Colin Towns

"I didn't want to sound like Jon Lord and I couldn't stand all that Rick Wakeman crap so I was looking for something other than a Hammond. I settled on a Yamaha organ which I used to put through a rotary cabinet. It was a dual keyboard thing and it looked a bit like a Hammond. I also had an ARP 2600 which I got some interesting sounds out of, although I was terrified to move any knobs or pull any plugs out in case I lost my sounds. And I used a Clavinet, the Fender Rhodes, and a Sequential Pro One. Round the front I had a Yamaha electric piano, the CP70. That was my favourite instrument — it was the electric grand, the big heavy one that was made like a piano with strings in. I had to tune it myself before every gig and I was always breaking strings on it, but it was my absolutely favourite instrument because when I played it I was around the front near the audience and not hidden behind a load of keyboards!"

"I didn't want to sound like Jon Lord and I couldn't stand all that Rick Wakeman crap so I was looking for something other than a Hammond. I settled on a Yamaha organ which I used to put through a rotary cabinet. It was a dual keyboard thing and it looked a bit like a Hammond. I also had an ARP 2600 which I got some interesting sounds out of, although I was terrified to move any knobs or pull any plugs out in case I lost my sounds. And I used a Clavinet, the Fender Rhodes, and a Sequential Pro One. Round the front I had a Yamaha electric piano, the CP70. That was my favourite instrument — it was the electric grand, the big heavy one that was made like a piano with strings in. I had to tune it myself before every gig and I was always breaking strings on it, but it was my absolutely favourite instrument because when I played it I was around the front near the audience and not hidden behind a load of keyboards!"

"I didn't want to sound like Jon Lord and I couldn't stand all that Rick Wakeman crap so I was looking for something other than a Hammond. I settled on a Yamaha organ which I used to put through a rotary cabinet. It was a dual keyboard thing and it looked a bit like a Hammond. I also had an ARP 2600 which I got some interesting sounds out of, although I was terrified to move any knobs or pull any plugs out in case I lost my sounds. And I used a Clavinet, the Fender Rhodes, and a Sequential Pro One. Round the front I had a Yamaha electric piano, the CP70. That was my favourite instrument — it was the electric grand, the big heavy one that was made like a piano with strings in. I had to tune it myself before every gig and I was always breaking strings on it, but it was my absolutely favourite instrument because when I played it I was around the front near the audience and not hidden behind a load of keyboards!"

"The Morpheus is alright, but I don't really like electronic noises. I did something recently where I had to come up with stacks of radio tracks — pop stuff — so I used it for that. It probably sounds rude to some people but you can knock up that kind of material in 10 minutes, just using loops and stuff. The Morpheus is quite useful for washy noises for those sort of things."

"I don't use the Prophet 2002 any more, but I think it was good for its time. I used it on a series I did for ITV back in 1987. There was a good soprano sax on it and the string bass was the best one I had at the time. But they wouldn't work now — too dated. It's just there in case I might need it one day."

List of equipment at his studio:

KEYBOARDS F Kaim & Son grand piano Korg SG1D master keyboard

SAMPLERS Akai S1000HD Akai CD3000

SOUND MODULES Emu Proteus 1 Emu Proteus 2 Orchestral Emu Proteus 3XR World Emu Morpheus Sequential Circuits Prophet 2002

DRUM MACHINE Roland R8

COMPUTING & SOFTWARE Atari 1040ST Emagic Notator Time + Space sample CD‑ROMs

RECORDING Alesis ADAT (x5) Alesis BRC remote control Soundtracs Jade mixer Drawmer dual gate TC Electronic M5000 digital effects Lexicon PCM70 digital effects

List of equipment at his studio:

KEYBOARDS F Kaim & Son grand piano Korg SG1D master keyboard

SAMPLERS Akai S1000HD Akai CD3000

SOUND MODULES Emu Proteus 1 Emu Proteus 2 Orchestral Emu Proteus 3XR World Emu Morpheus Sequential Circuits Prophet 2002

DRUM MACHINE Roland R8

COMPUTING & SOFTWARE Atari 1040ST Emagic Notator Time + Space sample CD‑ROMs

RECORDING Alesis ADAT (x5) Alesis BRC remote control Soundtracs Jade mixer Drawmer dual gate TC Electronic M5000 digital effects Lexicon PCM70 digital effects

List of equipment at his studio:

KEYBOARDS F Kaim & Son grand piano Korg SG1D master keyboard

SAMPLERS Akai S1000HD Akai CD3000

SOUND MODULES Emu Proteus 1 Emu Proteus 2 Orchestral Emu Proteus 3XR World Emu Morpheus Sequential Circuits Prophet 2002

DRUM MACHINE Roland R8

COMPUTING & SOFTWARE Atari 1040ST Emagic Notator Time + Space sample CD‑ROMs

RECORDING Alesis ADAT (x5) Alesis BRC remote control Soundtracs Jade mixer Drawmer dual gate TC Electronic M5000 digital effects Lexicon PCM70 digital effects