Juan Atkins

What kind of gear were you using when you did your seminal Cybotron track, Clear, at the beginning of the 1980s? "Well, I wasn't using no software! We were using a Korg SQD1 [Korg's groundbreaking MIDI recorder/sequencer], then I moved on to the Roland MC-500, one of their MicroComposers. That was a really good sequencer.

What kind of gear were you using when you did your seminal Cybotron track, Clear, at the beginning of the 1980s? "Well, I wasn't using no software! We were using a Korg SQD1 [Korg's groundbreaking MIDI recorder/sequencer],

If you had to pick a favourite bit of gear from over the years, what would it be? "That would have to be the Roland DR-55 drum machine. It was the most quantum innovation that ever happened. If I had to pick one machine, that would be it. Being able to program a drum machine was a huge thing."

"Back then I was also using a Sequential Pro-One keyboard, a Roland RS-09 string synth, an ARP Odyssey and an ARP Axxe. And I had a Boss DR-55 and then an 808, obviously, when they first came out."

"The sampler I really liked using in my studio was the Emu E64. I could almost use it as a recorder. It was great for doing remixes because you could take a whole vocal track and load it into the sampler, then fly it into your track. That made doing mixes a lot easier."

in this photo we see the yamaha hs80 in studio equipment of juan!

"Back then I was also using a Sequential Pro-One keyboard, a Roland RS-09 string synth, an ARP Odyssey and an ARP Axxe. And I had a Boss DR-55 and then an 808, obviously, when they first came out."

"Back then I was also using a Sequential Pro-One keyboard, a Roland RS-09 string synth, an ARP Odyssey and an ARP Axxe. And I had a Boss DR-55 and then an 808, obviously, when they first came out."

"Back then I was also using a Sequential Pro-One keyboard, a Roland RS-09 string synth, an ARP Odyssey and an ARP Axxe. And I had a Boss DR-55 and then an 808, obviously, when they first came out."

"Back then I was also using a Sequential Pro-One keyboard, a Roland RS-09 string synth, an ARP Odyssey and an ARP Axxe. And I had a Boss DR-55 and then an 808, obviously, when they first came out."

The Korg MS10 was incredible for weird, UFO-type sounds and effects. It was just a monophonic keyboard, so you couldn't even play chords on it. I would sit for hours on that MS10 just making sounds… I had a great time.

We liked digital because it presented a new sound. I'm always looking for something fresh, and when Yamaha came out with the DX7, which I think was the first fully programmable digital synth, the sounds were amazing. They had those ring modulators and ring sounds – the ring-modulating overtones and undertones that the DX7 provided, no other keyboard had. The digital keyboards were a nightmare to program, but if you were just starting out programming synths, the DX7 was like your first bicycle. You could get really good at it.

The digital hybrids that came along, like the EMU Morpheus, had some great sounds – really way-out and spacey. Sometimes new machines have sounds that are so unconventional that people are scared to use them.

Keyboards got so advanced that the presets started to prevail, then people started wanting more programmable synths again. I remember when the Roland JD-800 came out – it was a digital keyboard, but with easy-to-use faders.