Analog synthesis has been a lifelong passion of James's, spanning his entire discography. He began experimenting with it at the ripe age of 11 and quickly started tinkering with and creating his own hardware. He has been through many eras of production where he’ll prefer certain analog synths generally or study a sound that's specifically created by one synth. Earlier in career during the selected ambient works 85-92 period he used a combination of several synths, most notably the Roland SH-101 as a lead synth, Korg MS-20 for more experimental sound and bass, and the Casio FZ-10M as a primary sampler. For the I Care Because You Do / Richard D. James Albums he used two Roland synths the TB-303 for acid bass lines and the system 100 as a modular synth. And much later for projects like Syro he moved into using a lot of custom modular synths and modified synths.