My Instruments

Martin D15I love playing both natural and synthetic instruments — what matters is the sound. This page describes the state of my instrument collection.

Natural Instruments

I’m a string player — I love to play dreadnaught acoustic guitars. I’m also into Ukuleles, Mandolines and Banjos.

  • Martin D-15 (Six String Guitar)
  • Martin J12-16GT (Twelve String Guitar)
  • NoName Ukulele
  • NoName Mandoline
  • NoName Banjo
  • Misc. Percussion

Synthetic Instruments

Synthetic instruments always played an important part in my musical life. Since growing up a bit, focusing on productivity with few devices pushed gear-lust aside…Nord Modular G2

  • Roland V-Synth GT Synthesizer
  • Roland V-Piano Digital Piano
  • Yamaha AN1x Synthesizer
  • Clavia Nord Modular G2x
  • Native Instruments Maschine
  • Emagic AMT8 Midi Interface
  • Yamaha 03D Digital Mixer
  • Tascam DR100 Digital Recorder
  • Audio Technica BP4025

Devices I used to own

GAS (Gear Aquisition Syndrome) demands that new devices have to be bought… unfortunately due to financial issues often not without older ones having to be sold… so here’s a list of stuff I used to own over the years:

  • SIEL Opera-6 (my first synthesizer ever, 6 voice analog polysynth from Italy)
  • Roland TR-505 (didn’t impress me at the time, had to make room for the RX5)
  • Yamaha RX-5 (great drum machine, unfortunately no sample memory and no lousy pads, i.e. no velocity control)
  • KORG M-1 (just great, I composed a lot of songs with only that)
  • KORG 01/Wfd (even better than the M-1)
  • KORG Wavestation (not bad, but didn’t live up to the hype, I didn’t like the muffled overall sound)
  • YAMAHA SY-99 (great sonic capabilities, lousy UI, I stopped using hardware sequencers “thanks” to this device)
  • KAWAI K5000s (additive synth, very nice, great keyboard, but too complex for me)
  • ACCESS Virus B (VA, lots of effects but I didn’t like the sound and the UI)
  • E-MU E64 (great sampler)
  • E-MU UltraProteus (incredible z-plane filters, lousy samples, unusable UI)
  • Roland JD-990 (very crisp and clear, I also had the Vintage Keys expansion board)
  • Akai MPC 2500 (nice hardware, but felt anachronistic too soon. Sold it to buy MASCHINE)

Plans

None so far, I’m fine with my current setup… except perhaps one of those new digital mixers with built-in firewire audio interface :)