Orbital
Not to be confused with The Orb, or William Orbit
In Sides
Orbital are a pair of UK electronic musicians who rose to prominence during British rave culture. Their name comes from the M25 motorway people would drive around while looking for raves.
They're known for their live act. While this involves playing pre-sequenced notes, the manual switching to different patterns, tweaking the TB-303's knobs, and bringing in each part on the faders, was still much closer to a truly live performance than other electronic musicians of the era, and in a way seems like a precursor to Ableton Live's workflow.
Equipment list
Circa Chime
- Akai S700[1][2][3]
- Korg Poly-800[2][4][5]
- Roland SH-09[1][2][4][3]
- Roland TB-303[1][2][4][3][5]
- Roland TR-909[1][2][4][3][5]
- Yamaha DX100[1][2][4][3][5]
Additions circa [The Brown Album]
- ARP 2600[6][4]
- Alesis ADAT[1][2][4]
- Alesis QuadraVerb[1][4]
- Atari 1040ST[1][4]
- C-LAB Creator[1][2][4]
- Casio DA-2[1][4]
- Didgeridoo[7]
- E-mu Emax II[1][7]
- Korg Wavestation A/D[1][2][4]
- Mackie CR-1604[1]
- Oberheim Xpander[1][2][4]
- OSC OSCar[1][4]
- Roland Jupiter-6[1][2][4][8]
- Roland R-8[1][4]
- Roland SH-101[1][4][9]
- Roland SPD-8[1]
- Another Roland TB-303[1]
- Yamaha NS-10M monitors[1][4]
Additions circa Snivilisation
- Mackie 24-8[4]
- Roland System-100[4][9] (Model-101, Model-102 ×2, Model-104)
- Roland TR-808[4]
Selected discography
- [The Brown Album], 1993
- Snivilisation, 1994
- In Sides, 1996
References
- "The Magic Circle" Phil Ward, Music Technology, Jun 1993, pp. 56—60
- "[Unknown]" Dave Robinson, Future Music, Aug 1993
- "Classic Tracks: Orbital 'Chime'" Richard Buskin, Sound On Sound, Dec 2006
- "Music of Spheres" Nigel Humberstone, Sound On Sound, Apr 1994
- "'Chime' by Orbital" Mat Smith, Electronic Sound, Apr 2017
- "Mindstream (Mind the Bend the Mind)" Meat Beat Manifesto, Orbital, Mindstream, 1993
- "Sampling Nation: They're Making Samplers Wrong" Greg Rule, Keyboard, May 1994, pp. 44—53
- "A Cosmic Dog" Andy Fyfe, Record Collector, Dec 2015
- "Paul and Phil Hartnoll (Orbital). Ask Me Anything. Streamed live on 27th February 2023." Orbital, Feb 2023
Further reading
Interviews
- "The Magic Circle" Phil Ward, Music Technology, Jun 1993, pp. 56—60
- "Music of Spheres" Nigel Humberstone, Sound On Sound, Apr 1994
- "Sampling Nation: They're Making Samplers Wrong" Greg Rule, Keyboard, May 1994, pp. 44—53
Artists: Aphex Twin | Autechre | Derrick May | Fatboy Slim | Juan Atkins | Kevin Saunderson | Kraftwerk | LFO (artist) | Man Machine | Moby | Nine Inch Nails | Orbital | Richie Hawtin | The Future Sound of London | The Prodigy | Underworld | Vladimir Ussachevsky | Wendy Carlos | William Orbit | Zoë Blade
