Expanding the band's sound for OU812, Van Halen looked to digital synthesisers to brighten up the 'fat analogue' sound of previous releases.

"Armin van Buuren: Yes, and I'm a big fan of the Nord Lead because it has a certain edge to it. I still use the Yamaha TX81Z, which is a really old machine and it's out of tune with most versions, but the FM sound is just fantastic."

A TX81Z can be seen up close in Mat Zo's studio in this April 25, 2019 Twitter post.

Key to this type of song creation is gear that has been in Jenkinson’s studio for decades. Mainstays include a Roland TB-303, TR-909 and SH-101, Eventide Orville and DSP4000 harmonizers, a Yamaha QY700 sequencer, and Yamaha CS80, TX81Z and FS1R synths.

At 8:50 of the video titled "AR Rahman & Firdaus Studios: A Scoring Stage For The 21st Century," A.R. Rahman states that he used a Yamaha TX81Z sound module, which he carried in a rack case for his writing sessions abroad. This information is provided by Sound On Sound magazine on YouTube.

List of equipment used by Klaus Schulze, from the February 1993 issue of Sound on Sound:

4x Akai S1000PB (32MB) 2x Akai S1000KB (32MB) Akai S900 Akai S612 Akai S7000 Moog Modular CIII 2x Moog MiniMoog Studio Electronics MIDIMini Mellotron Yamaha CS80 Yamaha CP70 Yamaha TX81Z Yamaha SY99 Korg M1 Korg M1 EX Korg T1 Korg T3 Korg DVP1 Roland U110 Roland U220 Roland D50 Roland S50 sampler & monitor Roland Planet S & editor Roland Super Jupiter & editor 2 Roland TR505 Roland Octopad Roland JD800 Roland Super JX10 4x Hohner HS2/E sampler 5x Hohner HS1/E sampler Hohner HS1KB sampler Waldorf Microwave GDS computer synth Misc. Crumar keyboards Fairlight CMI Series II SCI Prophet 2000 SCI Prophet 2002 Emu Proteus/2 Emu Proteus/3 World Emu Emulator II Kurzweil K1000 Kawai K4 EMS Synthi A PPG Wave 2.2 Linn 9000 4x Oberheim DPX1 Yamaha RY30 drum machine Sonor timpanies and octo toms Paiste gongs and cymbals Martin 12-string guitar

Future Sound of London equipment list from the August 1992 issue of Music Technology Magazine:

Instruments

Akai S612 Sampler + MD280 Disk Drive Akai S900 Sampler Akai S1000 Sampler w/8Mb memory E-mu Proteus/1 w/Protologic board Jen SX1000 Synth Roland D110 Synth Module Roland JX3P Synth Roland MC202 Monosynth Roland MKS50 Synth Module + PG300 Programmer Roland TB303 Bass Synth Roland TR606 Drum Machine Yamaha DS55 Synth Yamaha TX81Z

Effects

Alesis Quadraverb (x2) Alesis MIDIverb II BBE 422A Sonic Maximiser Bel Electronics BD80 Digital Delay Drawmer DS201 Dual Gate Fostex 3070 Compressor/Limiter Ibanez DM1100 Digital Delay Korg DRV1000 Digital Reverb Yamaha SPX90 Multi effects Processor

Recording

Aiwa HDX1 DAT Recorder Atari 1040ST Computer w/C-lab Creator software Fostex B16 Multitrack Groove MC2V MIDI/CV Converter Korg KMS30 Sync Unit Nakamichi 480Z Cassette Deck Sony DTC1000ES DAT Recorder Soundtracs CM4400 Mixing Desk Technics SL1200 Mk2 Turntable Yamaha NS10M Monitors

Yamaha TX81Z FM synthesizer can be spotted in this picture from Andrew Bayer's Instagram

In this Reddit AMA, George mentions using a TX81Z.

"im blown away by the tx81z."

It can also be seen in this video at 9:35: https://youtu.be/BqqjOefczqg?t=575

In response to a tweet that said "Show me a picture on your phone that has your energy. Not a selfie." Skee quoted tweeted with his rackmount setup.

Gear Gods: Whenever I get the chance to talk to bands that were playing years and years ago, I think about how the tones that were available then were so different, and so much more limited. Cynic was trailblazing the ability to jump between so many different genres, which was a lot harder to do back in the early ‘90s. What were you and Jason playing through on the Focus tours? And how difficult was it to achieve the breadth of tones?

Paul Masvidal: Was I running an MP-1? I think I was. Yeah, at that time I was a rack guy. I had a 15-space rackmount. My main preamp was an ADA MP-1 and I used an ADA midi controller. I had a Roland GM-70 guitar synth, which was really cool back then because it had Portamento [pitch glide between notes, instead of set intervals]. You could assign custom midi controllers to the unit on your guitar. It was just really hip for its time. It was very clunky in terms of a big, bulky thing, but what you could do with it was phenomenal. It just had this natural, flawed, organic kind of thing that was very cool at the time.

And I had a Digitech, and then a Rane: different EQs that were programmable. So the EQs were constantly changing the guitar synth. And then with the guitar synth I had a, I think, a Yamaha TX 81Z, which was an FM analog old-school synth module. And I think I was using a Rocktron Intellifex back then. I had a bunch of different stuff, and it was all interacting. It was kind of a midi nightmare, but it was functional.

"Awesome to see these old pictures. I reached out to Robert a while ago and he told me to get the TX81z"