Crosspatch is the brand of producer and designer Mitja Cerkvenik, a Berlin-based Slovenian that had previously worked at ER-M. Crosspatch's first product is the Triggerpad, a 6hp Eurorack dynamic trigger/gate sequencer modules that makes use of an USB MIDI controller with an 8×8 grid (like the Novation Launchpad or APC) as its sequencer interface.

In this interview, Mitja talks about his musical and technical background, his time at ER-M, the origins of the Crosspatch brand, the development of the Triggerpad, creative use of AI, as well as various nifty trigger sequencing tricks.

Can you introduce yourself briefly?

My name is Mitja Cerkvenik. I'm from Slovenia. I perform under the name jesusonecstasy and a couple of years ago I started my own company Crosspatch. These are the two worlds that I live in.

What's your background in music?

When I was very young, I attended music school where I learned piano, and later guitar. With the guitar, I started recording my own songs — first on a small tape recorder, and then as computers evolved, I quickly adapted to digital music production. I merged these two worlds of electronic music and string instruments. 

But over the last 10 to 15 years, the electronic side has prevailed, especially with the comeback of analog synthesizers. The tactile, hands-on approach really attracted me. I started collecting gear and performing with hardware synthesizers and drum machines. The gear I was using for my first solo performance was my drum machine alongside the Korg Monotron, which had just come out that year. I also studied computer science at university. My diploma thesis was actually a digital drum machine based on an Arduino. 

When was the first time you held a soldering iron in your hand? 

It was during my time at university, when I had to build something physical.

So that was a really fast development towards the world of makers.

Yeah, I had to just jump into it. There was a course that required you to make one device, whatever device you wanted. And immediately after that, I started my diploma thesis [the drum machine], so it was already my second project. It was quite a simple project, because it only had some pots and knobs, so there wasn't that much soldering required apart from the wires. Later projects were mainly small gadgets and tools for performing, like MIDI mergers and other things like that. The amount of soldering work is quite small compared to the amount of programming you need to put into it.

So lots of DIY – any time you needed a tool, you just built it yourself?

Yes. Coming from Slovenia — I was actually born when it was part of Yugoslavia — resources were limited. I couldn't afford a synthesizer until I got my first job. This DIY approach also came from what I learned from my father, who worked in a toy factory.

So you're still making toys basically (laughs)?

Yeah, sort of like toys (laughs). He is very handy and that was always very inspiring. I was never directly involved in his projects, but I was always there, watching what he was building with his hands. I think that's how I learned this approach of just making your own things.

And the interest in electronics also came from him?

Actually, that came from my mother's side. When the first computers became available, she bought an Amiga 500 – that was my “entry drug” into computers. She always supported digitalization in our family and she also supported my studies.

What made you move to Berlin?

My first job in Slovenia was working on an assembly line, checking pick-and-place machines for PCB assembly. It was really frustrating that after finishing my studies, the only job I could get was checking if the machines worked. That wasn't what I wanted to do, and I decided to look for a job that I could really enjoy, something that wasn't just a job, but a part of my life. 

So I eventually moved to Berlin to work with the [now closed] company E-RM Erfindungsbüro. We were making the Multiclock, the MIDIclock and the Polygogo. I was mainly focused on the production side of things — either producing or managing production — and later took on more organizational responsibilities. But I was never really directly doing development or programming there.

The products were already developed at that point?

Yes. Max Rest [CEO of E-RM] showed me the tools that were used in the developing process, which was actually one of the reasons I moved to Berlin — I wanted to see the process and learn about dealing with larger scale production. I was always making my own stuff on the side, like small projects to build devices I would use in my live acts. Then, at a certain point, the idea for the Triggerpad [the first Crosspatch product] came about.

Can you say something about the Triggerpad? 

The Triggerpad is a small Eurorack module. It's a dynamic trigger sequencer, but you can also use it for CV modulation. It uses a Novation Launchpad –  a very common 8x8 grid controller for controlling Ableton Live – as its sequencer interface. You connect the Launchpad to the module via USB, and the module then displays all of the sequencing features on the Launchpad. You can use any Launchpad out there, so you can also repurpose older Launchpads you might already have at home.

That's pretty clever, because so many people already have a Launchpad lying around. You take the good parts of something that already exists and then make something new with it.

Exactly. It's a great user interface, and I think for sequencing — for a step sequencer — it's ideal because it gives you an overview of the 64 steps at a glance. And now you can use that interface to trigger drums or modulate filters!

Can you say something about the Triggerpad’s clock implementation – it can be both externally and internally clocked, right?

Yes. The internal clock can also be modulated to create a swing on 8th notes, 16th notes or anything in between – and beyond that – with positive or negative swing amounts. On top of that, it is also possible to use the swing in per-channel fashion to create complex swing patterns. An external clock signal can be multiplied and divided at the same time – a lot of my work went into developing a clock follower that can follow and react quickly to a swinging clock signal. I guess that at E-RM I also learned the importance of a tight clock.

Beyond the obvious use case – trigger sequencing – of the Triggerpad, are there also any more unconventional patch ideas that you or users have come up with?   

There are many interesting potential use cases! For example, you can create a staircase modulation pattern to modulate the frequency of an oscillator or filter. I’ve used it to make some really nasty basslines by modulating the delay time of a BBD delay – and changing the delay time also changes the pitch of the bass – with a wavefolder in the feedback path. To make that work, you set a channel on the Triggerpad with the length of the triggers quantised to the step length, and then you create a sequence with different levels on each step to create a staircase modulation. These stairs are spaced equally, so you can tune an oscillator or a self resonating filter to play 8 notes that are evenly spaced in semitones or thirds or fifths. Quite an unusual use of a trigger sequencer, but it’s so easy and fast to use in this way that it almost calls for it.

Another interesting use case is to make a sequence of triggers with different lengths, which creates a very expressive effect. Pulses shorter than 1ms will create wooden sounds when pinging a filter, and many analog drum voices react very differently to triggers shorter than 1ms. The Triggerpad can actually set the trigger length down to around 50us, which unlocks a whole new dimension when it comes to pinging many modules.

You can also create melodies by using sub-steps to retrigger at audio rate – each step is divided into up to 8 micro-steps, and retriggering a kick at that rate basically turns it into a tone. By changing the number of sub-steps it is divided in, you can then retrigger in different tones. The frequencies of the tones are obviously dependent on the BPM, but you can usually create four to five different tones and sequence a simple bass line with them.

What’s the current status of the Triggerpad’s firmware development – are you implementing new feature requests from the community?

I do release new firmware updates quite regularly, because I myself use the Triggerpad so frequently that new ideas pop up all the time. I do implement most of the feature requests I receive, and I’m always happy to hear from users. Usually, the only problem with new features is finding a clear way of displaying them on the user interface so that they will be easy to access. But I’ve noticed that what most musicians need is really the basic features – a simple and fast way of creating triggers. And to me, the best part of Triggerpad is that it has a very fast learning curve. You can plug it in and you make sequences immediately, but if you want more complexity from it you can also get that complexity.

Are there any upcoming developments or features you are working on right now?

I am always inspired by musicians that play live electronic music. When it comes to the Triggerpad, I can already share that the next feature will be automation. It’s a request I saw in a post from Colin Benders, where he wrote about wishing for the possibility of setting a new target BPM, as well as the time it takes to get to that new BPM. I’m currently thinking about it in the sense of going from 120 to 145 BPM in one hour, but I could also expand it to other parameters.

It could be quite fun to set different parameters in this way, giving you simultaneous and smooth changes in the sequence. Existing features on Triggerpad – like the humaniser, or the patterns of dynamics, or the dynamics range – could then slowly change to create variations of the same pattern over a period of time, freeing up your hands to play other instruments. Something like just slowly bringing in the swing amount could be subtle but also really groovy.

I am also currently experimenting a lot with AI, and I must say it’s been very inspiring, both from an engineering and an artistic perspective. I’ve already studied AI back when I was in university, but it is on a totally different level now. Having my own music reworked by a neural network actually gave me a very different perspective on what I do as a musician. You can learn a lot about yourself when it exposes your own peculiarities. Obviously, there are many potential misuses of AI – you can read about them every day, especially within the music industry – but I think we have to try and outnumber those misuses with good and creative usages of AI.

And what about your musical project jesusonecstasy – do you have any new releases or gigs coming up?

I mostly perform live for my jesusonecstasy project. This is crucial for developing and testing the equipment that I make, and of course also to have fun and get new ideas. I currently have no plans for releases, but sometimes I do put up jam sessions or live recordings.

I think the video of my live performance at the SuperBooth 2025 will be online soon –  there you can hear Triggerpad in action, sequencing the drums and the bass line (the nasty BBD delay bass sound I mentioned above). I also have a live act coming up at the end of February, and hopefully more in spring and summer as well.

You can find out more about Crosspatch over at the Crosspatch website and shop the Triggerpad over at SchneidersLaden.