Renting vintage synths for a session: what to ask before you book

Backline: why musicians rent instruments

On stage, backline means the amplifiers, speaker cabinets and instruments set up behind the band. It is often rented by the band or its management, or provided by the venue. Touring musicians rent rather than ship their own gear to avoid damage and customs problems; some countries require electrical equipment to be documented and certified by an electrical expert before it can be brought in, and other regions use different mains power and plug shapes.

Festivals and venues provide backline so bands can change over quickly without moving and soundchecking gear each time. Established acts send a specific list of instruments and amplifiers, down to brand and model number; smaller acts usually take what is offered. Backline technicians set the equipment up and put it away, while maintenance and repair are specialist work for keyboard, guitar and drum technicians. Studios hire in vintage instruments for the same reasons: to use a sound for a day without owning and maintaining it.

The questions to ask, family by family

Will it talk to the rest of the rig?

MIDI 1.0 was published in 1983, and the first instruments with it included the Roland Jupiter-6 and the Sequential Prophet-600. Anything older uses control voltage and gate, a maker's own bus, or nothing at all. Roland's DCB connects the Juno-60 and later Jupiter-8s to other DCB gear; the original Prophet-5's serial port talks only to Sequential's own remote keyboard.

• Pitch standard: volts per octave (Moog, ARP, Roland, Sequential, Oberheim) or hertz per volt (most, but not all, Korg and Yamaha). Mixed, every note is wrong.
• Trigger: V-trigger sends a positive voltage; S-trigger shorts the line to ground. Mixed, the instrument stays silent or plays with keys up.
• Converter: a MIDI-to-CV/gate converter set to the right standards lets a computer play a pre-MIDI synth.
• Clock: drum machines and arpeggiators of the period often sync by clock pulses or tape tones rather than MIDI.

Mains power and safety

Most instruments only care about voltage, but anything with a synchronous motor also cares about frequency. Tonewheel Hammond organs were made in 110 V/60 Hz and 240 V/50 Hz versions with different gearing and starter motors, because their pitch depends on the motor speed; third-party adapters let touring bands use an organ from the other region. Ask which version is coming, especially at a venue abroad.

A Leslie speaker's Amphenol cable carries mains power, audio and speed control together, and pin layouts vary between organs and speaker models. A badly wired cable can permanently damage the organ or the speaker, or cause electric shock. Use the cable supplied with the pair, and a combo preamp if the Leslie is to be driven by anything other than an organ. The Hammond and Leslie page has the details.

Warm-up, tuning and set-up time

• Analog oscillators drift as they warm up. Switch synths on early and tune once they settle. A Jupiter-4's voice cards, for example, should warm up for 20 to 40 minutes before they are adjusted.
• Digitally controlled oscillators are steadier. The Juno-6 was designed to be switched on and played in tune.
• A Hammond takes a minute to start. The Start switch runs for about 12 seconds, then Run for about four, before the organ can play.
• Modular systems take patching time. Budget time to build sounds, and photograph every patch you might need again.

Weight, size and moving

Plan stairs, doors and enough people before electromechanical keyboards arrive. At outdoor events, backline is often moved each night to locked, climate-controlled storage to protect it from theft and weather — worth asking about for any instrument sensitive to temperature.

Keep the sounds when the gear goes back

1. Photograph every panel of instruments without memory, such as an original Minimoog, before changing a sound.
2. Back up memories first — a Prophet-5 to cassette, a DX7 to cartridge or SysEx — so you can restore the owner's sounds and keep your own.
3. Record dry and wet. Where an instrument's character is in an effect (a Juno chorus, a Leslie), record it on the instrument, and keep a direct signal too if possible.
4. Note the serial number and settings on the session sheet, so a part can be matched later on the same instrument.