Before the digital revolution.. What gear was most common?

[Trance Explorer]

Ive been thinking about this a lot lately.

Ive been into electronic dance music for some time now, buying records for 10 years.

I was into the classic hard trance on labels like Bonzai, Tunnel, EDM
the hardcore on Ruffneck, Rotterdam and Mokum
The old uk rave on Suburban Base, Formation, Moving Shadow

All this was before the digital revolution, all made using Hardware.
No vst plugins and effects.

So what pieces of equipment were most common?
for example Roland 303 + 909, Roland Alpha Juno...

But what else?
Synths, Sampler, Analogue Mixer, Distortion, Reverb, Delay, EQ, Compression effects units?

I hope this question makes sense and somebody knows the answers

What im thinking is that maybe i can pick up some of this equipment second hand

[Timo]

Before digital was....analogue.

ok...

I think all samplers were digital? Apart from tape, of course.

I'd take a guess at: feedback delays being roland space echos n stuff; reverb = recording REAL ambient spaces to tape (ie., like taking an amplifer + speaker to a room, playing music through it and then recording the result via a mic), or using spring verb and stuff; distortion being guitar pedals, stomp boxes, and overdriven mixer channels; Nice analogue circuitry inc. valves n shit for compression, eq, pre-amps, and just about everything else; plenty of analogue outboard; and of course analogue synths galore for sound sources; and mixers being 8-buss consoles, like the mackie 8-buss or soundcraft ghost.

[Hollowcell]

Best way is to research the some of the bands/artists you used to get into.

Some common gear you will find..

Manley.
Mackie.
Moog.
Roland.
Akai.
DBX.
Drawmer.
Boss.
Ibanez.

Just to name a few really.
You have to remember that during the late 80s and 90s they tended to use the gear that was cheaper then - which is all the vintage gear that costs a fortune now.

[Trance Explorer]

Interesting idea about recording real life reverbs from rooms. I was thinking maybe everyone used a particular outboard unit like a Lexicon or TC Electronic model.

In case anyone is unfamilar with the labels i listed they were all around from 93 onwards so the gear wouldnt be that vintage...

Ive seen akai and emu samplers on ebay really cheap now, same with the lexicon & TC units. Thats why i was thinking i could get some classic analogue gear cheap.
I know some old synths like the moog are very expensive nowdays though

I just want to get that big sound in my productions

[DIGITAL SCREAMS]

Originally Posted by Trance Explorer

classic analogue gear cheap

Paradox

Originally Posted by Trance Explorer

I just want to get that big sound in my productions

Glad to hear it. For genuinely weighty bass, leads, FX, blips 'n' bleeps, reso bubbles, drones.......ok you get the picture......buy yourself a decent twin oscilator analog monosynth (i.e. Pro-One) or quad oscilator analog mono (i.e. Mono-Poly, modular). There is no substitute for real analog rawness.

DS

[Hollowcell]

Originally Posted by Trance Explorer

In case anyone is unfamilar with the labels i listed they were all around from 93 onwards so the gear wouldnt be that vintage...

Ahh, but much of the gear they used in the early 90s was the gear which sounded the best and was the most affordable - 80s (or even earlier) gear.

Can you list any artist or band names you were/are interested in from that period?

[Smag]

If you want analog for techno i'd go for Studio Electronics ATC-1XQF and get a knobby controller for it.

If you're after analog with that 70's type sound I'd go for a Macbeth M3X or if you've the money and space - an M5.

[Tomer=Trance]

usualy most of these early trance productions came from homestudios aswell,a home studio back in the early 90s was a few akai samplers and a hardware or a computer sequencer software like Cubase 3.xx (pre cubase Vst X.XX version).
they would pack these samplers with sampled analog synths dou to the fact that buying a decent analog poly synth was realy expensssive.