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Independent research by truerecs. Not affiliated with, endorsed or verified by Boards of Canada. Every item links to its public source.
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What gear does Boards of Canada use?

Boards of Canada rarely name their gear. Mike Sandison told Remix in 2002 that the Akai S1000 is his favorite of their five or six samplers and named a Big Baby Taylor guitar. MusicRadar reports a TASCAM MSR-16 reel-to-reel on hand for the Campfire Headphase era and Apple Logic Pro for arranging.

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What gear Boards of Canada uses: a sourced gear guide

Independent research by truerecs: every item links to the public source it comes from.

Mike Sandison's studio

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Tape machines

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Studio

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Mike Sandison's guitar

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Mike Sandison's records

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Mike Sandison's reading list

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Tape

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Questions

About Boards of Canada's gear.

What sampler does Boards of Canada use?

In a 2002 Remix interview Mike Sandison said the duo had five or six samplers and that his favorite by far was still the Akai S1000, which he called the most spontaneous thing for making up little tunes.

What DAW does Boards of Canada use?

MusicRadar reported in 2024 that the duo avoided software in the early 2000s, but that Apple's Logic Pro became a useful tool for structuring arrangements around The Campfire Headphase. In Remix in 2002 Marcus Eoin said they use computers sparingly for arranging.

What tape machines does Boards of Canada use?

MusicRadar wrote that a TASCAM MSR-16 reel-to-reel was frequently on hand to capture song starting points, and in Remix in 2002 Mike Sandison said they drop a lot of music onto a TASCAM 4-track for its saturating effect.

What guitar does Mike Sandison play?

He told Remix in 2002 that he had a new Taylor Big Baby steel-string guitar, unvarnished, with a crystal sound and long sustain.

What books has Mike Sandison named?

Asked by The Guardian in 2013 for three books, he named Why the West Rules, For Now by Ian Morris, You Are Not a Gadget by Jaron Lanier and Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks.

What album does Mike Sandison love?

He told Pitchfork in 2005 that My Bloody Valentine's Loveless is probably one of his top five albums of all time.

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Boards of Canada
About this guide · Last checked

Boards of Canada are the Scottish duo of brothers Mike Sandison and Marcus Eoin, behind Music Has the Right to Children, Geogaddi, Tomorrow's Harvest and Inferno. They rarely talk gear, so this guide sticks to what they have named in interviews or what gear press has reported: a sampler, a tape machine, a DAW, a guitar, a record and the books on Mike Sandison's reading list.

truerecs put this guide together from public videos, interviews and posts. Each item says how we know and links to the source. Boards of Canada didn't write it or choose anything on it. How we source gear guides.

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