Tech Nerd

ZOOM RHYTHMTRAK RT-123
This is my favorite cheap drum machine. You can program in your own patterns with not only the many different drum sounds, but also the bass and keyboard sounds. Lots of Yeah Yeah Yeahs songs feature a keyboard sound from this, like “Rich” and “Maps.” I like running the RT-123 through either a distortion pedal or a cheap amp for a more fucked-up sound. Everyone thinks it’s a guitar. Ha ha.

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ROLAND SPACE ECHO RE-201
This is actually someone else’s model—a chorus version 301—but this is an analog tape-delay unit. I prefer to use the RE-201, without the chorus, as a pre-amp/compressor with a slight amount of spring reverb. The Space Echo works by having a reel of tape which is continually fed through three heads that play back while recording, making an echo, or delay. By alternating the path of the playback within the heads, you can control the timing and pattern of the echo. All the old dub records were originally made using only these units. I had a grounding switch put on the back of mine, as voltage differences in non-U.S. countries can interfere with the output and make it sound like shit.
 

HONDA SOUND WORKS OCTAVE FUZZ PEDAL

BOSS LOOP STATION RC-20

DIGITECH HYPER PHASE

ELECTRO-HARMONIX P.O.G.

LINE 6 DL4 DELAY MODULATOR