Keyboards/synths/etc.

Clavia Nord Lead: Possibly my favorite keyboard ever, the Nord is a digital synth that behaves analog. The wooden pitch-stick bender is one of the most expressive controls ever, the keyboard feels great, and it's a dream to program. Despite the short keyboard and unweighted keys, the Nord is my primary keyboard controller

Fender Rhodes Mark 1 Stage Piano: I lugged a Rhodes around during my high school band days, and swore I'd never play one again. Time change, and when this Rhodes fell into my lap a couple of years ago, it was like reuniting with an old friend. This particular Rhodes has a great action and tone, and is in remarkable condition for its age.

ARP Odyssey and AXXE: These are classic analog synths from the '70's. I bought the Axxe while still in high school. The Odyssey was given to me by Eldon Hardenbrook, who bought it for something like $50 at a pawn shop in the 80's. They both need a little repair work, both are missing a few sliders and buttons, but they still sound cool, and have a lot of memories for me.

Sequential Circuits 6-Trak: The 6-trak is another synth often overlooked. A sort of little brother SCI's justifiably famous Prophet 5, the 6-trak is a very fat-sounding little synth. A little known feature of the synth is that every parameter is controlled by MIDI continuous controllers, which opens up the synth for amazing real-time tweaking possibilities.

Yamaha DX-7: Like many sound geeks, I spent a good portion of the 80's programming the Yamaha DX-series FM synths. The DX-7 was the first affordable digital synth, and offered what was then a really new set of timbral possibilities using FM (Frequency Modulation) synthesis. Unfortunately, this synth had a terrible user interface, making programming it like some kind of obscure arcane science. As a result, the factory sounds became cliché, and FM was written off as many synthesists pursued the next big thing, sample playback synthesis. I think FM still has some great possibilities.

Pictured here, from left: joystick controller for modular, Yamaha WX-7 wind controller,Roland MC-303, Oberheim SEM, Tascam MM-1 keyboard mixer.

Yamaha WX-7 and VL-70m: The WX is a wind-driven MIDI controller that looks like clarinet designed by the Bauhaus school. Unlike keyboards, which only offer a control over a few parameters at once, the WX uses breath and lip pressure as controllers, along with the keys, which are laid out like a conventional saxophone. The WX is one of the few MIDI instruments that you actually have to practice to sound musical, I'm not very good with it (yet), but improving. The VL-70m is a low-cost physical modeling synth that mimics the behavior of many brass, reed and string instruments. It doesn't exactly sound acoustic, but it sounds too complex and expressive to be electronic somehow.

Roland MC-303: One of the more controversial synths I own, the MC is either a Kool TekNo/Rave Machine, or a crass repackaging of standard synth technology in an attempt to cash in on the electronic/dance scenes that grew up using long-deleted Roland synths and drum machines. I've had a surprising number of people in the studio, surrounded by vintage analog synths, modular synths, etc., express interest in the MC. I guess Roland's marketing has worked. However, the MC is a surprisingly cool live-performance unit, if you view it as a very glorified drum machine, the limitations of its sequencer are less annoying, it has a lot of good-sounding sampled synths and drum machine sounds, and fairly good digital resonant filters.

Oberheim SEM: The SEM is a simple analog monophonic synth, with a very distinctive timbre. My SEM is definitely a 70's relic: Faceplate replaced with black plastic, and covered with Rolling Stones and Moosehead Beer stickers, but it still sounds great, and was a steal due to it's cosmetic condition.

Oberheim Matrix 6R: This is a relatively new instrument to me, and I think it's one of the great overlooked synths in the current craze for anything analog. Originally made in the early 80's, they used digitally controlled oscillators for pitch stability, along with a menu-based user interface. Like the DX-7, a computer based editor makes all the difference. The Matrix is a great sounding and incredibly flexible instrument.

Also in this picture: Alesis D4 drum module,Opcode Studio 4 MIDI Interface, Yamaha VL-70m, and Kawai K1-m synth module.

From top: Alessis Monitor 2, Opcode Studio 64xtc MIDI Interface/Synchronizer, Peavey SP Sampler, Yamaha TX-416, Tascam 32 reel-to-reel deck.

The Yamaha TX Rack can hold as many as 8 TF-1 cards (Mine has 4), and each TF-1 is the equivalent of an DX-7. Also, the rack is built like a tank and provides balanced outputs. Amazingly enough, fully loaded TX's are cheaper than DX's on the used market now.