Korg Prophecy

Release date: 1995
Type: Digital synthesizer 

This baby was used mostly in live shows between 1995-2005 before Liam totally broke it! We can also hear a preset (Space Adventure) in Firestarter.

Liam also reportedly used a Korg Prophecy for distorted TB-303ish main acid synth lead in Smack My Bitch Up.

About:

Between 96-98 Korg Prophecy was the synth responsible for many of the crazy live noises you could have heard during the live show. Actually this synth was travelling with Liam many many years. It was last seen in 2005 shows. Many people thought that Liam loves this keyboard (including me), But if you check these two different comments below.. you can think twice.. anyway it's really hard to know what Liam really thinks about it but it is well known that this synth was heavily used when the Fat of the Land album was made. I can't say which one of the interviews is made first, but maybe he is just in bad mood when the second interview is made.

Liam's comment:
"The Prophecy is one of the few things that produces big distortion as far as a ready-to-run synth goes. It's at its best on stage, though I've used it on just about every track on the new album so far. The programming is so open, it's great for resonant sweeps, and the ribbon is quite handy. You can also record filter changes over MIDI onto the Mac. There are so many different things you can do with it. It's not the type of keyboard I'd go to to start a song with -- it's better for distortion and feedback sounds. It's a shame it's only monophonic -- it's got some good string sounds. " (Sound On Sound septemper 1996)

And like usual he has changed his mind in another interview some years after...

"It`s Absolute Crap" He says this because it has only three good sounds on it and it is too expensive (even though he got it free). He says that if you buy a £900 pounds keyboard then you would expect to turn it on and play chords on it and possibly switch it to solo mode. You don`t expect it to be stuck in solo! What's the point in having a good string sound if you can't play chords with it.

Liam with Korg Prophecy in his Earthbound home studio probably in '96.