Synths of Pink Floyd: Welcome to the Machine
The synths that contributed to the Floyd sound, including instruments by EMS, Moog, Roland, Solina and more!
The Floyd may be most celebrated for the guitar work of David Gilmour but Rick Wakeman’s synth playing was top-notch too. After that space rock sound? Here are five of the synths of Pink Floyd. The last one may surprise you!
Synths of Pink Floyd
Welcome to the Machine
When you think of Pink Floyd, the first thing that probably comes to mind is the amazing guitar playing and tone of David Gilmour. But there was much more to the band than that. As a keyboard guy, I’ve always loved Rick Wright’s contributions to the band, especially his synthesizer playing.
Today, let’s look at five of the synths of Pink Floyd, as well as some modern recreations where appropriate so that you can incorporate their sound into your own tracks if you wish.
Synths of Pink Floyd: EMS VCS3 and Synthi AKS
Keyboards were a big part of Pink Floyd’s sound right from the start, with Wright filling out the sonic psychedelic landscape with a Farfisa Combo Compact organ run through a Binson Echorec. It’s no surprise, then, that they would adopt synthesizers as soon as possible.
Their first synth was an EMS VCS3, which provided the wind sound at the beginning of “One of These Days” on Meddle. But it was another EMS synth that is probably most associated with Pink Floyd. That would be the Synthi AKS, with its built-in sequencer getting a workout for “On the Run” from The Dark Side of the Moon. Another Dark Side track, “Any Colour You Like,” also features a Synthi AKS. Yes, that’s very likely a Synthi that Rick is playing the solo with. Just lovely.
Any original EMS synth is going to set you back a pretty penny these days. If you’re after that sound, try Behringer’s AKS Mini. Erica Synths does the SYNTRX 2, which features a Synthi-like interface and architecture but with its own sound. There are also a few great software versions available too, like Arturia’s Synthi V.
The Behringer AKS Mini is available from our affiliate partners Thomann* and Sweetwater*.
Synths of Pink Floyd: Moog Minimoog
By the time of Wish You Were Here, the band’s 1975 follow-up to Dark Side, Wright had added a Moog Minimoog to his rig. It’s all over the album, handling lead synth duties. You can hear it extensively on the album’s centerpiece, “Shine on You Crazy Diamond.” The Minimoog would go on to appear on Animals as well, adding a tasteful complement to David’s guitar playing.
Pink Floyd weren’t alone in their love of the Minimoog. It was a firm prog rock band favorite – hell, it was a favorite of bands and musicians of all kinds. Still is.
If you’re after a Floyd-style Minimoog sound, you’re in luck, as there are plenty of ways to get it. Moog still makes one, and Behringer’s Model D is a solid budget take on it.
The Moog Minimoog Bob Moog Tribute edition is available from our affiliate partner Thomann*.
Synths of Pink Floyd: Solina String Ensemble
By the mid-1970s, Pink Floyd were in the same boat as a lot of other bands. They wanted keyboard polyphony but organs were going out of fashion. It was still a few years away before the Prophet-5 would make analog polyphonic synths accessible. Until then, the Floyd did what a lot of other bands and musicians did: they bought a Solina String Ensemble.
The best-known of the many string machines of the 1970s, the Solina String Ensemble (licensed to ARP and sold as the ARP String Ensemble in many markets too) was a fully polyphonic synth with divide-down oscillators and a distinctive ensemble chorus for that swirly-wirly feel. It’s all over Wish You Were Here and Animals, including on “Sheep,” my favorite Animals track and contender for top PF song of all time.
The best way to get that sound hardware-wise is Behringer’s own Solina String Ensemble.
The Behringer Solina String Ensemble is available from our affiliate partners Thomann* and Sweetwater*.
Synths of Pink Floyd: Sequential Circuits Prophet-5
The Wall in 1979 was a watershed record not only for Pink Floyd, but for rock in general. The sprawling concept album was a massive hit, spawned a movie and sent the band out on the road, where they built a physical wall between themselves and the audience during the course of the show. Madness. The album had a new sound for the Floyd, incorporating orchestrations as arranged by Michael Kamen. As part of this approach, they also changed their synth rig, leaning heavily on the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5.
The Wall is decidedly not a synth album, so when the Prophet-5 does pop up, you notice it. It was most famously used to provide the tearing oscillator-sync solo in “Run Like Hell,” a highlight of the album. You can also hear it on “Don’t Leave Me Now” and “Vera.”
If you want a Prophet-5, look no further than Sequential itself, which does a modern recreation of it as well as a 10-voice version called (unsurprisingly) Prophet-10.
The Sequential Prophet-5 is available from our affiliate partners Thomann* and Sweetwater*.
Synths of Pink Floyd: Roland JX-10
Pink Floyd were in dire straits by the mid-1980s. Rick Wright had been fired and Waters left in 1985. In 1987, sans Waters and with a reinstated Wright, Pink Floyd released their comeback, A Momentary Lapse of Reason. The late 1980s were far removed from the mid-1970s, and accordingly Floyd had a fresh new sound. Part of that included the Kurzweil K250 sampler, as well as a new analog synth, the Roland JX-10.
Roland’s flagship synthesizer of the time (and their last analog synth until very recently), the Super-JX (as it’s also known) was essentially two JX-8P’s in one. With its many performance features, the JX-8P was very popular with gigging musicians. Being a player himself, it makes sense that Wright would gravitate towards an instrument like the JX-10. You can hear it on the intro song, “Signs of Life,” and most famously on the single, “Learning to Fly.”
The Super-JX is something of a forgotten synth in Roland’s history but the JX-8P has experienced a reappraisal as of late. Roland updated it for the digital 21st century in the form of the JX-08, and there are a few software takes on it as well, including TAL Software’s TAL-J8X.
The Roland JX-08 is available from our affiliate partners Thomann* and Sweetwater*.
More Information
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