Bauer records and travels with musical instruments from the past and the present. The Roland VS-840 and the Roland VS-1880 are digital recording machines, the VS-840 is just 8 tracks, ('On The Move' was recorded on one of these) the VS-1880 is a 16 track which is a hell of a lot more (señor), Can't Stop Singing' was recorded on one of these baby's. Analog is great but digital is so much easier to work with and the editing possibilities are endless, we found digitally recording with analog instruments the most satisfying. We used a lot of piano’s and keyboard on the albums, a Roland HP 235 Digital Piano is basically one of those digital piano's you can buy in every music store,not exceptional but it has an acceptable acoustic piano sound. Fender Rhodes and Wurlitzer Pianos are keys from the golden age of great. Nothing beats a real Rhodes or a Wurli, period. I personally never heard a good sample of one of these instruments.The Hohner Pianet T is an electric piano that sounds a lot like a Wurlitzer but it hasn't got that punch that makes a Wurlitzer so distinctive. Great sound, only drawback : The Pianet T does NOT have a sustain pedal (Aaaaaaarghhh!).The Mini Moog synth is Bauer's favourite toy, all the bass-sounds on the On The Move and the Can't Stop Singing album are from this monophonic mother. Another Moog product is the Prodigy synth, also monophonic, less full and fat as the mini, but it is a well appreciated bleeper round the Bauer studio.The Nord Lead 2 synthesizer we use for recording and live shows is a new synth we bought two years ago, it is excellent for fast and in tune synth sounds, it's reliable and neat looking. Sonja found a Roland SH 101 synth a couple of months ago at the Dirk Witte store on the Vijzelstraat in Amsterdam, it wasn’t cheap but it had to be bought, not in least because of the ‘handle’ and shoulderstrap for live eye popping synth action. It hasn’t been used live yet though.We also used a Crazy home made mono-synth by a guy that Kees Toet (bassplayer Scram C Baby) knows, it’s a dangerous apparatus, it switches from 110 volts to 220 whenever it wants! It didn’t decide to do that yet though.

For live performances we also bought a Korg MS 2000 for fast action, it’s pretty OK.The Korg Kaoss pad is an effectpad we use with the mini Moog during live shows, it gives instant echo and delay, it also has that cool finger pad for show. Samplers we use are the Akai S2000 sampler and a Roland SP808 Sampler for live shows. Our drummer Wim Kwakman uses Slingerland drums just because they are way cool, he also has a DW snare and Zildjian Cymbals. Bauer is also the proud owner of a DG 10 Casio Digital Guitar, played live by Frank van Praag (virtuoso you!). Sonja plays live on a Dynacord amp, Berend on a Peavy keyboard amp. Frank van Praag squeezes his sounds through a Marshall. Wim has a small Behringer mixing board for mixing samples he plays along with.