John Foxx

John Foxx's comments on the Oddity2, from the GForce website: "From the moment this thing opened it had the sound - all the edge, aggression, shape shifting, traumatic, electronic, miasmatic, destructive, inter-dimensional presence of an Odyssey at its peak. Power, disgrace and cruel, supple beauty. A stupendous ingenious feat of digital programming architecture. Lots of assets, agents and extras - and true meaty fx for more sonic mutation of the right kind. A proper instrument. You can ride it like a tidal wave. With confidence. Now these things have become antiques, you'd have to remortgage to assemble the vintage gear to reproduce this sound from its original sources - valve amp, analogue flanger, Space Echo, etc. Then there's ongoing maintenance. Here it is in transferable digits. Immoral and surreal, like downloading 1979, but less of a liability."

John Foxx's comments on the Oddity, from the GForce website: "The Oddity is beautifully realised. All the power, character, precision, intricacy, grunge and sonic extremes of the original - plus memories. (A real gift - I managed to lose so many good sounds- or record some that I then couldn't reproduce again). It's also capable of doing things the original never could - basic things such as midi sync, right up to the sophisticated and beautiful morph facility. As for what defined that original - scorching leads, the swoops down to unstable depths, plus an ability to make new sounds - from abstract to uncontrollable - this can do it all. Just as the original, it responds beautifully to echoes, reverbs, flanges and additional spatial effects, all of which open up new dimensions. Everything from precise early analogue to howling organic electrolife is here. A great tool for any kind of sonic sculpture."

John Foxx's comments on the impOSCar, from the GForce website: "Delicious. Really a new instrument based on that great warm, broad sound of the original. A welcome realisation of a great lost synth of the period. (I remember a conversation with Paul Wiffen where he said the next stage of the Oscar was a poly version, but sadly, the company closed before this was realised). So, the polyphony is finally here and is extremely useful. Some immaculately designed patches. Equally adept at groaning organic leads and delicate evolving soundscape pads. Everything from edible to visible to shredded. I spent an entire day just playing with this one. Got quite lost in all its potential. Also managed to bank and record enough for the start of several new tracks. An inspiration."

John Foxx's comments on the VSM, from the GForce website: "VSM is simply beautiful - detailed, accurate and very useful. All the classic instruments are here and all equally well performed. (Especially delighted to find my old Elka Rhapsody again, as well as the Solina). The lavish layering is simple, if you like it lush as Lynch. All sounds are Accurately Artificial. Supplies all the proper synthetic spectrums of mood, through Delicate to Tingling, Creepy to Powerful. Martian Coctails to Noir Sexmelt. Deeply enjoyed the way the strings decay and attack can be surreally lengthened to create very subtle approaching and retreating horizons. By the way, the phaser is a blinder - still have my vintage MXR and the SM version can shape similar harmonic curves. That cascade interaction between electron strings and phaser has always been absolutely essential. So this is Retro Repro at its best - informed, sensitive, detailed, technologically extended - and best of all - a new, very useful electronic instrument in its own right."

"In 1983 we used a Roland MC8 for recording some Golden Section tracks with Mike Howlett. ‘Twilight’s Last Gleaming’, for instance, was almost entirely sequenced by that. Mike was quick and efficient at programming it. I tried it out and ended up hating the damn thing.

Then a Commodore 64 with Steinberg [Pro-16] when I was working with Tim Simenon [Bomb The Bass], then with Louis Gordon. Most of Shifting City and the next couple of albums were recorded using that system. It was good, straightforward and the triggering was bang on, for the time.

Overlapping this, I got a well‑designed and very useful all‑in‑one PC‑based system from Carillon, using Cubase, then finally went over to Logic on the Mac. As for present‑day sequencing and arranging, I really like the symbiosis of digital and analogue. You’re finally able to mix the beauty, richness and deviance of analogue with the stability and precision of digital."