David Sylvian

‘I’ve lived with the Prophet since the days of Quiet Life. I still use it because it has a more organic sound than something like a Kurzweil or Fairlight. But I did become very frustrated with it when I first started recording Gone to Earth. I’d just sit in the studio for ages staring at it thinking: “why can’t I get a different sound out of this thing?”.’

David Sylvian did intense synth programming on the Tin Drum almost exclusively with the Prophet-5. For example, the synth pluck chords from Ghosts in the choruses (according to Richard Barbieri in interview published in Sound On Sound magazine July 2021 issue) which some mistook for a DX7 sound (when in fact the song predates it, and is testament to the programming done). Some cassette interfacing was also done with the Prophet on Tin Drum, where sounds from various tapes were triggered and gated off the synth (e.g. the outro voices in Talking Drum), hence the credit of ‘tapes’ on the LP. (Source: SOS July 2021)

In a Sound On Sound article, David Sylvian discusses using the Roland JD-990 during the recording of "Tin Drum" and "The First Day." The synthesizer is mentioned in the 14th paragraph, 3rd line.

In the Sound on Sound article "David Sylvian: Recording Tin Drum & The First Day," David Sylvian discusses using the Yamaha KX88 Synthesizer, as mentioned in the 14th paragraph, 3rd line.

In the Sound On Sound article "David Sylvian: Recording Tin Drum & The First Day," the Korg Wavestation A/D is mentioned in the 14th paragraph, indicating its use in David Sylvian's work.

In the Sound on Sound article "David Sylvian: Recording Tin Drum & The First Day," David Sylvian discusses using the Korg M1R sound module, as mentioned in the 14th paragraph, 4th line.

Transcript from Musician magazine May 1988 mentions Prophet VS as of David Sylvian’s touring keyboards. He supposedly also used this keyboard on Gone To Earth.

This transcript of a Musician magazine article from May 1988 states the Roland PG-1000 being one of Sylvian’s keyboards on tour.

This 1988 article lists an E-max sampler among David Sylvian’s gear.