• 5th October 2019
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    The debut studio album Experience by The Prodigy was first released on 28 September 1992. Read more
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Liam on tour... Liam in his Dirtchamber studio Liam in Milton Keynes with his stage setup
Liam preparing his setup in soundcheck.
Dirtchamber is Liam's home studio.
Liamat Milton Keynes 2012.

See and learn what equipment Liam Howlett uses when he composes The Prodigy's music!

About this section

This is a kind of trainspotter section. I have done this section for all those trainspotter Prodigy fans who are also interested in the equipment Liam uses when he's creating Prodigy music. One reason is that I'm also very interested about them myself. And that's one of the reasons why I have collected this huge list of gear and lots of info and pictures about them too!

About The List

Liam`s kit list, compared to some other bands is not that massive. Some of the synths are for beginners, because he's collected quite a bit of gear since the early days. But the Prodigy sound still revolves around certain pieces of kit Liam has had for years. You should also remember that this list won't be ever complete or as up to date it could be! Liam maybe won't buy anymore new stuff but he has so big collection of them and I think he gets so much gifts from the big companies too. He has also sold or given away some of his gear over the years and some are of course simply broken up. So, if you know some other hardware/software he uses or has used (seen on stage or magazines), please mail and inform me!

Studio

Liam's first home studio was originally called Earthbound. After success of the Fat of the Land Liam moved and built a new studio to his house and that's called the Dirtchamber. These days he rarely visits his gorgeus studio. He likes to write in his garden, plane or bedroom with his Apple Macbook Pro laptop. He has also used many other studios over the years like Strongroom, Rollover Studios, The Lodge and Tileyard Studios.

Live

Nowadays he also uses laptops in live shows. Although he has been always more keen on hardware gear than software and computers. One of his laptops crashed at manchester 2005. Liam took a microphone and asked who dick destroyed his laptop. Later at the end of the gig asked if anyone would like to buy a cheap computer. There are also some other known reports of problems with his Macs.

In 2005 someone called "mallorca" posted to Prodigy fansite Nekozine and said Liam doesn't do anything live apart from press a button to start each track. Liam angrily replied with a diary entry on the Official Prodigy Website and explained what he is doing live: "let me explain to the dicks out there who r apparently confused about what i do live. i got two apple mac laptops running ableton bak to bak. with ableton u can trigger audio in any way at any time.the carcuss of the tunes run from the laptops with maybe some of the keyboard parts -samples missing that i play live.most guitars r taken off and rob plays them.ableton is basically about triggering parts of the songs and thats why the set is different everytime. there is no bakup but the chance of both computers goin down is slim.whoever that tit was who said it was a cd with shouting over is a prick and i find that insulting. bye bye"

Sources

I have mainly spotted the gear myself, but some other people have also helped me a lot with building this massive section. Some stuff is spotted from various interviews and reviews. (Like Roland's and Korg's own interviews and different music interviews).

Thanks

I would like to thank all people who have helped me with this section. I would also like to thank Analogue Heaven for some nice technical infos.

Discuss about the gear at Prodigy forum with other users

Other Info

Articles/interviews

Selected articles where Liam Howlett talks about his gear of choice and/or production style.

YouTube videos

Article scans

Future Music - February 1993

Future Music - December 2000

318kb322kb322kb296kb

See other scans on the article archive

Respect to my mind and to my equipment.

Liam Howlett, December 1991, Charly single cover

Liam Howlett's gear list

Ableton Live software  
Access Virus TI Polar Picture/Info
AIWA DAT Picture
AKAI S1100 sampler Picture/Info
AKAI CD 3000 XL sampler, (10MB) Picture/Info
AKAI S2800, (10MB) x2 Picture/Info
AKAI 3200XL, (10MB) x2 Picture/Info
AKAI S5000 Picture/Info
AKAI Z8 sampler Picture/Info
Alesis BRC MIDI machine
Alesis compressor/GATE
Aphex Type C Aural Exciter
Apple Logic Pro software
Apple Mac G4 laptop
Apple Macbook Pro laptops x4
ARP 2600 analog synthesizer Picture/Info
Arturia Analog Factory Picture/Info
Arturia MicroBrute Picture/Info
Arturia MiniBrute Picture/Info
BBE Sonic Maximiser 322
Behringer Ultrafex II EX3100 2-Channel Multiband Sound Enhancement Processor Picture/Info
BOSS guitar pedals (distortion, overdrive, phaser, flanger)
BOSS SE-70 Effects unit Picture/Info
Casio Casiotone MT-41 Picture/Info
Casio Casiotone MT-68
Celestion speakers
Clavia Nord Lead Virtual Analog Synthesizer Picture/Info
DBX 160A Compressor/Limiter Picture/Info
Drawmer DL221 two/dual channel compressor Picture/Info
Drawmer LX20 stereo compressor Picture/Info
Dynachord Leslie Effects cabinet
Dynaudio Acoustics M3A monitors Picture/Info
E-MU Orbit 9090 Picture/Info
E-Mu Proteus 3 Ethnic Sound module Picture/Info
E-Mu SP-1200 sampling drum machine Picture/Info
Electrix Filter Factory Picture/Info
Event monitors
Gemini MX2200 DJ mixer
Genelec 1032A monitors Picture/Info
Genelec 6010A monitors Picture/Info
Gibson Les Paul (Steve Jones Replica)
Joemeek compressor
JVC AK-22 HI-FI Amplifier
Korg ARP Odyssey Picture/Info
Korg ER-1 - Electribe R Rhythm Synth Picture/Info
Korg Kaossilator KO-1 Dynamic Phrase Synthesizer Picture/Info
Korg KM-2 Kaoss Dynamic DJ Mixer Picture/Info
Korg Kontrol49 - midi keyboard/controller Picture/Info
Korg Legacy Collection - soft synths Picture/Info
Korg MicroKorg Analog Modeling Synthesizer with Vocoder Picture/Info
Korg Monologue Picture/Info
Korg Monotron Analogue Ribbon Synthesizer Picture/Info
Korg MS-20 keyboard Picture/Info
Korg MS-2000 Virtual Analog synth Picture/Info
Korg Prophecy Synthesizer Picture/Info
Korg R3 synthesizer vocoder Picture/Info
M-Audio Oxygen 49 (3rd gen) Picture/Info
Mackie 32-8 bus analog mixing desk Picture/Info
Mackie CR 1604 Mixer Picture/Info
Mackie Onyx 1620 16-Channel Mixer Picture/Info
Manley Enhanced Pultec EQP1A EQ Picture/Info
Manley Massive Passive stereo Tube EQ Picture/Info
Moog Prodigy Picture/Info
Moog Voyager Synthesizer Picture/Info
Morley Dual Bass Wah Picture/Info
MOTU 828 Audio Interface Picture/Info
Mutable Instruments Shruthi Picture/Info
Native Instruments Maschine Mikro MKII Picture/Info
Novation Bass Station analog synth Picture/Info
Numark Blue Dog DM900 2 Channel Mixing board Picture/Info
Oberheim Four Voice Picture/Info
Oberheim Two Voice analog synthesizer Picture/Info
Pendulum audio Quartet Picture/Info
Propellerhead Reason software Picture/Info
Propellerheads ReCycle! Picture/Info
Roland AIRA System-1 Synthesizer Picture/Info
Roland Alpha Juno-1 Picture/Info
Roland Alpha Juno-2 Picture/Info
Roland E-660 Digital Stereo Parametric Mastering EQ Picture/Info
Roland GAIA SH-01 Synthesizer Picture/Info
Roland JD-990 Picture/Info
Roland JP-08 Sound Module Picture/Info
Roland JP-8000 analog modeling synthesizer Picture/Info
Roland Juno-106 synthesizer Picture/Info
Roland MC-303 Groovebox Picture/Info
Roland MC-505 Groovebox Picture/Info
Roland SH-09 Picture/Info
Roland SH-101 monosynth Picture/Info
Roland SP-808 Groove Sampler Picture/Info
Roland Space Echo RE-201 Picture/Info
Roland TB-03 Bass Line Picture/Info
Roland TB-303 Bass Line Picture/Info
Roland TR-707 Rhythm Composer Picture/Info
Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer Picture/Info
Roland TR-909 Rhythm Composer Picture/Info
Roland VK-7 Picture/Info
Roland VP-330 Vocoder Plus Picture/Info
Roland W-30 Sampler Workstation Picture/Info
Sequental Circuits Pro One Picture/Info
Sherman Filterbank 2 Picture/Info
Sony DTC 1000 ES DAT machine Picture/Info
Sony DTC 750 ES DAT machine Picture/Info
Squier Fender bass guitar
TC Electronic Finalizer 96K Picture/Info
Technics SL1200 turntable Picture/Info
Thermionic Culture Phoenix stereo valve compressor Picture/Info
Thermionic Culture The Fat Bustard II 12 Channel Summing mixer Picture/Info
Thermionic Culture Vulture stereo valve distortion Picture/Info
TL Audio valve EQ
TOA 280 ME monitor speakers Picture/Info
Unity Audio Boulders & Avalanche
Yamaha HS50M 5" Powered Studio Monitor
Yamaha HS80M speakers

Gear that has been in use over the years

Akai DR-8 Hard disk recorder Picture/Info
Alesis ADAT mk2  
Alesis Quadraverb effect unit x2 Picture/Info
Apple Macintosh 7100 computer Picture/Info
ART MULTIVERB ALPHA 2.0  
Dynachord DLS300 digital organ  
DYNATECH HARDRIVE (270MB)  
E-MU Proteus World module  
E-MU Vintage Keys module Picture
Ensoniq DP/2 FX processor x2 Picture
Glyph Drive Scsii  
HHB CDR 800 CD recorder  
Kenton pro 2 midi to cv  
Korg Electribe EA-1  
Korg Electribe EM-1 Picture/Info
Korg Electribe ES-1 Picture/Info
Mackie 8 bus 24/8/2  
Midi xpress XT -serial port/rs422  
Moog Minimoog Picture/info
Octave Cat  
Park GB15/10 bass practice amp  
Peavy Analogue Filter  
Philips CD 624  
Roland U-220 sound module Picture/Info
Roland DJ mixer  
Roland JD-800 Picture/Info
Roland JUPITER-6 Picture/info
Roland JUPITER-8 Picture/Info
Roland VP-9000 Variphase sampler  
Sans Amp Teck 21 NYC PSA-1 distortion box Picture/Info
SCI PROPHET V (Software Synth) Picture/Info
Steinberg's Cubase on the Mac Picture
SYQUEST EZ135 hard drive Picture
Sony Laser Disk MDP850D  
Tascam CD401 MkII-CD player  
Tascam DA-20 DAT recorder Picture/Info
Tascam DA-30 MKII-DAT  
Tascam DA-40-DAT  
Tascam M-3500 32 TRACK DESK  
TEAC V3000 stereo casette deck  
Vestax PMC07 pro DJ mixer  
Yamaha SPX 1000 FX Unit Picture/Info

Help Wanted!

This section is updated regularily and needs your help. If you got some new interesting info, pics, articles, or you have seen Liam using new stuff in the gigs or somewhere else, please send all infos to me. I would be very grateful if you can contribute this project. You can contact me via mail juge@theprodigy.info.

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Further reading