Sylvan Esso
Sylvan Esso's Keyboards and Synthesizers
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Nick (@madeofoak) did an amazing Ableton Q&A on Instagram in which he explained the "Die Young" synth sound using a Moog Matriarch.
https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17859075212595668/
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Nicholas Sanborn tweeted a photo of his recording setup for the latest album, featuring PO-20 (purple knobs give it away)
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The item can be seen 0:19 into the video.
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The PO-24 is pictured here, distinguished by its yellow knobs
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The OP-1 can be seen on the desk just behind the APC.
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The PO-16 is seen here, differentiated by its orange knobs
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YouTube: "Sylvan Esso - Numb (Live at Durham Bulls Athletic Park)" Nick can be seen using the Roland Juno-6 at 2:08.
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In this Instagram story on March 16, 2022, Nick (@madeofoak) posts his workspace from what looks to be Betty's Studio in Durham. The Hyve Touch Synth is in the top left. Nick also discussing using the Hyve on the Free Love album in this 2021 Music Radar article: https://www.musicradar.com/news/sylvan-esso-career-in-gear
[The Hyve Touch Synth has] got this absolutely wild, plaintive, dangerous sound, that was just perfect for that. Especially paired with that Landscape Stereo Field, which is another touch plate thing. It feels like you're holding a lightning bolt, it's got this insane noise to it.”
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In this Instagram story on March 16, 2022, Nick (@madeofoak) posts his workspace from what looks to be Betty's Studio in Durham. The Landscape Stereo Field is in bottom left. Nick also discussing using it with the Hyve Touch Synth on the Free Love album in this 2021 Music Radar article: https://www.musicradar.com/news/sylvan-esso-career-in-gear
[The Hyve Touch Synth has] got this absolutely wild, plaintive, dangerous sound, that was just perfect for that. Especially paired with that Landscape Stereo Field, which is another touch plate thing. It feels like you're holding a lightning bolt, it's got this insane noise to it.”
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In this 2021 Music Radar article, Nick discusses using the Voyager on Die Young:
“Amelia wrote this at our friend’s studio, and we were trying to sketch it out. At this place, they had this absolutely insane Moog Voyager XL. Which was the kind of thing that - especially back then - we would never have access to this giant, beautiful instrument.
“Right away she came in and I wrote that bassline, the main riff of the song, using that. Because we were sitting with that, that part became that classic, Moog-y, almost Hornsby sound, with one oscillator tuned to the root and one tuned to the fifth above. There’s no way that song would have happened that way, had that thing not been sitting there.
“It’s actually funny, too, because we were recording it, assuming we were just recording the demo. Because the waveforms I was using were so simple, it’s literally a triangle wave and a sawtooth. I thought, I’ll just remake this on something else, make it tight and play it better and all that stuff. But we couldn’t beat the sound of it with anything else. It was one of those things where it’s like, it’s a triangle wave, how can it be that different? It was so frustrating - we finally had to borrow someone’s Voyager and redo it.”
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In this September 24, 2020 Music Radar article, Sylvan Esso can be seen using the Moog DFAM. Nick notes that they use more modular on Free Love.
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This is a community-built gear list for Sylvan Esso.
- Find relevant music gear like Studio Equipment, Software Plugins and VSTs, Headphones, and other instruments and add it to Sylvan Esso.
- The best places to look for gear usage are typically on the artist's social media, YouTube, live performance images, and interviews.
- To receive email updates when Sylvan Esso is seen with new gear, follow the artist.
