Fresh off a six-month hiatus from international touring, Nhii returns with a renewed sense of purpose—and a live set that’s anything but ordinary. Forgoing laptops and digital shortcuts, the Brooklyn-based producer builds his sonic world in real time with modular racks, samplers, and a fearless spirit of improvisation.
His latest EP, ‘The Color of Sound,’ blends analog unpredictability with studio precision, while his recent video recording, shot with crowd anonymity in mind, sparks a timely conversation about privacy on the dancefloor.
In this exclusive chat, Nhii walks us through the machines that shape his sound, the ethos behind his performance aesthetic, and why the occasional MIDI meltdown might just be part of the magic.
Nhii’s ‘The Color of Sound’ is available now via Sounds of Khermit. Stream and download here.
EG: Hi Nhii, great to catch up after Miami. With ‘The Color of Sound’ out now and your live‑set premiere around the corner, where’s your head at right now?
Nhii: Right now, I’m super hyped to tour and perform my live set. I couldn’t travel for the last 6 months since I switched from an Artist Visa to an Artist Green Card—but that issue was resolved just two days ago!
EG: Congratulation! So you shot the video so no faces appear, keeping every viewer locked onto the music. What inspired that choice?
Nhii: I’m a big fan of phone-free dance floors. At this point, it’s almost an obvious choice. But what I find at least as disturbing are camera guys jumping in front of the crowd, sometimes with lights mounted to their cameras, just to get a shot of the DJ. That’s a real buzzkill for me.
And then, there’s privacy. People should feel free on the dance floor, not worry about whether their party face is going to end up in some video. I don’t think anyone really wants that. So I wanted to create a club atmosphere where you can feel the energy of the crowd, but still maintain the integrity and privacy of the dancers. Rocky from Bespoke did the filming part, and he was very crucial for the whole project and the recording.
EG: Your live rig is pure hardware: Octatrack, a four‑channel modular rack, and a Toraiz SP‑16. What keeps that trio at the center of your performances?
Nhii: The idea of playing a live set started when I got into modular synthesis in 2019. From the beginning, I wanted to avoid using a computer. It just adds another potential point of failure, and I really can’t connect on a performance level with a laptop.
I need that direct, tactile interaction to respond immediately to the crowd. Ableton Live with scenes feels too fixed in its timeline, or it gets incredibly huge and unorganized, which brings risks like CPU dropouts, clicks, and overall lowers the quality of the experience.
The Toraiz holds one-shot of drum samples, and I can arrange and program the beats on the fly. I’ve been working on it since maybe 2016, so I know it inside out. A big plus is the analog Dave Smith distortion on the filter—it gives me this nice punch and a kind of “mastered” feeling for the drums. It’s a totally underrated aspect of that sampler.
The Octatrack is just a beast. I spent almost two years trying to master it. Now I feel very comfortable on it, though it still surprises me sometimes, in both good and bad ways. It allows me to hold and manipulate recordings of my songs, like guitars or vocals, and chop or rearrange them quickly.
The modular rack is really the identity of the live setup. It holds four synth voices—for bass, leads, noise, and an insane module called Oxi Coral. It’s a real Swiss army knife when it comes to sound design.
EG: How does an all‑hardware setup shift the energy you feel in the booth compared to a classic decks‑and‑laptop approach?
Nhii: It definitely feels freer. It gives me the chance to really interact with what I’m feeling in the moment. It’s hard to describe—it feels like a conversation with the crowd. Something we’re creating together.
“The idea of playing a live set started when I got into modular synthesis in 2019”
EG: One cut from the forthcoming EP sneaks into the set. After road‑testing it live, did you head back to the studio for any final tweaks?
Nhii: Yeah, it’s the track called ‘The 3VCO Getdown’. VCO stands for Voltage Controlled Oscillator, so it’s basically three oscillators forming a chord—but they’re constantly detuning. Sometimes just a bit, sometimes so much that it shifts into a whole new chord, even though I’m still playing the same input notes.
It sounds different in the live set, of course. I actually snuck in a little sample of a Pharrell Williams track—it worked really well! And the bass also sounds a bit different because I replayed it on an analog synth.
EG: This was a Sounds of Khemit night with Roderic and Mashrik. How did that crowd and venue shape your flow?
Nhii: There aren’t many places like Public Records—not just in NY, but globally. The whole team is so professional and accommodating. The sound system is custom-built by OJAS, and it just delivers in every way.
I was able to talk with the audio engineers there, and we dialed in the sound perfectly for my live set. That gave me all the confidence I needed to go fully with the flow.
With Sounds of Khemit, we’ve been doing parties around the globe, and I really love our crowd—sophisticated music lovers. I think you can feel it when you watch the video. There was a real excitement for new sounds and exploration. Roderic and Mashrik have become good friends over the years, which really amplifies the community and family vibe we stand for.
EG: Dance‑floor privacy is getting more attention lately. Is the wider scene ready to rethink how we capture and share crowd footage?
Nhii: We’ve been a bit mindless with performance videos. It’s just very narcissistic. You upload a video to benefit yourself—to entertain your followers and grow your profile—but you don’t think about the person who’s in that video, now in full 4K, without their permission.
I actually think this is a good opportunity for AI to automatically blur faces slightly in crowd footage.
EG: Your modular rack stays compact yet versatile. What’s one tip you’d give producers trying to keep a small system exciting for a full hour?
Nhii: Experiment! Try out as much as you can and really find the modules that speak to you. It took me two years to settle into my modular rack setup, and since then, I haven’t thought once about swapping anything out.
The modulation possibilities really help keep things interesting, compared to a classic synth or keyboard setup. You need two hands to play it, and I use both to modulate while the sequencer runs the sequence, which I can also modulate. Modulation is the key!
“People should feel free on the dance floor, not worry about whether their party face is going to end up in some video”
EG: Did anything go sideways during the recording—one of those “fix it on the fly” moments the camera missed?
Nhii: Yes, of course—and I embrace those moments. That’s the magic for me. Problem-solving gives me a weird kick.
One thing that often happens is the MIDI clock going out of sync. MIDI is an old, slow protocol—so yeah, it happens. I’ve heard it in other artists’ live sets too. I knew I had to find a way to deal with it. So I built 2–3 ways into my setup to mask a MIDI clock failure—and funnily enough, that sometimes opens the door to change the arrangement or interact with the crowd in more extreme ways. Basically, you only have to reset the MIDI clock, which means you have to stop the music, but inside the Octatrack, I can create a delay that keeps on feedbacking even with no MIDI clock input. Now it’s just a matter of timing to relaunch the MIDI clock within the tempo of the delay.
EG: Beyond this EP and the video, what should we keep an eye on from you in the coming months?
Nhii: Touring, releasing, creating. I’m also really enjoying spending time on my label. Right now, we’re working on our Sounds of Khemit showcases in Amsterdam for ADE, and another one in Berlin at Klunker Kranich.
EG: When did you decide the laptop had to go, and what finally sealed that choice?
Nhii: Besides the issues I mentioned before… I don’t want to look like I’m checking emails while performing 🙂
EG: Thanks for the chat, Nhii. Any parting words for viewers before they press play on the full set?
Nhii: Thank you guys! I really appreciate everyone tuning into the new live set. I believe it’s the best version of Nhii yet. Stay in touch with me on IG or Patreon (there’s a free tier).
Nhii’s ‘The Color of Sound’ is available now via Soundsa of Khermit. Stream and download here.
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