Insight

Insight The Truncator (Andre Todman) is and American Independent Artist, Dj, producer and entrepreneur who grew up in Boston Massachusetts and was born in the US Virgin Islands. Todman learned how to play the piano by the time he was seven, and fuses live instruments with with deconstructed audio bytes, building them back in his own image. His punchy instrumentals and sound recordings are layered with vinyl “Scratching” and well timed speech patterns. Also a software engineer, Todman wrote custom software to control his live show, developed several iPhone, iPad and Android applications along with his website (Insight.fm) and it’s live streaming system. Insight’s first press appearance was in the 2nd Source magazine after releasing an album on cassette, “Nights of the Round” in 1997. Although he had production credits for several known artists before, Insight’s solo debut worldwide was “True to the Game / Universal” vinyl single in 2000. It was one of two singles to precede his debut lp, “Update Software v. 2.5”, showcasing his vocal talent, music production, vinyl “scratching” abilities and material from prior years. Insight was voted Best New Hip-Hop Artist At Boston's 2001 Nemo Awards. Two years later, after 20 completed CD’s, vinyl lp’s, and Collaborative works, he released his second solo LP, “The Blast Radius”, then began touring US, Europe, and Japan. His one man show includes a non-stop vocal performance, a turntable, wireless equipment, speech puzzles and bottles of juice. Shortly after performing at the 1st annual Peace & Unity Festival in Boston (12/13/2003) and touring with artists Masta Ace, and Ed.O.G, Insight moved to Europe. He stayed in Berlin, Germany for several years before returning to USA in 2008. According to Insight, ” The earlier you realize what you have to work toward, the more sacrifices you make to have these dreams and goals become reality”. There weren't as many hip hop producers or samplers in the 80‘s as there are currently, so the reputation of early hip hop producers usually included the equipment they used. Besides drum machines like the Linn LM 1, and tape-loop effects such as Space-Echo, Insight first used the Emu Emulator, which was released in 1980. Space-Echo was included since sampling technology was so limited that producers who wanted to do it used any tool that could manipulate sound in creative ways. He then used the Prophet 2000 synced with an Akai S950. Until later using an Akai MPC3000 tied with an Emu SP12 turbo, which required a 3 by 5 inch floppy disc and third party Commodore Drive (1340). Insight also exploited the ring modulation, bit-rate and filters to add to his “sound”. The Official Sp1200 Book: the Art and Science, published and Endorsed by E-Mu Systems, includes an interview from Insight.