Top 5Seen using
Waldorf
QuantumSeen in Fact: Orbital's Paul Hartnoll shows us how he keeps the classic sound of rave alive, 0:15, December 2018
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Independent research by truerecs. Not affiliated with, endorsed or verified by Orbital. Every item links to its public source.
30 items · Last checked What synths does Orbital use?
In a 2018 Fact studio tour, Paul Hartnoll has been seen using a Waldorf Quantum and a Sequential Prophet X, and an Arturia MatrixBrute, a Sequential Prophet-6 and a Novation Bass Station II from the live set. CDM's 2019 rig rundown adds a Roland Jupiter-6, an Access Virus TI and Ableton Live 10, with the Novation Peak and their original Roland TB-303 kept for Phil Hartnoll.
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Top 5
Where to start with Orbital's gear.
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Top 5Seen using
Sequential
Prophet XSeen in Fact: Orbital's Paul Hartnoll shows us how he keeps the classic sound of rave alive, 0:20, December 2018
03
Top 5Seen using
EMS
VCS3Seen in Fact: Orbital's Paul Hartnoll shows us how he keeps the classic sound of rave alive, 1:50, December 2018
04
Top 5Has said they use
Macbeth Studio Systems
M5N“Some favourite synths are the Macbeth m5n, Roland system 100m elektron analogue rytm and the faithful 909 and Jupiter 6.”
Said in 15 Questions: Interview with Orbital's Paul Hartnoll, September 2018
05
Top 5Has said they use
Roland
System-100M“Some favourite synths are the Macbeth m5n, Roland system 100m elektron analogue rytm and the faithful 909 and Jupiter 6.”
Said in 15 Questions: Interview with Orbital's Paul Hartnoll, September 2018
What gear Orbital uses: a sourced gear guide
Independent research by truerecs: every item links to the public source it comes from.
Paul Hartnoll's studio
Seen using
Waldorf
QuantumSeen in Fact: Orbital's Paul Hartnoll shows us how he keeps the classic sound of rave alive, 0:15, December 2018
Seen using
Sequential
Prophet XSeen in Fact: Orbital's Paul Hartnoll shows us how he keeps the classic sound of rave alive, 0:20, December 2018
Seen using
EMS
VCS3Seen in Fact: Orbital's Paul Hartnoll shows us how he keeps the classic sound of rave alive, 1:50, December 2018
Find it on
Has said they use
Macbeth Studio Systems
M5N“Some favourite synths are the Macbeth m5n, Roland system 100m elektron analogue rytm and the faithful 909 and Jupiter 6.”
Said in 15 Questions: Interview with Orbital's Paul Hartnoll, September 2018
Find it on
Has said they use
Roland
System-100M“Some favourite synths are the Macbeth m5n, Roland system 100m elektron analogue rytm and the faithful 909 and Jupiter 6.”
Said in 15 Questions: Interview with Orbital's Paul Hartnoll, September 2018
Seen using
Roland
TR-909 Rhythm Composer“Our 909 is held together with love and tape.”
Seen in CDM: Like a studio onstage, Orbital tells us their live rig synth secrets, January 2019
Has said they use
Roland
Jupiter-8“I just had my Jupiter-8 modified to sync the right way”
Said in CDM: Like a studio onstage, Orbital tells us their live rig synth secrets, January 2019
Has said they use
Native Instruments
Kontakt“I made a round robin kind of thing and processed it in Kontakt to make it sort of a robotic constant-pitch thing.”
Said in CDM: Like a studio onstage, Orbital tells us their live rig synth secrets, January 2019
Orbital's live rig
Seen using
Arturia
MatrixBrute“Most of the sounds in this track come from the MatrixBrute.”
Seen in CDM: Like a studio onstage, Orbital tells us their live rig synth secrets, January 2019
Seen using
Roland
Jupiter-6“Is the Jupiter-6 the best synth in the world? No, but it’s got a lot of character, and a lot of our old songs rely on it.”
Seen in CDM: Like a studio onstage, Orbital tells us their live rig synth secrets, January 2019
Seen using
Sequential
Prophet-6Seen in Fact: Orbital's Paul Hartnoll shows us how he keeps the classic sound of rave alive, 6:28, December 2018
Seen using
Access Music
Virus TI“It cuts through like a guitar.”
Seen in CDM: Like a studio onstage, Orbital tells us their live rig synth secrets, January 2019
Find it on
Seen using
Novation
Bass Station IISeen in Fact: Orbital's Paul Hartnoll shows us how he keeps the classic sound of rave alive, 7:48, December 2018
Seen using
Novation
Launch Control XL“These are our virtual mixing channels, and each song gets threaded through to these channels.”
Seen in CDM: Like a studio onstage, Orbital tells us their live rig synth secrets, January 2019
Seen using
Ableton
Live 10Seen in CDM: Like a studio onstage, Orbital tells us their live rig synth secrets, January 2019
Phil Hartnoll's synths
Seen using
Novation
Peak“We keep this and this [points to Novation Peak and Roland TB-303] exclusively for Phil, he plays with them.”
Seen in CDM: Like a studio onstage, Orbital tells us their live rig synth secrets, January 2019
Seen using
Roland
TB-303 Bass Line“It’s not even silver any more, it’s brown, it’s like a lot of our gear.”
Seen in CDM: Like a studio onstage, Orbital tells us their live rig synth secrets, January 2019
The early albums
Has said they use
Korg
Wavestation“There’s a lot of the Wavestation here.”
Said in MusicRadar: Orbital on recording The Green Album, April 2024
Has said they use
OSC
OSCar“the primary sound is the OSCar doing its additive synthesis”
Said in MusicRadar: Orbital on recording The Green Album, April 2024
Has said they use
“Then we had a [Roland] R-8 drum machine, and a [Roland] SH-09.”
Said in MusicRadar: Orbital on recording The Green Album, April 2024
Has said they use
Roland
SH-09“It’s used as a high pitch sound, running a [Roland] SH-09, on Choice.”
Said in MusicRadar: Orbital on recording The Green Album, April 2024
Has said they use
Yamaha
DX100“I just did a big kind of Hammond organ style solo on my [Yamaha] DX100 over the top of it”
Said in MusicRadar: Orbital on recording The Green Album, April 2024
Has said they use
Atari
Atari ST“We were using the Atari (ST).”
Said in MusicRadar: Orbital on recording The Green Album, April 2024
Find it on
Has said they use
Akai Professional
S700 SamplerSaid in 15 Questions: Interview with Orbital's Paul Hartnoll, September 2018
Find it on
Has said they use
Korg
Poly-800“But the first proper thing we bought was a drum machine, a Poly 800, and a KMX30 to link them both together.”
Said in Sound On Sound: Orbital, recording Chime in their London studio, April 1994
Has said they use
E-mu
Emax sampler“We had an Emax keyboard at first, expanded to 8Mb, which was great after having been used to an S700”
Said in Sound On Sound: Orbital, recording Chime in their London studio, April 1994
Seen using
ARP
ARP 2600“they have consolidated this preference by purchasing an ARP 2600 and a Roland System 100.”
Seen in Sound On Sound: Orbital, recording Chime in their London studio, April 1994
Has said they use
Alesis
MMT-8 sequencer“We use two MT88s live and have them running in pattern play, so that you can just jam and improvise with them.”
Said in Sound On Sound: Orbital, recording Chime in their London studio, April 1994
Find it on
Alesis
ADAT
Has said they use
Alesis
ADAT“that’s another reason why we got the ADAT, so that when we were using analogue synths, we could effectively record a lot of the modulation onto a track of the ADAT”
Said in Sound On Sound: Orbital, recording Chime in their London studio, April 1994
On Paul Hartnoll's nightstand
Has said they love
Marcus Chown
The Never-Ending Days of Being Dead“It’s stranger than fiction.”
Said in 15 Questions: Interview with Orbital's Paul Hartnoll, September 2018
Also at
Questions
About Orbital's gear.
What synths does Orbital use?
Orbital has been seen using the Waldorf Quantum (youtube.com, December 2018). Orbital has been seen using the Sequential Prophet X (youtube.com, December 2018). Orbital has been seen using the EMS VCS3 (youtube.com, December 2018).
What synths do Orbital play live?
CDM's 2019 live rig list names an Arturia MatrixBrute, Roland Jupiter-6, Sequential Prophet-6, Access Virus TI, Novation Bass Station II, Novation Peak and Roland TB-303, run with three Novation Launch Control XL controllers and Ableton Live 10.
What are Paul Hartnoll's favourite synths?
He told 15 Questions in 2018 that his favourites included the Macbeth M5N, the Roland System-100M, the Elektron Analog Rytm, and the TR-909 and Jupiter-6 he had owned for nearly 30 years, adding that synths go in and out of favour with him all the time.
Do Orbital still have the TB-303 from Chime?
Yes. In CDM's 2019 interview, Paul Hartnoll confirmed the TB-303 in the live rig is their original one and joked that it is not even silver any more, it is brown. He said it and the Novation Peak are kept for Phil to play.
What gear did Orbital make the Green Album with?
Speaking to MusicRadar in 2024, the brothers said they recorded on an Atari ST straight to DAT, with a Korg Wavestation, an Oxford OSCar, a Roland R-8, a Roland SH-09, a Yamaha DX100, an E-mu Emax 2 and the TB-303 they have had since the very beginning.
What samplers did Orbital use in the early 90s?
They told Sound On Sound in 1994 that they started on an Akai S700, moved to an E-mu Emax keyboard, then chose an Emulator III rackmount. An Alesis ADAT recorded their analogue synth modulation, and two Alesis MT88 sequencers ran the live show.
What book has Paul Hartnoll named?
In his 2018 15 Questions interview he named The Never-Ending Days Of Being Dead by Marcus Chown, Dispatches From The Front Line Of Science, and said it is stranger than fiction.
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Named in this guide
O
Orbital
About this guide · Last checked
Orbital are the brothers Paul and Phil Hartnoll, the British duo behind Chime, Halcyon and Belfast. This guide covers the synths, drum machines, samplers and controllers from Paul's studio tour for Fact and their live rig interview with CDM, plus Sound On Sound, MusicRadar and 15 Questions interviews and a book Paul has named.
truerecs put this guide together from public videos, interviews and posts. Each item says how we know and links to the source. Orbital didn't write it or choose anything on it. How we source gear guides.
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