Equipment
Liam Howlett’s synths and gear in studio and live.
Roland U-220 sound module
About:
It's got Liam's favourite string sounds on it. He has used the strings, piano and a few other sounds on Experience and Jilted albums.
The U-220 is a 1U (19-inch rackmount) module of the Roland U-20 keyboard without the keys. It has all the same sounds and features packaged in a compact single-space sound module. 128 high quality instruments, 6 part multitimbral and 30 note polyphony. It was the successor of the U-110 that was released in 1988. The U-220 has the same LCD screen and expansion possibilities, but fewer knobs on the front panel than the U-20.
Used:
G-Force (Part 1), Everybody in the Place, Out Of Space (Preset A58 Soft Pad)
I've had that years. That's one of my all-time favourites for strings; the strings on there are a Prodigy trademark! If anyone puts a bit of chorus on those strings, you get the sound from 'Out Of Space' straight away.
I bought a sound module - a Roland U220 - and a Roland 909 drum machine. That was how the third EP came about: I wrote a track just to try out the sounds on the U220, it wasn't meant to be a track, it was just meant to be a demo to see how the U220 went. That turned out to be 'G Force' and went on the b-side of the third EP. It's actually one of the strongest tracks.
Roland related articles
01 May 1992 | The Music Technology Magazine
The Lone Raver
01 Feb 1993 | Future Music
Prodigious talent
01 Oct 1996 | Sound On Sound
Liam Howlett • The Prodigy & Firestarter
01 Mar 1997 | The Mix
Playing with fire!
01 Jan 1999 | Power On
Catching Up With The Prodigy
01 Dec 2000 | Future Music
DIY Prodigy
01 Oct 2004 | Sound On Sound
Liam Howlett: Recording Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned
29 Nov 2004 | Korg magazine
Never Outgunned: Liam Howlett
01 Feb 2005 | Keyboard Magazine
Trim the Fat
01 Oct 2010 | Sound On Sound
Jon Burton: Mixing & Recording The Prodigy Live
18 May 2015 | MusicTech magazine
Landmark Productions: The Prodigy – The Fat of the Land
30 Jul 2019 | MusicTech magazine
Prodigy engineer/co-producer Neil Mclellan remembers the Jilted Generation sessions
If you know something else about this piece of gear, please mail to me or contact me via feedback form.