Koji Kondo

Kondo used sounds from SampleCell II's factory library for much of his work during the late 90's and early 00's. Super Mario 64's main theme, for example, was nearly entirely composed with samples from it. As evidenced by the source codes of two other Nintendo games released during the same period, he and other composers used SampleCell II (explicitly referred to as "Samplecell-2" in multiple files) to create instrument banks that were later converted to the Nintendo 64 console's native format using an in-house tool.

An Akai CD3000 can be seen in Koji Kondo's studio, to the right.

In this track by Kondo from 2017, the Sample and Hold Me patch from the ARP + BPM category of Omnisphere 2 is used.

In this picture of Kondo's sound studio from 2006, the VL-1 sits above the keyboard that he's playing.

An Emu Proteus 2XR can be seen in Koji Kondo's studio (second photo).

Next to his piano, there is a Yamaha C1 computer.

In this picture of Kondo's sound studio from 2006, the 01R/W sits in the right space in the middle of the rack.

In this picture of Kondo's sound studio from 2006, the XV-5080 sits in the left space in the middle of the rack.

In this picture of Kondo's sound studio from 2006, the Morpheus is sitting in the right space in the middle of the rack.

In this picture of Kondo's sound studio from 2006, the S3200 is sitting in the space on the far right of the rack.

In this picture of Kondo's sound studio, the D550 is sitting in the rack behind him.

In this picture of Kondo's sound studio from 2006, the SC-8850 is sitting in the left space in the middle of the rack.

In this picture of Kondo's sound studio, the K1R is sitting in the rack behind him.

In this picture of Kondo's sound studio from 2006, the JD-990 sits in the right space in the middle of the rack.

Koji Kondo's studio features an E-MU PROTEUS 3 ETHNIC SOUND module, as seen in the second photo on the HCS Forum's VGM/Others Instrument Source Thread.

Kondo is playing it in Nintendo's internal sound studio in this picture.

Under all the rack modules, you find a Roland CD5.

In the image, Koji Kondo is seen playing the Kurzweil Ensemble Grande Mark III, highlighting his use of this digital piano.

In this picture of Kondo's sound studio from 2006, the Supernova 2 is sitting in the right space in the middle of the rack.

In this picture of Kondo's sound studio from 2006, the VP-9000 sits in the left space in the middle of the rack.

A Yamaha 03D mixer can be seen in Koji Kondo's studio, to his left.

In this picture of Kondo's sound studio, the S550 is sitting in the rack behind him.

The R-8 can be seen high up in the rack in this picture of Kondo's sound studio.

In this photo, below the Roland R-8, there is a Yamaha DMP-11 Digital Mixer processor.

Can be seen on top of the rack in this picture of Kondo's studio.

In the photo, Koji Kondo is pictured with the Roland SYR-3100 visible behind him.

An Opcode Studio 5XL can be seen in Koji Kondo's studio (second photo, top left).

"Yeah. My parents bought me a synthesizer during high school. The Yamaha CS-30. It had an 8-step sequencer as well. The CS-30 was an analogue synthesizer, so you could do things like filter sweeps on the oscillators. I was really interested in sound design, making a sound that sounded like a lion’s roar, for instance. It sounded pretty real, and I would proudly show off my patches to everyone. I loved figuring things out by twiddling knobs on analogue synthesizers, I thought it was awesome how many different sounds it could produce. At this time, more than an Electone player or pianist, I saw myself working in sound effects. I was also potentially interested in being a mixing engineer. With those goals in mind, I enrolled in the Osaka School of Arts."

In this picture of Kondo's sound studio from 2006, the SE-1 sits in the space on the far right of the rack.

Can be seen on top of the DAT recorder in this picture of Kondo's studio.