Syro Gear Discussion

[chim]

I really don't think this is misdirected advertisement or trolling. Like the fact that he's releasing the live tracks people have been begging about, I genuinely think this list is a favor to the fans who are tired of blind guessing and really want to some insight into the gear used. We've had so many of these threads in the past with barely anything to go on. Now he supplies us with an actual list and people have a problem with that?

 

I don't think anybody should be surprised that it would be an outlandish set of gear. But it's not just an act of bragging, like many people mention there's an absence of "typical" synths and it's obviously been streamlined to some degree. There are quite a few people on places like Synth Explorer that could rival this studio - whether they make as fun music with it is a different story.

 

Spreadsheet version for much easier reading: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1S3FoD2h2fa7UDU5Q-yVmdTnaLmAA2nNaE1kl6S9GnEU/pubhtml

 

Thanks, added it to the OP.

[Guest jasondonervan]

There are quite a few people on places like Synth Explorer that could rival this studio - whether they make as fun any music with it is a different story.

 

Fixed

[Guest Chesney]

Yeah, it's real interesting to know and geeks like us lap that shit up. I just responded to the chap that said something like "I hope people don't try and find the gear to sound like him". I agree, anyone who thinks that this makes the gear more sought after and drive the price up on ebay etc, is a plain cunt.

There is some really limited and rare stuff on that list and some run of the mill stuff, I really hope people don't use the list to their advantage.

It's just fun to see, it is what it is.

[Guest Chesney]

As for Vintagesynth, muff, slutz etc... You'll always get dudes who will have all the gear and no skill to get anything decent out but as long as they are enjoying themselves then all is good. You'll always have people who can get really good stuff from a laptop or very minimal, cheap setups.

I don't agree with hoarers who don't use the damn stuff though, give the things to people who want to use it for what it was made for.

[psn]

 

 

he reportedly has it split up into three separate studios,

lol

 

 

...or five and a half studios, as he says in the Rolling Stone interview.

[Guest]

 

lodge

 

I knew it!

 

[Guest progben]

For me, the gear-list works on the same level as the expenses receipt. It's taking something with a lot of detail, reducing it to its simplest form, and turning it into art. Both read like poems to me, which perform the same function. All about condensing an idea and presenting it to people for their interpretations.

[xy_politics]

It's not the well-known synths on that list that are surprising to me (kinda figured he'd have an ARP 2500, CS80, Sunsyn, etc, even an RMI Harmonic)

 

It's the vast amount of extremely expensive outboard and mixing consoles that I'm amazed by. Amazed that, even someone of the calibre of RDJ, could afford to buy all that, just for his own personal use. I doubt he actually bought all that stuff, he must have just rented a lot of it or borrowed it or something.

 

A 64 channel Neotek Elite AND two Helios consoles? I mean, jesus christ.... Below is a 48 Channel Neotek, used in the main studio at Steve Albini's Electrical Audio. Bear in mind that Aphex's is half as big again as this one..

 

 

And this is one of the fancier Helios consoles:

 

[modey]

Sooo, despite the use of a bass guitar DI box, nobody has speculated about Squarepusher's involvement..?

[chim]

 

There are quite a few people on places like Synth Explorer that could rival this studio - whether they make as fun any music with it is a different story.

 

Fixed

 

 

LOL! You're right, but it sounds mean!

 

 

As for Vintagesynth, muff, slutz etc... You'll always get dudes who will have all the gear and no skill to get anything decent out but as long as they are enjoying themselves then all is good. You'll always have people who can get really good stuff from a laptop or very minimal, cheap setups.

I don't agree with hoarers who don't use the damn stuff though, give the things to people who want to use it for what it was made for.

 

I think we should leave those guys alone, that stuff is in no way necessary to make kickass music. I am no gear romanticist because today you can do absolutely anything with a minimal setup - I'm just fascinated with the process here.

 

It's not the well-known synths on that list that are surprising to me (kinda figured he'd have an ARP 2500, CS80, Sunsyn, etc, even an RMI Harmonic)

 

It's the vast amount of extremely expensive outboard and mixing consoles that I'm amazed by. Amazed that, even someone of the calibre of RDJ, could afford to buy all that, just for his own personal use. I doubt he actually bought all that stuff, he must have just rented a lot of it or borrowed it or something.

 

A 64 channel Neotek Elite AND two Helios consoles? I mean, jesus christ.... Below is a 48 Channel Neotek, used in the main studio at Steve Albini's Electrical Audio. Bear in mind that Aphex's is half as big again as this one..

 

I'm 100% with you, the outboard gear is what struck me the most. I could swear I frickin' called it on the SSL X and channel strips, API and Lexicon etc, but beast after beast like the fucking Helios.. Boggles the mind. A lot of up-to-date A/D firewire stuff like the Midas Venice console as well - can he fit all this in a house in a village of 300?? The RME Fireface got a chuckle out of me, I used to use that with my old Hammerfall soundcard!

 

I hadn't heard of the Rhodes Chroma before its appearance here, that one is fun to see/hear. Another thing I'm surprised by is the fact that there's a Bode Vocoder but not a Bode Shifter. The latter is a really rare add-on to the Moog modular system, maybe he's got it hidden away somewhere. Here's the Bode Vocoder in action, used on Minipops 67:

 

[Guest chunks]

You've got so many machines, Richard!

[Zephyr_Nova]

This is so cool! Once I'm familiar with the tracks I'll be very interested into exactly what went into the making of each. I'm too poor to afford much gear, but I have many of the same drum machines sampled.

[psn]

The Bank Thin Room studio makes me wonder if that was the bank in London? If so, that might be the oldest track on the album?

 

Also, some equipment seems to not be used in any of the tracks, at least according to the transcribed version of the document on Google Docs.

[Hexahedral]

The Bank Thin Room studio makes me wonder if that was the bank in London? If so, that might be the oldest track on the album?

 

Also, some equipment seems to not be used in any of the tracks, at least according to the transcribed version of the document on Google Docs.

 

Yeah, I checked and double checked and there were no dots at all for a few pieces. I'm guessing he didn't remember which specific pieces they were used on or some similar reason.

[ZoeB]

It's interesting to see that he's still using some of his old school gear like the R8 and DX100 as well.

 

Yes, exactly! It's interesting to see him sticking with the CZ-10M, like how Liam Howlett stuck with his W-30s for so long, and Norman Cook (and James) stuck to their Atari STs. It looks like he's kept the MKS-50 all these years too, although that doesn't necessarily mean he's still using it...

 

When you go back to using equipment you used daily, after years of not using it anymore, it's interesting how the muscle memory kicks in again.

 

 

...but i feel like it makes more sense to come up with your own gear collection that may be as esoteric/unique as some of his, but for your own reasons and your own uses, than to try to acquire a chunk of his specific collection. just my opinion tho

 

Indeed. Would you believe the model of lampshade Delia Derbyshire sampled is a collectable now? It's not like it has any particularly interesting harmonic qualities that other lampshades don't (to my knowledge, anyway). What should be emulated about these people is the ability to think laterally and make good use of whatever equipment they have to hand, in a unique style.

 

Having said that, I do sometimes buy equipment because "it was good enough for some of my favourite artists to use on some of my favourite albums, so it's good enough for me", so clearly I'm a hypocrite in this regard. :)

[Ragnar]

 

 

lodge

 

I knew it!

 

 

 

 

damn you beat me to it

 

I remember some site had impulse responses from a masonic lodge. Must be a joke in there somewhere

 

 

 

also yeah no 303s huh. I like the idea of making acidic sounds w/o the silver box, prob. since I'm forced to? Yeah and RDJ album and Drukqs were made on computor right? That's cool to think that Cornish Acid, Redruth mix, meltphace and those fuckin GROWLING resosynths in ziggomatic were all made digitally I hope?

[ZoeB]

Did he skate over most of the modular stuff because of that leaked picture? Probably just a space thing...

 

I'm guessing it's just a space thing. If you list every module, the list would probably be at least twice as long.

 

As for Vintagesynth, muff, slutz etc... You'll always get dudes who will have all the gear and no skill to get anything decent out but as long as they are enjoying themselves then all is good. You'll always have people who can get really good stuff from a laptop or very minimal, cheap setups.

I don't agree with hoarers who don't use the damn stuff though, give the things to people who want to use it for what it was made for.

 

There's also people who enjoy building synthesisers, but don't know anything about making music. They just want to build a beautiful piece of electronics for its own sake.

[ZoeB]

I like the idea of making acidic sounds w/o the silver box...

 

Me too. I can assure you that you can make great acidlines on a whole bunch of different filters. MS-20 style acid is a favourite in our household right now!

[noise]

prophet 5 is amazing for bubbly acid

[chim]

prophet 5 is amazing for bubbly acid

 

prophet 5 is amazing for anything in my ears

[johnnix]

The gear list is obviously legit, like someone said it looks like he's in a "thank you" mode for now.

 

Besides that, anybody who tried to emulate 303's with other synths (especially modulars) know it's possible given the right sequencer/filter, it's really not that hard

As for the outboard gear, it was obvious (IMO) since the Tuss stuff: you could hear the mics placed somewhere in the room, picking on speakers playing the synths parts... maybe it's just me, but since 2004 (XMD5A) it was obvious he was focusing on controlling the sound coming into his desk and the room ambiance a lot more, with all the pseudo electro-acoustic stuff he was talking about in interviews, you can hear it while thinking it's him playing with a reverb plug-in, but it'w more like he plays on a big desk with many sends to mics place everywhere in the room(s)

long live syro btw
aphex returning with smooth songs unlike the tuss which was raw, this is polished for everyone's ears to enjoy :)

[johnnix]

 

I like the idea of making acidic sounds w/o the silver box...

 

Me too. I can assure you that you can make great acidlines on a whole bunch of different filters. MS-20 style acid is a favourite in our household right now!

 

He supposedly had 3 ms-20 in the early 90's

and now it's 3 PS-3300 :D

I guess he can't use it all everytime lol

[ZoeB]

I've got things a bit like bits of the MS-20 and PS-3300, and can certainly see why they're so highly regarded. It's almost difficult not to get vaguely early-AFX style sounds out of an MS-20 style filter...

 

As for modular acid, it's debatable quite how close to the sound of a TB-303 you can get, but you can definitely get some great sounds in their own right that way, and it's much more versatile.

[blackdust]

You've got so many machines, Richard!

 

"I haven't got that many"

 

You have now Richard

[sun drugs]

sick, as a gear nerd this is great, he probably just didnt want to have to talk about gear in interviews although he still cant help but mention his collection.

I was certain the acid lines in the tuss stuff and some of the analords werent 303s, modulars for acid are the way to do it. Cant say there are any massive surprises but getting into high end gear is the logical progression.

very cool gear list. there is no worry about imitators because i think he has shown no one comes close, many imitators who have started ripping him off have kinda moved on into their own which is cool.
People will always say you can re-create most of this with software (but you and I both know you just cant)

hardware wins dudes, any and everyday (+ the whole nothing against software and all the best use software for some kinda mixing arranging etc cause i dont wanna offend any guys who cant prioritise enough money to buy some gear )

 

Im guessing the mods on the digital synths might be a filter or something, ive heard of guys chucking a lowpass on dx100's before..