Tony Banks

A NED Synclavier can be seen on the left of Tony, standing on top.

"I think some of the instruments go with the eras, really. The early synths, the genuine synths as opposed to the sampling instruments, that give you those fat sounds which are very present on albums like A Curious Feeling and albums around that period when I first started using synths, which I guess was around Selling England by the Pound, I suppose. Of the last one of those I used a lot was the [Yamaha] CS-80 which had a nice fat sound and was used on Duke and things. Of course, the Prophet [5] kind of took over after that being an important instrument on Mama and Abacab. "

Same lo-res pic as used elsewhere I know, (but it's all here!). The distinctive orange bodywork of the MXR Phaser is quite clear next to the Boss CE-1 on top of the Roland RE-201 (top right of pic). The MXR Phase 100 was often used to modify the sound of both the Hammond organ and the RMI piano

Banks can be seen playing the Mellotron MkII on "The Fountain of Salmacis" and "The Return of the Giant Hogweed" on this Belgian TV appearance of Genesis. The clearest shot is at 1:56.

The Prophet can be seen just below Tony's mic.

"The legato phrase which comes towards the end of the song is a D50 sound. I like that instrument for producing ethereal sounds which give a lot of height to a track. The problem with the D50 is that a lot of the sounds are already well known, but it's nice as a background instrument. The other sound behind the vocal - a hard, stabbing sound - is the MKS20 using a bright piano sound with a heavy chorus on it. I like that instrument for doing that sort of part. I prefer it to a real piano as it has a quicker attack and you can achieve very precise playing."

Tony Banks' Roland Rhodes MK 80 can be spotted under the Roland JD800, at 3:05.

The Emulator II+ is on top of the CP80 behind Tony in this photo. This is from one of the live Wembley shows during the "Invisible Touch" tour, 1987

Banks can be seen using a Hammond L-122 at 23:09 during this Belgian TV appearance of Genesis. He used this organ till 1973 where he switched to the T102 during the Selling England tour (perhaps it coincided with the production going from "white show" to "black show")

In this interview with Sound On Sound, it is states that Tony Banks used an ARP Pro Soloist.

In the live performance of Genesis's "Afterglow" from the 1981 Three Sides Live tour, Tony Banks can be seen using the Roland VP-330 Vocoder Plus, as shown in a video uploaded by TheRipples70 on YouTube.

"The low strings sound in the introduction provides the bass part throughout the song. I used my Prophet 10 with a round, low sound on a drone setting, which sustains throughout the song and just changes notes. We put bass guitar on some of that and I doubled it with Taurus bass pedals. The tinkly sound behind the vocal is a DX7, but I can't remember the name of the patch. The piano sound is the CP80 through a chorus. I originally programmed the rhythm at home on an Emu SP12, then I transferred it to the Atari. When we got to the studio I used the program but I modified some of the sounds and then added to it with Simmons drums."

In the YouTube video "Genesis: Land Of Confusion Live Earth, Wembley 2007 HD" by IGOR SUWOROV, Tony Banks is seen playing a Korg 01/W FD synthesizer during the performance.

This article by Sound On Sound states that Banks used a Yamaha CP70.

"Tony Banks had a very simple keyboard rig. He started with an organ, an electric piano (a Hohner Pianet, later an RMI) and a Mellotron," says Doug Melbourne, in this article for Sound On Sound.

"The main sound you hear is a DX7 harp sound, and the MKS20 piano module is duplicating that part. The chord parts are mainly played on the Kurzweil 1000PX and the dominant sound is bell mixed with strings, with some guitar added to give a full sound."

Tony Banks can be seen using a Roland JD-800 Synthesizer at 0:43 in this video of Genesis performing 'Dance on a Volcano/Firth of Fifth'.

During this "Tony Banks" view of a live performance of Genesis' "Hold on My Heart", you can see a (now vintage) Korg Wavestation at :25s.

During the intro to Abacab, after Mike Rutherford's solo, Tony plays the organ sound on the Prophet 10 (underneath the ARP Quadra on which he plays the lead sound)

Tony plays the organ sound in the Abacab verses on the DX-7 in this clip. There are various quick shots after the 8:40 mark. This is from one of the Wembly shows during the "Invisible Touch" tour, 1987.

About 20s into this video of "Many Too Many", Tony can be seen playing the Polymoog

"The [Yamaha] DX-7 as well. The DX-7 was more Invisible Touch where you get the much more percussive sort of sounds. Of course, the sampling instruments that started to come in. I started to use the [E-mu] Emulator III. I think that was Mama as well, as I think about it. We just sort of sampled everything around the place to see what sort of effects it had. I do think the instruments did affect the writing quite a bit. I do think when you go back and hear the sounds, I do love the sort of fat synths."

Source: http://www.worldofgenesis.com/TonyBanks-Interview2009-part2.htm

In this photo from the "Turn It On Again" tour, the Oasys is clearly visible in the foreground to Tony's left.

From the 1976/77 "Seconds Out" tour, a clear shot of Tony playing the RMI during "Fly On A Windshield" at 8:35

Keyboard Presents: Classic Rock, ed. by Ernie Rideout (Backbeat Books 2010), p. 131.

In the video, the VFX-SD is the lower of the two synths facing the audience - the one he uses for the brassy stabs during the middle instrumental section (from 4:20).

Tony used all three versions: on the record it is the Ensoniq VFX. For the 1991 tour rehearsals, he is still using the VFX. Somewhere during the American leg of the 1992 tour he switched to the VFX-SD. And somewhere during the European leg he switched to the SD1 while having the VFX-SD behind his rack as a spare. He then continued to use the SD1 on the Strictly Inc. record.

This photo is from the progressive rock band Genesis in their Selling England Tour, March 1974. In the photo we can see that Tony taped a Fender Blender into his RMI Electra Piano.

In an image from Twronline, Tony Banks is shown using a KORG Wavestation SR.

The photo in question does not show Tony Banks using the Yamaha CP-30 Electronic Piano. Instead, it features the Roland RS-202, which Tony used extensively starting with the "A Trick of the Tail" album. He later replaced it with the Roland VP-330+ due to his preference for its sound over the Polymoog's strings. Notably, the string sound in "Down and Out" is produced by the RS-202.

The stringsounds in the beginning and near the end of the song are from the RS-202.

Tony Banks can be seen with his ARP 2600 in this photo.