Colin Towns

"I just use loads of CD‑ROMs which I play through the Akai CD3000. I do like the Miroslav Vitous Symphonic Orchestra Samples. The other one I use a lot is Peter Siedlaczek's — that's another orchestral set, and there are actually five CDs of his stuff. The most important thing is that they were recorded in a room with the orchestra sitting where they're supposed to sit — in other words, the basses come out of the right‑hand side. I once had an engineer who didn't know where the orchestra sit and was complaining because it was too right‑heavy — well, that's where they sit, you know!"

"I also like Peter Siedlaczek's Classical Choir, which I use quite a lot. Oh, I've got loads. Like Heart Of Africa, a set of two CD‑ROMs which were recorded in Africa — the first volume of that is really useful. And I like Hans Zimmer's guitar samples. Also, for pianos I sometimes use The Ultimate Piano Collection, which has Faziolis, Steinways and Bösendorfers — it's the best sampled piano thing I've come across, though it still doesn't work as well as a real piano, which I'll always use if I can. There's also a CD‑ROM called Distorted Reality, which has lots of mad stuff — that's quite fun. I've even got CD‑ROMs of drum machines — I get asked to do all kinds of stuff."

"I also like Peter Siedlaczek's Classical Choir, which I use quite a lot. Oh, I've got loads. Like Heart Of Africa, a set of two CD‑ROMs which were recorded in Africa — the first volume of that is really useful. And I like Hans Zimmer's guitar samples. Also, for pianos I sometimes use The Ultimate Piano Collection, which has Faziolis, Steinways and Bösendorfers — it's the best sampled piano thing I've come across, though it still doesn't work as well as a real piano, which I'll always use if I can. There's also a CD‑ROM called Distorted Reality, which has lots of mad stuff — that's quite fun. I've even got CD‑ROMs of drum machines — I get asked to do all kinds of stuff."