Pretty Lights

Visible in this November 2013 photo of Pretty Lights with the Analog Future Band.

In the bus studio

In this Instagram pic of Pretty Lights' live setup, you can see he uses an Akai MPD32 USB/Midi MPC Pad Controller (on the left side of the photo, below one of his MacBooks).

The Big Knob can be seen to the right of Pretty Lights' laptop.

“When Joel told me about UAD plug-ins, I was beyond blown away by his opinion. He insisted that they were actually true emulations of the [analog] gear he is so familiar with. I couldn't believe my ears. I immediately went and bought every UAD plug-in and a Thunderbolt chassis for three OCTO cards.”

DJtechtools looks at special artist setups in a special article.

Started using it at the beginning of the Episodic Tour I assume to control the new modular synthesizer racks.

A Color Map of the Sun Credits

A custom 2000XL was used for sequencing the synths on A Color Map of the Sun, as stated by Pretty Lights in this July 1, 2013 Electronic Musician interview.

“I used a custom-made [Akai] MPC 2000XL to sequence my modular synth, but for cutting up my vinyl to sample and arrange it, I simply used the ‘Arrangement View’ in [Ableton] Live or Drum Rack; I love Drum Rack! I use other stuff now, like Sampler and all the NI [Native Instruments] stuff and UAD-2 [plug-ins], but for the album I just used good-old-fashioned slicing and warp pins straight in Arrangement mode.”

bus studio during making of ACMOTS

Bus studio during making of ACMOTS

Started using live at the beginning of the Episodic Tour 2016. Most probably to record the show (or parts of the show) to cassette.

Live (Analog Future Tour, Episodic Tour, etc...) and in the studio with UAD plugins

Used to record the material used in A Color Map of the Sun, as seen at 0:31 in the documentary "The Making of A Color Map of the Sun". The MTR-15 is also mentioned by Pretty Lights in this July 1, 2013 Electronic Musician interview.

“Nothing had been created, no ideas had even been toyed around with,” Smith says. “I just knew I wanted to record with as many musicians as possible. So that happened first and it was all done to stereo tape. It’s funny, because when I called [Studio G] and said I wanted to do it to tape, they had their 2-inch 24-track Studer tape machine ready to go, and I was like, ‘No, I must have miscommunicated. I want to use the [Otari MTR-15] quarter-inch stereo tape machine and run it on 7.5 ips so we’re really getting into emulating a garage recording studio in the ’60s in Detroit or Cleveland or some place like that.’ They said, ‘Are you sure? You won’t be able to change it later.’ I said, ‘Yes, I want it to be very destructive,’ which in an audio sense means you can’t go back and change it.

Visible in the documentary "The Making of A Color Map of the Sun" at 0:43.

Used for the Studio G sessions of A Color Map of the Sun, as listed in the official album credits.

A video posted on faceboook of him talking to the crowd after his show at Euphoria Festival in 2015. He notices someone wearing something regarding Cthulhu and says that he uses that plugin.

Used for A Color Map of the Sun, as stated by Pretty Lights in this July 1, 2013 Electronic Musician interview.

“I used a custom-made [Akai] MPC 2000XL to sequence my modular synth, but for cutting up my vinyl to sample and arrange it, I simply used the ‘Arrangement View’ in [Ableton] Live or Drum Rack; I love Drum Rack! I use other stuff now, like Sampler and all the NI [Native Instruments] stuff and UAD-2 [plug-ins], but for the album I just used good-old-fashioned slicing and warp pins straight in Arrangement mode.”

Mentioned in this July 1, 2013 Electronic Musician interview about A Color Map of the Sun.

“I used a custom-made [Akai] MPC 2000XL to sequence my modular synth, but for cutting up my vinyl to sample and arrange it, I simply used the ‘Arrangement View’ in [Ableton] Live or Drum Rack; I love Drum Rack! I use other stuff now, like Sampler and all the NI [Native Instruments] stuff and UAD-2 [plug-ins], but for the album I just used good-old-fashioned slicing and warp pins straight in Arrangement mode.”

In this photo from their website, Pretty Lights can be seen conducting a studio session while wearing Beyerdynamic DT 880s (original source here).

"The new set up - Tour Bus/Studio" In this picture from Pretty Lights' Twitpic, Derek can be seen wearing M50s.

In this photo from Vice, Derek is seen producing music using DT-770 Pro-80s.

A special article explaining artists' individual setups by DJtechtools.

Sampling, Live Scratching (by Chris Karns), etc...

Visible at 0:19 in the documentary "The Making of A Color Map of the Sun".

This monitor can be seen on the left hand side of this photo of one of Pretty Lights' studio sessions.

In this photo, the Dangerous Music Monitor ST can be seen near Pretty Light's left hand.