Merzbow

On October 21, 2021, Merzbow tweeted a video of Thyme in use.

Listed in the liner notes for Purple Fish. Also seen in some live photos circa 2011.

Masami Akita can be seen using a BOSS FT-2 in live in the documentary Beyond Ultra-Violence

Boss PS-2 is listed in the liner notes of the album Flesh Metal Orgasm.

can be seen behind Merzbow throughout the performance

can be seen behind Merzbow throught the performance

can be seen behind Merzbow throughout the performance

can be seen behind Merzbow throughout the performance

m[m] You have another long release coming out shortly on Blossoming Noise, the 4cd Turmeric, are you planning anymore larger works?

Masami Turmeric is next new work after Houjoue, with some of differences. I used MAX/MSP with contact mic and there are lots more feedback, noise sound on them.

"When I first started to use a computer to make music, I was using a Mac G3."

this website lists the gear that merzbow uses. the Novation Synth Rack being one of them

this website lists the gear that merzbow uses. the Maxon/Ibanez DM1000 being one of them

a GK 800RB Amp Head can be seen in the background on the left of this image

A One Control Minimal Series AB BOX can be seen in this gear photo posted to Merzbow's Twitter

Can be seen in this gear photo posted to Merzbow's Twitter in August 2024

Merzbow can be seen using a Korg KAOSS Pad 3 in a photo posted on Twitter by MerzbowOfficial with the caption "本日です 物販あります🕊️".

In a Twitter post by MerzbowOfficial, you can see the Allen & Heath ZED60-14FX mixer used by Merzbow.

In this live gear photo posted to Twitter, a Sonicware Texture Lab can be seen

A Behringer MICROMIX MX400 can be seen in the gear photo posted to Merzbow's Twitter

An Ibanez WF10 Wah Fuzz can be seen in this gear photo posted to Merzbow's Twitter

In this live gear photo posted to Twitter, an Erica Synths Echolocator can be seen

Mentioned by Merzbow in a 2025 interview with Roland:

The BOSS SE-70 digital effects processor, on the other hand, was all over my work in the late ’90s. It had 35 different effects, each with its own EQ settings, so that I could push the distortion to extremes; it was really useful!

“The GR-500 is the analog synth part, used with the GS-500 guitar-shaped controller, and mine also came with a foot controller. It could function as a guitar on its own, but the controller also had a bass section where each of the six strings could be assigned individually, for example, making the 5th and 6th strings bass and the others guitar.

You could also apply percussion, attack, decay, and envelope generators, which let it produce a funky auto-wah bass. There were also poly ensemble and solo melody sections for the main synth sounds. The tone itself was fat and heavy, but since I was running it through heavy distortion, I couldn’t really make use of it as a guitar synth.

More recently, I saw Steve Vai on YouTube talking about the guitar synth Robert Fripp used—probably the GR-300—and that reminded me of the GR-500. So, I pulled it out of storage and have been trying it in the studio to get more guitar-synth-like tones out of it.”

An Electro-Faustus Guitardämmerung can be seen in this pile of live gear in a photo posted to Merzbow's Twitter