Instruments & sound sources

Currently a Moog Model 15, a EMS Synthi A, a late series black/orange ARP 2600, a vintage Korg MS 20 and a small Eurorack modular represent the main sound sources. Digital equipment is still used only for recording and sound editing. Back in the 1980s, my first home-studio was equipped with a small Roland Studio 100 M modular system, an OSCar monosynth and a Yamaha DX7 synthesizer. Recording was done with a Tascam M-208 8-channel recording mixer, a Tascam 234 Syncaset 4-track double speed cassette tape recorder, a Revox B77 and a TEAC X-10R reel to reel tape machines. For live electronics i almost exclusively used a small TMS modular system, a Serge clone built by Ernst Thoma, a very talented swiss avantgarde sound designer, composer and performer. In the late 1980s and early 1990s analogue synthesizers became affordable at very low prices and a lot of wonderful sounding machines were added to the studio and later sold [see below for the complete list].

Image: the home-studio in 2021

Studio gear as WUR [1983-1993]

Synthesizer, drum machines, others:

ARP Odyssey Mk1, Quadra, Solina strings; Boss DR-55, DR-110; EMS Synthi AKS; Ensoniq EPS sampler; Korg MS 20, MS 10, Mono/Poly; MFB 601 sequencer; Moog Minimoog D, Polymoog, Source, Satellite; Oberheim Four Voice, DX drumcomputer; OSC Oscar rev. 7; PPG Wave 2.3; Roland System 100 (101 + 102), System 100 sequencer, System 100M (8 modules in 1983, 25 modules in 1990) with 4-CV keyboard, CSQ 100 sequencer, Jupiter 8, Jupiter 6, Jupiter 4, Promars, SH-02, VP 330 vocoder / strings, TR-808, TR-909; SCI Prophet 5 rev. 3.0, Prophet 600; TMS Modular, a Serge Modular clone built by swiss avantgarde composer Ernst Thoma; Yamaha CS 80, CS 60, CS-5, CS-30, DX7 [only a few of these instruments were regularly used for productions, in most cases they were purchased as collectible items and later exchanged or reselled; some of them are now showcased at the Synthorama Museum in Luterbach].

Recording, effects, outboards, others:

Aphex C aural exciter; Atari ST; Barcus Berry and C-Ducer contact microphones; Digitech RDS 1900 delay; JBL Control-One (4 units); Marantz CP 430 portable cassette tape recorder for field recording; Revox B77 and TEAC X-10R reel-to-reel tape recorders; Roland DEP-5 digital effects processor and RE 501 analogue tape chorus / delay; Roland PA-80 power mixer; Sennheiser MKE10 clip microphone, ME88 directional microphone; Tascam M-208 4-channel recording mixer, Tascam 234 Syncaset 4-track double speed cassette tape recorder; Tektronix 545B dual-beam oscilloscope.

Image: a partial view of the WUR home-studio in 1985