Tame Impala says the Sequential Pro One is his favourite synth: “It sounded like crying in outer space”
It was one of the first synthesizers he ever bought.
Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker. Image: Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images
Tame Impala has named the Sequential Circuits Pro One as one of his favourite synths after falling in love with it at a friend’s studio.
In a new interview with Synth History, the Australian star, real name Kevin Parker, revealed he immediately bought one off eBay after hearing its “gliding sawtooth sound” despite having little money.
He said: “I must have leaned on it or something and I hit a key (laughs). It’s a monophonic synth and was set to portamento, I’d just hit a few keys and it had this gliding sawtooth sound.
“I just thought it sounded incredible, you know? The Pro One to this day is still one of my favourite synths. I guess just because of that reason, because of that time. It had this sound that I just fell in love with.
“It sounded like crying in outer space.”
Parker said he also inherited a small Casio keyboard from his father during that time, which he still has.
He used it to write songs for his second album, Lonerism, which came out in October 2012.
But he says he doesn’t have a go-to synth in the studio right now: “I’ve got a rack of keyboards close to where I sit and whatever is on that rack gets used.
“If I have to think too much about what synth I have to use for a part I’m recording, then the inspiration is gone.”
In other news, Tame Impala this week shared a new song, No More Lies, which he wrote with Thundercat.
It marks the first official single released from Thundercat, otherwise known as Stephen Bruner, since 2020.
