Underworld

Underworld's Rick Smith says "I use this a lot. Very important."

"Our oldest sampler. It goes on once a year."

Underworld use the 24-channel version in the studio. Rick Smith says "My favourite thing in here. I like the valve sound."

Underworld's Darren Price talks about Maschine by Native Instruments: "We've had bits of equipment over the last years coming into the studio - it's blown us away - but Maschine is one that's stood out over them all. So this is what we normally do in a live situation. Say we probably write some beats in Maschine in a hotel room somewhere in the world and think 'Oh, I want to play that tonight.' So I'm upping Maschine, I'm on top of the DJ kit, and then I'm ready to rumble. I can either jam it straight from Maschine or put some parts into the main desk. From hotel room mode to live gig on the spur of the moment we normally just run Maschine in sync and... rocking. Since 1.6 I've been running it standalone because of all of the new features. Floating external instruments, plugins, all of my core audio units, whether they're Native Instruments, third party, whatever, I can kind of do the whole track in Maschine and it's great. That's why we've kind of being using it, trying to reinvent some of the old Underworld records to perform live in 2011. They sound a little bit old drum-wise and you put Maschine on and it kind of gives it a new edge, it gives it this new kind of sound. So that's how we've been finding it and it's been very successful. Over the last few weeks us trying different things Everybody Jack...I wrote that in one day. And now it's going to be in the Underworld live set so it's like, you now, [I've] not written a track in one day, on the computer, in any program, in quite a long time. You've got so hands on with each note, holding pads down, tuning, length, position. Don't even touch a mouse - there's no mouse involved. If I'm looking at arranging a track on the screen I'd probably let the section go for probably less time... but if I'm in front of a console or Maschine, you go with your feeling. If your feeling isn't to go 16 bars an hour then you leave it for 32 or 64. it's just a different way to arrange and mix the track. If I spent three weeks in the studio I could translate all the Underworld stuff into Maschine and I could turn up like that and we could do an Underworld gig out of it. We could do it without taking all of that backline and all of the live stuff. It's just a great, great piece of kit, and I love it."

In this photo posted by Underworld to their Instagram on April 2016, a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 USB Audio Interface can be seen on the left on top of the stack of books. This appears to be Underworld's mobile gear setup. The photo is captioned, "Hotel recording with #rick" ("#rick" referring to Underworld's Rick Smith).

For their latest tour(s), Underworld have switched their on stage line mixer to an SSL L500. Rick Smith says:

"It was tricky because I knew I was looking for a console that was going to sit in a performance aspect on stage as opposed to purely front of house."

Read the full article here.

In this archived version of a December 2000 article from Sound On Sound, Underworld's Rick Smith "explained how the music was improvised, with loops stored in the Akai S6000, clocked by an MPC2000, sequenced from two Apple Powerbook computers running Logic Audio, and then run through two Mackie desks, one 32-channel and the other 24."

"I have a Roland GR50 chopped up in a slim box behind my guitar."

"The Drawmer gate is the last in the chain before it goes to Rick's desk."

In an article from Sound On Sound titled "Underworld: The Making Of Everything, Everything," Underworld describes the Neve 33609C Stereo Limiter/Compressor as "the most wonderful, beautiful compressor," highlighting its integral role in their studio setup.

This photo from Underworld's Instagram account shows the band's CR-78, and indicates that it previously belonged to synthpop legends Ultravox.

This video clip from Underworld's Instagram account shows Rick Smith (or possibly Darren Price, hard to say who the hand belongs to) jamming with a Maschine, which the caption identifies as a MK3 model.

This Instagram post by Karl Hyde shows the band's Platform M+.

In this archived version of a December 2000 article from Sound On Sound, Underworld's Rick Smith explains the band's then-current live setup. "This gear forms the heart of [his] live setup. It is complemented by a TR909, Nord Lead, Nord Rack module, Sony DPS V77, MP5 and Boss SX700 multi-effects, Behringer Composer MDX2100 compressor/limiter, Korg DL800 MIDI delay line (x2), Quasimidi Technox synth (x2), Korg O3/R sound module, Novation BassStation Rack bass synth, Emagic Unitor 8 MIDI interface (x2), plus some 'secret boxes' made by Kenton Electronics, which have 'something to do with MIDI.'"

"Handy. It sends MIDI info from the faders and buttons so you can control the faders in the computer, instead of using a mouse. You can also attach it to synths and use it to control parameters."

"We put whole mixes through this, especially for Beaucoup Fish, whilst being very delicate."

Part of Karl Hyde's Studio.

Underworld utilizes the Sherman Filterbank 2 in Karl Hyde's studio, as detailed in the Sound On Sound article "Underworld: The Making Of Everything, Everything."

Underworld utilizes the Sony HR-MP5 Stereo Multi Effects Processor in Karl Hyde's studio, as detailed in the Sound On Sound article "Underworld: The Making Of Everything, Everything."

Not much to say here. Rick Smith is using this very console in the attached video. He has used one for years.

This Instagram post shows the band's MG12 XU in the lower-left corner.

This article on the recording of the "Barking" album describes the band's then-current studio setup. "Tracking in Underworld’s three studios in Essex, England—the communal Pigshed, and Hyde and Smith’s respective studios—they began writing with guitars, synths, various drum machines, and vocals. Identical setups of Apple Mac Pro 8-Core Intel Xeon computers, Apple Logic Studio (versions 7, 8, and 9), Midas Heritage 1000 consoles, and assorted plug-ins were replicated at each studio."

In this archived version of a December 2000 article from Sound On Sound, Underworld's Rick Smith explains the band's then-current live setup. "This gear forms the heart of [his] live setup. It is complemented by a TR909, Nord Lead, Nord Rack module, Sony DPS V77, MP5 and Boss SX700 multi-effects, Behringer Composer MDX2100 compressor/limiter, Korg DL800 MIDI delay line (x2), Quasimidi Technox synth (x2), Korg O3/R sound module, Novation BassStation Rack bass synth, Emagic Unitor 8 MIDI interface (x2), plus some 'secret boxes' made by Kenton Electronics, which have 'something to do with MIDI.'"

In this archived version of a December 2000 article from Sound On Sound, Underworld's Rick Smith explains the band's then-current live setup. "This gear forms the heart of [his] live setup. It is complemented by a TR909, Nord Lead, Nord Rack module, Sony DPS V77, MP5 and Boss SX700 multi-effects, Behringer Composer MDX2100 compressor/limiter, Korg DL800 MIDI delay line (x2), Quasimidi Technox synth (x2), Korg O3/R sound module, Novation BassStation Rack bass synth, Emagic Unitor 8 MIDI interface (x2), plus some 'secret boxes' made by Kenton Electronics, which have 'something to do with MIDI.'"