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[ms] · Est. May 2002

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Forums / General Yakkity Yak

what gear do the pros use?

18 durable postsStarted 2006-04-01Latest 2007-07-05
#26089Post 1 of 18

can't seem to find any links. I remember reading about it before...

I'm looking for stuff like what sasha used on Expander (I think I read he used a power mac) and underworld, orbital...

#600125Post 2 of 18

Re: what gear do the pros use?

ok got one a bit old:

[URL="http://www.loopz.co.uk/faq/what.html"]http://www.loopz.co.uk/faq/what.html[/URL]

[LEFT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2][COLOR=#cccc00][B]What[/B] gear has Orbital used in the past and what are they using today?[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2][COLOR=#c0c0c0][COLOR=#ffffff][B][SIZE=3]Q[/SIZE][/B][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT] [LEFT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2][COLOR=#cccc00][B]What[/B] equipment do Orbital use to create their music ?[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/LEFT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2][COLOR=#c0c0c0][COLOR=#ffffff][B][SIZE=3]A [/SIZE][/B][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT] [LEFT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2][COLOR=#ff9900]Like most groups...they upgrade their equipment or buy new pieces of equipment, so this list will change over the years. For the new album, "Middle of Nowhere" they used the following items :-

              List created by Paul Hartnoll 03rd January 1999
              [B]
              Synths[/B] 
              Kawai K5000R, Nord Rack, Korg Z1, Roland JP8000, Roland SH 101,                    Roland SH 09, Yamaha DX 7 Mark 2, Stylophone, Supernova (Novation)                    and Virus.
              
              [B]Drum Machines
              [/B]909, 808 and Trinity workstation for drums (Korg).
              
              [B]FX
              [/B]M5000, Esoniq DP/4, Alesis Quadraverb, Joe Meek Compressor,                    Dbx Compressor and Lexicon LX P1.
              
              [B]Mixing Desk
              [/B] 2 Yamaha OSZ 
              
              [B]Other[/B][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
              [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2][COLOR=#ff9900]Power                    PC 6100/66, G3 (this was replaced by the Power PC 6100/66 half                    way through the album), Power Book 3400c, Recycle Package, Logic                    Audio, Audio Werks Card and E4 Turbo Sampler.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
           [/LEFT]
#600126Post 3 of 18

Re: what gear do the pros use?

one more:

[url]http://remixmag.com/mag/remix_knives/index.html[/url]

[B]What did you feel you needed to understand the most?[/B] I really got inside some of the programs on my laptop. I learned [Emagic] Logic inside and out. I also got into plug-in processing and some soft synths like [Native Instruments] Reaktor. When you're making a record, you need to have a refined sound, and that sound only comes from being in the studio every single day. You need to build up your sound libraries so that you've got everything at your fingertips. I used to be obsessed with getting the very latest boxes, and I would buy magazines every month to see what the latest box was. I would buy equipment all the time, thinking that's what I needed to do to make the kind of music I wanted to make. From working with Charlie, I learned that you only need to know a couple of boxes inside out, and you're set. Charlie does almost all of his work on a couple of specific boxes. He really knows his way around the Yamaha DX7. Once I got out of that buying cycle, I figured out what my favorite boxes were. [B]What instruments defined Airdrawndagger's sound?[/B] We used a lot of analog processing and analog synths on the record — some old Rolands and an ARP 2600, which is an absolute beast. We used soft synths for textures. Some of the soft synths for the Macintosh are phenomenal — things like [Native Instruments] Reaktor, FM7 and Absynth. We got the best results when we combined that stuff with real analog processing. Even though we recorded things in [Digidesign] Pro Tools, we would run tracks out into the analog environment and process sounds through old tape machines or whatever to give it a warm sound. Overall, the whole record has a very Pro Tools sound. It's a very powerful tool. I would throw ideas together on the laptop using Logic. I have all my samples inside my computer, and Logic has the EXS24 sampler, which changed my life. Being able to load all your samples into this program is like having 50 Akai S6000s at once. You have access to every single sample you ever made. A lot of times, I'd just sit there with my little controller keyboard and laptop and write. Once I got an idea together, I'd take it over to Tom to make it come alive. When Tom opened them up in a Pro Tools environment with all these amazing plug-ins, the tracks became 3-D. It was really exciting. I felt that if I could make a track work coming out of the tiny stereo outputs on my Macintosh, it would really work once it got in a big computer.

#600128Post 4 of 18

Re: what gear do the pros use?

orb circa '93

[url]http://machines.hyperreal.org/gearlists/orb[/url]

Mini Moog Csio CZ-5000 Prophet II Oberheim Matrix 12 Polysynth 2 Technic 1200's Numark DJ Mixer [no number listed] Vestax CD-33 3 Alesis A DATs Roland Octopad Akai ME-35T drum module Roland S-750 sampler Roland PC-200 keyboard controller Akai S2700 with optical drive Atari 1040ST Korg MS10 monosynth Drawmer Noise Gates Drawmer Dual Gates Eventide H3000-SE Harmonizer Soundcraft mixing board Tweeter Eater Studio 440

#601168Post 5 of 18

Re: what gear do the pros use?

if you read the FUTURE MUSIC or Computer Music magazines...which you can find at your local Barnes & Noble they have listings of the computer software/hardware and other outboard gear that the big dawgs use. The new issue of FM has a great interview with SUICIDE SPORTS CLUB. A group that have really made me wanna step up my compositions a lot. Those two guys are very smart with their productions.

#601720Post 6 of 18

Re: what gear do the pros use?

and get a free subscription to electronic musician (check the subscription inserts in the mag).

#601887Post 7 of 18

Re: what gear do the pros use?

Em isn't a bad magazine. But I stick with the UK mags. Way more stuff to learn about. Plus you get a DVD with every issue. Packed with tons of good stuff. Mostly worth the $13-14 per issue.

#603200Post 8 of 18

Re: what gear do the pros use?

cool good info.

also this site

[url]http://www.vintagesynth.com/[/url]

has a list of artists that use various classic gear, for a reverse lookup type search

#603549Post 9 of 18

Re: what gear do the pros use?

Further on the Sasha post, using Logic coupled with a good virt analog like a virus and something else with a vocoder ala mini korg or ms2000 and a really good sound library are all you need. Dumping into pro tools is ideal for mixing as well.

If you are making EDM or anything of the sort, too much outboard will slow you down. Also, more important than emulating someone else's rig is taking time to learn what works for you. Don't buy lots of gear all at once it will just trip you up and distract you from finding your own style of attacking a record or remix.

#617917Post 10 of 18

Re: what gear do the pros use?

if you've got Logic, you really don't need Pro tools too. Logic is bad assed enough as it is. And can do everything Protools can do. I know Digweed uses it...Robbie Rivera does too. There was even an article in Keyboard...[url]http://www.keyboardmag.com/story.asp?sectioncode=28&storycode=12203[/url] where he talks about what kinds of things he does to get his sounds. Pretty cool story.

#618389Post 11 of 18

Re: what gear do the pros use?

word i just think pro tools warms everything up mix/master wise, but certainly isnt "necessary." logis is truly a beast. :-) :-)

#619351Post 12 of 18

Re: what gear do the pros use?

you wanna warm things up, get an outboard tube compressor and the use that in your mastering.

#627116Post 13 of 18

Re: what gear do the pros use?

[quote=jeffrey collins]you wanna warm things up, get an outboard tube compressor and the use that in your mastering.[/quote]

I would like to do that. I've been thinking about getting a tube amp or compressor lately.

How would you rate the DBX compressors? And what is the difference (in practice) between using a tube compressor and a tube amp/ regular compressor?

#627408Post 14 of 18

Re: what gear do the pros use?

u dont have to spend thousands on outboard equip to get great sound.....

get a powerful comp (which u can build yourself for as little as 1100 bucks)

#870034Post 15 of 18

Re: what gear do the pros use?

this is a bit sick, what kind of jeans does Sasha wear that gear won't give you a best song if you don't even now enough, how to use it! first grab a reason and practice for couple of years, so you will even know what music production is all about and what you really need. probably first grab a book about MIDI, frequency characteristics, dynamics....

#887017Post 16 of 18

Re: what gear do the pros use?

[quote=groffhibbitz;316332]I would like to do that. I've been thinking about getting a tube amp or compressor lately.

How would you rate the DBX compressors? And what is the difference (in practice) between using a tube compressor and a tube amp/ regular compressor?[/quote]

Tube amp gives a nice "colour" to the sound, by adding harmonics that the ear likes a lot. Tube comps they have a response curve that changes "naturally" with the increasing level of the input signal. So, there?s not a "soft knee" or "hard knee" in the threshold, or at least , not so pronunced. The result is a sound with not-so-hard changes after the compression. And also all that stuff about the pair harmonics.

#887105Post 17 of 18

Re: what gear do the pros use?

jeffery uses......

[img]http://www.keyboardmuseum.org/pic/c/cas/pt87.jpg[/img]

#887121Post 18 of 18

Re: what gear do the pros use?

spell my name wrong Dom. You deserve a slap for that:p. And Damnit I wish i had one of those. I'd be bending the hell out of it.:)

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