Monolake

Monolake is the long-running electronic project of Robert Henke, and it is hard to talk about it without talking about software. Henke began making minimal, dub-inflected techno in 1990s Berlin with Gerhard Behles, built his own tools to perform it, and those tools became the seed of Ableton Live. Three decades on, the project still releases records and the man behind it is still building instruments, now with lasers and 8-bit computers.

Early Life and Path Into Music

Robert Henke was born in Munich in 1969 and lives in Berlin, according to Wikipedia. He came from an engineering background and had modified hardware synths, including a Roland Juno-6, before he met Behles. MusicRadar's history of Ableton Live says the two first met at the Munich branch of the Synthesizerstudio Bonn and reconnected in Berlin, where both had moved to study computer science.

Berlin in the early 1990s, with the wall just down, was full of empty buildings and illegal clubs. Behles told MusicRadar there was always a way to play and always an audience. That scene is where Monolake took shape: Henke's official biography says the project began as a duo with Behles in 1995 and has been a solo project since 1999.

Sound and Style

Monolake's early records, including the albums Hongkong (1997) and Interstate (1998), are the sound most listeners mean when they describe it. Wikipedia characterises the project's minimal, dub-influenced techno as helping to establish the sound of the Chain Reaction label, the Berlin imprint founded by Moritz Von Oswald and Mark Ernestus of Basic Channel. MusicRadar likewise reports that the duo were signed to Chain Reaction.

Henke's own description of the music in his official biography is that it is inspired by the raw, repetitive power of techno culture and by the complex structures and textures of more abstract contemporary music. In the same text he calls himself "an artistic toolmaker". For Monolake the tools matter as much as the tracks: Henke designed the Monodeck, a MIDI controller for editing and effects during live shows that controls Ableton Live through Max/MSP software, in 2003, and later built a successor.

Labels and Releases

The Monolake catalogue runs through Gobi (1999), Gravity (2000), Cinemascope (2001), Momentum (2003), Polygon Cities (2005), Silence (2009), Ghosts (2012), VLSI (2016), Archaeopteryx (2020) and Studio (2024), according to Henke's official site. Studio was released on 6 September 2024 and, per an interview with El Ruido es el Mensaje, was made in Berlin between autumn 2023 and spring 2024. A ten-track set, it mixes beats and glitches with archival material and old devices. Under his own name Henke has released albums including Signal to Noise (2004), Layering Buddha (2006) and Signal to Noise Volume II (2026).

Career Highlights

Ableton Live

Henke is best known outside techno as a co-creator of Ableton Live. MusicRadar reports that Behles and Henke used the programming environment Max to design tools for their own music, and that many of those ideas became the basis of version 1 of Live, which launched on 30 October 2001. Behles founded Ableton in 1999 with Bernd Roggendorf. We look at the company's independence and the people who built it in our piece on 25 years of Ableton and Gerhard Behles.

Live Performance and Installation

Henke has built performance systems of his own, including the networked software Atlantic Waves, and Wikipedia describes a live show that syncs surround-sound audio stems with visual loops. In recent years he has worked with high-power lasers, and his official biography lists audiovisual works such as CBM 8032 AV (2019), which used a Commodore 8032 computer, and Monolake 8bit (2022). His work has been presented at Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, Palazzo Grassi, MUDAM and KW Institute for Contemporary Art, and at festivals that include Unsound, CTM, MUTEK and Sónar. He has also taught at Berlin's University of the Arts, Stanford's CCRMA and IRCAM in Paris.

FAQ

Who is Monolake?

Monolake is the electronic music project of Robert Henke, a German musician and sound artist based in Berlin. It began in 1995 as a duo with Gerhard Behles, who went on to run Ableton, and has been a solo project since 1999.

How old is Monolake?

Monolake is the project of Robert Henke, who was born in 1969, which makes him 56 or 57 depending on his birthday (age 56 or 57 as of October 2026). The project itself dates from 1995. His exact birth date is not published in the sources we checked.

Where is Monolake from?

Monolake is from Berlin, where the project started in 1995. Robert Henke was born in Munich, Germany, and now lives and works in Berlin.

What genre does Monolake play?

Monolake plays minimal, dub-influenced techno, a style tied to Berlin's Chain Reaction label in the 1990s. Henke also works in experimental electronic music and audiovisual performance.

What is Monolake's real name?

Monolake is a project name, not a person. It is run by Robert Henke, who records under his own name as well.

Did Monolake create Ableton Live?

Robert Henke and Gerhard Behles, the two original members of Monolake, were among the creators of Ableton Live. Behles co-founded Ableton in 1999 with Bernd Roggendorf, and Live was released in October 2001.

Why is it called Monolake?

According to Wikipedia, the project is named after Mono Lake, which lies east of the Sierra Nevada in California.

What is Monolake's latest album?

Studio, released on 6 September 2024, is the most recent Monolake album listed on Robert Henke's official site. Henke also released Signal to Noise Volume II under his own name in 2026.

festivals

• NachtdigitalLeipzig, 30 JUL 2027 - 01 AUG 2027→

Past appearances and announced lineups only, each checked against the festival's own records.

related on rts.fm

• Ableton at 25: Independence, Hardware and Behles→