Dom Beken's Keyboard & Synthesizer Rig On Tour With Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets

[@MrTownsend]

Reading all these comments about how the sounds are not from the 60s/70s. Service and repairs for a farfisa/hammond/etc are not cheap and not to mention you would need another van just for those instruments alone. To pay homage to Pink Floyd, you want to find the right equipment but still honor that spirit of exploration. For the size of the venues they are playing, the compact setup is actually pretty complex, well thought out and works amazingly well.

[@montag4516]

A fine, relevant interview. Thanks for sharing. I've been to one of the Saucerful of Secrets shows. Quite frankly, it was kick @ss and an extremely rewarding performance to witness. My one real disappointment though was the absence of any true analog organs, Farfisa, Hammond, etc, (the difference of which is huge to many of us), but I accept Dom's reasons here as legit. It's also good to know that everything from the band is/was being played live including room for improvising and many of the effects and changes are being made by hand in real time.

[@jimkost2002]

Really enjoyed this interview ! Dom was really articulate, thoughtful and generous! Great stuff!

[@tmead07]

That self-made piano patch is great (and such a clever idea with the knife plucking and other "sound effects" from messing about with your home piano).

[@moondog0468]

FYI, the synthesizer used on "Obscured By Clouds" was a Synthi A/VCS3. Which is the same that was used on "Dark Side Of The Moon". Pink Floyd took time out from Dark Side recording to do the soundtrack. So this is what they used. Rick didn't get a MiniMoog till 1974 I believe.

[@lenini056]

I love how there's a synthesizer on the set despite that Floyd never used one till Dark Side of the Moon and this tour covers music before 73.

[@bingusmode4650]

Actually they used them on Meddle and Obscured by Clouds

[@ChildovGhad]

Best I can come up with is a Hammond T4 lol... But at least for a while I got to take part in Dom's band Years Of The Canine, as on-call live show bassist in case a North American tour happened. It wasn't to be, and I never actually met Dom (him being in UK and me being in Omaha, Nebraska), but I had a lot of fun in rehearsals with frontman Dynamax Roberts! I was also really stoked, as a lifelong Pink Floyd fan, to be playing bass lines recorded by Dom's comrade, Guy Pratt. :D

[@SweetScaleTV]

i would be in heaven!! someday I hope to have a rig like this!!

[@mikec32001]

Excellent stuff. Looking forward to seeing the band live in London on Monday.

[@synthanatomy]

hope you enjoy it so much that I did :) excellent concert ;)

[@pthomas36]

I have to wait till March, but seeing this rig makes the wait that much tougher. I wonder if they'll play Echoes...

[@adamziolkowski2549]

I really like this setup. I saw him in Milwaukee.....

[@kfirtsairi3986]

total inspiration sir.

[@JuanMoraMusic10]

wow, didn't know Sting was playing keyboards with Nick Mason

[@TheHFB]

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

[@northernlight_official]

Nice, saw them live in Stockholm!

[@TozBourne]

Wow, very cool!

[@custompedalboards]

lovin that nord C20

[@bertvdlast]

Custom pedal boards. I have the Nord C2 which is a brilliant organ but i would rather have real drawbars.

[@Eisonhawk]

Groovy

[@bio12code-privatinstitut56]

genial

[@Gusrikh1]

Very interesting..

[@234cheech]

wtf was that at the start that interviewer

[@ZTAudio]

Yep. I was asking myself if the interviewer had actually ever heard of these things called “synthesizers” and “keyboards”, lol. He really seemed clueless.

[@frekadly]

Not the sound of 70´s

[@synthanatomy]

The Pink Floyd songs they play on this tour are from the 60's and 70s ;)

[@TheHFB]

For exactly the reason I explained!