Current Recording Artists Who Use Classic Synths

[ItalianStallion81]

Hi,

Are there any current recording artists out there in this day and age (cf. Lady Gaga, Vanessa Carlton and Keane, among others) who use the beloved and cherished classic synthesizers such as the Yamaha DX7 and the Sequential Circuits Prophet 5?

Classic synthesizers hot sheet ('70s and '80s):
*Yamaha CS80 (was recently used by Tori Amos)
*Yamaha DX7 and revisions (DX7s, DX7II, DX7 Centennial)
*Yamaha GX1 (aka Electone 707)
*Yamaha GS1 (the DX7's predecessor, which looks like a baby grand piano)
*Moog Minimoog
*Moog Polymoog Synthesizer (I don't like the abridged Polymoog Keyboard)
*Roland SH-1000/2000
*Roland Jupiter-8 (this appears in Alicia Keys's video for "No One")
*Fairlight CMI (Mk III in particular)
*Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 and Prophet 10
*ARP Odyssey and revisions
*ARP Quadra
*ARP 2500/2600 modular
*Oberheim 4 Voice modular
*Oberheim Matrix 6 + Xpander
*Oberheim Matrix 12 (essentially the Matrix 6 with the Xpander built-in)
*Roland JX-3P
*Roland A-50 and D-50

~Ben

[Joey]

MGMT makes use of a DX7 live... or they did in their early shows

coldplay uses the cs80

[ronP]

oo


Duran Duran's Nick Rhodes still uses the ROLAND Jupiter 8 in the studio. Depeche Mode used a ROLAND Juno 106 and ARP 2600 on their last album. Ladytron record and tour with a pair of KORG MS-20. Franz Ferdinand used a KORG Sigma (along with a HOHNER D6 Clavinet) almost exclusively on their new album.

Lady Gaga and that ilk are mostly soft synth, MPC, and workstation types. Their producers might role out a MOOG for bass once and awhile, but it's mostly all Fantom, Motif, and MPC stuff.


oo

[Hair]

I think Soulwax uses a lot of old hardware in the studio, sounds like a Solina on their remix of Justice's Phantom pt II (building up from about 2/3rds in til the end of the song), and Simian Mobile Disco have an MS-20 in their [awesome] live rig.

Electro House is pretty much built on Minimoog basses, though I think in a lot of cases it's a Voyager or soft synth versions.

[gcoudert]

Razorlight use a 1968 Philips Philicorda organ. I know, I sold it to them!!!

[Joey]

alessandro cortini of modwheelmoood and NIN uses an ms20...

trent reznor has pictures with an xpander in his studio

depeche mode uses just about every vintage piece known to man

alan wilder has a few pieces of analog gear in his the thin line studio

[TRANSISTOR FACE]

alessandro cortini of modwheelmoood and NIN uses an ms20...

trent reznor has pictures with an xpander in his studio

depeche mode uses just about every vintage piece known to man

alan wilder has a few pieces of analog gear in his the thin line studio

Cortini also uses that ridiculously expensive Buchla modular synth. He gave a lecture about it at school and performed things from his solo project "blindoldfreak" at one of our concerts. Not vintage by any means but pretty interesting to note nonetheless...

But I mean like woah, if I was paying 15+gs for a modular... I'd kindof want it to be at least a BIT bigger than my school-bag haha.

[JSRockit]

Plenty of underground hip-hop producers use vintage synths... too many to name.

[shaft9000]

probably at least 20% of the people on this forum would qualify, according to your question.

[Alex E]

I'm pretty sure Alicia Keys (or her producer) used a Jupiter-8 in the song No One. -Man that keyboard is as old as she is.

[xpander]

trent reznor has pictures with an xpander in his studio

he has a pretty massive collection of old keyboard synths, too, but you typically see his modular synths photographed- all modern except for the 2600 and circuit-bent SK-1. the other old ones i remember him having are the PPG Waves, Prophet VSs, Emulator II, OB-8, Minimoogs, Prodigy...

apparently he has a PEK, too:



don't forget Chromeo, those guys have a massive collection of old analogs, too.

billy corgan has a few ultra-expensive synths- a Moog modular and i think a Synthi 100.

[JJQ]

Hans Zimmer uses alot...his modulars..

[OriginalJambo]

I'm pretty sure Alicia Keys (or her producer) used a Jupiter-8 in the song No One. -Man that keyboard is as old as she is.

And her "producer" somehow managed to make it sound like a*s.

[HH]

Too many to mention actually, just some:

Royksopp - ms20, ms10, ms2000, synthe-bass SB-100, vc10, juno, JX8P, VP-330, cs80, 60, PS-3100.
Junior Boys - juno 60, nl2, pro-one, dx, minimoog.
Sebastien Tellier - memory moog, jupiter 8.
Air - ms20, solina strings, sh101, minimoog, cs60.
William Orbit - he still uses juno 106, ms20 among nl3.
Cassius (Zdar) - ms20, juno 60, prophet 5.
Chromeo - moog prodigy, juno 106, mono/poly.
DJ Spinna - juno 60, ms2000, arp strings, odyssey, moog prodigy (actually, he used all of this on his album Intergalactic Soul).
Bent - ms2000, sh101, juno 60, moog minimoog, synthi aks.
Luomo - cwejman, minimoog voyager, nl2, juno 106
Dzihan and Kamien - jupiter 8, juno 106, jp8000, nl2,3, minimoog

just a few which came to mind

[Umbe78]

Liam Howlett of the Prodigy pretty much used everything Roland and Korg produced ...
In some interviews (2004-2008) he says that much of his stuff is gone now...
He keeps Korg MS20, Minimoog, AKAI Z8 (where he sampled all), some vintage fx, Oberheim 4 voice ( ) , Roland SH2 and 101 for live and last but not least Jupiter8 ... He admitted that he uses also software like Ableton Live, Reason and Timewarp 2600 and modern synths like Access Virus TI