The Myst III score was largely written at Jack's home studio, so I asked him about his equipment and sounds of choice. "I use a G4 Mac with Digital Performer because I've just been using that forever, and I have GigaStudio on a PC. I use the Garritan Orchestral Strings library, and I've got a couple of Akai samplers and a JV2080 stuffed full of cards. I'm looking forward to the Vienna Symphonic Library — I heard a demo of it at the AES show here in LA in October and it blew my mind. It's all about trying to make the music sound as real as you can before fleshing it out into the orchestration."

A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY!

"Ex-BBC Radiophonic Workshop (Blake’s Seven, The Living Planet) and current film and TV composer Elizabeth Parker is selling the famous circular studio she took with her from the BBC when the RW was disbanded.

The studio is virtually complete, including nearly all the equipment she has been using on a regular basis in her profession - up to and including a film project she is finishing in the first half of November before the studio is dismantled. Just add a mother keyboard, mastering, monitoring, and video, and you have virtually the complete set- up used for prestigious projects like the BBC’s World Cup coverage, The Human Body, Weird Nature, Animal Olympics, the Monty Python Holy Grail DVD, Michael Palin TV series, etc.

The custom woodwork and cabling alone is believed to have cost £4500 in the late 1980s, and is probably one of the most famous studio designs in the world. When it was removed from the BBC, the installation and re-design at Liz's private studio was masterminded by Rupert Brun, one of the BBC's most highly respected engineers.

Full documentation is included in the sale. Removal and/or packing and shipping is a serious task, so please bear that in mind before bidding. VEMIA will assist at cost if you need."

The studio consists of:

The studio desk, custom made for the Radiophonic Workshop, out of limed Ash. (Buyer dismantles and collects). Complete with a vast quantity of high-quality cabling, with every cable, jack, phono and XLR numbered and labelled by Rupert Brun, with full diagrams, spreadsheets, etc. Roland XV 5080 with 8-voice expansion unit for sample playback Emu Proteus 2000 (with Proteus 1, 2, and 3 (World) Expansion Cards) Proteus 2 and Proteus 3 World Modules. Emu 4XT Ultra with maximum memory. Roland 760 Samplers (x3) with maximum sample and playback memory + mouse unit for 2 of them Emu Xtreme Lead 1 with MoPhat Card. Yamaha 01 Digital Mixer. Yamaha 01V Digital Mixer. Yamaha KM802 Mixer. Spirit Folio F1 100mm Fader Mixer. Peavey PC 1600X Midi Command Stations (x3) Alesis ADAT XT 8 track digital recorder + remote control. Denon DRM-550 Cassette Deck. Akai Professional rackmount DP3200 Routers (x3) 48-Way Patch Bays (x3) Iomega 250 Zip Drives (x2 - one still in box) CD Rom Players (x3) - one still in box. Emu Proformance Piano Module. Emu Procussion Module. Opcode Studio 4 Midi Interfaces (x2) [Opcode] Studio 5 Midi Interface. Apple 7600 computer with unused new RAM + 21 monitor Apple 8600 computer + monitor. PPM Meter - West German, made by RTW, Köln, and bought from the BBC. Magneto Optical 230 drive. Apple Mac G4, Dual Processor with 512MB RAM, 40GB hard drive in four partitions, extra internal 230GB hard drive."

Eric Chevalier's gear list circa 2003:

Mixing Consoles: - Sony DMX-R100 - Yamaha 01V Monitors: - Genelec 1031.A - Genelec 1030.A

Samplers: - Akai s6000 (x2) - Akai CD3000XL - Roland S760 (x4) - Roland SP 700

Synthesizers: - Roland JD800 - Roland JD990 - Roland MKS80 + PG - Roland MKS70 + PG (x2) - Roland XV3080 - Roland D550 - Roland A80 - E-MU Proteus 2000 - Yamaha TX802 - Kurzweil MicroPiano - Korg M1R EX - Korg Wavestation AD - Korg Triton - Alesis DM5 (drum machine) - Access Virus A - Access Virus C - The theremin - Nord Lead

Computer (& Plugins): - PowerMac G4/733 - PowerBook Titanium - Monitors Plasma (x2) - Pro Tools Mix Plus (software) - Logic Audio Platinum (+ eMagic plugins) - Spectrasonics Athmosphere - Spectrasonics Stylus - Mac Five - DD 80 Go + 120 Go + 160 Go LaCie - DD 40 Go Ice - Synchro: "Time Machine" C Lab - Unitor MK2 (x3)

Effects: - Lexicon 480L - PCM80 / LPX15 - Yamaha SPX90 / D1500 (x2) - Tube Tech Compressor LCA 2B - EQ Moog - TC Electronics M5000 - TC Electronic Finalizer 96K - DAT Panasonic SV-3800 - DAT Sony PCM R500

Abernethy composed on Digital Performer 4 on a Mac G4 that sits alongside an 80-channel Otari Status console, working with mostly original samples. “We were using three Mac G4s, one Dell PC, BIAS Peak, Cool Edit Pro, two E4-X2 samplers and three ASR 10s,” he explains. “We put our samples into the proprietary Sony sound tool, which has its own MIDI player, and then programmed our sequences within the tool.”