Vince Clarke

Vince Clarke is associated with the M-Audio Venom synthesizer, as seen in a photo by tracyhmartin on Instagram, captioned "Sometimes hand me downs don't suck and this one comes with a teacher #electronicmusic #synthesizer #christmas."

Vince Clarke uses the Pioneer DDJ-WeGO4-W Digital DJ Controller, as seen in a post by Tracy H. Martin on Instagram, where it's mentioned as a "new toy" for creating a playlist for the Democrat Primary Debate.

Vince Clarke can be seen playing an Akai MPK 61 at 1:23.

"When I got the LinnDrum, I forgot about my TR808 totally. But the other day we decided we'd like to sync it to the Fairlight, and we realised we'd have to do a lot of internal fiddling around to make it work properly, so in the end we just sampled each of the sounds, which was really quite interesting. I don't really like any of the sounds themselves; they're not much use unless you actually want to use sounds that are obviously electronically created. The difference between the 808 and the Linn is simply that one sounds like a drum-machine while the other sounds like a real drummer, or at least that's how I see it."

The Waldorf Microwave is featured in the "Studio Equipment List" on Vince Clarke's website.

The Syrinx is featured in the "Studio Equipment List" on Vince Clarke's website.

The Korg DVP is featured in the "Studio Equipment List" on Vince Clarke's website.

The Oberheim SEM is featured in the "Studio Equipment List" on Vince Clarke's website.

In this photo, Vince is playing an M-Audio Oxygen V2 MIDI keyboard.

Vince says in this interview that he uses Alchemy soft synth.

How did you come across Native Instruments? That was by recommendation from Martin Ware of Heaven 17. We worked together and he recommended Absynth and FM7 to me. I loved Absynth right away because it was so different from anything else. Then I got into Reaktor through Gareth Jones, who was another producer I worked with. He explained to me how it worked. At first I was a bit put off by the idea of creating your own synthesizers. Initially, I couldn't be bothered to do that because it sounded like a lot of hard work. But I soon found out that it was also a lot of fun!"

In "Stripped: Depeche Mode" by Jonathan Miller, it is mentioned that Vince Clarke used the GForce Software Oddity synth plugin.

"Mind you, the thing I want to get into even more, and I'm doing already, is collecting old drum machines. I've got this thing called a CR78, an early Roland Compurhythm, and an Electro Harmonix thing which is like a disco beatbox with preset rhythms. All disco beats, and wicked sounds!"

Always an advocate of cheap technology, Vince has been pictured playing a Casio DH100 MIDI horn recently, an instrument he describes as "brilliant", and admits to being quite a fan of Casio products.

Photo of Vince Clarke playing an M-Audio Oxygen 8.

Auction for Vince Clarke's Ultimate Support Apex AX 48B

A Mac G5 tower can be seen in Vince Clarke's studio at 12:25.

Auction for Vince Clarke's Yamaha DM2000.

Vince Clarke utilizes the Apple Mac Pro (2006-2012) in his basement studio, as seen in a photo shared by Tracy Martin on Instagram.

In the makeshift living room somewhere round the back of the Odeon, Vince has a few home comforts. TV, video, fridge full of cold drinks, and something which says more about his musical standpoint than anything else I can think of. Whereas a guitarist might have a trusty old acoustic propped up against the sofa, Vince has got a small workstation consisting of Mini-Moog, Akai Linn MPC-60 and Roland MC-4 sequencer, handy for those moments of inspiration and last-minute adjustments to the live set. He points enthusiastically to the Akai Linn.

"This is really good. We use this for all the drum sounds live. All the drum sounds on the last album were generated from synths, so I had to regenerate them for the tour. Obviously I couldn't take an ARP 2600 on the road and start messing about with bass drum sounds for every song, and there's lots and lots of percussion sounds, so they were regenerated and sampled into that thing. I must admit it was a real life-saver, it's so simple. You just hit Record, press the pad and it's down. Only 16-bit recording inside, but the resolution's quite high. Eight outs, 32 drum sounds. So it's in my tank!"

"We've got a Lexicon 224, a Lexicon 224X, a Quantec Room Simulator and an AMS system. So really that's four very good quality reverbs. We also use quite a bit of natural echo, because there's a long corridor that still has the original church stonework intact, and above Blackwing Studio there is a natural echo chamber which lies under the main roof of the church. When I originally designed Blackwing, I left the area under the roof as a natural echo room, really because it seemed too good to waste. I think nowadays the selection and application of reverb has become the most difficult - and at the same time, the most productive - area of the recording process, because that is where a lot of the new production work is going on, particularly with things like drum sounds. I spend a lot of time adding reverb to the LinnDrum and the Fairlight, because it is very difficult to get it absolutely right, though when you do of course, the results can be very impressive."

"We've got a Lexicon 224, a Lexicon 224X, a Quantec Room Simulator and an AMS system. So really that's four very good quality reverbs. We also use quite a bit of natural echo, because there's a long corridor that still has the original church stonework intact, and above Blackwing Studio there is a natural echo chamber which lies under the main roof of the church. When I originally designed Blackwing, I left the area under the roof as a natural echo room, really because it seemed too good to waste. I think nowadays the selection and application of reverb has become the most difficult - and at the same time, the most productive - area of the recording process, because that is where a lot of the new production work is going on, particularly with things like drum sounds. I spend a lot of time adding reverb to the LinnDrum and the Fairlight, because it is very difficult to get it absolutely right, though when you do of course, the results can be very impressive."

"We've got a Lexicon 224, a Lexicon 224X, a Quantec Room Simulator and an AMS system. So really that's four very good quality reverbs. We also use quite a bit of natural echo, because there's a long corridor that still has the original church stonework intact, and above Blackwing Studio there is a natural echo chamber which lies under the main roof of the church. When I originally designed Blackwing, I left the area under the roof as a natural echo room, really because it seemed too good to waste. I think nowadays the selection and application of reverb has become the most difficult - and at the same time, the most productive - area of the recording process, because that is where a lot of the new production work is going on, particularly with things like drum sounds. I spend a lot of time adding reverb to the LinnDrum and the Fairlight, because it is very difficult to get it absolutely right, though when you do of course, the results can be very impressive."

"We've got a Lexicon 224, a Lexicon 224X, a Quantec Room Simulator and an AMS system. So really that's four very good quality reverbs. We also use quite a bit of natural echo, because there's a long corridor that still has the original church stonework intact, and above Blackwing Studio there is a natural echo chamber which lies under the main roof of the church. When I originally designed Blackwing, I left the area under the roof as a natural echo room, really because it seemed too good to waste. I think nowadays the selection and application of reverb has become the most difficult - and at the same time, the most productive - area of the recording process, because that is where a lot of the new production work is going on, particularly with things like drum sounds. I spend a lot of time adding reverb to the LinnDrum and the Fairlight, because it is very difficult to get it absolutely right, though when you do of course, the results can be very impressive."

the Serge Synthesizer can be seen in Vince's studio in the background on the right

As listed in this 1984 interview on the Music Magazine Archive

As listed in this 1984 interview on the Music Magazine Archive

As listed in this 1993 interview on the Music Magazine Archive

As listed in this 1993 interview on the Music Magazine Archive

As listed in this 1993 interview on the Music Magazine Archive