Grandmaster Flash

Featured at the end of this August 19, 2016 HOT 97 interview. There is a performance at 51:06 and an overview of its history at 52:21. It was notably used on "Flash to the Beat", as featured in this May 5, 2020 Reverb.com article.

What it was is, we was very competitive back then. So, we four, whether it was Breakout, or whether it was Herc, or whether it was Bam, or whether it was Flash, we always tried to come up with either that great beat, eBro, or just something innovative. So, there was this guy who lived in the Jackson Projects on 149th Street in Jackson Avenue, he was a drummer and he used to use this to practice with and I always stayed in touch with him. I said "If you ever wanted to get rid of it, I will buy it off you." The time came and he says "Flash, it's for sale" and I paid 150 dollars for it. You know, I've had this inside of a bank vault at Chase for probably a good 30 years. I'm very careful with it. I'm extremely careful with it.

Flash's first mixer, which he modified to have a cue system. He discusses its origins in this 1994 interview excerpt, erroneously describing it as having eight channels.

Actually, the first particular mixer I had was by Sony, was a Sony MX-8. It was a eight-channel mic mixer. And what I had to do is build an external cueing system, so what I did is I went to RadioShack and bought what's called a single-pole, double-throw switch where as in the center it would be off. When you clicked it to the left you pre-heard the left turntable and when you double-click it to the right, you pre-heard the other one. And what I did is I Krazy-glued it to the top of the mixer. Then, what I did was I wired between the switches an external amplifier that pushed about five or six watts, just enough wattage to drive a headphone. This enabled me to pre-hear what it was that I was doing and the mixers of that time didn't have crossfaders, so I was actually doing it with a up and down [mimes adjusting faders], sort o' mix it. So I took a mic mixer and just totally converted it.

Two are visible in this August 14, 2017 video starting at 0:40.

Visible in this August 14, 2017 video starting at 0:40.

Visible in this July 16, 2009 video at 3:30.

In this interview about Grandmaster Flash's most well known hit "The message" the guy who wrote and performed the iconic synthline, Ed “Duke Bootee” Fletcher, states he used a Prophet 5 synth, an Oberheim DMX drum machine, "Skip's guitar" and some percussions for the instrumental lines of the song (almost exactly in the middle of the interview).