I am most grateful for my mind which never ceases to unveil
new layers, ask more questions, and envision the best possible tomorrow.
- Richard Bone: ambient/ electronic artist
I'm most thankfull for my computer system. Moving into the digital world and
doing it all with basically one piece of equipment has opened up a whole new
way of working for me that seems to have no boundaries. The compositional
possibilities of non-linear editing are endless. I can create and edit
sounds visually now, which makes the creative process flow so easily. Gone
are the days of editing synths and samplers with a little green screen
trying to keep track of what parameter is connected to what controller. Gone
are the days of bouncing tracks back and forth across channels. The recent
advancements in software synthesis, sampling and non-linear editing have
opened up a whole new door of possiblity for me. For this I am very
thankfull!
- James Johnson: ambient artist
My G3 laptop, without which my last two projects, combined with the
amount of traveling I've done in the last year or more, would not have
happened.
- M. Bentley: the foundry
If I really need to choose, I would go for my Korg M1 Workstation keyboard.
While it has a superb keyboard, it was actually my first digital keyboard I
bought, after have been working on analog synths. The M1 really opened for me new doors and the nice sequencer applications made me discover the essential character of loops in my music.
- Vidna Obmana: ambient/electronic artist
I really love sound, so I'm pretty thankful for being able to hear all this stuff. I'm also _very_
thankful whenever the muse decides to express herself through me (even though sometimes
what comes out doesn't really do her justice). I'm very thankful for being in the company of
some really, really talented people -- and I'm quite thankful these people don't mind making
cool music with a bum like me :-)
- John Michael Zorko: AdAstra Records
Sonically, a trusty Sony Professional Walkman cassette recorde WM-D3; a Sony
DAT recorder TCD-D8; a Sony Minidisc Recorder MZ-R55; various Akai samplers.
More important than these are the nimble digits of my
collaborator/engineer/programmer, my "sonic mirror", Tom Smyth. Without him
and his intuitive insights into my tastes, needs, directions, etc. any amount
of flash technology would be as useful as a pile of scrap metal.
Visually - in my work as an artist/designer, the Scanner is my most precious
piece of technology as it also allows me to work intuitively, to experiment
in real time thereby avoiding prescribed modes of working/creating.
- Russell Mills/UNDARK: Artist, designer, sculptor of sound, creator of multi-media installations,
stage sets; thinker, reader, walker, father, husband, friend.
my own braincells.
- Nigel Ayers: of Nocturnal Emissions
I would say the E-bow. It's a hand held device, battery powered, and can
produce SO MANY sounds when used with the electric guitar! The e-bow can
provide you with infinite sustain- it's a sort of electro-magnet, and the
magnet inside moves the string for as long as you hold it over the string.
It's not a very expensive piece of gear, but it's completely unique, I've
used it on all my cd's, and always manage to find new sounds with it.
- Jeff Pearce: ambient guitarist
I am tempted to mention one of the new analog synthesizers, or maybe a drum
machine, or then again perhaps a vacuum tube effects processor, or point out that my little MD
Walkman has made sample collection so much easier in the last year. But as
far as giving thanks, I suppose it really should go to the DAT in general
(as opposed to my Panasonic SV-3700 in particular), as it was the DAT - as
well as the ADAT - which drove the equipment industry to produce extremely
high fidelity audio gear for sale at shockingly low prices until what
several years previously could only have been done on a system requiring
multi-generational bank loans could at last be done on middling desktop
computers.
Had the DAT not brought inexpensive digital recording into
being, most of the music discussed here would sound significantly poorer -
mine would likely dwell far more often on the now quaintly archaic but once
inescapable cassette four-track - and some of it would not even be recordable. That
said, I use the MD far more often these days, with DATs only for final
mixes and masters.
- Thermal: Boxman (hako otoko) label
K2500 Sampler/Keyboard. Weighted piano action,
versatility, hi-fi sound.
- Anthony Asher Wright: ambient Australian
Difficult question to answer. I suppose the EMU
Morpheus is the piece which
continues to inspire me with its genius architecture
and sound, even after
owning it for nearly 6 years.
- Andrew Lagowski: noise programmer
JD 800 Roland synthsizer, you can hear my special pad.
But I always think one instrument is attractive
The most impressive sound tends to be found with mixture of different
sources. Thus patchbay is as important as an instrument, which is like good bookmark.
- Katsuya Hironaka: electronician
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