New Order Synths

Could anyone tell me what synths New Order Use/ have used in the past.

ooooh! good question! i've often wondered this, myself.

Funnily enough, this is something I've been researching too !

Shug's True Faith video has provided a few clues (I've not had the time to watch the last hour) but here's what I saw:

Since 1998, Gillian or Phil has used a Roland XP80 (which is actually a "workstation", sequencer-type keyboard).

Early days 1983-ish, both Steven and Gill used Emulators, which were still being used in 1987 for True Faith.

Interestingly, the Rock Around the Clock live appearance saw a more computerised approach - Gill had at least two Voyetra keyboards, which are MIDI controllers, as far as I know, as well as the ubiquious Emulator.

1993-ish also saw Gillian (and Barney on their TOTP World appearance) using an earlier Roland model (not numbered, but possibly something like the D-series synthesiser, eg D50).

Hope that helps :)

.. and a cowbell

"They maintain that an instrument like the ARP QUADRA,which demands no musical training is more punk than a guitar. "see that ..." Bernard Sumner points to a box of battered tricks housed in an old flight case."we built that ourselves.£100 for the sequencer and £80 for the drum machine." He confides their secret!"There's not one of our songs that uses a black note on the keyboard.That's true!"

See some owners' opinions of the ARP Quadra at The Synth Site and at Harmony Central

They definitely had the Octave-Plateau Voyetra 8 which is an eight voice rack mount and probably the VPK 5 controller. I've also spied a video or picture from way back with a Moog Source(used as the bass for Blue Monday) and a Sequential Circuits Prophet 5. I know I've seen them with Emulator Samplers and most recently with the Roland XP 80 and a Kurzweil(possibly a K2500?). Seems like I used to have some interviews/articles somewhere that went into much greater detail such as equiment failures, modifications, etc. but can't seem to find them anymore.

The VPK-5 controller keyboard is visible in the PK video, among other places. The Voyetra 8 is expensive and hard to find these days. Pretty cool synth though.

Also used: ARP Quadra (actually not a great synth, I think they just used it for strings), Oberheim DMX drum machine, Yamaha TX rack. I believe they used the Pro-One (mono Prophet) as well.

Their equipment was notoriously unreliable; they brought multiple Prophets and Emulators as backups and sometimes it still wasn’t enough. Steve has a story about frantically reprogramming a Prophet sequencer in the middle of a set (the room was too hot and humid for the synth).

On Get Ready they used the Doepfer Modular and Nord Modular, IIRC.

Originally posted by Rocket Mick "They maintain that an instrument like the ARP QUADRA,which demands no musical training is more punk than a guitar. "see that ..." Bernard Sumner points to a box of battered tricks housed in an old flight case."we built that ourselves.£100 for the sequencer and £80 for the drum machine." He confides their secret!"There's not one of our songs that uses a black note on the keyboard.That's true!"

So, is Barney saying that all of NO's songs are in C major? I guess they could play in G major or F major, if they don't use an F# or Bb, respectively.

Or A minor.;)

I don't know if they ever used a D-50, btw, I think the Roland they had in '93 was an A-80 (MIDI controller).

Originally posted by Chase Or A minor.;)I don't know if they ever used a D-50, btw, I think the Roland they had in '93 was an A-80 (MIDI controller).

Not exactly A minor. To differentiate between that and C major, you have to play a G# instead of a G, unless, of course, they play it in natural minor, without using any major V or V7 chords.

Barney wasn't exactly telling the truth when he said that all the songs only used the white notes on a keyboard. OK, it was certainly true of JD and some early New Order, but, for example, Face Up's sequencer part only uses the black notes, BLT definitely contains black notes, and many of the songs after 1985 are written in keys that suit his voice better than using white notes only.

Originally posted by Chase Steve has a story about frantically reprogramming a Prophet sequencer in the middle of a set (the room was too hot and humid for the synth).

On the Manchester Ritz 26/10/81 show, they had to turn the onstage lighting to a minimum because it was interfering with the synths - some very strange effects on In A Lonely Place !!

Originally posted by Benny's Cobweb Eyes Barney wasn't exactly telling the truth when he said that all the songs only used the white notes on a keyboard. OK, it was certainly true of JD and some early New Order, but, for example, Face Up's sequencer part only uses the black notes, BLT definitely contains black notes, and many of the songs after 1985 are written in keys that suit his voice better than using white notes only.

This Time of Night too