Kraftwerk

[dragonsoup 10]

Anyone else seen Kraftwerk live? went over to the Manchester Apollo the other night. You wouldnt think four bored looking blokes with keyboards and laptops could put on such a good show.

[fnkysknky 10]

No but I'd love to

[Mike 10]

Saw them live at a Tribal Gathering a few years back.

 

Bit dissapointing really, didn't live up to the hype.

[mojoworking 10]

Saw them in Perth a year ago. Not a fan of electronic music generally, but I was impressed at the sound they got from just 4 keyboards

[RPG 10]

I bought Aerodynamik earlier in the week (Vinyl of course) But I prefer their earlier stuff really

 

Id love to see em live

[fnkysknky 10]

Originally posted by mojoworking

Saw them in Perth a year ago. Not a fan of electronic music generally, but I was impressed at the sound they got from just 4 keyboards

 

Thing is they aren't just using 4 keyboards, check this.......

 

http://web.bham.ac.uk/busbykg/kraftwerk/FAQ/equipment.html#equipment

 

That's some serious kit they got there....

[bellis 10]

saw them at the city hall here around 91 exellent concert:thumbsup:

[dragonsoup 10]

Think I went to that one as well Panda was better because we were much closer to the stage. But the sound in the Apollo was awesome and from what looked to be a fairly small bank of speakers.

[Mike 10]

They must be getting on a bit now?

 

I've got a lot of respect for the part they played in the development of electronic music, but it sounds pretty dated now imho.

[garrence 10]

Are there any decent electro nights in Sheffield?

[mojoworking 10]

Originally posted by fnkysknky

Thing is they aren't just using 4 keyboards, check this.......

 

http://web.bham.ac.uk/busbykg/kraftwerk/FAQ/equipment.html#equipment

 

That's some serious kit they got there....

 

Couldn't open the link, but perhaps what I should have said was that they were using just 4 keyboards on stage, plus god knows what else in the way of drum machines, loops, pre-recorded effects etc. etc.

[fnkysknky 10]

Hmmm link works fine for me but here's the list just for you

 

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 provided kick and snare drum on the track Musique Non-Stop

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 Speak and Spell electronic game machine (for electronic voices!)

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

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 tells me 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

Schaller Rotorsound

Dynacord Echocord

Dynacord Mini Dynacord

Eminent Amplifier

Echolette Panorama Mixer

Echolette Echocord Super (M61?)

Schulte Compact Phasing A

Mutron Biphase

ARP 2600 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.

 

All you need is a MIDI controller connected to your laptop and you've got virtually unlimited possibilities anyway