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 another black keyboard which is connected to the Yamaha with midi cables. I'mm not sure what synth it is but it looks different from Yamaha PSR-500.
Notice that on some Ecliptica European tour pictures there is gear that belongs to the other bands on tour. In some pictures there is rack containing a Roland JV-1080 but that's the rack of Jens Johansson of Stratovarius. The rack is most clearly seen in Angneta Algotsson's pic from Erfurt gig where Tony visits on keyboards as he used to do on that tour but not anymore on later tours. Some pictures have Korg 01/W Pro and Oberheim MC 3000 midi controller belonging to Alex Staropoli of Rhapsody.
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 Korg Triton. Also Triton is visible in the Silence session picture below. [25] 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] Also note the credits of Broken single b-sides hint who played what on Silence since the credits say "keyboards played by Tony Kakko except keyboard solo of The Gun by Mikko Härkin". I'm not sure when the songs Dream Thieves and The Gun were recorded though. In the Silence session picture below there is a Ibanez AD-9 or Maxon AD-9 delay pedal on top of the synth I'm not sure for what that would have been used.
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. That sound could be from Waldorf Microwave ST Mikko owned but this is just a guess.[24] There is a real piano in Tallulah and The End of this Chapter which is likely a grand piano at Finnvox studios where the album was mixed. The piano in question might be the Yamaha grand at Finnvox which is for example mentioned by Jens at the musical instrument section of his website. [22] The effect at the end of "...Of Silence" and after the intro of "Land of the Free" is not a keyboard sound but a mixing effect done where the part with full band following it is mixed slow and in reverse.
Mikko used a Korg Karma for the tour. Note that Korg Karma wasn't released until spring 2001[23] and at that point most of the Silence album already had been recorded. It has the same sounds as Triton but with cool red color and softer keys. There is a cable plugged to 3rd assignable audio output of Karma suggesting he used some external effects likely for lead sound. On some European Tour gigs he didn't have a sustain pedal plugged in.[21]
On tour Mikko's Korg Karma broke once so that the pitch bend was making it out of tune and Mikko disassembled the synth and fixed it right before the show. You can read more about it from the Silence European Tour Diary the band wrote.
Judging from sounds a Triton was used again on Winterheart's Guild. Jens Johansson 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 Reckoning Night 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 is a rack on backstage on For The Sake of Revenge documentary which seems to contain a Kurzweil K2500R but I'm not sure and it could be a backup.
On European tour he did have a rack with Kurzweil K2500R. [19] On US tour at least he had a bigger rack with Roland JV-2080 (on top with green light) and a Kurzweil K2600R (with blue light)[11].
Henrik used Behringer FCB1010 midi controller to switch sounds like Jani.[20] It suggests he had his keyboards programmed to have a dozen sounds (enough for each button of the midi controller) near each other instead of having sounds of each song in a queue with duplicates.
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 [18].
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]. On some gigs both M3 and Karma were used.
The Days of Grays is the first album with Korg endorsement deal and he dropped the Clavia endorsement [19]. 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 in 2019 and he used Korg Kronos, SV-1, Clavia Nord organ and again Alesis Vortex.
Again I saw them live in 2023 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.
