Daft Punk & Daft Punk – Discovery

From a 2001 interview with Daft Punk: "We have a really small compressor, the Alesis 3630, which is $300. That's the main one we used on Homework and Discovery. The one we used the most is one of the cheapest ones on the market."

In this 2001 interview with Daft Punk about Discovery, they list some of their preferred samplers; the 1200 is listed.

At 7:26, in this performance video by Daft Punk, one can see the TR-909.

In this 2001 interview with Daft Punk about Discovery, they list some of their preferred samplers, the Roland S-760 being on the list.

In this 2001 interview with Daft Punk about Discovery, their main synths are listed. The 808 and its cousin the 909 are both mentioned.

Daft Punk has a LinnDrum in this image of one of their performances from the 90s.

Used on Discovery, as stated in this May 1, 2001 Remix interview.

You use vocoders and phase shifters on many of your tracks.

Bangalter: People always ask us what vocoder we use, but every one of our vocal tracks uses a different vocoder effect. We have the old Roland one [an SVC-350], Auto-Tune, and a Digitech Vocalist. We take the same approach with phase shifters. Every track on this album uses a different phase shifter. We have a Mu-Tron phaser, a Moogerfooger pedal, an old AMS phaser, and an Ensoniq DP-4. With the older items, you can have several of the same model and they all sound different.

this japanese interview shows daft punks equipment used to record homework

Per this March 2001 interview with Keyboards Magazine (FR), Daft Punk employed a Linn 9000 during the recording of Discovery.

Daft Punk utilized the Roland TR-707 Rhythm Composer in the recording of their album Homework, as detailed in an Enmore Audio article listing their gear, notably on the track High Fidelity (Claps, Snare, Hats & Crashes) and Harder Better Faster Stronger (Claps)

While listing their main synths in a 2001 interview about Discovery, the 3 gets listed.

Per the official Mutronics website, Daft Punk are listed as Mutator customers. Good of Mutronics to keep the page alive despite the Mutator being discontinued in 2007.

Listed in a 1999 Japanese interview and this October 1, 2001 Mix Online interview.

In their own music, Daft Punk uses a number of different compressors. “We have a really small compressor, the Alesis 3630, which is $300. That's the main one we used on Homework and Discovery. The one we used the most is one of the cheapest ones on the market. It's really funny; it's the bricolage thing. Sometimes you don't have to have the most expensive equipment to make good music.” To further his point, de Homem-Christo reveals that an early Daft Punk single (a pre-Homework release) was created simply using an Akai S01 sampler, an Alesis MicroVerb 3 sound processor, an Alesis MMT-8 sequencer and a Mini-Moog synth. “It sounded great to us,” he says.

Used on Discovery, as stated in this May 1, 2001 Remix interview and in this October 1, 2001 Mix Online interview.

Remix

You use vocoders and phase shifters on many of your tracks.

Bangalter: People always ask us what vocoder we use, but every one of our vocal tracks uses a different vocoder effect. We have the old Roland one [an SVC-350], Auto-Tune, and a Digitech Vocalist. We take the same approach with phase shifters. Every track on this album uses a different phase shifter. We have a Mu-Tron phaser, a Moogerfooger pedal, an old AMS phaser, and an Ensoniq DP-4. With the older items, you can have several of the same model and they all sound different.

Mix Online

The key principle that de Homem-Christo repeatedly invokes in discussing Daft Punk's compositional approach is bricolage, a French term referring to the art of taking found materials (in this case, found sounds) and incorporating them into something new. “Sometimes we use an instrument in a way that it was never created for,” he explains. “Some people might say, ‘You're doing something wrong using this effect like that,’ but we always try to do different tricks and techniques that are maybe a little bit wild for usual sound engineers. But by experimenting with some crazy ideas, you find some crazy sounds.”

To get those sounds, the pair uses many vintage keyboards, including Korg, Roland and Moog gear from the '70s. “We use the big ones that were used in the '70s, like the Juno. It depends on how you use it — if you put a distortion effect on a Juno, you can't tell it's a Juno.” Their main synths include a TR-909, TR-808, Juno-106, ARP Odyssey, E-mu 3 and AMS Phasers.

Used on Discovery, as stated in this May 1, 2001 Remix interview.

You've also broken away from the standard house music instrumentation. For example, you used Oberheim and Linn drum machines on several songs instead of the usual 808 and 909.

Bangalter: We used an Oberheim DMX and a Linn drum a lot. There is a Sequential Circuits Drum Tracks on “Short Circuit.” It's not like we're going against what other people are doing. We're just opening up the music to new ideas. The instrument itself is not as important as the way we use it. Instruments come with certain instructions in the manual, and many people can't look beyond those rules. People ask us why we like to use vocoders or electric keyboards from the '60s, but to us instruments are just tools. The idea is more important than the instrument. One of the cool things about the house music spirit is that it inspired musicians to use instruments for things they weren't designed to do.

Used for Discovery, as stated in this May 1, 2001 Remix interview and in this October 1, 2001 Mix Online interview.

Remix

What do you record to? Analog tape? Hard disk?

Bangalter: We use sequencers to control a lot of different samplers and synthesizers. Every sampler has a different sound, but my favorite is the E-mu. We have Roland, Ensoniq, and Akai samplers, too. A lot of times we'll try a sound in all of our different samplers to see which is best. Our sequencing is done either on an E-mu SP-1200, an Akai MPC, or a PC with Logic Audio software. We do not work on things in just one way.

Mix Online

When it comes to recording and mixing their music, Daft Punk utilizes a modest setup. “We never have gone to a big studio to do anything,” says de Homem-Christo. “We have a small Mackie 12-channel mixer, and everything is done there by bricolage.” They use Logic Audio on an iMac DV, and they record to a Sony DAT, direct into the iMac or Revox A77/B77 analog recorder, depending upon the sound they want. But even de Homem-Christo admits that he does not like to explain the band's technical process too in-depth. He does not want to give away too much. A good magician never reveals his secrets.

Daft Punk "...brought their own synths into the studio, with a modular synth and things like an Oberheim OB8 and a Juno 106 and quite a few old polyphonic analogue synths."

On Digital Love from Daft Punk's 2001 Album Discovery. During the Bridge,You Get a Supertramp Vibe. That Vibe was made by the original Wurlitzer Electric piano Supertramp used. According to Guy-Man, " On ‘Digital Love,’ you get this Supertramp vibe on the bridge,” remarks de Homem-Christo. “We didn’t sample Supertramp, but we had the original Wurlitzer piano they used, so we thought it would be more fun to have the original instrument and mess around with it. We use mainly vintage synthesizers, like older electric pianos like the Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Clavinet. We didn’t use the Clavinet on Discovery, but I usually use it in my studio.” Effects units the duo used include a DP-4 and an Eventide Ultra-Harmonizer.

Per this March 2001 interview with Keyboards Magazine (FR), Daft Punk employed a Fender Rhodes during the recording of Discovery.

While listing their main synths in a 2001 interview about Discovery, the Odyssey's name gets dropped.

Per this March 2001 interview with Keyboards Magazine (FR), Daft Punk employed an MPC 3000 during the recording of Discovery.

Per this March 2001 interview with Keyboards Magazine (FR), Daft Punk employed a Sequential Circuits Prophet 600 during the recording of Discovery.

Per this screenshot from a late-'90s interview Daft Punk gave to a Japanese publication, Emagic MicroLogic was used during the recording of Homework. MicroLogic was Emagic's more-affordable, feature-reduced version of Logic in the '90s. MicroLogic was first reviewed by TheMix in 1994, and the earliest versions of this application (at the very least, through version 2.0, likely later) were MIDI-only, predating Logic's later ability to record and playback digital audio.

Used on Discovery, as stated in this May 1, 2001 Remix interview.

You use vocoders and phase shifters on many of your tracks.

Bangalter: People always ask us what vocoder we use, but every one of our vocal tracks uses a different vocoder effect. We have the old Roland one [an SVC-350], Auto-Tune, and a Digitech Vocalist. We take the same approach with phase shifters. Every track on this album uses a different phase shifter. We have a Mu-Tron phaser, a Moogerfooger pedal, an old AMS phaser, and an Ensoniq DP-4. With the older items, you can have several of the same model and they all sound different.

In a photograph of Daft Punk's home studio (Crydamoure Studios from 2003, providing insight into the setup used during the "Homework" and "Discovery" eras of Daft Punk), two Electro-Harmonix EH-4600 Small Clone pedals are visible on the mixing console.

Per this March 2001 interview with Keyboards Magazine (FR), Daft Punk employed a Jazz Bass during the recording of Discovery.

Per this March 2001 interview with Keyboards Magazine (FR), Daft Punk employed a Fender Stratocaster during the recording of Discovery.