Electronic music has always had a fascinating relationship with technology, especially among producers who treat their equipment as something to experiment with rather than simply a means of getting ideas recorded. Dominican producer Boundary (@bndofc) has spent much of his career exploring that territory, drawing from leftfield techno, IDM, and the electronic music of older video games.
His latest album, PROXIMA CENTAURI, released October 2, 2026, via Point Records, takes those interests into a science-fiction concept built around an imaginary computer program transmitted to Earth from the star Proxima Centauri.
The eight-track album follows a mysterious program that lets its user change the course of the world, with Boundary using electronic textures, unconventional synthesis, and melodic writing to explore the concept. It’s an interesting premise for an artist whose work has already appeared on NTS and Rinse, and been covered by Pitchfork, Mixmag, and Resident Advisor.
There’s also something personal underneath the science-fiction premise, with Boundary describing the record as an attempt to offer a little hope during a period when the world can feel particularly difficult to navigate.
For “Clearly Defined Results,” the sixth track on the album.
Boundary relied on a hardware-centered production process that emphasizes sampling, sequencing, and experimentation. The Elektron Octatrack MK-II let him build the track from an entirely different piece of music he had recorded first, while the Squarp Hapax let him experiment with harmonies and chord changes across his setup. MeldaProduction’s MTurboDelay added another dimension to the sound design, giving him access to unusual delay algorithms and looping effects.
Below, Boundary explains how these pieces of equipment came together and shares a few thoughts on where electronic music could be heading.
Elektron Octatrack MK-II
The octatrack is an 8 track stereo sampler, that has the ability to live sample anything from within and the 4 inputs it has. This allows you to basically transform any live input signal into something completely unexpected in just one second.
The octatrack here, was used to basically make a bunch of harmonizing, looping layers, trying to imitate a bit of the layering workflow of oldschool samplers. I initially made a ‘fake’ song which i then sampled, and then made into this track.
The Octatrack is an absolutely amazing sampler, that’s kind of able to shape into whatever you need, it can be a groovebox, a drum machine, a looper, a mixer with effects, a sequencer, it can truly shape into your needs, which is what i think is truly unique about it. Defo grab one if you find a good deal for one, as i think the current price is defo a bit much.
MTurboDelay
An extremely versatile delay plugin, that includes some of the most out there delay algorithms, and looper oddities, truly the swiss knife of delays.
This is the plugin i have loaded in default for all of my projects in ableton, i have access to these really cool algorithms that can instantly add some texture and ambiance to whatever i’m doing at the moment, be it drums, synths or textures.
If you need a delay that can basically cover all types of delay and a bit more, this is the one for you.
Squarp Hapax
A 16 track (in reality 32) sequencer, that can communicate with your computer, hardware synths, and drum machines without skipping a beat. Possibly one of the greatest modern sequencers you can get.
The Hapax has the amazing function of transposing everything you’ve composed to a specific chord you play, in the track 16. You can decide what it affects and i was able to make these amazing harmonizations playing around with this function.
If you need to bridge your computer with your hardware setup, or just in general need a powerful sequencer, this is a great choice.
Quick Fire Hot Takes on the Scene + Production
Hot Take #1
I feel like more people should go back to having emotional melodies on club tracks, feel like we are afraid to get vulnerable on the dancefloor.
Hot Take #2
No one really cares about if something is accurately analog or whatever. Use whatever emulations you find, if you think it sounds good, go with it.
Hot Take #3
Check out the music being made by Xaviersobased and 1c34 in general, i feel like they are truly making some of the most groundbreaking music at the moment.
Will Vance is a professional music producer who has been involved in the industry for the better part of a decade and has been the managing editor at Magnetic Magazine since mid-2022. In that time period, he has published thousands of articles on music production, industry think pieces and educational articles about the music industry. Over the last decade as a professional music producer, Will Vance has also ran multiple successful and highly respected record labels in the industry, including Where The Heart Is Records as well as having launched a new label with a focus on community through Magnetic Magazine. When not running these labels or producing his own music, Vance is likely writing for other top industry sites like Waves or the Hyperbits Masterclass or working on his upcoming book on mindfulness in music production. On the rare chance he's not thinking about music production, he's probably running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with his friends which he has been the dungeon master for for many years.
