Ron Mael

Ron Mael played the RMI Electra-piano on Sparks' Kimono My House and Propaganda albums. The duo’s biggest hit, “This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both of Us,” also prominently features an RMI Electra-piano.

In the photo above, Mael can be seen behind an Electra-piano 368X on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand.

In this performance on The Midnight Special, Mael can be seen playing either a 300B or 368 Electra-piano.

More info can be found at this link: http://graphikdesigns.free.fr/rmi-electra-piano.html

Over the years, Ron Mael has played numerous synths, keyboards and computer-based instruments — Moog's Polymoog, Roland's JP-4 and JP-8, the Wurlitzer electric piano and the Fairlight CMI, to name a few — but his workhorse favorites have been the Yamaha CS-80 (produced in the late '70s) and the sleeker S80 (introduced in 1999).

Ron began using a Roland Jupiter-8 in late 1981 on the tour for Sparks' album Whomp That Sucker. It is credited on all of Sparks' studio albums from Angst In My Pants (1982) to Music That You Can Dance To (1986). Ron used the Jupiter-8 in all of Sparks' live performances from October 1981 up until the Music That You Can Dance To era in 1986. Its last appearance was in a video for the song "Just Got Back From Heaven" from the album Interior Design (1988). The Jupiter-8 was the first of many keyboards Ron used that had the manufacturer's logo on the back covered up with a "Ronald" logo.

Over the years, Ron Mael has played numerous synths, keyboards and computer-based instruments — Moog's Polymoog, Roland's JP-4 and JP-8, the Wurlitzer electric piano and the Fairlight CMI, to name a few — but his workhorse favorites have been the Yamaha CS-80 (produced in the late '70s) and the sleeker S80 (introduced in 1999).

Over the years, Ron Mael has played numerous synths, keyboards and computer-based instruments — Moog's Polymoog, Roland's JP-4 and JP-8, the Wurlitzer electric piano and the Fairlight CMI, to name a few — but his workhorse favorites have been the Yamaha CS-80 (produced in the late '70s) and the sleeker S80 (introduced in 1999).

Over the years, Ron Mael has played numerous synths, keyboards and computer-based instruments — Moog's Polymoog, Roland's JP-4 and JP-8, the Wurlitzer electric piano and the Fairlight CMI, to name a few — but his workhorse favorites have been the Yamaha CS-80 (produced in the late '70s) and the sleeker S80 (introduced in 1999).

You can clearly see the Minimoog that Ron Mael is playing throughout this video.

Over the years, Ron Mael has played numerous synths, keyboards and computer-based instruments — Moog's Polymoog, Roland's JP-4 and JP-8, the Wurlitzer electric piano and the Fairlight CMI, to name a few — but his workhorse favorites have been the Yamaha CS-80 (produced in the late '70s) and the sleeker S80 (introduced in 1999). The S80 was used on their Album "Lil' Beethoven".

Sparks' most recent project is a live album, Two Hands One Mouth, focusing on their stripped-back touring production of the same name, which involved the Maels appearing on stage with just one Motif XF8 keyboard — the back panel of which bears the word 'Ronald' spelled out in the distinctive Roland font — set on a simple piano patch.

"There was a kind of haunting quality to the RMI with the Echoplex. Real tape delay gave it a little of a wobbly feel. That sound, these days, you can approximate it, but to get that thing, you need the old gear. I'm not a big collector of vintage gear, but I kept that Echoplex, 'cause it's just such a beautiful machine.”

In this photo, Ron Mael can be seen playing a Farfisa Professional with Sparks. Mael can also be seen in front of the Professional in a few promo pictures in “The Sparks Brothers” film on Netflix.

In this video the other sparks keyboardist was seen playing a prophet 5 live which Ronald is the owner of. Ronald used it before on some live shows but extensively in the studio.

Ron used a Solina for a short time around 1975. It does not show up on any of Sparks' studio albums, but it can be heard in live performances of some songs from the Indiscreet album, such as "Hospitality On Parade" and "Looks, Looks, Looks". It would be set up at a 90-degree angle from his RMI Electra-piano, with what appears to be an HH effects unit (possibly an amplifier or tape echo of some kind) on top of it, and sometimes, his Maestro Echoplex on top of the HH.

In this photo, Ron Mael can be seen playing a Farfisa Professional Piano on a television show with Sparks.

From the "Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins" era until the "Balls" era, Ron Mael can be seen using the Roland JD-800 Synthesizer during live concerts.