Ali Shaheed Muhammad

Used on People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, as stated by recording engineer Bob Power in this November 8, 2016 Wax Poetics interview.

Also, back then, MIDI was in a very primitive state. MIDI is the language that computers, synthesizers, and samplers use to speak to each other. It was extremely primitive at that point. Q-Tip was sequencing on an SP-1200, and Ali had an Alesis eight-track MIDI sequencer and an Akai S950. Sampling technology was very primitive. The S950 had maybe a second and a half worth of memory. Putting together those complex, elaborate constructions was so difficult. It took a lot of time. We had to do things bit by bit because of the undeveloped memory for samplers at that point. We had to be creative in the way we approached things. People say we used twenty-four tracks, but we really had twenty-two tracks to deal with because you needed to print a synchronization code on one track and use another track as your guard band. Because samplers would only hold less than a second worth of sound at one time, we ended up putting little bits of things across different tracks and combining them later.

Featured in this October 26, 2014 Instagram post.

blowing the dust off this deck. @soulsofmischief @adrianyounge #ThereIsOnlyNow

Featured on Muhammad's official Apogee artist page, published November 8, 2011.

“I recently booked a studio in Punta de Mita, Mexico which was fairly equipped but I found the mix board there to be too noisy. I simply plugged my guitars and mics directly into my Duet 2 and my signals were clean and thumping. I spent one month in that studio and never did I break outside of the Duet 2. Next time instead of locking into an expensive studio for that amount of time I will find a spare room in a beach house and record, the interface is that reliable be it for portable recording or for something more substantial. I’m also ecstatic with the idea of unleashing the Duet 2’s power and clarity on the dance floor at my next DJ gig.”

Used on People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, as stated by recording engineer Bob Power in this November 8, 2016 Wax Poetics interview.

Also, back then, MIDI was in a very primitive state. MIDI is the language that computers, synthesizers, and samplers use to speak to each other. It was extremely primitive at that point. Q-Tip was sequencing on an SP-1200, and Ali had an Alesis eight-track MIDI sequencer and an Akai S950. Sampling technology was very primitive. The S950 had maybe a second and a half worth of memory. Putting together those complex, elaborate constructions was so difficult. It took a lot of time. We had to do things bit by bit because of the undeveloped memory for samplers at that point. We had to be creative in the way we approached things. People say we used twenty-four tracks, but we really had twenty-two tracks to deal with because you needed to print a synchronization code on one track and use another track as your guard band. Because samplers would only hold less than a second worth of sound at one time, we ended up putting little bits of things across different tracks and combining them later.

Visible in this December 20, 2016 Instagram post.

Featured in this February 28, 2013 Instagram post.

#throwbackthursday my first laptop circa '92. MacBook, pleeease!!! What yall know bout this pristine PowerBook?