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Depeche Mode

2005-08-04 by Colin Ross

Depeche mode did use Emu alot. On Construction Time Again Alan Wilder had a big
influence on the album (they moved away from teen pop letting Martin's dark side being
the driving force). So did Daniel Miller. In an interview he did for Future Music or was it
Sound On Sound he stated that Alan and himself went to a scrap yard near the Studio in
Berlin and sampled to there hearts content. These samples were put to work on a
Synclavier II. Yes they also used the following Emu gear on that album. Alan on tour of that
album used Emulator EII+ Jupiter 8 and Martin had a Emulator I and a and a DX7 and
Fletch had a Prophet 2000.
Fairlight was used on Black Celabration because it happen to be there in the studio they
were using but it was not used alot, again a Synclavier was used with a EII+ and a EIII.
The Band did not like the Fairlight that much and Martin once took the piss out off it by
writing Fairlite on a Casio in a Video and while out promoting the single on tv appearences
that followed. I think he had it on "The Tube".
I know Alan didn't like the price of the Fairlight and it's upgrading, he loved the Emulator
II+ with the Optical Drive attached with unlimited sample banks and Sound Designer on an
Apple computer.
I have to say I've used a Emulator II+HD in the past and loved it. It's one of those
instruments that looked fantastic and sounded amazing. I used a Emulator I as well ( Big
Fat Sounding) but the one for me was the Emulator III and to this day i regret selling it. I
still have a Mint Emax II fully expanded which i must get out of storage and have a play
with again. It's been a while.
Hope this help,
Colin

SV: [Fairlight-CMI] Depeche Mode

2005-08-05 by Brian Ronn

I read with great interest this thread about Depeche Modes use of the Fairlight. I just wonder, Colin, I you sure that DM used the Fairlight on the Black selebration album? DM was in PUK studio, Denmark when recording Music for the masses in 1987 and PUK studio had a Fairlight CMI III. Therefore I think there's a good chance that the Music for the masses album has some Fairlight on it.

As I recall Black selebration was recorded mainly in Hansa studio in Germany and don't recall Hansa had a Fairlight.

Depeche Mode is the reason why I'm interested in recording and keyboard gear today :-)

Best regards

Brian

Denmark

Colin Ross skrev:

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Depeche mode did use Emu alot. On Construction Time Again Alan Wilder had a big
influence on the album (they moved away from teen pop letting Martin's dark side being
the driving force). So did Daniel Miller. In an interview he did for Future Music or was it
Sound On Sound he stated that Alan and himself went to a scrap yard near the Studio in
Berlin and sampled to there hearts content. These samples were put to work on a
Synclavier II. Yes they also used the following Emu gear on that album. Alan on tour of that
album used Emulator EII+ Jupiter 8 and Martin had a Emulator I and a and a DX7 and
Fletch had a Prophet 2000.
Fairlight was used on Black Celabration because it happen to be there in the studio they
were using but it was not used alot, again a Synclavier was used with a EII+ and a EIII.
The Band did not like the Fairlight that much and Martin once took the piss out off it by
writing Fairlite on a Casio in a Video and while out promoting the single on tv appearences
that followed. I think he had it on "The Tube".
I know Alan didn't like the price of the Fairlight and it's upgrading, he loved the Emulator
II+ with the Optical Drive attached with unlimited sample banks and Sound Designer on an
Apple computer.
I have to say I've used a Emulator II+HD in the past and loved it. It's one of those
instruments that looked fantastic and sounded amazing. I used a Emulator I as well ( Big
Fat Sounding) but the one for me was the Emulator III and to this day i regret selling it. I
still have a Mint Emax II fully expanded which i must get out of storage and have a play
with again. It's been a while.
Hope this help,
Colin

Re: Depeche Mode

2005-08-07 by ensnareyou

Depeche Mode used the Emulator II+ quite heavily but the majority of 
the lush sounds you are hearing are good old analog synths, many rare 
modulars that are heavily stacked and multi tracked.  No sampler even 
the Fairlight III or Synclavier II can reproduce synthesizer sounds
of 
that quality.  The Fairlight is by far the most organic, warm, analog 
style sound you can get from a sampler but even it can't reproduce 
these sounds 100% accurately.  The Emulator III was the only other 
sampler I've heard that could do synth sound reproduction well but
even 
it didn't compare to the Fairlights quality.  The Synclavier has a
very 
bright sound that cuts well in a track but its by no means lush and 
warm.