A partial list of synths/samplers and other electronic gear used by the Pet Shop Boys
I've managed to piece together the following incomplete list of synthesizers (both analog and digital, including samplers) used by the Boys. If you know of additional synths/samplers that they've definitely used, please let me know via email, including the source of your information (magazine article, personal observation, etc.).
|
|
As for other keyboards, Chris often plays acoustic piano and occasionally a Fender Rhodes electric piano (an instrument he reportedly doesn't much care for). Bits of organ can also be heard in several PSB tracks (such as "Go West," "Shameless," and "Decadence"), but in each case it's uncertain whether it's an actual organ or a synth or sampler replicating the sound of an organ.
Additional equipment other than synths/samplers (such as MIDI peripherals, recording/mixing gear, and input devices) that the Boys have used include:
|
|
I'm indebted to Gareth Edwards and David B. for contributing a good deal of information to my list above, for which I'm very grateful.
¹I don't know whether the Boys ever actually used the Korg MS-10 in any of their recordings, but it plays a tremendously important role in their history: it's the synth that brought Neil, in search of a patch cord, into the London hi-fi shop where he first met Chris in August 1981.
²In addition to the aforementioned Moog Voyager, they've certainly used other, older Moog models as well as additional analog synthesizers, particularly while recording Behaviour and its associated b-sides. But I'm uncertain at this time regarding the exact models. However, the Moog Modular, of which Behaviour producer Harold Faltermeyer is especially fond, seems a likely candidate.
³In
response to a September 2003 question on the
official PSB website, Chris cited the "Roland TG33" as a common
source for string synth sounds on PSB recordings. Yet I haven't been able to find
any other references online to a "TG33" synth by Roland. There is, however,
a Yamaha TG33. Chris may simply have confused the synth manufacturers.
All text on this website aside from direct quotations (such as of lyrics and of other nonoriginal content) is copyright © 2001-2021 by Wayne Studer. All Rights Reserved. All lyrics and images are copyright © their respective dates by their respective owners. Brief quotations and small, low-resolution images are used for identification and critical commentary, thereby constituting Fair Use under U.S. copyright law. Billboard chart data are copyright © their respective dates by Nielsen Business Media, Inc.