Sonata Arctica's keyboard gear info
In the days when the band was called Tricky Beans or Tricky Means Tony Kakko owned a Yamaha PSR-500 keyboard.[1] For the Ecliptica album recordings he had bought a Korg Triton 76 key synth which can be seen from the Tavastia 1999 live picture. There is another black keyboard on the picture which may be the Yamaha.
On Ecliptica a bunch of Triton presets can be heard such as Noisy Stabber (Blank File), Choir of Light and Fat Syn Sync, the latter as lead sound on most of the songs. The songs Unopened and Mary-Lou have different harpsichord and sync lead sounds that do not sound like Triton at all so they are probably from the Yamaha. Those songs were also on the FullMoon demo so the keyboard tracks may have been reused from the demo.
Mikko Härkin joined the band for the Ecliptica tour and used Yamaha EX-7 for the European tour. From the Ecliptica european tour picture you can identify the Yamaha EX-7 by its back panel. Also there is again another black keyboard which is connected to the Yamaha with midi cables.
The lead sound on a Sonata live bootlegs from that era is very close to Jens Johansson lead sound. Mikko used the same sound also on Successor and Kenzier - Prophecies album.
Silence album sound was recorded during fall 2000 and spring 2001[4] with most of the sounds easily recognisable to come from the Triton. Tony had already recorded the basic rhythm keyboards and when Mikko came in he thought those were really good so he recorded only solos and fast stuff.[1] Mikko's lead sound here is modified from Korg Triton preset Rich Lead where effects are modified to have distortion (the effects may be external). The sound at the beginning of False News Travel Fast has complex arpeggiator pattern going on and it does not sound Korgish at all.
Mikko used Korg Karma for the tour. Karma was released in 2001 it has the same sounds as Triton but with cool red color and softer keys.
Judging from sounds a Triton was used again on Winterhearts Guid. Jens Johansson's played leads on four songs of which sound is from Roland JV-1080.
Henrik Klingenberg joined the band for the tour Winterheart's Guild and used live a Korg Triton[6] and a red Roland AX-1 keytar that was partially taped black [7]. He also had a rack with Alesis Quadraverb multi effect and Kurzweil 2500R [8].
On Reckoning Night both Henrik and Tony played keyboards and the latter thought there are way too much keyboards on the record.[1] Judging from the sounds Kurzweils were now used besides a Triton (once again!). There is a picture of Henrik playing a Kurzweil K2600 in studio which is apparently owned by Tony.[9]
On RN tour Henrik upgraded to a white Roland AX-7 keytar, he trashed one of them (with custom blue paint) on For Sake of Revenge DVD. For synth he alternated between a Kurzweil K2500 and a Korg Karma [10]. The Kurzweil is clearly seen on For Sake of Revenge, where all sounds seem to come from it there being no other racks on that gig. On US tour at least he had a rack with Roland JV-2080 (on top with green light) and a Kurzweil K2600R (with blue light)[11].
Korg M3 was released on 2007, but I'm not sure if it was used on Unia. There are classic Korg waveforms used here and there that could be from both Triton and M3, such as a bell sound (Ensemble Bells) on The Worlds Forgotten, the Words Forbidden and church organ/choir combination on the chorus on For Sake of Revenge. In the beginning of the latter there is a drone bass sound that could be from a Clavia Nord Lead or perhaps even Nord G2 Modular. Back then Henrik was endorsed by Clavia.
On Unia tour Henrik played purple-black painted Roland AX-7. [12] He initially used a Karma [13] but later he switched to use the Korg M3[14].
Henrik upgraded to Roland AX-Synth during The Days of Grays tour [15]. He would not use it's internal sounds since on Live in Finland DVD you can see the patch number never changes from 1. At this point he added a Korg SV-1 digital piano below the M3.
Henrik wrote about the gear he used on Pariah's Child on his blog: [16]
For the latest SA album I used the following synths: Korg: M3, SV-1 & Karma, Roland Fantom XR and the Hammond C-3. In addition to that there are some keys played by Tony, mostly using software synths….I guess ;-)
In addition to these I also make use of some stuff in my homestudio, namely Korg Triton Rack, Kurzweil K2000R, Kawai Phm, Roland JV2080. Personally I have found that the best all around synth for ”this kind of music” is the M3...
About his tour gear in 2014 he wrote: [16]
I still use my custom rack built by our tech genius Tero. The sound engine is the Korg M3, I have two different wireless midi systems (CME and MIDIjet pro) as well as a midi merge box by ESI (if I remember the name right), for the lead sound, I’m back with Boss pedals, A Blues Driver, Noise Suppressor and Digital Delay is the chain for that. I just got an Alesis Vortex that I will be using to control this rig. All my synth sounds live are from this combo. In addition to that I have a piano, usually rented (my own is a Korg SV-1 which I prefer when possible).
I wonder what's the use of two wireless midi systems. He wrote M3 is the sound source and a midi-merge box can combine multiple midi inputs to one output. I assume one of them must have been used to connect Alesis Vortex to the M3 through the midi-merge box. The midi from digital piano to the M3 rack does not need to be wireless. Maybe the another wireless midi was used for on stage midi foot pedal, he does not mention, for switching the sounds of the M3? Or was the other wireless midi it simply a spare?
The lead sound is routed to pedals through additional output from the M3 and other sounds use the main output, so only lead sound has the external effects. Boss pedals are durable and should they break they are common enough to buy replacements everywhere.
Renting digital pianos saves wreight costs to when travelling by plane (Americas, Japan).
In 2016 Henrik switched to use Korg Kronos 61 and back to Roland Ax-7. [17] He got high-end Mackie ML32 midi mixer as well.
I saw Sonata Arctica live on 2019 Finnish tour and he used Korg Kronos, SV-1, Clavia Nord organ and again Alesis Vortex.
Again I saw them live on 2023 Finnish tour and Henrik used Korg Chrome and Clavia Nord Electro. For Sonata Arctica music the advanced sounds of Kronos are not necessary as bread and butter sounds from lighter Chrome will suffice. Nord Electro is lighter as well compared to Nord Organ and has piano sounds.
