Kraftwerk
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What sort of equipment is used by Kraftwerk?
A variety of equipment has been used by Kraftwerk over the years.
Here are some examples:
New equipment used in concerts in 2002 included:
- 3 NEC projectors
- 4 Sony VAIO laptops
- Cubase SX sofware
In recent years Ralf and Florian have established links with German manufacturers Doepfer (particularly in respect of their MAQ 16/3 Analog / MIDI sequencer and Quasimidi Quasar synthesiser found great favour with Kraftwerk).
Equipment for the 1998 world tour included:
- Nord Lead 2 synthesiser
- Studio Electronics SE1
- optical drives
- four Kawai K-5000 synthesisers
- Quasimidi QM-309 Rave-o-lution synthesiser
- Tascam DA-88 8-track digital audio recorder
- 4 Roland mixers
- Doepfer Regelwerk MIDI Fader Box / Sequencer
- 2 Doepfer MAQ 16/3 sequencers
- Doepfer Schaltwerk sequencer
- Doepfer A-100 modular synthesiser
- Doepfer MMR4/4
- miniature MIDI keyboard custom-made by Doepfer
- Doepfer LMK2 master keyboard (customised)
- Waldorf Microwave
- Boss SE50 effects processor (at least 4 of these)
- 4 Akai samplers
- Robovox (see 1990 entry below)
- laptop computer
- Eventide effects processor
- Sony disk drive
The concerts for The Mix used an Atari ST for graphics. By the time of the 1997 concert at Tribal Gathering, graphics were apparently supplied by a Toshiba PC with a magneto-optical drive. This concert featured quite a lot of audio equipment by Doepfer, including the Schaltwerk sequencer and the MMK2 miniature keyboard (used in the performance of 'Pocket Calculator'). There were also a couple of Akai samplers, mixers, patchbays and a CD player of the type used by DJs and radio stations.
Concerts in June 1992 in the UK featured an Akai DD1000 Digital Recorder.
In November 1990, Florian Schneider and colleagues patented a "system for and method of synthesizing singing in real time". This become known as the Robovox.
At some points during the 1980's, Kraftwerk used:
- NED Synclavier
- 1 Yamaha TX816 synthesiser
- 2 Atari ST computers
On the 1986 album Electric Cafe:
- a Linn LM-1 Drum Machine was used on album Electric Cafe but only on the first 2 tracks (Boing Boom Tschak, Tecno Pop) and then on the title track (Electric Cafe). Musique Non Stop was a Roland TR-808. (Tracks 1 and 2 were a mixture of the LM-1 (kick, detuned handclap, and pitched up LM-1 tambourine), the LinnDrum (snare #23, and the metallic clanky percussion was provided by the E-MU Emulator2. Electric Cafe has the LM-1 kick and LinnDrum snare #23. The Telephone Call is all LinnDrum.)
- an NED Synclavier provided resynthesized voices on the tracks Electric Cafe and Music Non Stop.
On the 1983 single Tour de France, a pre-production E-Mu Emulator sampler provided the Pentatonic Harp Glissando and Slap Bass sounds.
The 1981 Computer World tour included:
- a Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 synthesiser
- a Moog Minimoog synthesiser
- a Moog Polymoog synthesiser
- Texas Instruments Language Translator machine (for electronic voices, it has different language memory cards)
- Roland MC8 MicroComposer sequencer (although this was not used on any Kraftwerk records)
- Custom-built 32-step analogue sequencers by Matten & Wiechers
- Texas Instruments Pocket Translator
- Dubreq Stylophone (this is a small handheld 'synth' made in the 1960s, which operated via a stylus touching a metal keyboard, the original versions could not switch octaves; for the sounds of Pocket Calculator)
- Mattel BEEGEE mini keyboard
The calculator used to make sounds in the song Pocket Calculator was probably the Casio FX-501b. Some of the other sounds on this track were made using a
Mattel Bee Gees Rhythm Machine, a battery-powered keyboard released in 1978.
A Friendchip "Mr. Lab" unit (aka "Music and Rhythm Laboratory") was used on the 1981 album Computer World. This offered TR808-style rhythm programming and a TB303-style miniature keyboard that allowed the programming of sequencer patterns
Equipment used in the late 1970's included:
- 2 "Synthanorma" 16-step custom-built analogue sequencers built by Matten & Wiechers; Dirk Matten said that there were "2 rows of switches, one for semi-tones, one for octaves"
- Farfisa electric piano- custom-built electronic drum pads
- Moog Minimoog
- ARP Odyssey
- Orchestron (see the separate entry below)
On the 1978 album The Man-Machine, a Moog Micromoog synthesiser provides the bass sound on The Model. An Eventide Digital Delay was used on this album only.
On the 1977 album Trans-Europe Express, an Eventide FL-201 Instant Flanger was used.
On the 1976 album Radioactivity:
- Ralf Hütter sings through a Roland RE-201 Space Echo on the song Antenna
- A military speech synthesizer, based on creating phonemes, was used on the song Radioland
- An Orchestron provided choir sounds
On the 1974 album Autobahn, Kraftwerk used:
- Moog Minimoog
- ARP (white-faced) Odyssey
- customized Farfisa Rhythm Unit 10
- Vox Percussion King
- Farfisa Professional Piano
- EMS Synthi-A
- Schulte Compact Phasing A
- Mutron Biphase
- other outboard equipment in Conny Plank's studio
The back cover of the 1973 album Ralf & Florian shows a Moog Minimoog synthesiser, a Farfisa electric piano, an EMS Synthi A synthesiser, flutes and an eight-string guitar.
In an interview published in The Guardian (1st March 2001), former Kraftwerk member Karl Bartos says that "in the early days of Kraftwerk" Ralf Hütter "bought an immense and expensive Moog synthesiser". However, all other sources indicate that the only Moog in the early days was the Minimoog mentioned above (the Minimoog was expensive, but not immense like the Moog modular synthesisers).
The following vocoders have been used by Kraftwerk:
- Roland SVC-350
- Roland VP-330
- Sennheiser VSM-201
- EMS 2000/3000/5000 series
- Synton 221 (unconfirmed)
Other equipment used by the band over the years includes:
- Hammond L-100 organ
- Hammond B3 organ
- Farfisa organ
- Rotor Sound
- Dynacord Echocord
- Dynacord Echocord Mini
- Eminent Amplifier
- Echolette Panorama Mixer
- Echolette Echocord Super
(see more models at
http://www.el-me-se.de)
- Schulte Compact Phasing A
- Mutron Biphase
- ARP 2600 semi modular synthesiser (unconfirmed)
- ARP 2500 modular synthesiser (unconfirmed)
- ARP Omni 1
- Oberheim SEM synthesiser (unconfirmed)
- Korg PS-3100 (used live by Karl Bartos)
- Korg PS-3200
- Korg PS-3300 (now owned by Karl Bartos)
- Texas Instruments TI-99a Computer with Speech Synthesizer cartridge
- Eventide H-910 Harmonizer
- Mattel Synsonics electronic drum
- Roland 100m modular synthesiser
- Simmons SDS-5 Drum Modules
- Triggersumme (a precursor of the Simmons SDS-6, a Matrix of 5x32 clocked switches which allowed Wolfgang Flür to program patterns of 2x16 or 1x32 steps, controlling either the Simmons SDS-5 or other rhythm units)
- Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer
- Doepfer A-100 modular synthesiser modules
- Doepfer MS-404
- Roland S-750 sampler
- Roland S-770 sampler
- Shure microphones
- guitars, flutes, a vibraphone and other acoustic instruments, in the early years of the group
Sources for the above information include:
- Dirk Matten (of Synthesizerstudio Bonn and Matten + Wiechers)
- Stephen/Wavecomputer360 (special thanks for lots of information)
- Karl Bartos interview, March 1998 issue of Sound on Sound magazine
- articles in Electronics and Music Maker magazine
- articles in Aktivität magazine
- Wolfgang Flür's autobiography
- many other articles over the years
What instrument provided the choir sound on Radioactivity?
The choir sound on Radioactivity (from the 1975 album Radioactivity) was made not, as often believed, by a Mellotron (that famous instrument which incorporated tape recordings of choir and instrument sounds), but by an instrument called the Orchestron. This was an analogue sampling instrument which used optical disks to store the sounds of real voices and orchestral instruments. Kraftwerk were provided with one of these by the manufacturer well in advance of the instrument's official public release. Initially they owned a single-manual Orchestron, but later, they obtained another one with two keyboards; this one was used until the first half of their 1981 tour when it was replaced by a second Moog Polymoog synthesiser.
The Orchestron was used for choir and strings sounds on a number of other songs by Kraftwerk, for example Radioland, Franz Schubert and Showroom Dummies. You can read more about this instrument and its relatives at the Optigan.com Web site.
