Orbital were one of the most consistent and ground-breaking bands of the last 20 years. As half of that act, Phil Hartnoll always used the latest gear for the band's cutting-edge sound. Even after the group's demise he has remained true to that belief so, for his latest music project (Long Range, working with Nick Smith and Ben Burns), he has added the new ReMOTE SL to his list of Novation gear.
Hartnoll's relationship with Novation goes way back to his time in Orbital. "Novation has been with me since the start. Me and Paul always had a BassStation and Supernova and used them all the time with the Orbital stuff, so I've used them extensively over the years and really love them. I still use the Supernova. It has a great bottom end and really is a good allrounder."
Hartnoll still has the BassStation and also a DrumStation but it's the ReMOTE SL that he has been using for his Long Range project. "Yeah we've just got the ReMOTE 25SL," says Hartnoll, "and have just got some maps for them - fantastic idea and very useful."
"We use it with Logic," adds Nick Smith, "and we've been enjoying it with IMPOscarwhich is well cool. I love the feel of the keys, it's nice looking, has smooth functions, the keyboard's really nice and it's great that is uses the buss for power."
Hartnoll is also making quite a name for himself DJ'ing, and one of the main parts of his DJ set-up is his Saffire, from Novation' sister company, Focusrite. "I'm using the Saffire with Ableton Live on a laptop. I used to go out with vinyl but now it's so much easier with MP3s. I got a track from Rennie Pilgrem the other day that he emailed over and I played it out that night. I basically use the Saffire as the breakout box using the four channels out into a traditional DJ mixer. Anything that can help rather than using the headphone socket, and Focusrite has such a good name for its D-A converters."
Over the last 12 years since Novation was born, the company name has become synonymous with world-class analogue modelling synthesizers and unrivalled controller keyboards. The product range continues to receive critical acclaim from the music press and has won numerous awards for outstanding technology and usability. Fantastic build quality and intuitive controls are just two of the reasons why Novation's digital musical instruments are a joy to play, say the company.
(Chris Henry)
