Solvent

There are Korg Lambda and PE-2000 string machines and a bunch of drum machines, mostly preset: Hammond Auto-Veri 64, ELI CR-7030, Panasonic Rhythm Machine, BOSS DR-110, DR-55, Roland TR-77, Korg KPR-77, and a few others you can’t see.

There are Korg Lambda and PE-2000 string machines and a bunch of drum machines, mostly preset: Hammond Auto-Veri 64, ELI CR-7030, Panasonic Rhythm Machine, BOSS DR-110, DR-55, Roland TR-77, Korg KPR-77, and a few others you can’t see.

There are Korg Lambda and PE-2000 string machines and a bunch of drum machines, mostly preset: Hammond Auto-Veri 64, ELI CR-7030, Panasonic Rhythm Machine, BOSS DR-110, DR-55, Roland TR-77, Korg KPR-77, and a few others you can’t see.

There are Korg Lambda and PE-2000 string machines and a bunch of drum machines, mostly preset: Hammond Auto-Veri 64, ELI CR-7030, Panasonic Rhythm Machine, BOSS DR-110, DR-55, Roland TR-77, Korg KPR-77, and a few others you can’t see.

I also really love the Boss VF-1 which is a really underrated multi-effect unit with really incredible-sounding distortion and amp modelling algorithms.

The biggest change in my studio in recent years has been the addition of (and addiction to) the Eurorack modular system, which I’ve already sold off some of my vintage stuff to finance.

Roland’s last analogue drum machine which actually even has MIDI, as well as the famous Roland CR-78 which is my second-favorite drum machine of all time, and I’ve used it on loads of songs.

The SH-101 is a go-to synth for me – when I want a simple synth sound, this always gets me the results I want really quickly and the sound is so appealing.

The TB-303 is one of the few vintage pieces in my studio that I acquired in recent years, so no bargain mid-90s rate on this one! I came from a synthpop/industrial/experimental music background, and I was pretty anti-dance music, so I didn’t appreciate the 303 for a long time.

On the other hand, I’ve got the Social Entropy mods on both the 303 and 606, which expand the units’ sequencer and memory operations, and make them both a lot more versatile and fun to use.

I’ve had this 808 since 1995 or so, and it’s always indispensable to me and my favourite drum machine ever, no doubt. It’s a sound that I never grow tired of, and I can always find a place for it in every song I’m working on.

Another one of my favourite drum machines is also shown here: the Korg KR-55, which has the most killer, driving preset patterns and in my opinion the best snare drum sound of all time.

Here I’ve got the 101-Synth and 102-Expander units of the Roland System 100 semi-modular system. Even though I use it less than the SH-101, I’d have to say that this is my favourite of all the vintage synths I own.

The MS-20 is another one of my favourite synths of all time, and I’ve had it for about 20 years. I only use this synth for very special, specific purposes, and it’s a key part of my sound.

This Promars here is a pretty rare synth – it’s basically a monophonic Jupiter-4.

This is a very tight, sharp and versatile synth – I had a Sequential Pro-One for years, but to my ears this synth does early-80s Vince Clarke-type sounds better than a Pro-One, despite the fact that the Pro-One is what Vince was mainly using. Like the Jupiter-4, it has an LFO that goes into audio rate, which helps to make the synth a lot more versatile than you might expect

lso in this shot are my modified x0xb0x and a very weird, super-rare German digital drum machine by Dr Bohm, which kind of sounds like a crap Linn Drum. In a good way

The Roland Jupiter-6 is the first analogue synth I ever got, around 1992, and has been the most prominent synth in my recordings.

The Emax is awesome for gritty drum samples, but I have to admit I rarely use it out of laziness.

There are Korg Lambda and PE-2000 string machines and a bunch of drum machines, mostly preset: Hammond Auto-Veri 64, ELI CR-7030, Panasonic Rhythm Machine, BOSS DR-110, DR-55, Roland TR-77, Korg KPR-77, and a few others you can’t see.

This Allen & Heath Zed R16 serves as both my mixer and soundcard, and it’s served me well.

My favourite and most used of the effects is definitely the Korg SDD-3000, which is an early digital delay that’s very sought-after for a good reason – it’s the best sounding delay I’ve ever heard, and I use it on every single recording. I wish I had several more of these, but they’re so expensive nowadays.

the Korg GR-1, is in for repair so I’ve just got this OK-sounding Boss RX-100 at the moment.

It’s a Yamaha CS-5 which used to belong to Aphex Twin – he etched the liner notes to Selected Ambient Works Volume 2 into the bottom of it, and he took a photo of that which is the actual liner notes you see on the record.