Peter Wolf

In an interview published in the June 1980 issue of Keyboard magazine, Peter Wolf mentioned using a Yamaha CP-70B electric grand piano while working with Frank Zappa.

Peter Wolf used a Fender Rhodes 1974 88 Suitcase Piano while performing in Frank Zappa's band, as confirmed by the June 1980 article "Little Band We Used To Play In" from Keyboard magazine.

According to the article "1980-06 Little Band We Used To Play In," one of Peter Wolf's secondary keyboards during his years with Frank Zappa was the Hohner Clavinet D6.

According to the article "Little Band We Used To Play In" from June 1980, during his time with Frank Zappa, Peter Wolf extensively used the Oberheim Eight Voice DualManual. He valued this instrument for its superior polyphony and particularly favored it for programming brass sounds, despite its limitations in programmability compared to other synthesizers like the Prophet-5.

Peter Wolf is confirmed to have used the EML ElectroComp 101 synthesizer in his work with Frank Zappa, as detailed in the article titled "Little Band We Used To Play In" from the June 1980 issue of Keyboard magazine.

In a 1980 interview titled "Little Band We Used To Play In," Peter Wolf mentioned that he owned a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5. He praised its speed and programmability but was dissatisfied with its polyphony, leading him to request modifications from Tom Oberheim and Oberheim's chief engineer, Jim Cooper.

How do you like the Oberheim?

The only problem you have with the Oberheim is that not every function is programmable; it's the big advantage of the Prophet to have all those functions programmable. But the Prophet also has the disadvantage that every voice you play sounds the same. The Oberheim is a true polyphonic synthesizer; every voice you play can sound different. If you have a horn section with five trumpet players, each of them will sound a tiny bit different.

So you try to program the poly so that each horn voice is slightly different?

That's exactly right. That's what the Oberheim does for me and the Prophet doesn't. The Prophet is really fast; it's a fantastic ax as far as speed goes, but I'm not dazzled by the polyphonic sound of it. I talked to Tom Oberheim about it and he is going to modify my ax.