Isao Tomita

"I have used my computer in creating practically all the pieces contained in this album. It is made in Japan by Roland - model MC-8 - and is perhaps the best in the world with regard to memory capacity and accuracy."

Toward the end of the century, when Isao Tomita sat down to record the piece, he had before him a thicket that included a Moog synthesizer, comprising (among many other things) a 914 extended range fixed filter bank, two 904-A voltage-controlled low-pass filters, nine 901-B oscillators, four 911 envelope generators, five 902 voltage-controlled amplifiers, a 950 keyboard controller and a 6401 Bode ring modulator; several tape recorders, among them an Ampex MM-1100 16-track and a Sony TC-9040 4-track; two Sony MX-16 mixers; an AKG BX20E Echo unit; an Eventide Clockworks Instant Phaser; two Binson Echorec 2 units; and the electronic keyboard instrument known as a Mellotron.

Toward the end of the century, when Isao Tomita sat down to record the piece, he had before him a thicket that included a Moog synthesizer, comprising (among many other things) a 914 extended range fixed filter bank, two 904-A voltage-controlled low-pass filters, nine 901-B oscillators, four 911 envelope generators, five 902 voltage-controlled amplifiers, a 950 keyboard controller and a 6401 Bode ring modulator; several tape recorders, among them an Ampex MM-1100 16-track and a Sony TC-9040 4-track; two Sony MX-16 mixers; an AKG BX20E Echo unit; an Eventide Clockworks Instant Phaser; two Binson Echorec 2 units; and the electronic keyboard instrument known as a Mellotron.

Toward the end of the century, when Isao Tomita sat down to record the piece, he had before him a thicket that included a Moog synthesizer, comprising (among many other things) a 914 extended range fixed filter bank, two 904-A voltage-controlled low-pass filters, nine 901-B oscillators, four 911 envelope generators, five 902 voltage-controlled amplifiers, a 950 keyboard controller and a 6401 Bode ring modulator; several tape recorders, among them an Ampex MM-1100 16-track and a Sony TC-9040 4-track; two Sony MX-16 mixers; an AKG BX20E Echo unit; an Eventide Clockworks Instant Phaser; two Binson Echorec 2 units; and the electronic keyboard instrument known as a Mellotron.

AKG BX10 is included in the list of instruments used.

Roland Space Echo RE-201 is included in the list of instruments used.

Eventide Instant Flanger is included in the list of instruments used.

Toward the end of the century, when Isao Tomita sat down to record the piece, he had before him a thicket that included a Moog synthesizer, comprising (among many other things) a 914 extended range fixed filter bank, two 904-A voltage-controlled low-pass filters, nine 901-B oscillators, four 911 envelope generators, five 902 voltage-controlled amplifiers, a 950 keyboard controller and a 6401 Bode ring modulator; several tape recorders, among them an Ampex MM-1100 16-track and a Sony TC-9040 4-track; two Sony MX-16 mixers; an AKG BX20E Echo unit; an Eventide Clockworks Instant Phaser; two Binson Echorec 2 units; and the electronic keyboard instrument known as a Mellotron.

Teac 80-8 is included in the list of instruments used.

Teac A-3340S is included in the list of instruments used.

Interview German Synth Mag Amazona.de: Als wenn das alles nicht bereits eine gewisse Materialschlacht wäre, nein, auch die Abteilung Effektgeräte war reichhaltig bestückt. Eventide Phaser, Flanger und Harmonizer, Binson Echorec 2, Fender Dimention IV, Maestro Phase Shifter, AKG BX10 und BX20 Echo, Roland PH-830 Phaser und RV-800 Reverb, Leslie 147 Rotary Speaker Cabinet, Lexicon Prime Time und 224.

'Grand Canyon' was the first Tomita album for two years, and also the advent of the first digital system, namely the Synclavier II [40k JPEG]. Hugely expensive, half of its power came from its ability to record and playback samples of real instruments, but was somewhat let down by the fact that it had only one mono output on the back (in its basic configuration, anyway)! Digital instruments were easier to control and use with the benefit of MIDI*. Also present was the Emu Emulator [28k JPEG], another large modular, the Roland System 100M [68k JPEG], one of the most popular polyphonics, the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5, and the future hip-hop workhorse, the Roland TR-808 drum machine [62k JPEG].

Percussion Linn LM-1 Drum Computer and Roland Rhythm Composer TR-808

Isao Tomita used the Lexicon 224 Digital Reverberator in his project "Grand Canyon," as detailed on his official website.

Isao Tomita utilized the Roland MC-4 MicroComposer, as noted in the source detailing his work on "Tomita - Grand Canyon."