You might know Fred Armisen from his many years on Saturday Night Live where he has played everyone from President Obama to former New York Governor David Paterson to eccentric art dealer Nuni Schoener. You may also know him from the new sketch comedy series Portlandia where, along with Carrie Brownstein, he skewers the city “where young people go to retire.”

We talked to Fred about some of the music apps he uses to pass the downtime he gets. The first one he mentioned was iSequence for the iPad. Fred likes it because it can create a wide range of quality music and it doesn’t try to sound like anything other than the synthesizer it is.

Here’s our conversation with Fred.

Here’s the sketch he’s referring to:

Here are some of our favorite Fred Armisen scenes: