Released: 2020 (Originally released individually in 1998, 1999, 2000)
Label: Mute
Genre: Minimal Techno
[Stefan] Betke chose his stage name from an analogue Waldorf 4-Pole filter he was using at the time. Described by the manufacturer as a ‘cute but rare creature [that] comes from a time when software still had a hardware shell,’ the technology processed audio signals with a 24db low-pass filter that allowed producers to manipulate volume, stereo position, etc.
This is where the story gets fun. Betke’s filter didn’t work properly. It produced an odd crackling sound. If there were such a thing as CD surface noise, it would sound like Betke’s Waldorf 4.
It is fair to say that most any other musician would have been heartbroken by the defect. Betke heard it differently. This extraordinary textural element would not only infuse each of these three Pole releases, it would virtually define minimalist techno. Exclaim
The Moderns 
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