Q-Tip

"I just built this studio, so currently I'm dealing with the renaissance, the MPC renaissance, the Ableton Push Live 9. And I like those because they're really like instruments to me."

In this video, Tip says:

"It's the epicenter to my music"

Also featured on the cover for his "The Renaissance" album. He also shows it at 1:54 in the MPC Minute video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgdqGkZ1HM8)

Used on People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, as stated by recording engineer Bob Power in this November 8, 2016 Wax Poetics interview.

Also, back then, MIDI was in a very primitive state. MIDI is the language that computers, synthesizers, and samplers use to speak to each other. It was extremely primitive at that point. Q-Tip was sequencing on an SP-1200, and Ali had an Alesis eight-track MIDI sequencer and an Akai S950. Sampling technology was very primitive. The S950 had maybe a second and a half worth of memory. Putting together those complex, elaborate constructions was so difficult. It took a lot of time. We had to do things bit by bit because of the undeveloped memory for samplers at that point. We had to be creative in the way we approached things. People say we used twenty-four tracks, but we really had twenty-two tracks to deal with because you needed to print a synchronization code on one track and use another track as your guard band. Because samplers would only hold less than a second worth of sound at one time, we ended up putting little bits of things across different tracks and combining them later.

Used to produce We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service and other projects, before selling it via Vintage King. The sale was announced in this January 26, 2017 Vintage King blog post.

Hot off the release of the A Tribe Called Quest record, We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service, artist/producer Q-Tip reached out to Vintage King about purchasing a new console and selling his vintage API 3288. The desk, which was originally housed at the Radio City Studios in New York City, has belonged to Q-Tip for five years and was used during the production of the final Tribe record.

Teaming with Vintage King’s Darrin Fendley, the duo began searching for a new console to replace the API, as Q-Tip’s sonic ambitions for his next project called for something different. “Tip is very focused on all parts of the creation process. He's not one of those guys who throws sound quality out in an effort to ‘get the idea down’ as quick as possible and you can hear that in his work,” Fendley states. “I've never worked with him in the studio but he seems like one of those producers who has a clear idea of where he wants a track to end up before he gets started.”

(...) How long have you had the console and what are some of the records you’ve worked on with it?

I’ve had it for about five years, but I’ve only had it set up for about three years. The thing that drew me to it is that sound. I like the combination of the rock and roll sound and the R&B sound. I used it on the Tribe album, I did some Mariah Carey stuff, Pusha T, I did some stuff for [Lady] Gaga and Kendrick [Lamar].

(...) What’s your secret weapon in the studio?

I think it’s the API, you know. The circuitry, the way it was designed, the EQs are very concise and exact. You get a real sharpness and there is a clarity to it. You can hear the difference. I’m not trying to brag or nothing, but when you hear this album and you compare to all the other popular music out there, there’s a certain warmth to it. It has a certain declaration of sharpness. I think the thing about that board is the high mids, the mid thing on that board is really, really great. We dealt with a lot of guitars, a lot of keyboards and a lot of vocals on this record, I just love how it honed in on those frequencies. It has a nice punch to it. It really kicks you in the face. Guitars sound f[***]ing great on it. Keys sound amazing. Drums have a real attack on that thing. That’s my secret weapon, it’s the board.

(...) If you could pick where this console was going to go, who would you want to see it go to?

I would like to see it go in the hands of someone who is going to use it and not let it sit and relic, someone who is going to make good music on it and take care of it. I hate to see it go, but the only reason I’m getting rid of it is because I want to go a different route in the sound, otherwise I’d keep it. I would like to see someone take it because The Ramones made their first couple records on it, Blondie recorded their first album on it and now the Tribe album. I’d like to see somebody take it who is going to continue that.

Q-Tip is seen sampling and making a beat with his MPC2500.

My new old baby.... Rhythm Ace #studio#theLastZulu #comingsoon

"I just built this studio, so currently I'm dealing with the renaissance, the MPC renaissance, the Ableton Push Live 9. And I like those because they're really like instruments to me."