AMIN BHATIA
Film & Television
Composer
THE COMMAND SISTERS
CHARLOTTE COMMAND
The Command Sisters
Roland RD X-700 Keyboard
Roland JD-800 Synth
Roland JD-800
“Personally, I love the Roland JD-800. It is my go-to – versa-
tile, flexible and, of course, has great sound. It allows me
to be productive and dexterous while, most importantly,
being creative. I know a lot of notable and successful
musicians and groups have used this keyboard –Duran
Duran, Jonathan Cain of Journey, Billy Joel’s David Rosen-
thal, and Paul Shaffer are just a few. Watching and listen-
ing to these acts has inspired my work and what I do with
my instrument, and that’s kind of where I got started.”
As for the present: “I would say [Spectrasonics] Om-
nisphere 2 has to be one of my all time favourite software
synthesizers because it’s so comprehensive. Its capability
in creating a real sound for whatever instrument I’m envi-
sioning is impeccable.
“With whatever style you want to learn, investing in a
good quality instrument is the first and most obvious step.
In my experience, until I actually had something great
to work on, I felt restricted by the playability of the instru-
ment’s quality, which was limiting and frustrating. Also,
while producing, don’t be afraid to sample instead of try-
ing to recreate sounds. In my experience, recreating the
old-school sounds on new equipment, although good
practice, is not always true to the actual sound.”
56 • C A N A D I A N M U S I C I A N
Apple Mac Pro 12-Core Computers
Moog Minimoog Model D Synth
ARP 2600 Synth
Moog Polymoog Synth
Moog Minimoog Voyager Synth
UAD Apollo 8 Audio Interface
UAD Twinfinity Mic Preamp/DI
Apogee Symphony IO Audio Interface
Apple Logic
Avid Pro Tools
Rackmount units from Roland, Korg, Nord, Sequential
Circuits & Yamaha
Plug-Ins from Arturia, Heavyocity, LASS, Native Instruments,
SAM, Sample Logic, Spectrasonics, Spitfire, Sonicouture,
UAD & Vienna
Minimoog & ARP 2600
To speak about the Minimoog and the ARP 2600, we turn
to composer Amin Bhatia.
The Minimoog was invented by Bill Hemsath and Bob
Moog and released in 1970. Spawning updates such as
the 2002 Minimoog Voyager, it remains a classic.
The ARP 2600 came out in 1971, a precursor to the
well-known ARP Odyssey. ARP folded in 1981 but was res-
urrected by Korg in 2015 with the help of ARP co-founder
David Friend.
“The Minimoog Model D was, and always will be, my
first love,” says Bhatia. “The ARP 2600 was someone I dated
for a long time, too.”
As for the Moog: “It was one of the first times that a
single synth had all the basic functions of the larger mod-
ular synths used by Isao Tomita, Wendy Carlos, Keith Em-
erson, and Larry Fast. All the basic building blocks on the
Minimoog are laid out in an order that teaches you signal
flow as you learn how to create sounds with it – oscillators
then mixer then filter then amplifier then output.
“The ARP 2600 had a different evolution but a simi-
lar approach, except it was also designed for a stereo