Lorenzo Senni:Supersaw alchemy withJup‑8000 V
Milan‑based producer and Presto!? label‑head Lorenzo Senni has spent the past decade isolating trance’s most arresting elements and turning them into bold, drum‑less statements. A sound design approach that leans heavily on detuned saws, rising filters and unresolved tension.
We caught up with Lorenzo in his studio alongside a beloved fleet of aging JP‑8000s, to see how Arturia’s new emulation pushes his obsession forward.
Devoted to the build
Lorenzo’s musical life began in Rimini’s straight‑edge punk scene, first on guitar, then drums. A teenage fascination with Max/MSP and a chance encounter with the JP‑8000 steered him toward electronic composition, but he never lost the intensity of live band energy.
What hooked him wasn’t the drop, it was a zone of continuity and flux that preceded it. While the build of a track is often associated with a simplistic rise in tension, it often accounts for much more and is approached in many different ways. This is what fascinated Lorenzo, and this is what he dedicated himself to exploring further. Not just to extend the arc of a build but to extend the unique momentum and spaciousness that it represents.
He compares his creative process to the art of street photography, which involves a spontaneous interaction between method, technology and subject rather than some laborious and over-thought composition. Therefore, Lorenzo’s approach is less about the complexity of musical theory and performance and more about the quick snaps of inspiration and melodic sequencing that his equipment affords him. In this way he is able to readily explore and transform his ideas into something sonically unique and dynamic.
The build up is a section that is always there..that's what I was very interested about. Everyone is approaching it in a different way. There is the one that is more virtuoso, the one that is more minimal. Everyone is taking the freedom there to express their artistry. And that was interesting to me because what if I take this and I expand, you know. So I started to work with this idea.
Discographic magnification
His records read like successive zoom levels. Quantum Jelly (2012) displayed supersaw arpeggios in an unadulterated form. Superimpositions (2014) widened the frame with counter‑melodies that hinted at orchestral colour. Warp debut Persona (2016) flirted with pop structure, proving hooks don’t need drums to stick. Chess‑inspired Scacco Matto (2020) pitted tight grid‑work against wild harmonic lunges with breakaway reveries such as Canone Infinito. And Lorenzo’s latest release Canone Infinito Xtended (2025) reinterprets this motif across 40 minutes - signalling a return to form and preluding some upcoming live work.
Me and hyperpop we share some common ground…but we arrived there with very different journeys.
An ode to the supersaw
Roland’s JP‑8000 landed in 1996 as one of the first virtual‑analog synths, pairing digital DSP with hands‑on sliders and introducing the now‑legendary Supersaw mode: seven stacked, detunable saw waves that could fill a stadium mix with shimmering harmonics. It quickly became the secret weapon behind late‑’90s trance anthems by Ferry Corsten, Push, and Darude, while its ribbon controller and motion‑record slider made live filter sweeps irresistible.
Switching on one of his six beloved units, Lorenzo dials in that same supersaw that has become his sonic north star. The tone is still magical, but after nearly three decades the construction is brittle and the encoder's are increasingly temperamental. Proof that the JP’s iconic sound deserves to live-on in a more reliable format.
Its old machines now and they are starting to break very often..its becoming unsustainable.
Introducing Jup‑8000 V
Arturia’s recreation delivers 16 voices, drag‑and‑drop modulation, and a trance‑gate that turns sketches into sunrise-breaching pulses in seconds. Mapped to the KeyLab 49, Lorenzo assigns amp envelope and other parameters to the front‑panel encoders to maintain that hardware feel.
What follows is Senni sound design 101. He takes a preset, adjusts the decay for that ‘pointillistic’ trance aesthetic and finishes it with some FX and filter adjustment, resulting in something frenetic but precise, and entirely characteristic of his production ethos.
“When I got news of the JP I was very happy.”
A personal connection
Lorenzo describes his studio routine as equal parts fascination and friction: the thrill of innovating new sonic terrain matched by the natural frustration that comes when things don’t work out to plan. It speaks to the universality of the creative plight and its unpredictable movements. We are nonetheless glad to know about those sessions that did capture something, and to be an ear to Lorenzo’s expanding career and uniquely experimental style. A style that is undergirded by an instrument dear to many.
Jup‑8000 V continues this legacy and offers even more room for creativity - a totally iconic sound brought to life with advanced DSP and faithfully enhanced with modern appointments and powerful effects.
I think this instrument will allow me to experiment more…I was just waiting for this moment.
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