Queen Elizabeth

How did Queen Elizabeth manage to create these heavenly sounds on “Superstar” and “Temple of Diana”? (Marc)

Ah, that sound! It’s the only sound my Starchamber makes! The keyboard is so limited and the sample rate so low that the Cosmic Wind pre-set and the Explosion pre-set always trigger together, creating that fanfare sound. If you saw my Starchamber, you’d be so disappointed! Close up, it looks less rock than a Mellotron 400, and that’s really saying something.

Would you consider Todd Rundgren an influence on your music? I hear strains reminiscent of Initiation on Queen Elizabeth and Rite 2. (Jason Dean)

I certainly would admit to a big thing for Todd Rundgren. Thighpaulsandra and I both loved the idea of “A Treatise on Cosmic Fire”, but we both bemoaned the fact that it was recorded so long before ambient music had been defined that Todd treated it as an ever-evolving, almost prog-rock piece. We both loved huge elements of that piece but found that we never listened to it. So we tried to build that Todd-like transcendence into our own piece of music. You hit the nail on the head.

One of the oscillators on my Moog has stopped working. It now simply emits a very high pitched whistle that is probably more noticeable by a dog. As a consequence the Moog with only one Oscillator working sounds crap. Can you recommend anyone that can service/fix it? (Jonathan)

Try Pete Forrest on the Internet. He can fix anything and find any missing piece you may need. If you’re in London, try Panic Audio or the Synthesizer Service Centre, which is now in Acton.

In the Cornucopea CD its says that Queen Elizabeth are using iMacs. How? I’d love to know. (Jonathan)

We use the two iMacs for live digital signal processing (DSP).