff I was making I was uploading to MP3.com, and I was the only 'Electronic' artist in the Rio Rancho area, according to that site at least. At some point though I felt that using loops and samples that others made was cheating, and I should figure out how to actually make music from scratch.
The thing about Electronic music, especially back then, was that it seemed so alien. I couldn't understand what artists were doing, I didn't know what synths were, or what drum machines were. I'd see photos of musicians behind a mixer, or turntables, and thought those were the things needed to make music. I was taking guitar lessons at the now shuttered Grandma's Music, and asked my instructor what he knew about it. His suggestion was a Boss DR-5, and a Tascam PortaStudio 424. That ended up being the perfect jumping off point. I still have the DR-5, I wish I still had the PortaStudio... And the tapes.
I also started working with Propellerheads Rebirth. My first few 'official' tracks were done in Rebirth, and although I really enjoyed working with it, I was becoming limiting only making stuff with digital recreations of the 808, 909 and TB-303. Recording out to The PortaStudio though came in handy, especially after reading ways on how to repurpose it for tape manipulation techniques, it was the first spark that started an interest in physical audio design. Propellerheads Reason would have been the logical step into progressing to an upgraded similar tool, but instead, I had found myself on a warez site, grabbing Fruity Loops 4. To this day, I still create all of my music in FL, just no longer using pirated tools.
from 2003 to about 2008, I was creating music almost exclusively on pirated software. The internet at this time I would say was incredibly easy finding any piece of software you wanted. I would download packs of VSTs, no regards to what they might do, and not understand how to really work with any of it. Trial and error would lead to what I continue to call 'Happy Accidents'. I was collaborating with some others whom I'd meet in online forums, one was a French Skinny Puppy forum, where I met others who were willing to help me with making music, and turned me onto even more amazing musical rabbit holes to explore.
2008 however was a year that could have been the end of my musical endeavors. A house fire resulted in the destruction of my PC, and with it I lost about 5 years worth of music I had made. Some of these songs I was lucky enough to have found archived when the IUMA archive was put online. Unfortunately nothing posted on MP3.com was preserved.
The Beginning of MIDIotic Systems
Before the fire, I had been collaborating with my friend Mark, who I helped start 'Worldwide Noize Assault', a small netlabel that highlighted various artists within Hardcore and Noise music.
Mark was a bit of a terror to work with, he would on many occasions just say that he was stopping everything and ghost everyone, which I think was a result of constant battles he would have with others online. Around this time, I was starting to get more into Industrial music, and especially groups like Clock DVA, Cabaret Voltaire, and most notably Throbbing Gristle.
My love of Throbbing Gristle resulted in me trying to make my own noise units and effects. I had designed my own Gristlizer, which included my shitty wired variations of signals to be applied to the LFO. I felt designing instruments was going to be my new calling, so I started MIDIotic Systems, and left WWNA.
After the fire, the drive to create music just wasn't there anymore, so I shifted focus on designing instruments. I am no electrical engineer, and it became clear that my means of creating physical hardware was out of my reach, so I shifted to working in Native Instruments Reaktor.
Eventually though, my focus had to shift to my now professional career of being a Network Engineer, and I put down making music for a few years. Around 2012, I came back to live DJing, something I had done since High School. The early days of desert parties in Santa Fe where I first started DJing were mostly gone, now I was just doing fill-in spots at bars and the occasional 'Goth Night' at the local gay club. Djing brought back the drive to make music.
MIDIotic Systems branched out to MIDIotic Music, which I used as my personal netlabel to release my stuff.
Self Reflecting Pattern
The earliest SRP tracks were mostly just showcases of a tool in Reaktor I was making called 'Self Reflecting Pattern'. Most of these songs were just thrown around online with no real intention of trying to get engagement, it was mostly just a hobby.
Around 2015 I began making original music again, this time with a bit more effort on building an audience. Self Reflecting Pattern, I was still a fan of the name, so decided it was going to be the name of the project. Early on, it was a collaborative effort with me and a few friends. I had this idea that SRP would be like the band Crass, and 100% open to collaborations from anyone who was interested.
This sounded like a neat idea, until it became a reality. What we found were a lot of the people coming aboard were not what I would consider legit. There were some established producers who wanted to expand their name to other projects. A lot though were kids who would contribute tracks that were either made by someone else, or just full of loops that we had no idea if we could even release them. And some were just thieves. It was the first time I dealt with seeing music I made show up on other peoples soundcloud under their names.
So the open collab thing ended, and it was just me and a few local friends. Most would abandon the project since the direction seemed to be unsure. I continued to release under SRP, although now it was 100% a solo project.
My first release was SRP_EP. I put it up on bandcamp, and expected little. I soon received an email from August March, music writer for the Weekly Alibi, which at the time was Albuquerque's leading alternative newspaper, which had articles about music, art, food, and whatever else happening in the area. August asked for information on SRP, which I sent in a reply, stating its brief history, and it mostly being a solo project now.
The email I assume never arrived, or was so boring it was not worth the read. The article he wrote called SRP an “Anonymous Albuquerque Collective”. Something about this sparked some stupid little idea, and I decided SRP was going to be a “Collaboration” again.
HotSauce the Squirrel
Around 2016, I had been going through what I could call a severe mental break. I was dealing with manic depression, which didn't help that I was becoming a full blown alcoholic. I wanted something positive in my life, and somehow I decided that I was going to create a positive character that I suppose I would live vicariously through. HotSauce was this fursona I had made back in 2008 when I was using Second Life, so I brought him back as my delusional 'Higher Power' that AA seemed to want me to have, and I forced it into an obsession.
Obsessed to a point, where I decided that HotSauce was now going to be a member of SRP. I had written songs and would put HotSauce as the producer. Trying to fuel this story, I began releasing original music under the HotSauce name outside of SRP.
Driving home one day, I couldn't avoid running over and killing a squirrel. I was devastated, and decided I was going to kill off HotSauce. I guess out of respect for the squirrel I killed, I ended up releasing the full length self titled 'HotSauce the Squirrel' in honor.
The album was different than SRP. Although in SRP I had done a few 'hardcore'-esque tracks, it was mostly IDM influenced Electro. The HotSauce album introduced more of the Hardcore Drum&Bass stuff I felt didn't fit within SRP. To this day I feel the HotSauce album was some of my favorite work I have done.
Self Reflecting Pattern Continues
Now with HotSauce 'dead', I was fine with calling SRP a solo project. I've never liked the idea of releasing music under my actual name. I'd see other producers do this, which to me meant that if you made bad music, you now have your legal name associated with it. When I was a DJ, I was using the name DJ Jonasfrax. Jonasfrax was a name I came up with after listening to one of the early Drum & Bass Arena podcasts with the guys from Jerona Fruits. At some point in the episode, one of the guys says 'Jerona Frax', and something about the name intrigued me, so I changed it to 'Jonasfrax'.
Now as a solo project, I released SRP_EP2 in 2020. This was the first time that I actively worked on marketing and promoting SRP. I also commissioned some remixes from other artists I was infatuated with, such as Fire-Toolz.
We all know what happened in 2020. Covid came, and so did the quarantines. Being home 24/7 allowed me to focus a lot more time in making music, and I ended up releasing 3 SRP albums in a year.
Human Parts & Service
I wasn't content with just making music as SRP, and started a new project called Human Parts & Service. The first few songs were very reminiscent to SRP, just a bit more experimental. I felt this wasn't a deviation enough, and decided I was going to switch to a more cyberpunk and guitar oriented approach.
I released the first S/T demo, which was a mix of Hardcore Techno with Hardcore Punk influences. The intention was to write music that could be performed live. Finding a band though proved fruitless. People either weren't into the idea, or just didn't know what to bring, and this once again forced me into doing this entirely solo.
I did a few small local shows as HPS. My setup was a laptop running Ableton, which I could control clips using a foot pedal, and myself playing guitar and occasional vocals ontop of it. Although I got my wish to be able to perform live, I didn't feel I was pushing into any new territory musically, and having to keep an eye on my gear when breaking stuff down in order to not have stuff get stolen was dashing any interest I had in continuing solo live performances.
HPS is still 'active'. I write new songs when the interest comes, and there is a high likelyhood that 2026 might be the next HPS album. Time will see though.
Jonasfrax
by 2023, both SRP and HPS were in a hiatus. Although the Jonasfrax name was associated with these projects, I wanted to release an official album under the Jonasfrax name.
I put out 'Fraxured'. It was a 21 song LP that had new songs I had made, along with some unreleased stuff going back to 2008 that I was able to cleanup and finish officially. It was a mix of genres, there was a bit of everything in there, from Hardcore, Jungle, IDM, Electro and Hard Techno.
At this point, I had hundreds of songs in my back catalog. I still didn't really have an audience. I began setting up the entirety of the MIDIotic Systems back catalog into CC-BY. I never had any intention on making money from my music. I guess I was a realist with knowing that unless I had financial or promotional assistance, I didn't really have a chance to grow the label organically. With a new creative commons attribution, I was giving other artists and creators access to my music for whatever they were doing.
Game Jams were another place where I would find a drive with making music. I began releasing original work for jams across Itch, which felt more connected with a community of creators, than being on soundcloud.
As of this writing, it is 2025. I haven't been persuaded yet to stop making music, and so I guess I will still be doing it. With the arrival of AI music, it has caused me to re-approach everything when it comes to making music. Anything I do musically can easily be regurgitated with AI. I feel producers need to re-examine the creative process in order to make something unique, that doesn't get instantly flagged as being AI made.
Expect more from MIDIotic Systems in the future.