Ryuichi Sakamoto

Ryuichi used a Korg SQ-10 on his "Thousand Knives" album, according to the liner notes.

Ryuichi used Syn-Drums on his "Thousand Knives" album, according to the liner notes.

The concert is short comprising just three pieces, two of which are performed by Sakamoto alone on a Yamaha MIDI Grand piano. The piano is linked via MIDI to a Korg T2 and Yamaha SY99. Additionally there is a DAT backing tape carrying parts of the music and vocal harmonies. The venue is badly suited to live music and the sound crew have problems with the balance and feedback during the sound check - to the concern of Sakamoto's press people. Their worries prove unfounded however, as the gallery fills to capacity and the additional bodies make it more workable. Better still, the music scores highly with the wide range of people in attendance - an indication of the largely unacknowledged popularity of the artist.

From there, it's on to nearby Lentil Studios to complete recording. It's there that he stores his Fairlight II, along with a PPG Wave 2.3, an Emulator II and a Prophet 5 - the last only for its ability to provide a guide click.

"I use the DX7 a lot, for which I have a programming package which I can run on the NEC, and I usually bring in a whole lot of CDs, records and a Sony PCM F1 recorder to sample with."

"When I was trying out the Yamaha AW4416, S80 and S30, I kept thinking to myself, 'Wow, musical equipment has sure come a long way in the last 10 years.' But when you stop and think about it, you realize that it's not only the equipment that has changed, but also the environment surrounding the music."

Sakamoto plays the OB-8 in live at World Hapiness 2012 and Glenn Gould Gathering 2017.

Ryuichi Sakamoto is pictured with a Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer alongside Miu Sakamoto in a 1981 photo.

Can be seen at 8:27.

Ryuichi Sakamoto used the E-Mu Emulator I during Yellow Magic Orchestra's winter 1981 tour, as shown in a user-uploaded photo on Geocities.

It can be seen at 7:29.

Can be seen starting 0:29.

Can be seen playing Korg 01/W Pro at 0:32.

Sakamoto had used this to collect field recordings for his 2017 album "async". (5:15)

Features in his New York Studio as of 2014

In this video at 0:45 Ryuichi's name is listing for rapture users.

I’m also excited about my new Yamaha Celeste and Kawai toy piano. So that’s probably my natural character. I’m always looking for something new, something I haven’t known. It’s always exciting.

[Sakamoto reaches over and plays an RMI Electra-Piano.]

Yamaha Opera Piano is custom made pianos for Ryuichi Sakamoto's opera LIFE performed in 1999. Only two bodies were produced.

Sakamoto uses the MC-4 circa 1982.

Sakamoto/Yellow Magic Orchestra relies on this analog delay in the late 70s to early 80s.

Ryuichi played a Micromoog on his "Thousand Knives" album, according to the liner notes.

Recorded on an Apple Mac G4 running Digidesign Pro Tools and MOTU Digital Performer with Steinberg Cubase VST and Cycling '74 Pluggo, Chasm includes guest appearances by Arto Lindsay, David Sylvian and various Thai monks, as well as YMO's Hosono and Takahashi (now known as Sketch Show).

"I'm using Performer and also, sometimes, Vision", he explains. "For hard-disk recording I'm using Studio Vision because Digital Performer isn't working so well yet. It's going to be better but it just came out - I've got the 1.01 version, so it's too young."

He's also using a Roland JD800, Korg T2 and Yamaha SY77 and SY99 - a nice selection of electronics, if you can afford it.

In a July 1992 article from Muzines titled "News Of The World," Ryuichi Sakamoto is listed as using the Roland S770 audio sampler.

At his home in Tokyo he works only with that NEC computer, running an eight-track sequencing package called Come On Music, with the DX7 as his only MIDI keyboard, a small mixing console, and a Yamaha SPX90 effects rack - the last moving him to one of his only spontaneous remarks about equipment: "It is very good, the SPX."

"I used a Yamaha O2R as my main front console on my world tour, but it looks like even the AW4416 will do the job for the piano-based music of my next tour. It might be interesting to record my concert on hard disk using the AW4416, burn a CD right on stage, and then throw it into the audience."

Newly added the Buchla Music Easel in his studio.

"There was a long list of synthesisers that needed to be sourced in the UK for the sessions. ‘We used an Emulator 2, Fairlight 3 with Fairlight 1 sounds disc, Prophet 5 with MIDI, AKAI S-900 and Yamaha DX7-2.’"