Francis Monkman

In this video still from a Curved Air TV performance, Monkman is seen with a VCS 3 Mk 1 (and DK-1 keyboard).

Interview with Francis Monkman (Source: http://www.calyx-canterbury.fr/interviews/fmonkman.html ) "I was fortunate enough to have had the use of a VCS3 since 1969, when my flat-mate Robin Thompson (who was in "Intermodulation" with Andrew Powell & Co) got hold of one of the first. My experience with Moogs has not been so good -- I always thought the Minimoog far too limited after the VCS3, and even the big modular affairs fail to impress me, though it's true Keith E. got a monster sound out of his. I heard some good sounds out of a Polymoog, once, but I've no idea how they were programmed. The VCS3 did fine on the road, considering the inevitable tuning problems; after all this time, it still strikes me as a 'minor miracle', I even had mine refurbished and midied."

Francis Monkman interview from March 1983 edition of "Electronics and Music Maker" magazine (Source: http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/francis-monkman/5930 ) "The first keyboard I started using in Curved Air was a Hohner piano, but by the second album I was using a VCS3 with the Cricklewood keyboard. The first album, 'Air Conditioning', also used the VCS3, but just for a few sweeps and effects, including a crazy violin solo through a ring modulator."

In an excellent and comprehensive article on the history and use of the VCS 3 here: https://musicaficionado.blog/2020/10/14/ems-vcs3-in-the-1970s-part-2/ they have an entry on Monkman's use of the VCS 3 in Curved Air:

We are lucky to have footage of the band playing live in the studio from a 1972 performance for the French TV. At the end of the set the band played their signature track Vivaldi, including a section of otherworldly sounds from the VCS3 with great close-ups of the instrument. Watch: https://youtu.be/M_Vghn3EVcI?t=1462

In the progressor.net interview when asked about the guitar he used in Curved Air, Monkman says: "It was simply an attempt by designer Dan Armstrong to produce a solid-body electric with greater rigidity and mass than an equivalent wooden one (it is extraordinarily heavy), in order to prolong string vibration."

In this video still from a TV studio performance by Sky (Bremen, late 70s, early 80s), Francis playing a Prophet 5 (atop the harpsichord)

In this video still from a German TV broadcast of Sky, the OB-1 is in the foreground to the right of Francis.

At the very beginning of this studio clip of their famous "Toccata", Monkman is clearly seen playing a Sandy Rogers harpsichord. The distinctive sound of the harpsichord mixed with the Prophet 5 was actually played live thanks to a clever pre-MIDI interface that allowed Monkman to trigger the Prophet from his harpsichord. Francis still owns this Rogers harpsichord today for his recordings of Baroque keyboard works.