Anamanaguchi Members Share Their Most Indispensable Tools in The Verge Questionnaire

Anamanaguchi is best known for chiptune music. Listeners may have first encountered the band through the 2010 game soundtrack for “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game” or its collaboration with Hatsune Miku, which later appeared in Fortnite. The group has moved through eras of fast chiptune beats and dance-oriented pop, while its 2025 album “Anyway” marked a turn toward indie rock, recorded in person at the American Football house and filled with fuzzy guitars. The members remain very online and plugged into video game culture and the stranger corners of the internet.

When asked for their most indispensable tool, Luke Silas named Ableton Live Operator, describing it as simple and powerful for getting ideas down quickly, with sounds that often make it to the final product. Ary Warnaar said built-in laptop and cellphone microphones are underappreciated, noting they are great for fast ideas and now sound good enough that he sometimes does not re-record what he expected to be scratch vocals. Peter Berkman chose the Logitech MX Master 3S, calling it the best mouse he has ever had and praising its sideways scroll, switchable notched and smooth scrolling, quiet click, responsiveness and USB-C charging. James DeVito cited the app Amphetamine, which keeps a computer from sleeping for a set period, useful when starting an export or render before putting the laptop in a bag. Silas also said he loves metronomes, arguing they strengthen timing and help musicians play with time more confidently.

Asked what app they install first on a new phone or computer, Silas said Discord. On what they would change about their phones, Warnaar said he would “kill” to get a standard 1/8-inch headphone jack back, complaining about constantly replacing dongles since Apple removed the port. DeVito shared a friend’s advice to increase key-repeat beyond the normal UI limit for faster typing and deleting. Silas said the only thing he would add to his iPhone SE is a USB port so he could type with a keyboard. For pinned sites in their tab bar, Silas said he has never done it, while Berkman recommended vvorldwide.com, a new radio aggregator that pools feeds from NTS, The Lot, dublab, KEXP and other sources worldwide. Berkman described it as a product that made him wonder why nobody had thought of it before.