„La Mansarde Hermétique“ is an improvisational ambient / electronica project from Mainz, Germany.
Their first sessions took place in a mansard, a small room located in an attic. The name also is an homage to the graphic artist, cartoonist, and writer Moebius, who among many other things created the science fiction comic series "Le Garage Hermétique" („The Airtight Garage“).

Michael Brückner and Mathias Brüssel are the core members of „La Mansarde Hermétique“ but sometimes other artists have been featured in later events.
"The Attic Diaries“ is a series of albums aiming to publish those live, improvised sessions in non-chronological order.

Episode 4 - originally recorded in 2021 - is centered around the prototype of a synthesizer called "Gedroehn" - developped and built by Mathias Brüssel himself. Gedroehn is German for "droning noise" and thus describes the intended main application of the machine as a drone-box. "Gedroehn II" in contrast to the original "Gedroehn" though is a fully featured mono-synth, too.

The device is built on one PCB. Gedroehn II features 12 sliders, 4 dials and 11 buttons for the user-interface. The buttons also can be utilized as a musical keyboard. The sound generation is all digital, integrating Open Source DSP code as well as stuff specifically designed and implemented for the synth.

The first track is an all improvised live-session, where Michael plays Gedroehn for the very first time and Mathias mainly adds sequences and melodies to this from the DAW.

The second track is a heavily effect-processed remix of that recording by Michael.

The third track is a remix by Michael of various live-recordings of Gedroehn II by Mathias. In addition to these sounds, only a few external effects plus one drumbeat were added.

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