I'm a massively huge fan of vintage analog synthesizers, effects and musical instruments having grown up in the 70s and 80s. I have a soft spot for the music of that era, specifically British pop, old school hip hop and RnB (the REAL kind WITHOUT AUTOTUNE). My son and I frequently try to quiz each other which synths, drum machines and samples were used in various music back in the day.
I'm not a regular YT watcher, but I needed to share this video I came across, which is beyond excellent and incredibly well done. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
I'm not a regular YT watcher, but I needed to share this video I came across, which is beyond excellent and incredibly well done. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
@profiguy : possibly like me, in the late 70s / early 80s you saw and hear all those Roland / Sequential Circuits / Oberheim / PPG / Crumar / Korg / RSF / Moog and the like... Without any financial possibility to acquire one ! In France, in that golden synthesizer era, a Roland Jupiter 8 cost the price of nice car... 😱
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I had a Jupiter 8 with midi retrofit in the 90s and foolishly sold it. Big mistake, as they're ridiculously expensive now.
I also bought an Emulator II when I started doing tape remixes back in the late 80s when I lived in Germany.
I miss the Jupiter 8. Still have an 808 which needs some PS work. I've also got into FM synths and still use my Yamaha TX802 and DX7 with Grey Matter expansion. Not quite as warm and full as the analog Roland stuff, but still very good. The FM Rhodes patch was all over most Jazz and Fusion music. The Roland D50 was also a great synth. I worked on alot of them back in the day.
When you listen to music from bands like Tears for Fears, Depeche Mode, Gary Nyman, Brian Eno, Thomas Dolby etc, it was just great fresh innovative music.
The late 70s to mid 80s era was by far more enjoyable in every way than what we have now, despite all the modern technology. Having grown up in Europe I experienced the most amazing music scene. I was a club DJ from 85 to 91 in the Munich area in Germany. That was the best years of my life. People nowadays don't have a clue what they missed. Everything just moved so fast with technology and all the gear that was coming out.
MP3s and streaming music have destroyed the music scene in terms of locally owned radio stations. The music download culture just killed everything and now we're left with mostly garbage despite all the advances we've seen. There are some bright sparks here and there, but nothing like we experienced in the early 80s.
I try to expose my teenage son to music and tech of this former era. Its frightening how brainwashed the youth of today is. They have very little respect for there elders and have a very self serving, instant gratification mindset without much care for anyone else. Sure, we also were rebellious in our teenage years, but we at least cared about others and worked hard to get what we wanted. Now everyone just wastes their time blogging and bragging on social media. What a waste of time and lack of human intelligence...
...end of rant. Lol
I also bought an Emulator II when I started doing tape remixes back in the late 80s when I lived in Germany.
I miss the Jupiter 8. Still have an 808 which needs some PS work. I've also got into FM synths and still use my Yamaha TX802 and DX7 with Grey Matter expansion. Not quite as warm and full as the analog Roland stuff, but still very good. The FM Rhodes patch was all over most Jazz and Fusion music. The Roland D50 was also a great synth. I worked on alot of them back in the day.
When you listen to music from bands like Tears for Fears, Depeche Mode, Gary Nyman, Brian Eno, Thomas Dolby etc, it was just great fresh innovative music.
The late 70s to mid 80s era was by far more enjoyable in every way than what we have now, despite all the modern technology. Having grown up in Europe I experienced the most amazing music scene. I was a club DJ from 85 to 91 in the Munich area in Germany. That was the best years of my life. People nowadays don't have a clue what they missed. Everything just moved so fast with technology and all the gear that was coming out.
MP3s and streaming music have destroyed the music scene in terms of locally owned radio stations. The music download culture just killed everything and now we're left with mostly garbage despite all the advances we've seen. There are some bright sparks here and there, but nothing like we experienced in the early 80s.
I try to expose my teenage son to music and tech of this former era. Its frightening how brainwashed the youth of today is. They have very little respect for there elders and have a very self serving, instant gratification mindset without much care for anyone else. Sure, we also were rebellious in our teenage years, but we at least cared about others and worked hard to get what we wanted. Now everyone just wastes their time blogging and bragging on social media. What a waste of time and lack of human intelligence...
...end of rant. Lol
If you love fusion (I do), Weather Report pushed the envelope. Joe Zawinul had all the new toys back then. What a time. Wayne Shorter, Jaco... what talent!
Well , I'm more in the EM department when it comes about synthesizers... Tangerine Dream on their 1980 album "Tangram" added to their arsenal the then new Roland Jupiter 8 :
And yes, true : Gary Numan used the Roland Jupiter 4 on many of his first albums (in songs like "Are Friends electric ?", "Airlane", "Cars"...)
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How could I forget?! Kraftwerk is amazing. Most Americans dont understand this music. My wife grew up in the US, so she didn't hear all the cool 80s European pop and electronic music. For them it was mostly hair bands, but even Van Halen used an Oberheim OBX on Jump.
Nice Video. In 1985 I got within 4 hours of buying a Juno 6. Guy sold it litterally the morning I got the money wired over (was staying with friends in Germany). Wife has a Roland electronic piano and discovered that has a police siren buried in one of the patches yesterday.
But my object of lust was always the sequential prophet. Couldn't afford one then and certainly can't know. And yes I did used to play 'spot the synth' on 80s pop music. I even got the extended 12" of relax as that builds the song up in layers so you can try and work out how they did it. I failed.
But my object of lust was always the sequential prophet. Couldn't afford one then and certainly can't know. And yes I did used to play 'spot the synth' on 80s pop music. I even got the extended 12" of relax as that builds the song up in layers so you can try and work out how they did it. I failed.
nice thread! i wanted a prophet 5 or mini-moog too when I was younger. couldn't afford it then and won't spent for it now.
i collected a bunch of parts when I was younger to build my own but never built more than a bunch of modules and a sequencer to play with. I still have some of the old (original) SSM chips for playtime when I retire ...
did you guys listen to the floppy demo records the synth mfrs used to send out? some of those had some great stuff!
i collected a bunch of parts when I was younger to build my own but never built more than a bunch of modules and a sequencer to play with. I still have some of the old (original) SSM chips for playtime when I retire ...
did you guys listen to the floppy demo records the synth mfrs used to send out? some of those had some great stuff!
I bet that FH-1000 was also the first to have little "waveforms" depicted by the controls back then - who back then would recognize what a Sawtooth and a narrow PWM was doing besides the designers? Of course today, we still on Earth all know -
Lucky you. I liked working with it. But... not close to a Matrix 12 in my experience.
Still use my E-6400 (classic) today. And it still kick ***, even millenials friends of mine are amazed by it. As most of my hardware synth collection!
All great instruments. Too bad FM synth are so unintuitive to program and this led to 'preset picking' and race to be the first to bought a synth to be 'fresh' sounding in the 90's.
In our time we are lucky there is a revival of analog synth with affordable ones ( i never though i would really like Behringer's products but their analog synth are great toys ( even if not the same as the original they 'clone').
The same could be said about the Techno scene in 90's/00's, D&B, etc, etc,...
And i'm sure if you had access to the good productions of today you could say the same. I kinda agree with your rant but what new ways of music distribution killed in my view is the easy access to 'good' production: there is so much music produced now that finding the gems is almost impossible if you are not deeply involved into a genre.
When i was active as a dj labels and artists were easily identified, now it's way more hazy... it was unfair as not everyone had a way to distribute their music but it filtered the good from the average.
Anyway i don't know if you ever seen this one but it's a synthesist wet dream fantasy documentary with so much classics :
@krivium I'd love to see your synth collection. Yes, I agree the Matrix 12 is in its own league. The arp on the Jupiter 8 is amazing and IMO its strength as well as the fat string sounds. This was a big part of Howard Jones' sound.
I never owned a Prophet 5. Those are also very unique sounding. Some very spooky noises can be made with it
If you think DX7s were hard to program, you should try to work your way around the sub menus with the Grey Matter sequencer.
I love all forms of good electronic music. I have my preferences of course, so I'm a bit biased. 200 bpm acid house is a bit unpleasant for my tastes, especially without the obligatory intoxication. Lol
I never owned a Prophet 5. Those are also very unique sounding. Some very spooky noises can be made with it
If you think DX7s were hard to program, you should try to work your way around the sub menus with the Grey Matter sequencer.
I love all forms of good electronic music. I have my preferences of course, so I'm a bit biased. 200 bpm acid house is a bit unpleasant for my tastes, especially without the obligatory intoxication. Lol
I had a roomate with a DX7; it was his baby. I never touched it, but my roomate did and erased all his programming. Including the bass line one where he'd earlier remarked "I cant believe this stupid thing plays bass better than me". Needless to say, the DX7's owner was unhappy about that and gave a subtle indication that the instrument was off limits now. I had a Rhodes piano that he'd use to compose on at times as well. Relatively unbreakable.
The DX7 "super bass" patch is on just about every 80s pop song. Its a great patch when sequenced properly. Every time I here it the song What Is Love from Howard Jones pops into my head.
I like the mini Moog for bass. It has such warm sounding filters and oscillators.
The Roland JX-8P is another great synth, clearly aimed to compete with the DX7. Both are all over the older Depeche Mode stuff around mid 80s.
DM did use the Emu Emax for their live gigs being the samples were directly compatible with the Emulator patches saved on floppies.
Here's another favorite, the Prophet 5
For Japan fans, here's Mick Karn
I like the mini Moog for bass. It has such warm sounding filters and oscillators.
The Roland JX-8P is another great synth, clearly aimed to compete with the DX7. Both are all over the older Depeche Mode stuff around mid 80s.
DM did use the Emu Emax for their live gigs being the samples were directly compatible with the Emulator patches saved on floppies.
Here's another favorite, the Prophet 5
For Japan fans, here's Mick Karn
I used to love messing around with my friend's Juno 106. I am not a keyboardist, but it was a very simple user interface that you could save settings, and it had MIDI. 6 voice analog that sounded great IMO. I said to him "don't sell that one..hang onto it" but that was the time when all the new fangled digital stuff was coming out. I think he let it go late 90s for about 400 bucks..yeesh! He did keep his first Korg (Mini Korg) mono synth, I had the honor of doing some minor servicing on it last year, and still sounds great!! I think I have some pics of it, will try to post it.
I had a mini Korg at the time too. Figured that and the Rhodes should satisfy most guest keyboardists.
Juno 106 is a 'classic' as Jupiter 8. Roland synth of this area had a warm lush sound, great for pads and smooth leads. Interestingly the system 100 modular wasn't as lush sounding, neither the 303 ( how funny it is to think they marketed the thing as a bassline for bar keyboard player accompagniment gear paired with a 606. Anyone played with those things know how non close to real instruments those things are, LOL)!
Most Korg i had/heard sounded very differently: MS20 ( whole MS serie) were much edgier sounding. CS series had that lushiness but not as warm as the Roland. Maybe the CS 80 was the exception as heard in Vangelis's works ( Blade Runner soundtrack, Chariots of fire, etc,etc,...) but it was a rare beast : i only seen some in picture and i seen/played with 80% of synth ever produced when i worked into studio.
Profiguy,
I mostly have digital synth and not pretty sounding ones as i was into 'hard' electronic music in the 90's ( from industrial to dark dub/D&B): Kurzweil K2000RS, Akai S3000, Emu E6400, Korg wavestation SR, Waldorf ( Microwave XT, Micro Wave, Micro Q, rack Attack), Clavia ( Micro Modular, Nord Lead2 rack), Access Virus rack, Novation Supernova2, Yamaha TX7 ( the expander version of DX7) RS7000, Casio cz, Kawai K5000, Roland D70 and D50. I may have forgotten some of the digital ones...
Analog: Waldorf Pulse+ ( i've got 3 of them... did i mrntion i'm a Waldorf 90's synth fan?), Xoxbox ( diy clone of 303. I've got 2 of them i built), Jomox kick drum generator, Mfb synth2 ( based upon minimoog architecture but 'cold' sounding), Behringer Pro-One and a diy franken modular synth ( including Ms20 filters inspired modules, Vcs3 filters inspired, T.Henry modules, Sn voice, Serge/Buchla based modules, CGS synth circuits...). Doepfer sequencers ( regelwerk and maq) and a non finished Klee sequencer... ( i use the software version with digital synth... no need for more mahyem generation with the modular... and if i need i can use 'Silent Way' to drive thd analogs from the software version...).
I had a bunch of other synths since mid 90's and had gear rolling often till 2010's. Some i regret to let go away ( had briefly a 106, an SH 101, SH 1000, a Pro Mars, 909 from Roland but they all had maintenance issues... as Ensoniq Vfx and Eps16+) some i didn't ( Yamaha Fs1R which was very nice and powerfull but impossible to program as a DX7 same with Matrix 6 or 1000...ergonomy issue).
I regret to not have purchased an SE1x when i had opportunity (or MS20 and CS 20). I'll ever regret the Jomox's Sunsyn from a close friend of the time ( one of the most HUGE sounding analog i've heard) but at 4500€ it was difficult to justify the expense. Will probably keep fantasy of some Serge's panel modular and will probably have to diy my now 'dream' machine: Metasonix S1000 'wretch machine'( all tube based semi modular not nice sounding at all!). Happily Eric Barbour ( Metasonix's designer/owner) let enough schematics in the wild to have something inspired built...
Most Korg i had/heard sounded very differently: MS20 ( whole MS serie) were much edgier sounding. CS series had that lushiness but not as warm as the Roland. Maybe the CS 80 was the exception as heard in Vangelis's works ( Blade Runner soundtrack, Chariots of fire, etc,etc,...) but it was a rare beast : i only seen some in picture and i seen/played with 80% of synth ever produced when i worked into studio.
Profiguy,
I mostly have digital synth and not pretty sounding ones as i was into 'hard' electronic music in the 90's ( from industrial to dark dub/D&B): Kurzweil K2000RS, Akai S3000, Emu E6400, Korg wavestation SR, Waldorf ( Microwave XT, Micro Wave, Micro Q, rack Attack), Clavia ( Micro Modular, Nord Lead2 rack), Access Virus rack, Novation Supernova2, Yamaha TX7 ( the expander version of DX7) RS7000, Casio cz, Kawai K5000, Roland D70 and D50. I may have forgotten some of the digital ones...
Analog: Waldorf Pulse+ ( i've got 3 of them... did i mrntion i'm a Waldorf 90's synth fan?), Xoxbox ( diy clone of 303. I've got 2 of them i built), Jomox kick drum generator, Mfb synth2 ( based upon minimoog architecture but 'cold' sounding), Behringer Pro-One and a diy franken modular synth ( including Ms20 filters inspired modules, Vcs3 filters inspired, T.Henry modules, Sn voice, Serge/Buchla based modules, CGS synth circuits...). Doepfer sequencers ( regelwerk and maq) and a non finished Klee sequencer... ( i use the software version with digital synth... no need for more mahyem generation with the modular... and if i need i can use 'Silent Way' to drive thd analogs from the software version...).
I had a bunch of other synths since mid 90's and had gear rolling often till 2010's. Some i regret to let go away ( had briefly a 106, an SH 101, SH 1000, a Pro Mars, 909 from Roland but they all had maintenance issues... as Ensoniq Vfx and Eps16+) some i didn't ( Yamaha Fs1R which was very nice and powerfull but impossible to program as a DX7 same with Matrix 6 or 1000...ergonomy issue).
I regret to not have purchased an SE1x when i had opportunity (or MS20 and CS 20). I'll ever regret the Jomox's Sunsyn from a close friend of the time ( one of the most HUGE sounding analog i've heard) but at 4500€ it was difficult to justify the expense. Will probably keep fantasy of some Serge's panel modular and will probably have to diy my now 'dream' machine: Metasonix S1000 'wretch machine'( all tube based semi modular not nice sounding at all!). Happily Eric Barbour ( Metasonix's designer/owner) let enough schematics in the wild to have something inspired built...
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@mlloyd1,
Get yourself a Behringer Pro-One you'll be pleased by it. I compared it to an original and differences are small enough to not being able to differenciate them in blind test. The owner of the original one thoughts about selling his after that test: he could have bought ten clones with the asking price... And you won't have the nightmare it is to maintain an original one... which is a real issue with those nearly 50 years old original synths.
It's a great opportunity to have a stripped down Prophet 5 for cheap ( and it sound better than plug ins/VA emulations).
Get yourself a Behringer Pro-One you'll be pleased by it. I compared it to an original and differences are small enough to not being able to differenciate them in blind test. The owner of the original one thoughts about selling his after that test: he could have bought ten clones with the asking price... And you won't have the nightmare it is to maintain an original one... which is a real issue with those nearly 50 years old original synths.
It's a great opportunity to have a stripped down Prophet 5 for cheap ( and it sound better than plug ins/VA emulations).
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