Analogue & digital (commonly abbreviated to a&d, AD, Analord, etc.) is a genre of electronic music emerging from Britain. Notable artists include Ceephax and Aphex Twin (under his guises AFX, Analord, and The Tuss)
The core philosophy of the genre is dedication to the exploration of the possibilities inherent in electronic music combined with the methodology of using real studio equipment rather than modern personal computers. Classic records in the genre include Ceephax Acid Crew Vol 1&2 and the Analord series.
The genre is heavily inspired by the pioneers of Acid house, Ambient, Detroit Techno, Chicago House, Chiptunes/8-bit, Electro, Hardcore and Drum & bass/Jungle. The early pioneers of tape based electronic music such as Stockhausen, Parmegiani and Delia Derbyshire are also an influence, as well as synthesizer music such as Kraftwerk, Yellow Magic Orchestra, and Wendy Carlos.
On the technical side a&d features vast use of real studio equipment based on analogue and digital electronics, recorded on magnetic tape and released on vinyl. Analogue effects such as spring reverb, plate reverb, and tape echo feature heavily. Old CV/gate and MIDI synthesizers are a must. Live performances are often done by the artist playing live. Classic Roland synthesizers and drum machines are often used. Analord hosted the sounds of the Synton Fenix programmed by a Roland mc-4. The Tuss featured the rare Yamaha GX 1 synthesizer. Naks Acid by AFX was recorded on a Nakamichi high quality cassette deck. Sound creation in a&d features both analogue and digital synthesizers, samplers and drum machines however a&d recordings are mostly done in the analogue domain due to a perceived better sound quality and more individuality of the recording. .
