Gary Numan

Gary Numan is credited with Yamaha CP 30 in the liner notes for Telekon.

"...the tiresome role of drumming currently being handled by an Akai S1000 sampler/Apple Macintosh Quadra 650 computer/Emagic Notator Logic sequencer combination..."

Used during the 90s; this article was published in the July 1996 issue of Sound On Sound magazine.

As used by Roxy Music, Ultravox, Gary Numan, Phil Collins, John Foxx, OMD, Blondie, Japan, etc.

“Soundtoys plugs-ins are so good, they have made our outboard effects almost redundant – even the high end ones!?In particular, we love EchoBoy, Crystallizer, Filter Freak, Pan Man and our new ‘go to every time’ plug in, Decapitator.? Decapitator manages to give everything an added dynamic. We are working an a new album at the moment and it is fantastic on drums, guitars, bass, vocals… pretty much anything. The quality – as with all Soundtoys plug-ins – is astounding.”

Gary Numan discusses the Roland System 100 on PledgeMusic, highlighting its status as a rare and desirable synthesizer from his early days.

Brought in to supplement the touring set up in 2006 and was used until 2014. It was also used on the early Splinter demo’s and some of the songs on Dead Son Rising.

You work in Pro Tools?

I do, but my producer, Ade Fenton, works in Logic. We used Native Instruments Massive, Reactor, but I struggled with that. We also use Omnisphere. The danger with that software is, it’s very popular and then you get sucked into using things everybody knows. It’s difficult not to do, but it’s fantastic software. So many things really work straight out of the box, you have to be careful of that. But as a rule we work hard to make sure we are creating new sounds.

Gary Numan's testimonial from the Native Instruments website: "What's particularly impressive is the low end – just about as close as you can get to the real thing."

"I have the usual array of soft synth Plug Ins, Omnisphere 2, Trillion, Stylus RMX from Spectrasonics, most of the Native Instruments stuff, Ethno 2 from MOTU, and some cool stuff from a German company whose name I forget unfortunately." It's misspelled as "Trillion," but it's clear from the context that Gary Numan is talking about Trillian.

MT: So the rest of the studio is a software-driven affair, with just one or two choice pieces of gear?

GN: “I have no outboard gear to speak of. I use Pro Tools. I used to have an HD3 system with the expansion chassis which was noisy and horrible and I didn’t like it. So when I finished Splinter, I went over to this system which is the native one and was told it would be every bit as good as the HD3.

Numan reveals yet more Roland gear. In pride of place on top of the piano is the ubiquitous TR-808 of which Gary says: You can often hear me with that going at home sitting at my old piano waiting for inspiration to strike. It's got some really good sounds in it and I don't know if it's me or not but it seems to have a better feel than some of the other drum machines I've heard.'

"There is quite a lot of synth on the album though, including the Roland JX-8P, the Yamaha DX7, some Emulator sounds sampled into the PPG, and even a Synclavier which we had for a short time. It's a good machine, but it takes too long to get into and it's much too expensive. I'm interested in the idea of replacing the conventional studio with the 'tapeless studio', and if Synclavier get the long-term sampling onto hard disk working perfectly, you'll be able to do that even for the vocals. But the system best suits someone like Paul Hardcastle who's doing a lot of well-paid production work with it - my production work is done as a favour for the other bands on the label."

Looking back rather than forward, the main studio area of Rock City is equipped with a very nice Bosendorfer grand which unfortunately will have to be sold off. Gary also has a good selection of guitars and keyboards lying around, including a Linn LM-1 drum machine, Oberheim OBXa and the Wave Team's new Yamaha DX5.

Gary Numan is credited with ARP Pro Soloist in the liner notes for Telekon.

In the kit list for Savage included with Gary Numan's interview with Electronic Musician, Guitar Rig 5 is listed as one of the software processors.

Rrussel Bell : “I was the guitarist and I had five synths!! I had a Polymoog, two Minimoogs, Moog Taurus pedals, Synares and a Roland guitar synth !”

Source : Electricity Club

Gary Numan used the Roland TR-77 Rhythm 77 drum machine on the track "I Nearly Married a Human" from the album Replicas, as detailed on Dubsounds.

"I even did two albums with a Shure SM58 in the studio".

Used extensively in his Metal Rhythm/New Anger album and used every so often for the next several albums.

"Although Numan writes all of his music on an aged upright piano, slowly adding effects, synth sounds and big beats, he also works with modern gear: Emagic Logic Audio Platinum and Digidesign Pro Tools on an Apple Mac G4 with two iZ Technology RADAR 24 digital recorders and a Mackie d8b desk. His synths are both soft and hard: Korg Wavestation, Alesis QuadraSynth, Korg M1, Roland D50 LA, GEM S2 Turbo and a Korg electric piano."

"Although Numan writes all of his music on an aged upright piano, slowly adding effects, synth sounds and big beats, he also works with modern gear: Emagic Logic Audio Platinum and Digidesign Pro Tools on an Apple Mac G4 with two iZ Technology RADAR 24 digital recorders and a Mackie d8b desk. His synths are both soft and hard: Korg Wavestation, Alesis QuadraSynth, Korg M1, Roland D50 LA, GEM S2 Turbo and a Korg electric piano."

Gary Numan used a Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier Solo Head (Multi-watt) as part of his guitar rig for all UK shows from 2004 to 2014. This information is detailed on his PledgeMusic project page for "Savage."

This machine was used solely on the Pure album. Ideas were sent backwards and forwards between producers Rob/Monti and me via this ADAT. It hasn’t been used since Pure was finished.

You work in Pro Tools?

I do, but my producer, Ade Fenton, works in Logic. We used Native Instruments Massive, Reactor, but I struggled with that. We also use Omnisphere. The danger with that software is, it’s very popular and then you get sucked into using things everybody knows. It’s difficult not to do, but it’s fantastic software. So many things really work straight out of the box, you have to be careful of that. But as a rule we work hard to make sure we are creating new sounds.

"I have a Mac and I run Pro Tools 10. I would go up to Pro Tools 11 but with 11 Avid, in typical fashion, stopped supporting the desk I use, my Control 24, and I love that desk, so I’ve stayed with 10 for the time being."

"I have the usual array of soft synth Plug Ins, Omnisphere 2, Trillion, Stylus RMX from Spectrasonics, most of the Native Instruments stuff, Ethno 2 from MOTU, and some cool stuff from a German company whose name I forget unfortunately."

In the effects rack lie the new Roland delays the SDE-1000 and SDE-3000. It transpires that these were quite a find for Gary and they now get put to great use on both voices and instruments.

"For vocals in the studio I like the Electro-Voice RE20 though - they have a slightly warmer sound than the Neumanns."

"I use the E-magic Logic sequencer through a Mac Quadra 650 computer. This is linked to the instruments and to the studio via an Opcode Studio 4 interface. The studio desk is a Soundtracs Quartz (32 Channel, the little one), Quad amp and Tannoy Little Gold speakers. I have an Otari MX-80 24 track 2" tape recorder which I mix onto DAT via a Soundtools hard disc editor. (An Atari version so it will have to go soon). I wired the room myself and, surprisingly, it works quite well."

"I use the E-magic Logic sequencer through a Mac Quadra 650 computer. This is linked to the instruments and to the studio via an Opcode Studio 4 interface. The studio desk is a Soundtracs Quartz (32 Channel, the little one), Quad amp and Tannoy Little Gold speakers. I have an Otari MX-80 24 track 2" tape recorder which I mix onto DAT via a Soundtools hard disc editor. (An Atari version so it will have to go soon). I wired the room myself and, surprisingly, it works quite well."