Colin Newman

"The only synth I've ever actually owned is a Casio CZ1000, which I like in combination with a DX and an analogue synth rather than on its own. The CZ is squeaky, Rolands are big, and the DX somewhere in between, so I like the kind of complete, round sound where you get a bit of everything chucked in."

"Combinations of the same sound also work very well - six synthesisers all playing the same thing can sound great. If you track a part you can never match the two parts perfectly. Something I did a while ago used an Emulator II cello preset which I tracked about five times, and it acquired a totally different character to the original patch. If you track a sequencer and alter the varispeed, the timecode will keep it in sync but the pitch will vary. You can do that as many times as you want and get massive sounds."

"My first LP was called A-Z. That was the first time I recorded with the Synclavier. The other thing we were using then was the EMS Synthi, which was great for guitar treatments. At that point I was very much into treatments of sound using guitar treatments on voices and anything else."

U: What is your current set-up? Are there any instruments that you've sold over the years but that you wish you'd kept?

CN: A G4, running Digidesign Pro Tools through 001. I get eighteen outputs to my Allen and Heath board. Lots of plug-ins. Hard disks full of various forms of audio. Otherwise, some guitars, a couple of MS10s and an old Casio synth. I don't sell equipment. Even though I have two samplers I never use anymore, there's no point in selling them.