Benjamin Goldwasser

In the 2013 Berlin Live full set by MGMT on YouTube, Benjamin Goldwasser can be seen using the Akai Professional MPK49 USB MIDI Keyboard. He uses it to play synth parts that he cannot bring on tour.

"In addition to the ever-present Fenix (going through OTO Biscuit pedals), Goldwasser also had control of the Roland Chorus Echo delay guitar effect pedal, the Waldorf Microwave, and a rackmount Jupiter."

"In addition to the ever-present Fenix (going through OTO Biscuit pedals), Goldwasser also had control of the Roland Chorus Echo delay guitar effect pedal, the Waldorf Microwave, and a rackmount Jupiter."

In this video, Ben can be seen often playing the Prophet 12, perhaps as his main keyboard. e.g 4:55.

At 14:36, whilst he isn't playing it, the camera shows the Big Red '12' showing without a doubt that he's been playing a Prophet 12

In a live performance of "Electric Feel" on KCRW, Benjamin Goldwasser of MGMT is seen using the Access Virus TI2 Polar Synthesizer. Although it seems to have been phased out from his live setup, its distinctive sound likely continues to influence his music through sampling and processing on his Mac Pro.

"But also, older synthesizers such as the Nord Lead and Access Virus—whose older digital converters appeal to Goldwasser—as well as the Roland SH-7 found their way into the circle of gear."

"In addition to the ever-present Fenix (going through OTO Biscuit pedals), Goldwasser also had control of the Roland Chorus Echo delay guitar effect pedal, the Waldorf Microwave, and a rackmount Jupiter."

In this photo, Roland PCR-500 keyboard can be seen in Goldwasser's rig.

This image shows Goldwasser playing the Elektron Analog Keys Keyboard

It's plain as day to see that MOOG (pronounced like vogue) Voyager XL being wielded by Goldwasser. It's got a great sound fat, warm, and rich. Great for pads, Bass, and Leads. Goldwasser uses it the right way.

During an MGMT live performance, Benjamin Goldwasser is seen using two Apple MacBook Pros to control MIDI instruments, likely with Ableton, as shown in the YouTube video by Juuan Homem.

"But also, older synthesizers such as the Nord Lead and Access Virus—whose older digital converters appeal to Goldwasser—as well as the Roland SH-7 found their way into the circle of gear."

At the 0:39 mark of the video Benjamin is shown playing the Akai MPK61

The Modor NF-1 is shown at the 4:38 mark of this video

At 0:52 of this video, Ben is seen playing a Wurlitzer 200A for the recording of "Electric Feel".

Shown from a picture of their equipment at firefly 2013.

The whole signal chain was nice — an old Neumann U47 microphone going into nice preamps — so everything we did there, we could take with us somewhere else,” says Goldwasser.

Used during the making of Congratulations, as stated in this March 2, 2010 Brain Magazine interview.

English transcript of the video

Andrew: Originally, we wanted him [Brian Eno] to produce that track called "Brian Eno". [laughs] That didn't happen. The song is just... I think he's heard it by now, I think Brian Eno has heard it. It wasn't supposed to be offensive, you know.

The whole time we were in the studio, we had a deck, one of the series of the Oblique Strategies and we were comin' up—Pete Kember, Sonic Boom, had a notebook that he was taking notes in—we came up with "Obtuse Strategies" of our own, kind of like a take on his, but they were pretty silly.

Alister [Interviewer]: Do you have an example of your own strategy?

Andrew: The first one we wrote down was "Go fuck yourself." Yeah. [laughs]

French transcript provided from the article

ALISTER : Il y a un autre musicien anglais qui vous intéresse c'est Brian Eno. Il y a une chanson sur l'album qui porte son nom… Est-ce que vous avez essayé de travailler avec lui ? Les paroles sont un peu ambiguës à son sujet (nda le texte est tout au plus ironique, brossant le portrait d‘un Eno excessivement gourouesque « Je vois bien qu‘il est souriant/Mais qu‘est-ce qu‘il sait ?» etc...)

ANDREW : Au début on voulait qu'il produise cette chanson… Mais finalement ça ne s'est pas fait… Je pense qu'il est blessé maintenant… Mais ce n'était pas censé être offensant.

ALISTER : Elle est un peu maligne quand même…

ANDREW : Oui un peu…On voulait juste que ça soit un moment un peu léger sur l'album. C'est une chanson marrante pour danser.

ALISTER : Est-ce que vous utilisez les « stratégies obliques » (nda jeu de cartes inventé par Brian Eno pour débloquer les crises d'inspiration artistique) ?

ANDREW : Oui. On avait ça en studio avec Sonic Boom. On a même nos propres stratégies qui s'appellent les « stratégies obtuses » qui sont assez ridicules (rires) …

ALISTER : Vous avez un exemple ?

ANDREW : La première qu'on a écrite dit Go Fuck Yourself (rires) … Mais on en a des meilleures…

Ils cherchent…

BEN : Je m'en rappelle plus…

ANDREW : C'est des blagues en fait

In the live performance of "Electric Feel" on KCRW, Benjamin Goldwasser of MGMT is seen using the Moog Little Phatty Stage II. Although this synthesizer is featured prominently in this performance, it appears to have been retired from his setup in later shows.

"Goldwasser used a Madrona Labs Soundplane—another new toy, for which he writes his own programs—to treat VanWyngarden’s vocals."

At the 3:54 minute mark of this video the Arturia Micro Brute SE is shown to the left of Benjamin

Kember's aforementioned EMS Synthi A was also much in use. "We ended up using it for the screaming sound on 'Lady Dada's Nightmare',” says Goldwasser. "That was just me staying up on the last night that we were recording in Malibu, right before we packed everything up. I was just making the weirdest noises. He's had some work done on it, a couple of the kind of common modifications. It has a soft sync built in, so you can get the type of oscillator sync sounds the Cars used all the time. But it's like it gets halfway there but it needs to catch up with itself, and sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't, so it does this kind of throaty thing that sounds like a voice. So that's what that screaming thing is, this weird function of the soft sync.

Goldwasser used an Elka Panther 300 heavily on the MGMT album Congratulations. In this photo from an MGMT practice session, Ben's red Elka Panther can be seen on the far left.

Sound on Sound's article about Congratulations discusses Ben's use of the organ:

Meanwhile, the highly idiosyncratic sound of 'Congratulations' was being created using an array of new musical toys discovered by the band. Chief amongst these was the Elka Panther organ that features throughout. "We found it on Craigslist in LA and got it for about $400,” says Goldwasser. "It needed a little work on it. The vibrato knob's broken but everything else works great. I got really obsessed with transistor organ sounds early on in the recording process. For me it was the most psychedelic sound of the moment. I just love how jarring it is and how cartoony it is. It's this weird reddish orange colour and it's set up differently from some of the other organs. For each register, there's different stops that have a different tone. But then it has a volume knob for the whole stop, so you can set up a tone on one and then you can mix it. It's really musical and you can get so many tones from it really easily.”

Benjamin Goldwasser and MGMT used Reason, as confirmed in an interview with the Song Exploder podcast discussing the creation of the song "Time to Pretend" and the debut album Oracular Spectacular.

Goldwasser stated:

They’re just [laughter], they’re synths in Reason, like everything pretty much is, you know, one of the stock synthesizers that comes with the program. And in college, in our spare time, we just spent a lot of time messing around with those synths, and trying to see what kinds of crazy noises we could get out of them.

Benjamin Goldwasser is confirmed to use the Korg DW-8000, as mentioned in an article by Reverb Machine. The article notes that during a recent Twitter listening party, the band discussed renting a Jupiter-8 and a Korg DW-8000 for the track "She Works Out Too Much," along with employing various obscure Russian Soviet synths and drum machines throughout the album.

Benjamin Goldwasser is confirmed to use a Fender Stratocaster Electric Guitar, as evidenced by a photograph of him playing the instrument during a live performance in Burlington on September 12, 2005.