A complete rerecording of one of my favourite pieces of film music - "Phone Call" by Jon Brion from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The distinctive wonky guitar used in the piece is from an instrument called the Chilton Talentmaker. The loops come from an optical disc called "Guitar in 4/4". I'm using the exact same loops that Jon Brion used. There's always two arpeggios running on top of each other, which gives that beautiful poly-tonal feel. The strings are a mix of me multi-tracking myself doing 16 violins and 8 violas and some vst strings (LA Scoring Strings & Spitfire Albion). I worked out the parts by ear.
This is "A Canadian in Mayfair" by Angela Morley (1924 - 2009) created from scratch using virtual instruments. I have a copy of the full score (no way I'd be able to work this out by ear!) Sounds used: Strings: Spitfire Audio - Chamber Strings Harp: Orchestral Tools - Symphonic Sphere Woodwinds: Spitfire Audio - BML Woodwinds & Albion Brass: Cinesamples - Cinebrass Core Drums: Native Instruments - Abbey Road Vintage Drums Orchestral Percussion: Native Instruments - Kontakt Library FX - Izotope Vinyl, U-he Satin, Waves CLA-2A, T-racks (various), Cubase reverb / eq / stereo imaging. Composition © Angela Morley Recording © Alex Ball
A complete re-recording of Robert Farnon's "Portrait of a Flirt" from 1955, realised with virtual instruments. A follow up to "My Computer is a 1950s Orchestra" which featured "A Canadian in Mayfair" by Angela Morley. Funnily enough, Morley's piece was based on Farnon's and was a tribute to him. Sounds used: Strings: Spitfire Audio Chamber Strings & Orchestral Tools OSR Brass: Cinesamples Cinebrass Core and Cinebrass PRO Woodwinds: Spitfire Audio Symphonic Woodwinds Percussion: Spitfire Audio Joby Burgess Percussion Harp: Orchestral Tools Symphonic Sphere Sequencer: Cubase 6 FX: Mixed in mono using Izotope Vinyl, U-he Satin, Waves, T-racks Score: Hired from the Light Music Society Composition © Robert Farnon Recording © Alex Ball alexballmusic.com
The third piece in the "My Computer is a 1950s orchestra" series. A complete re-make of Edward White's famous composition "Puffin' Billy" (1952), realised with virtual instruments.
A complete remake of "Busybody" by Billy Mayerl using entirely virtual instruments.
Good heavens, my computer's at it yet again! This time performing a piece I analysed in my recent "Utterly Spiffing Guide" series; "High Heels" by Trevor Duncan, from 1955. I borrowed the original full score to understand the orchestration and harmony, this wasn't worked out by ear.
The Predator score by Alan Silvestri is one of my favourites. One thing that's always bugged me was that I couldn't figure out the phrasing of the main theme. It felt like it was in a weird time signature when it wasn't. I found an entire thread of other people discussing the same thing: http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board... With a bit of detective work (watching live performances videos where the conductor is visible) and also dropping the original recording in my DAW, I was able to work it out. It was actually really simple. I'd just been hearing 16th when it was triplets. Anyone else find they were hearing it this way?
Got the Spitfire Audio Joby Burgess percussion library, obviously had to do this with it! The infamous jingle from Back to the Future is as follows: (descending triplets) G, D, B E#, C#, G# E, B, G# D, Bb, F C#, G#, E# B, G, D Got a bigger Alan Silvestri video coming along soon....
A complete re-record of the cue "Payback Time" from the Predator OST using virtual instruments. Composition © Alan Silvestri Recording © Alex Ball Sample libraries used: Strings: Spitfire Audio Chamber Strings, LA-SS Lite, Orchestral Tools Berlin Strings EXP E SFX. Woodwinds: Spitfire Audio Symphonic Woodwinds / Albion Woodwind Brass: Cinesamples Cinebrass Core, Spitfire Audio Albion Brass Percussion: Spitfire Joby Burgess Percussion, Fluffy Audio Log Drum, Xtant Audio Slit Drum Pianos: Cinesamples Abbey Road & Spitfire Albion Piano Harp: Orchestral Tools - Symphonic Sphere Synths: Omnisphere FX: Waves EQ, Izotope Vinyl, T-racks alexballmusic.com
I recently discovered my childhood keyboard at my parent's house, a 1989 Yamaha PSR-27, so I used it to make a track about....well....Yamaha PSR-27s. Everything played by me, sounds and gear used: Keys: Yamaha PSR-27 (D.I.)
A complete re-record of "Kitchen Aces (And taking names)" from the 1993 game Doom. Music composed by Bobby Prince, recording by Alex Ball.
A complete re-recording of Bernard Herrmann's iconic main theme from "Vertigo" (1958), realised with virtual instruments.
I borrowed a 117-year-old Dulcitone. They were mainly used by Victorian missionaries, so I wrote a pseudo-hymn on it.
As I just watched "Alien Covenant" this week, and noticed music from the original Alien interpolated into the soundtrack, I thought I'd have a go at re-recording a cue from Jerry Goldsmith's incredible score to "Alien". This has been created with virtual instruments.
A complete remake of a cue from "A Beautiful Mind" using virtual instruments.
As I've done quite a few mock-ups recently, I thought I'd throw up a couple of mics, grab the nearest instruments and knock together a quick groove. Real instruments: Dulcitone, Double Bass, Piano, Viola, Violin, Alto melodica, Snare drum, Bass drum, Cymbals, Cabasa, Egg shakers, Claps, Toy piano, Spanish guitar, Glockenspiel, Triangle, Gem F30 Organ. Virtual Instruments: Woodwinds, Brass, Timpani, Optigan, Sound Dust Percussion.
I've always loved these cues from Dumb & Dumber and was gutted they weren't on the soundtrack release. So my tribute to Todd Rundgren's score is to recreate them from scratch (albeit with some slight rearranging). Sounds used: Virtual: Omnisphere (lots of patches), Spitfire Audio The Grange, Linn Drum, Kontakt Factory, Spitfire Audio Joby Burgess Percussion, Requiem choir Real: A 1989 Yamaha PZR-27 keyboard, Yamaha U3 Keyboard, Dulcitone, Ibanez JEM 7DBK guitar, Fender Blues Junior Amp, Multi-tracked vocals Composition © Todd Rundgren Recording © Alex Ball
ot an original 80s Yamaha DX7 Synthesizer. So had a quick bit of fun. These things were a serious bit of kit in the 80s and are heard all over the hits of that era.
A complete remake of a cue from Alan Silvestri's legendary "Back to the Future" score.
The Juno-6 is from 1982, so I made an 80s inspired track with it.
As summer comes to a close, here's a spot of Surf music.
A project I've been working on for several months. I had a few jobs last year that involved composing 40s and 50s Light Music and I was frustrated with the lack of material online. So, I rolled up my sleeves, did a lot of research and searching and managed to track down a bunch of scores from this era. First, I did a few mock-ups to get my head around how it all worked (the "My Computer is a 1950s Orchestra" series):.
I've finally managed to put together a second episode to this pet project of mine. This time getting right into the nitty gritty of basic five-part harmony and block chord writing. The video assumes you have some musical knowledge and can read the scores, otherwise it would be several hours long!
Good heavens! Part 3 of our foray into Light Music from the 1940s and 50s. This time we're having one last look at harmony and string writing with several demonstrations of more complex harmonic concepts. I was incredibly pleased to be able to track down some ultra-rare sheet music for this, so I'm hoping the authenticity is of interest and use! As mentioned in the video, things like tri-tone substitutions, modal interchange and altered chords are a bit too heavy to get deeply into. In fact, I made this video a total of four times! When I cross-checked it with some actual jazz theorists, there was too much going on, far too many mistakes and a lot of things I couldn't cover precisely enough. So, I've cut it back into something much more palatable and hopefully it covers the major elements. Beyond this episode, we'll cover use of woodwinds and brass and I'm also hoping to do a video on using Vsts to recreate this genre. Bare with me as these take an awful lot longer to research.
This is a re-upload of part 4 of our journey into 1950s Light Music. This video focuses entirely on woodwinds. Frustratingly, the original upload got blocked due to the 25 seconds of music used in the outro, so I've swapped that out and re-uploaded.
80s nostalgia.
A complete remake of the opening cue from Don Davis distinctive Matrix score with a bit of a break down of the sections and what parts they play in the piece.
I borrowed a 1970s Rhodes Mark I Stage Piano. It's beautiful.
A complete re-make of Danny Elfman's famous Simpsons Theme.
I thought it would be fun to show the sources of some famous samples and loops I've stumbled across over the years whilst producing music.
A complete remake of a cue from Brad Fiedel's score to Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). One of my favourite films of all time.
Quick jam
Most vintage groove bkxes come with a selection of Latin rhythms. The one built into my 1978 GEM F30 Electric Organ is no exception. So, I decided to put my own spin on it.
Picked up a Roland SH-101 monosynth. It's a little analog gem from the early 80s. It's incredibly simple but surprisingly versatile and just sounds fundamentally great.
My Roland TR-707 came with a receipt from 22/12/86, so I thought it fitting to sample it and give away a virtual version 31 years later. And whilst I was at it, I sampled a patch from my Juno-6 and my DX7 for good measure.
Picked up the lesser known Roland JX-3P. It's a 2-oscillator per-voice analogue synth that's capable of some great sounds.
A complete remake of John Barry's theme to Thunderball using virtual instruments with some pointers of what's happening in the music.
A friend of mine brought over his 1983 OSCar analogue monosynth for the day. A fairly rare synth, they were used heavily by Ultravox. So, we unleashed our New Romantic side.
Picked up a talk box. A mutha funkin' talk box. Talk Box: MXR M222
I've been after a classic 70s synth for a while and kept returning to the sound of the Korg MS20. This synth has been through various versions and reissues, but this is the original from 1978 (with the type 35 filter for the nerds). I couldn't believe my luck when one came up for sale two miles away. It's a completely different sound to my 80s synths (the reason I picked one up). You can overdrive the filters incredibly easily and it has a very fuzzy sound. It's probably most famous for the main riff in Daft Punk's "Da Funk". It's also semi-modular and there's loads and loads of patching possibilities. If that wasn't enough, you can also run instruments or vocals through it and process them, although I'll get into that in another video probably, once I've learned how to harness it!
ProjectSAM asked if I wanted to give their "Swing!" and "Swing more!" libraries a spin. So I did. The libraries are a combination of standard, playable patches and pre-arranged chords, falls, effects, rhythms etc. There's loads in the two libraries, but I've used a selection of things in a musical context, as I always find that's the most useful way to judge something.
A video I've been meaning to do for a while; a quick play through of eight of the PastToFutureSamples kits. There's several more that I haven't included, but I thought these eight cover enough. These libraries have no GUI and only cost $10 - $15 each, but are some of the most usable drum libraries I own. Recorded with period equipment, they have bags of character and get you quickly to classic 50s, 60s and 70s sounds. I usually compress the drum channel with the Waves CLA-2A (as seen) so that there's around 1-3db of gain reduction. Then use Vulf Compressor on the mix bus (as seen) for some parallel compression. The trick is to not obliterate them into one plugin but to build the compression up in stages - channel / bus / mastering. You can see the headroom and dynamics displayed on the output lights in the top right quarter of the screen.
A real 808 dropped by my studio very briefly. Was amazing to try the real thing for the first time. The 808 has an interesting story and so, I set it to music.
Found an old TR-606 in the back of a music shop. So, here's a quick jam. It's like a mini version of the 808 with very reduced features. It's entirely analogue and the sounds are great, but the kick drum is no match for its older brother. But for a 10th of the price of an 808, I can't really complain! The other sounds are as seen - Juno-6 being triggered by the 606 and playing filtered noise and arpeggios, a 707 for some layering, the animal that is the Korg MS20 and a Baritone guitar with some Vox wah and Tubescreamer distortion.
I've just passed 2,000 subs and am grateful for the support. As a little token of gratitude I've multi-sampled my TR-606 (12 round-robins) and put it into Kontakt for you all. The video is a very quick playback of it with some FX (as shown). The samples come clean and dry, so you can process them as you like. Requires Kontakt 5.7.3 to open it. Thanks again for your support, it's much appreciated. Hope you get some use out of the virtual 606. Download: https://www.dropbox.com/s/kxa6g4cpehz...
I thought it would be interesting to try a totally live pass with my synths to see if I could do it. I usually multi-track things separately. How does it work? The TR-707 is the master and in addition to playing the kick drum, its trigger out is triggering the sequencer of the SH-101, which plays the bass line. The TR-606 is slaved to the TR-707 via Din Sync. It provides hats, snare, cymbals and toms. Its high tom trigger-out is triggering the step-sequencer on the JX-3P. Its low tom is triggering the arpeggio clock on the Juno-6. The MS-20 is free and not sync'd to anything so I can play melodies on the fly.
Remake of Alan Silvestri's Predator Theme using virtual instruments. Most things are demonstrated in the video, but here's the list: Strings: Spitfire Audio Chamber Strings, Albion, LA Scoring Strings, Orchestral Tools Berlin Strings EXP E. Brass: Cinebrass Pro & Core, Albion Woodwinds: Spitfire Symphonic Woodwinds and Albion Percussion: Spitfire Audio Joby Burgess Percussion, Orchestral Tools Symphonic Sphere Harp and Kontakt Factory Harp. Pianos are Kontakt and Project Sam. FX: Waves, Goodhertz, T-racks, Pasttofuture Reverb impulses
A song about the legendary Roland TB-303, performed on an original unit.
Did someone call 911?
I've been waiting to get my hands on a DigDugDIY Lofi dreams FX unit for about 2 years and finally nabbed one. Put it to use in an Arcade Game style track.
I've always loved 80s Sci-Fi soundtracks such as "Escape from New York" and "The Terminator". It's by no means a coincidence that they both share something in common; The Sequential Circuits Prophet 5. As the P5 is about as rare as a unicorn and as expensive as a decent car, I'll probably never get close to one. However, SCI's monophonic version of it, the Pro-One can still be found if you keep your eyes open. And sure enough, I managed to snag one. So, here's an original track following the spirit of those great scores. Minimal and atmospheric, my take on a spot of Carpentry.
This is the story of the Linn LM-1, the world's first ever digital drum machine. Iconic and incredibly rare, you're unlikely to ever see one (only 500 ever made). One was on sale and the owner was generous enough to let me test it and film it briefly before it went.
Past to Future samples are one of my favourite developers. They recently put out a Kontakt library made with the holy grail that is the Yamaha CS-80 (1976). It was recorded with a Lexicon 224 and baked onto a Studer A80 tape machine. It's about as authentic as you'll find. There's 12 patches all designed to capture the vibe of Vangelis and Blade Runner. They're seriously dreamy and huge, straight out of the box.
The Sequential Circuits Drumtraks is an overlooked unit, perhaps because of the Linn, Roland and Oberheim classics that came first, or perhaps because Sequential are so famous for their legendary synthesizers. Either way, it has a very punchy sound and reminds me of the DMX and LinnDrum. I was interested to see that Tame Impala had made use of one on the Currents album and combined with the "May peace prevail on earth" message on the circuit board; I thought I'd try some space pop rather than something 80s.
Whilst I was recording the Prophet T8 for the documentary I quickly put down some Jupiter 8 as it was the first time I’ve ever seen one. I brought the audio and video back and built more stuff around it and this is the result. I’m planning to do a bigger Roland thing with a more detailed look at these icons, but in the meantime, this is a first sketch; a quick trip to Jupiter.
Picked up a 303 and so had to try these two famous riffs together. It's not 100% perfect, but pretty close. Once I've nailed it exactly I'll possibly make a video tutorial on how to do those sounds. Drums - Sequential Drumtraks sequenced by the BeatStep Pro via its midi-in. Squelchy sequence - Roland TB-303 running into an Ibanez Tubescreamer. Riff - Korg MS20 mark I (with the type-35 filter) run back through its own external signal processor and with the keyboard voltage tracking the filter cut offs. The distortion is entirely from the synth, there's no extra processing. Also put in the bass quarter notes after the fact on a Fender Jazz bass.
Start 2019 as you mean to go on.
This week we're looking at producing a track in the style of Justice (rather than breaking down an existing Justice song). There's drum machines, drum editing, multiple analogue synth sounds, creative sampling and more.
The Prophet VS from 1986 is one of the most sought after of the original Sequential instruments. They only made 1,500 of the keyboard versions and around 500 of the rack mounts. I was very fortunate to be able to borrow one.
The Oberheim Xpander (1984) is quite a curious release from the legendary developer. It has the classic muscly Oberheim sound with 6-voice polyphony at 2 VCOs per-voice. However, it then becomes very interesting because it then has some deep digital control. There's five LFOs and five envelopes per voice, lag processing, tracking generators, ramp generators a filter with 15 modes and a whole bunch more. Pretty amazing for 1984! The instrument is fairly chunky, but most of the control is built around page diving and a modulation matrix. So, it would be absolutely enormous if they had a switch or potentiometer for each function. It's kind of a modular-esque synth without any cables and some elements being virtual. Furthermore, there are multi-patches where a different single patch can be loaded for each of the six voices. The voices also have their own CV/Gate and discrete outputs if you so wish. It's also fully midi equipped and so some folk use the Xpander as a midi to CV converter
is is a reworking of a video I originally uploaded in August 2018. It was by far the most popular video on my channel for the very brief period it was online. Unfortunately it got a global block from the film studio for including visual material from the film, which they're obviously entitled to do. As a lot of work went into this video and my subscribers have quadrupled since it was last online, I was thinking of ways to remake it without any visual material from the film. I came across the idea of buying some T2 action figures and making a bunch of stills of my own. So here we are!
Back to the 70s on this one with some original Korg (and Roland) kit. If you're into harmony and THAT 70s sound then the chord pattern is...
Finally got to have some time with the one Jupiter I've not played properly; the Jupiter-6 from 1983. For starters, it's a big bulky instrument that matches the Jupiter-8 in terms of scale, but then there are quite a lot of differences. Its sound is rawer and colder than the hi-fi Jupiter-8, most likely to do with it having different circuits and also digital LFOs and envelopes (combined with an otherwise analogue signal path). It also has combinable wave shapes on both of the oscillators (rather than them being switchable as on the Jupiter-8) and various keyboard modes with some quite narly detune.
This was an interesting one. I’d never heard of the Akai VX600 until a couple of weeks ago, so I came into it with absolutely no preconceptions. When I saw it, I assumed it was a sampler. It’s actually a synth and surprisingly, given it only has 37-keys, it’s a six-voice poly synth. Perhaps most unexpected is the fact that it’s analogue. So with the surprises out of the way, I fired it up and discovered you have to run a computer controlled calibration and let it warm up. It’s actually quite reminiscent of the Oberheim Xpander in terms of workflow and quirks. You have two oscillators per voice with various combinable waveshapes, three envelopes, two filters, two LFOs per voice. It’s velocity sensitive and has aftertouch and midi. It’s also multitimbral and you can load different sounds for each voice (as you can on the Xpander). There’s even a multi-pin connection to get all the voices separately and a whole setup dedicated for use with a wind controller. It’s quite an oddball!
The first ARP synth to ever appear on my channel, and not a bad place to start! This is a straight performance video rather than a demonstration or talk through, but the 2600 will appear again.
And now for something completely different… The Casiotone 202 is a preset-based keyboard from 1981. It has some primitive controls of vibrato and sustain, but that’s about it. The sounds are selected by flicking a “set” switch and pressing notes on the keyboard which correspond to a particular sound. The presets include things like violin, cello, harp, brass, piano, organ, harp, guitar, clavinet etc. But there’s some more peculiar stuff like synthe-sound, elec. sound, shakuhachi and koto. All the sounds sound….well, like a Casio!
Was going to call this "10 Synths, 4 Drum Machines, 1 Cup" but thought better of it. Anyway, an experiment I've been meaning to do for months that I'm pleased to say works! Hopefully it gives some hints and tips to you guys when it comes to hooking up your gear and recording with it.
Sound Dust (run by Pendle Poucher) is one of my favourite sample developers. He's just released "Infundibulum #2" and I did a demo for the Sound Dust SoundCloud Page. I thought it would be a good opportunity to show it to my viewers as it's a genuinely brilliant instrument that can get you out of a creative rut by giving back to you an awful lot more than you put in!
The Roland SH-2 from 1979 is one vintage piece I’d never seen in the flesh and one that wasn’t physically in my “Land of the Rising Sound” documentary, so it’s great to be able to cover it on the channel.
The Roland Juno-106 is probably one of the most famous polyphonic synthesizers from the 80s but it had a couple of lesser known variations; the HS-60 and the 106S, both of which had built-in speakers, but were otherwise identical.
I’ve been leant a Roland System 500 for a video and so the first thing I wanted to try with it was a side-by-side with the System 100m (1978) and SH-5 (1976) as these are two of the heritage synths that inspired it. The third synth it’s based on is the System 700, but I’m sure you can forgive me for not getting that one in there too!
A demo that a number of people have been asking me to do for about six months, so I'm hoping it does the instrument justice. The DSi Prophet REV2 (2017) is the successor to the Prophet 08 (2007) that was itself the comeback Prophet synth after Sequential had closed their doors thirty years prior. Its heritage is legendary with the Prophet~5, Prophet~10, Prophet T8 and Prophet VS being a few of its relatives. It's also in good company with modern siblings such as the Prophet 12, Prophet~6 and Prophet X/XL. Whilst it can do decent "classic" analogue sounds, retro patches would underplay all the modern things the REV2 can do. The 3 envelopes / 4 LFOs and comprehensive mod matrix combined with modern connectivity and synchronization make it a very convenient workhorse and I imagine players and engineers would have dreamed of functionality like it when the original Prophets were in their heyday.
This town ain't big enough for the both of us.. Borrowed a mint condition Roland RE-150 Space Echo (1979) and I thought I'd mix things up by doing something that isn't synthesizer-based (although one synth snuck in there). I also haven't done any virtual orchestra stuff in a while, so have brought that back big time in this one. If you followed my channel early on I did a fair few experiments with this kind of thing. To my ears the 70s orchestral recordings are often mono sources that are panned around to make a stereo image, rather than stereo sectional sounds. To emulate this, I put each instrument in mono and panned them quite hard (e.g. cello is on the right with violin 2, viola and violin 1 are left). I also used just the close mics and then put a plate reverb on them, rather than using any ambient or room mics. This also sounds closer to the vibe in my mind.
This is a synth I've been wanting to demo for a long time and it didn't disappoint. The Korg Mono/Poly was released in 1981 and is the somewhat quirky sibling of the Polysix. It's essentially a 4 oscillator monosynth with different waves, footings and volumes available on each oscillator. There's two independent LFOs, two envelopes, cross mod, oscillator sync, a 4-pole low pass filter that can self oscillate, pwm, detune, portamento, an arpeggiator, CV/trigger in and out and a couple of assignable wheels. However...things then get very interesting in the "key assign mode" as this is where the "Mono" and "Poly" parts of the Mono/Poly are found. You can play monophonically with just one oscillator triggered or you can select 'unison' and have all four oscillators triggered simultaneously. Combined with whatever waves and footings you've selected on each oscillator this can get interesting.
I've been planning to giveaway a detailed sample pack of my Sequential Circuits Drumtraks and so I thought I'd tell you a bit more about the machine whilst doing that. Download the sample pack: http://bit.ly/Drumtraks As mentioned in the film, much of the specific information about Sequential Circuits comes from "The Prophet from Silicon Valley" by David Abernethy and I thoroughly recommend getting a copy if you're into synth history. Some of the original adverts and posters come from Retro Synth Ads.
A comparison of four of the instruments in the Roland Cloud "Legendary Series" with the original hardware units they're based upon.
Arturia kindly sent me a Minibrute 2 and so I made a track with it. As I’m sure you know, the MiniBrute 2 came out last year and is the successor to the original MiniBrute (2012) with both being modern analogue monosynths with some nice features. Oscillator 1 has mixable sawtooth with ultrasaw, square wave with pulse width, triangle with metalizer and noise. Oscillator 2 is simpler with sine, saw and square. It can also run as an LFO. There is a great sounding resonant Steiner-Parker multimode filter with low pass, high pass, band pass and notch modes. It can self-oscillate.
I love the sound of old analogue rhythm machines, but I always wanted to be able to program them like my drum machines. Without the knowledge or skill to modify them, I thought that maybe multi-sampling them would give me what I was after. I’m over the moon with the results and I think that the Kontakt multi versions sound awesome. Hopefully you’ll have fun with them too! Download: http://bit.ly/RhythmMachines
A little spin through a Boss KM-60 from 1979. Like many pieces from this era, people have subsequently found uses for them that weren’t what they were originally intended for. In the case of the KM-60, it’s since found a second life as a device for processing and mangling drums, which I’m demonstrating here. I particularly liked what it did to a TR-707 with a TB-303 in tow.
A follow up to the Boss KM-60 mixer video I did a few weeks back: • Processing Drum Machines with a 70s B... This time we're taking the analogue mixer test further with a vintage Maxon RM-60 and RM-100 EX to see how both synths and drums machines sound through processed through them.
An unexpected visitor from 1999; The Waldorf Q in the "Halloween" colour scheme. The Q is a DSP-based virtual analogue synthesizer from the era when knobs, sliders and analogue sounds came back in fashion, but when digital engines were able to handle the reproduction, provide comprehensive control over them and add newer features. The Roland JP-8000 and Korg MS-2000 are two other examples of this era of instrument. The Q has three oscillators (plus two sub) per voice with your usual pulse, saw, sine and triangle, but the first two oscillators also have two "alt" settings that are wavetable generators somewhat in the territory of synths like the PPG wave. Not overly surprising as Waldorf founder Wolfgang Düren had been a distributor for PPG in the 80s. In fact, the dual multimode filters even have a dedicated "PPG" setting along with 24db/12db low pass, high pass, band pass, notch and comb.
Veteran composer Geert Van Schlänger shows us how to compose 70s P*rno music. Here's timestamps and remember to schtay shexy. 0:40 – Part 1 Composition 6:18 – Part 2 Beat It 8:35 – Part 3 Big Bottom 10:58 – Part 4 Double Team 13:18 – Part 5 Harmoany 14:59 – Part 6 On Top 18:16 – Part 7 Summary 18:52 – The End Result
Veteran composer Geert Van Schlänger returns with another tutorial, this time on creating music for an 80s blue movie. Happy valentines day. 0:00 Intro 0:59 Part 1: Meet your beat 1:48 Part 2: Chord Fingering 6:22 Part 3: Go Down 7:48 Part 4: Strum & Blow 8:40 Setting the scene 9:13 The Music
Veteran composer Geert Van Schlänger returns to talk us through producing 90s porno music. He’s had a bit of a rough time in the 80s, so go easy on him. If your name is Matthew Schafer then – thank you. This one’s for you. 0:00 Intro 0:52 Part 1: Shexy Schample 1:22 Trouscher Arouscher 2:30 Inserting into Pubase and schampling 3:42 Part 2: Heavy Beatsch 4:21 Part 3: New Basche 5:53 Part 4: Lead Schound 6:50 Schet the Schene 7:25 90s Porno Music
Another synth demo, this time with the Sequential Circuits Prophet~600 buddied up with its siblings. This synth was the very first instrument released with midi (with Dave Smith of Sequential being the "father of midi"). He was later awarded a Grammy for its invention along with Ikutaro Kakehashi of Roland. It was famously hooked up to a Roland Jupiter-6 at the Winter NAMM of 1983 to demonstrate that a universal protocol had been achieved. The Prophet~600 was the third of this iconic series to be released after the Prophet~5 (1978) and Prophet~10 (1980). With their eye on affordable poly synths such as the Kory Polysix and Roland Juno-60, Sequential looked to create a cutdown version of their earlier Prophets and the 600 was the result. Around 6,000 of them were made between 1983 - 1985.
A Korg Synthe-Bass (aka SB-100) from 1975 stopped by for a quick demo. In this video I walk through what it does and then make a short track with it at the end. The Synthe-Bass was used most famously by Dave Ball from Soft Cell and Röyksopp used it too, but it's generally not that well known and there's not many videos about it on YouTube, so hopefully this goes some way towards rectifying that as I think it's fantastic.
The Roland Organ/Strings 09 (RS-09) was released in 1978 and then updated in 1980 or 1981. It's a divide-down, paraphonic poly with sounds grouped into Organ I and II (with octave divider sliders) and Strings 8' and 4'. There's a basic low-pass filter, an LFO (with delay, rate and depth), stereo ensemble with two speeds, envelope release control (with two modes) and a separate attack control on the strings only. You can use the audio and gate out to run the RS-09 through another synth's filter with control of the filter envelope and you can also run external audio through the RS-09 to add stereo ensemble to it.
A musical demo of the Roland Promars Compuphonic from 1978. This guy accompanied the release of the Jupiter-4 and is basically its monophonic sibling, although it has some differences. The Promars has a “dual VCO” and it works as follows: The master VCO has sawtooth, square, variable pulse, sub oscillator and separate white noise. There is a second VCO (which also has its own sub oscillator) which is slaved to the waveshape and modulation of the master VCO, but can be tuned independently.
My Roland TR-77 / Rhythm -77 is just back from surgery after it had a Unipulse midi kit installed.
A look at the Korg Stage Echo which is a tape delay from 1977 with some interesting features that allow for some creative possibilities.
The System 700 from 1976 was the most expensive instrument Roland ever made. A comprehensive, semi-modular monster that was at the cutting edge at the time, the full system cost the equivalent of around £35,000 - £45,000 (around $45,000 - $50,000) and as they made so few of them; they have been known to sell for even more than that on the rare occasions that they emerge on the second hand market.
The Roland System 700 was a cutting edge and overly engineered masterpiece from 1976 that is both rare and curious. As so few of these Systems were made, there's only a couple of dozen videos on YouTube showing them and several of those are just quick phone recordings.
I've had a dozen requests to cover this synth and I said I'd do it if I was able to get hold of one and I'm glad to say that that happened. The CS-15 is a two-oscillator analogue monosynth from 1979 that has an awful lot more to it than meets the eye. The signal and control routing is so much more flexible than many other comparable synths from this era that command legendary status and so I'm kind of baffled as to why the CS-15 doesn't seem to be held in the same high regard.
A look at the original Simmons Drum Synthesizer, the SDS-3 from 1978. This instrument was built by Dave Simmons when he was working for a company called Musicaid in the late 70s and it served as the precursor to famous SDS-V with its distinctive hexagonal pads that cropped up on many hit records in the 1980s.
Whilst synth clones are cropping up left, right and center at the moment, it isn't a new idea. A case in point is the Studio Electronics Midi Mini from 1989. From asking around I've gathered that SE started this concept by taking the boards out of actual Minimoogs and housing them in a rack mountable case with extra features and midi. The midi to CV was done by Frankensteining a Roland MPU-101 into the rear of the synth and this was dubbed the "Midi Moog". At some point SE started cloning the boards themselves from scratch and I presume this was because they wanted to produce bigger quantities and sourcing old Minimoogs and MPU-101s wasn't really practical when it came to that ambition. This new version was called the "Midi Mini" and that's what we're looking at today. To confuse things, I'm told that there were some Midi Mini's with original Moog boards inside them too.
Ken Danger (332 The Rhumba of the Beast) takes up the challenge of making heavy metal with synthesizers and a drum machine.
In 1974 Roland released the RE-201 Space Echo. It went on to become the industry standard appearing in studios and live rigs the world over. They released numerous other successful models (before and after) but the rarest of them all is the RE-5 Digital Space that had a very short run in Japan in 1988. Its intended application is also quite surprising and in this video we take a look at what it does and contrast it with its famous older brother.
In 1979 Roland released one of the most famous vocoders of all time, the VP-330, but some may not realise that it had a lesser known sibling; the SVC-350. The 350 is essentially the same vocoder found in the 330, but in rackmount format and without the synth parts. That said, it does have some unique features that don’t appear on the 330. The 350 went on being made quite late into the 80s and the serial of this particular unit dates to July 1985 which ties in with Roland’s move towards rack mount and module-based gear at that time.
A closer look at Roland's System 100m synthesizer from 1979. I demonstrate four patches to give a little flavour of this fantastic synthesizer and then explain each patch in order to give an understanding of how it works.
Following on from the "closer look" video, here's a full performance with the Roland System 100m from 1979. I tried to demonstrate the versatility of a setup like this by making things like full drum kits, squelchy basses, phased and delayed textures with sequenced filter mod, synth guitars, ring mod nastiness, audio rate down-sampled formants, voltage processed LFOs, lush Jupiter-esque polyphony, a singing and gliding lead, sounds that can't really be described and more. Many sounds were also created in groups together at one time because you can! The eagle eyed among you may have noticed that there were actually five 191-J cabs used in the video, although only four at one time.
This week we're going to take a quick look at the Yamaha TX81Z which was an affordable 1U FM synthesizer released in 1987. Whilst other FM synths are more revered, (DX1, DX5, DX7) the TX81Z made a name for itself because it contains sounds (particularly the "Lately Bass" preset) that became favourites for producers in the late 80s and early 90s. In fact, the "Lately Bass" equivalent on the earlier DX100 called "Solid Bass" was equally popular. I've listed a few well known songs that used either of those versions of the sound below.
If you’re after a classic Roland Juno-106 or TR-707, you might not know that both (plus a bass synth) are found inside the MKS-7 or “Super Quartet” from 1985. Roland made various rack mount versions of their 80s synths in the MKS range, but the Super Quartet is a little different and is somewhat related to their earlier CMU-800. In this video we take a look at what it does, how it was intended to be used and how it can be used in ways that weren’t intended.
A video looking at the AMS 1580S and the AMS RMX 16, which were early digital effects units that helped define the sound of recordings in the late 70s and early 80s. In the video I use them to process sounds within a song I’m recording and demonstrate what they do during the production.
This is an original composition and performance I made with the ARP Odyssey from the mid-70s. A few days ago as I was finishing this video I heard that Buena Pearlman had sadly passed at the age of 93. I had the pleasure of briefly speaking to her on a Skype call last year whilst we were recording with an ARP 2002 and she said "I remember those" with a wry smile when we proudly showed the instrument.
The WASP is an iconic British synthesizer designed by Electronic Dream Plant in 1978. EDP were Adrian Wagner (yes, he was a relation of Richard), Chris Huggett and Steven Evans. They only traded until around 1982, but that wasn't the end of their synth story. Chris Huggett in particular has had a prolific career in the industry, founding the Oxford Synthesizer Company in 1983 and releasing the (also iconic) OSCar and subsequently (after work with Akai), he joined Novation, who are still trading to this very day. Back to 1978, the concept of the WASP was to build a powerful, low cost synthesizer. That seemed to have worked as one of the original reviews I found uses the headline "The Synth we can all afford" but still dubs it a professional instrument.
The Grp Synthesizer A4 is an Italian analogue synthesizer originally released in 2012. Combining classic subtractive synthesis with modern desires, it's got pretty tasty spec. To save the longest video description ever, here's a link to Theo Bloderer's comprehensive breakdown: https://greatsynthesizers.com/en/revi... In this video I tried to make use of the A4's architecture, whilst keeping things musical. It's very easy with this much power at your fingertips to overcook it and just make either a sonic mess, or a sound that only works in isolation. Hopefully I've struck the balance.
Today we take a look at the Crumar Multiman-S, an Italian string synthesizer from 1977. We also look at the concept of a string synthesizer in general; an instrument that served as a stop gap, but that forged its own identity due the distinctive sound and the records they were used in. Originally conceived by Ken Freeman, others saw the impending gold rush and got their instruments out. When I say there was a "string synth heyday", I'm not exaggerating.
A brief look at an early Theis Modular Synthesizer (TMSS) from around 2002. This particular unit was originally owned by Richard D James / Aphex Twin.
After having the privilege of demonstrating so much wonderful gear on my channel, Florian came to me during an out-of-body experience to show me the path to true enlightenment – Bad Gear! …and boy was it bad!
In this episode of Bad Gear, the show about the world's most hated audio tools, it's CROSSOVER TIME!!! We are going to talk about the Korg DDM-110 digital 80s drum machine but, even more important, we have the honor and the pleasure to welcome the one and only ALEX BALL on the Audiopilz channel.
In 1984, Fender put out a synthesizer – the Chroma Polaris. This short film explains why and how that happened.
The Prophet is back baby!
A look at Yamaha's CS-30 monophonic synthesizer from 1977. This was the closest Yamaha got to a modular synth before their attention moved wholesale into FM synthesis. Yamaha released their first analogue synth (the SY-1) in 1974 and their last (the CS-01 II) in 1983. They've never made an analogue synthesizer since, although they have made analogue modelling synths.
I borrowed two rare vintage Teisco synthesizers from the early 80s, the 110F and SX-400. As the former has several videos about it on YouTube, I decided to focus on the latter, which doesn't. We also look at a curious link to ARP Instruments which has (understandably) caused much confusion.
An overview for the ISLA S2400 that I've been asked about many times. I'm currently working through the video manual for the S2400.
Who wrote the intro to "Beat It"? Michael Jackson? Let's find out...
Want a vintage, Roland, programmable, analogue drum machine but can't afford it? Maybe you can.... One such machine remains cheap to this day, mainly because it was a little accompaniment unit for guitarists to practice along with and not a piece of serious studio kit. That machine is the Boss DR (Doctor Rhythm) 110 from 1983 and whilst limited, it's surprisingly cool.
A quick look at the Roland SH-2 from 1979 , logically the 8th in the SH series ;)
An overview of the new synthesizer OB-E from GForce Software. Based on the God-tier Oberheim Eight Voice, OB-E is a new plugin for Mac that brings all the features of the original with a raft of additions that would make original Eight Voice owners jealous. Well, relatively jealous, they own an Eight Voice after all.
The Roland VP-330 from 1979 is their most sought after vocoder. In this video we look at an original MkII and try to figure out why that is.
The RS-505 or Paraphonic-505 was released in 1978 and was so called because it could make numerous sounds in parallel. The term "paraphonic" has been reappropriated in recent years to refer to instruments (like the 505) that were polyphonic, but that only had one filter and one amp.
A look at the Korg Σ (Sigma / KP-30) from 1979, a rare and strange monophonic performance synthesizer with two joysticks. We discuss its features and history and listen to its suprising sound. Gear used: Korg Σ (1979) Korg MS-20 Mk I (1978) Korg KR-55B (1982) Korg KPR-77 Samples (1983) Korg DDM-110 (1985) Korg SQ-1 (2015) Seekers Voice Spectra Vocoder (00s) Squier Jagmaster Vista (1997) Evans Sound Creator Nova 400 (70s)
A closer look at the legendary Roland Jupiter-8, an iconic polysynth from 1981.
A review of the new software synth "Model 84" by Softube as well as a demo of its use with the sister "Modular" plugin.
Something a bit different, a look at some things you can do with compressors. These techniques can be achieved with hardware or software, so hopefully this gives some ideas of things to try out for yourself.
Following on from my "Compressors Go Squish" video from earlier this year, here's a look at using different types of echos, delays and reverbs to process sounds whilst recording.
Roland sent me a couple of their current flagship instruments to see what a lover of their vintage gear thinks of their modern stuff. Before filming anything, I gathered viewer questions on social media which I've attempted to the answer in this video. Let me know if you have any more!
A bit of light-hearted fun with the JD-800 model expansion that was recently added to the host of those available in the Jupiter-X.
A quick look at Korg's first ever polyphonic synthesizer, the Polyphonic Ensemble (PE-1000) from 1976. Whilst it is a very basic instrument, it has some unusual features and ideas and has some quite interesting sounds despite the limitations. It was also the first step Korg took on a very long polyphonic journey that still continues five decades later.
A comparison between a vintage Prophet~5 rev3 and a new Prophet~10 rev4 (both designed by Dave Smith at Sequential). This is a blind test where you see the same clip twice, but in one you're hearing the Prophet you see and in the other you're hearing the Prophet you don't see.
This is a follow up to this video from last week.
Aussie modular specialist Peter Stanchion demonstrates the Radiophonic One "synthesizer" from STG Soundlabs.
A look at the SP 1200 which is a legendary sampling drum machine first released by E-mu Systems in 1987.
was offered a loan of a Super 6 from UDO Audio, which I jumped at. As its features and functions have been covered brilliantly on other YouTube channels, I thought instead that I'd pose a question: Can a modern synth inspire new ideas? In the video I try to explore that using some of what the Super 6 has to offer.
I had an opportunity to put together all of Roland's analogue, modular (or semi-modular) synthesizers in the same place at the same time. System 100 Model 101 (1975) System 700 Blocks 1, 6 and 7 (1976) System 100m Complete (1979) except 182 replaced with Ryk 185 System 500 "Complete Set" (2016)
Erica Synths sent me SYNTRX and so I decided to use it to create the sound FX and theme tune to an imaginery Sci-Fi show, "Omicron 9".
The ARP 2600 is one of the most famous synthesizers of all time and is still in demand fifty years after its initial release in 1971. In this video I explore a few contrasting sounds that can be made with this wonderful instrument.
A look at the new ARP 2600 M from Korg.
A look at the original Jupiter synthesizer, the JP-4 from 1978.
A look at the LinnDrum which is arguably the most famous digital drum machine of all time.
I finally managed to get my hands on an ASM Hydrasynth for a video and after looking at all the features and functions I decided to explore whether any of the complexity was beneficial to music making when after all, some of the most enduring and popular synthesizers of all time have been very simple.
The Mellotron is a wonderful and bizarre instrument from the 1960s, so how and why would someone make new material for it in 2021?
A practical look at how to use Mellotron sounds in your productions using the libraries made by myself and Hainbach and GForce Software's new M-TRON Select player.
The Roland CompuRhythm or CR-78 from 1978 is arguably the first famous drum machine. In this short video, I take a look at why that is.
A mini documentary telling the story of Korg's first synthesizer.
By popular demand, a look at the Arturia Polybrute.
I've been getting the same challenge put to me frequently; can you show us what you could do with some cheap vintage gear. I've been on the lookout for suitable contenders and I snagged a Korg SuperDrums (DDM-110) a while back and a Korg DW-6000 recently. I set the max budget for this to £200 and these pair cost a total of £190, so I thought that matched the criteria in a world where vintage synths can cost thousands or tens of thousands!
I had an opportunity to borrow a vintage Prophet~5 rev3.2 for a short while and, as I've done lots of videos on the Prophet, I thought I'd take the opportunity to create a tutorial showing three of my favourite uses of this classic synth.
A look at the Roland MicroComposer / MC-4 from 1981. In 1977 Roland introduced the first ever microprocessor controlled digital sequencer, which was the MC-8 designed by Ralph Dyck. The MC-4 was the successor and was one of Roland's few CV/Gate digital sequencers before they moved over to MIDI shortly after. Both when it was new and many years after it was seemingly obsolete, numerous artists swore by it and they're now sought after. In the video we explore why.
A video you've been asking for for at least three years! Hopefully I do it justice. The Alpha Juno-2 from 1985 was one of a pair of instruments that marked the second wave of the Juno series following the classic Juno-6/60 and 106. For a long time they were inexpensive and not particularly sought after, for reasons that we discuss, but they were always great sounding synths with way more flex than their earlier, much-praised siblings. If there's one claim to fame that the Alpha can boast, it's THAT hoover sound (aka "What the?") that has become a standard part of the synthesizer patch repertoire.
A Jupiter-6 stopped by for a few days so I thought I'd complete the trinity having done videos on the Jupiter-4 and Jupiter-8 last year. This synth has a reputation for having a "cold" sound and it's always been the more dystopian Jupiter in my mind. I wanted to explore whether there are any reasons for that and whether they're legitimate, imagined or a bit of both.
For the first time ever I review some Moog gear! Matriarch DFAM Mother-32 Subharmonicon
Hainbach visited the UK to create merry mayhem with Landfill Totems, esoteric equipment, live shows a silky German accent. I had to invite him over whilst he was here. We had less than 24 hours, so I challenged him to 10 minutes on the Roland System 100m having never used it before. Of course, he delivered and taught me lessons as he went.
A look at the Yamaha CS01 Micro-Monophonic Synthesizer from 1982. This was one of Yamaha's last analogue synthesizers and was part of an affordable range called the "Producer Series".
A look at the infamous ARP Avatar from 1977. This is the first proper guitar demo of it to be uploaded to YouTube!
A look at the new soft synth Model 82 from Softube. In this video we explore five things you can do with Model 82 (chim-chim-cheroo). It's surprising what's possible with just one oscillator, filter, amp, envelope and LFO.
A look at the Korg 770 monophonic synthesizer from 1976, an incredibly grubby sounding instrument that I've dubbed "the smut box". In this video we explore what it sounds like and why.
I recieved a mysterious challenge via the Royal Mail and after my butler Reginald had served me tea and crumpets, I decided to accept it.
In 1982 the Roland Corporation released a budget polyphonic synthesizer. On paper you'd expect it to have been forgotten about within a couple of years, but the opposite is true.
Whilst taking a holiday in Italy we stopped off at Museo del Synth Marchigiano for a couple of days and this is the account of what I experienced there.
A look at the Korg VC-10 from 1978, their first ever vocoder. It was part of the MS range and was used by Buggles, Tomita, Keith Emerson, Apollo 440, Klaus Schulze and many others.
look at the Oberheim Xpander from 1984. This analogue synthesizer employs what was then cutting edge, digital control allowing for advanced patch creation. It was designed by Marcus Ryle and Michel Doidic with input from Doug Curtis and it boasts some surprising features for the time. In this video we take a closer look.
A look at the Space Station SST-282 and Stargate 323 units designed by Ursa Major, a company founded by Christopher Moore that operated from 1977 until 1985.
Oberheim are back with a very serious synthesizer indeed; the OB-X8. In this video we take a quick look at what it does and what it sounds like.
A look at the only fully-modular synthesizer Korg have ever made, the MS-50 Expander Module from 1978.
As we come to the end of Roland's 50th anniversary year, I thought it would be fun to look at their anniversary golden Jupiter-X, the "Inspire The Music" book and to also tell you some stories of my own.
A look at the Oberheim Synthesizer Expander Module (1974) and Two Voice (1975), which were Oberheim's first two synthesizer products respectively.
A look at the E-mu Systems Emulator II from 1984, famously used by a certain Mr Bueller.
As discussed in the video, this unit was used by many famous artists, producers and engineers in the late 90s and early 00s across a broad range of styles. The Mutator is a stereo pair of analogue, resonant low pass filters (SSM 2045s) and voltage controlled amplifiers that are contoured by envelope followers and/or LFOs. In a nutshell, that allows for all sorts of stereo filtering, sweeping and tremolo FX on an open-ended number of audio sources. There is further functionality such as additional attack and release times, external inputs for creating alternate envelopes, external CV ins, LFO linking/inverting, MIDI control and MIDI LFO reset etc. Most (but not all) of this was used at some point in the video.
A look at the new SH-4d synthesizer from Roland. The SH-4d is a multi-timbral synthesizer with four parts, plus drums. At the time of uploading, there are 11 different synthesis engines onboard, as well as a multi-track sequencer, arpeggiator, MIDI and USB audio. The unit also includes lots of FX, a deep mod matrix and "D-Motion" which allows configurable modulation that is controlled by physically tilting the unit in different directions.
Huge thank you to Andrew "The Quadra" Ward for the loan!
Following on from my video with the original Syntrx, I thought it would be fun to do another imaginary score with its successor, Syntrx II.
A look at the 3rd Wave from Groove Synthesis.
A look at Roland's System 100 from 1975, their first foray in (semi) modular synthesis.
Following on from my Roland System 100 feature video, here's a full cover of the Human League's first single, "Being Boiled" from 1978. Breakdown: I was very fortunate to receive a copy of the original beat patch from Martyn Ware via Robbie Puricelli. Martyn had passed on that it might need to tweaking and experimentation, which wasn't surprising given the nature of analogue gear. The patch sheet gave me the pitched noise part and the snare and I found I needed to add a bit of EQ from my mixer to dial those in too. I also had had to adjust the settings in tiny increments for quite a while until it sounded very close. Strangely, I had to use the white noise on my 100 to get it to sound like the original recording as the pink noise that they actually used sounded too dull on mine. Maybe it's the age of the unit now!
A look at the Black Corporation ISE-NIN which is an 8-voice analogue synthesizer based on the Roland Jupiter-8 from 1981.
A look at the first drum synthesizer made by Pearl, the Syncussion SY-1 from 1979.
Finally! A look at a Moog modular synthesizer! Despite Moog being the most famous synth brand ever, it's historically been difficult for me to get hold of Moogs for numerous reasons, so when I found out that there was a Model 10 reissue lurking in the UK, I begged GAK Music Emporium to let me borrow it.
A quick look at the Korg Digital Voice Processor (DVP-1) from 1986, which was used by Air on numerous productions, including "Kelly Watch the Stars" from Moon Safari. The DVP was originally designed to give programmable voice effects at an affordable price, but you can run any audio signal you like through it. There's four main engines or "modes": Vocoder (as the name suggests, a digital vocoder) Harmonize (add five intervals to an audio signal, also has chord memory) Int Wave (internal digital waves that can be played via midi) Pitch Shift (digital pitch shifting) There's a built-in chorus effect, unison and poly modes and patch memory.
A look at the unique MXR M-129 Pitch Transposer from 1979.
The story of the giant Korg MS-20 including photos and information never seen before!
A look at the outrageous and jaw-dropping Colossus from Analogue Solutions.
Roland's first ever synth was the SH-1000 and they've added around 20 to that line since then, including the SH-4d that came out just a few months ago. I've played most of them and one always stood out as my favourite having borrowed one some years ago. Unfortunately they're very rare and hard to find, but after a lucky encounter I managed to finally get one.
In 1983, effects giants MXR made a drum machine.
Last year I shot some bonus footage of the Jupiter-X and Juno-X whilst they were both in the studio to answer two questions I kept getting about them: 1) What's the difference between the Juno-X and Jupiter-X? 2) Can they make their own sounds that aren't recreations of old sounds?
Veteran blue movie composer Geert Van Schlänger returns to give us his valued insight into the majestic wah-wah pedal.
This was a very special opportunity indeed, and I really hope you enjoy it. In a nutshell, I got hold of an E-mu SP-12 from the 80s and then discovered that a friend, Andrew Ward, has some of Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford's original floppy discs for it that are part of his Genesis equipment collection. Chris Poacher leant us a floppy drive and I fired up the discs, possibly for the first time in over 30 years. In this video, we find out what I discovered!
Following on from our look at Genesis SP-12 sounds, here's a look at Tony Banks' Roland JD-800 that he used live throughout the 1990s. In this video, we have a listen to the tour patches stored on the instrument and get a little glimpse into how Genesis did things in front of stadiums full of adoring fans.
Back by popular demand, another filmscore breakown. This time we look at Wendy Carlos' 1982 score to Tron.
I thought it would be fun to look at one of my favourite uses of the ARP Sequencer, which is in Paul McCartney's "Temporary Secretary" released in 1980. I also thought it would be interesting to see what the song would sound like if everything was done on synths, rather than guitars, bass and drums.
A look at a specific drum setup used by Depeche Mode and Daniel Miller on their album, Speak and Spell, from 1981.
This is the least known of the trio (Odyssey, Axxe, Solus) because it was only made for a few months before ARP went out of business.
A look at the classic Oberheim OB-X synthesizer from 1979. Huge thanks to Steven R Sellick for the kind loan!
A look at how the Korg MS-20 and SQ-10 sequencer were an intergral part of the sound of a group of German musicians in the late 70s and early 80s.
How to do the Dalek voice with a ring modulator.
A look at the Polymoog and how Gary Numan adopted one of the presets from one of the versions to help define his sound.
A look at the revolutionary Roland MC-8 from 1977 which was one of the earliest microprocessor-controlled digital sequencers. Around 200 of these units were made and they were extremely expensive. As I've covered the history of this unit several times, I thought it would be interesting to follow in the footsteps of a band that made significant use of the MC-8, which was Yellow Magic Orchestra. In the video we look at how the MC-8 works and use it to compose a track in the style of YMO using the techniques and (where possible) instruments that they used in the late 70s.
A look at some of the equipment used by Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori to score Halo: Combat Evolved, released in 2001.
Like most people, I've always wanted to own an original Roland TR-808 but it's always been the wrong price or the wrong time or both. Earlier this year my time finally came. I wanted to make a video showing why it's still a very relevant and useful instrument in a modern studio and that it's not just purely about nostalgia, whilst that obviously plays a part!
I thought it would be interesting to work out a few Louis Cole chord progressions and learn a little about how he makes his awesome music. - F It Up - Thinking - Let it happen - I'm Tight
A look at a wonderful vintage synth, the Korg Trident Mk I from 1980.
Whilst the E-mu SP machines are most famous for their use in Hip-hop, they were used by numerous artists in different genres and in different ways. To that end, I thought it would be interesting look at why and how it was used on Joe Satriani's 1987 album "Surfing with the alien". A note - I am aware that playing Joe Satriani songs on an Ibanez JEM is like doing a video about Spider-Man whilst dressed as Batman, but the JEM is the guitar I have.
A LOT of people have asked me to do this tutorial, so hopefully it's useful!
A look at the reissue of the mysterious Korg PS-3300, first released in 1977, along with some history about it and footage of its creator, Fumio Mieda.
In 2023, Anthony Marinelli aquired a 1969 Moog IIIc modular synthesizer that has a very interesting history. In this video, we tell that story for the first time.
I wanted to make some videos about recording to tape and the first port-of-call is multitrack cassette recording. I found a (kind-of-working) Sansui WS-X1 and it seemed an interesting option for the video as there's not a lot of videos about it. Cassette recording was the only option available to me when I started and I used to borrow the school 4-track over weekends. As soon as I could get a computer and a DAW, I left it behind and haven't touched it since probably 2000. Funnily enough, the only cassette I had lying around was one with my old A-level compositions on it.
A look at the Eventide Clockworks Instant Flanger from 1975, specifically in relation to how it was employed by Tony Visconti to create the unusual piano sound on Ashes to Ashes.
A look at how Daniel Miller (aka 'The Normal') used his first synth, a second-hand miniKORG 700S, to create the cult song Warm Leatherette in his bedroom. The song was the B-side to T.V.O.D and was the first ever release on Mute Records.
Time to announce the launch of a project I've been working on for some time; my debut album. It includes entirely re-worked, full-length versions of some of my YouTube songs, that some of you might recognise, as well as six songs that haven't been heard before. It also features the vocal, instrumental, artistic and technological takents of a dozen others who helped me bring this to life, and I'm hugely grateful to them.
This is a video I've been wanting to do for about a year as it's consistently the most requested thing I've had in emails and comments, so here it is! I've tried to make it as forensic and as in-depth as possible so that it covers everything, which means it's wound up being almost an hour long. But if you're looking for hints and tips on making realistic orchestral recordings with virtual instruments, the hour of your time should hopefully be worth it.
Hopefully it's a useful guide to synth and drum machine programming and arranging as well as mixing and mastering. All with the spirit of the John Carpenter sound.
One of my all time favourite scores (and films). I thought it would be interesting to make a video breaking down what's going on in the music, because it's very specific. Massive thanks to David Andrew Brent and Mike TC for appearing in this video.
The Oberheim DX is the little brother of the DMX and both were heavily used drum machines in the early 80s. There's quite a few DMX sample packs online but not a detailed DX one that I've seen, so I've made one myself. Enjoy! Here's the download link for all of my free sample packs: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ayahlcs78ly...
One of the most interesting stories of the synth world is that of Dave Smith and Sequential Circuits. I decided to try to tell some of it via their flagship series, from the Prophet 5 in 1978 to the Prophet X in 2018. With the help of a dozen other people who were incredibly generous and equally excited by their instruments, this film is the result: The History of the Prophet Synthesizer.
Thought it might be of use to do a video showing how to voice your everyday vanilla chords in an 80s way. It’s actually very simple, so hopefully it’s easy to grasp.
As requested, a follow up to my first "80s Chord Voicing Tutorial" from November last year. Hopefully it's useful.
A few weeks back I did an 80s chord voicing tutorial and it was useful to a number of you. A couple of people sparked the idea of doing a different decade, so here's a 70s one. This is the kind of 10cc, Supertramp, ELO, Bee Gees, Elton John kind of vibe.
Another quick tutorial whilst my bigger projects are going on in the background. This time we're looking at a synth funk bass line with the Roland SH-101. The video covers the dorian mode, writing in phrases and programming the right kind of sound.
I've briefly got a 1978 Roland System 100m modular synthesizer in my studio, so thought I'd utilize the window of opportunity to do a little tutorial with it. This week we're looking at making analogue drum sounds from scratch. If you're experienced with modular then this is very, very basic stuff, but if not, you can experiment with these techniques with hardware or within software, so hopefully they'll give you some broad tips.
Elevator muzak; a sound we all know and love. Here's a tutorial on how to get the sound harmonically and with your arrangement.
One final tutorial to round out this batch before I take a break. This time we're having a look at two classics; the Roland TR-707 and the Roland TB-303. This video gives you the basic principles to get started. Along with the TR-727, TR-909, TR-808, SH-101 and MC-202, these machines played an integral part in dance music that emerged in the late 80s, most notably Acid and Techno.
This week I thought I'd demo three Daft Punk synth sounds / samples on original hardware. As these are all VCO-based analogue synths that are the best part of 40 years old, you'll probably find that settings vary slightly from one unit to the next. In fact, the settings vary on a daily basis on my own synths, depending upon temperature or how long they've been switched on etc.
Following my Daft Punk synth tutorial, a number of people sent me messages asking for a demonstration of Mr Oizo's "Flat Beat" which was done on a Korg MS-20 and an Akai S1000. In the video we look at the principals of setting up that sound and why I concluded that he likely created it from a composite of samples, rather than in one pass.
As requested by a dozen or more people, here's the Rollin' & Scratchin' synth tutorial. Ideally you'd have a 1984 Juno-106, as it has fully implemented midi control, but I'm using the 1982 Juno-6 as that's what I have. The workaround is that I had to use the arpeggiator with external triggers for the opening bit of the video. The other part of the sound is the Boss HM-2 "Heavy Metal" pedal. I'm using an original Japanese unit, but I imagine the later Taiwanese version will be almost identical. You could also try the MT-2 "Metal Zone" pedal too.
This week more classic sounds from some classic machines as we look at the Roland-based House music of the late 80s and early 90s. It's about simple chords and melodies and bringing together the right combinations.
A quick spin through the basic principals of an analogue vocoder using a Seekers Voice Spectra. Demonstrates some modulator / carrier combinations and also some robot voice effects. We finish off with a short bit of music utilising the vocoder in context. I'm planning on doing some more advanced and experimental things with it in the future as there's a lot of scope to try things with it.
Land of the Rising Sound: A Roland Retrospective. The story of Roland is one of the most expansive and influential in the world of music technology. This feature length documentary sets out to tell it through their iconic inventions.
In 1981, John Carpenter and Alan Howarth worked on their first film score together; Escape from New York. This was the genesis of a fruitful decade of collaboration. The film has gone on to become a cult-classic, but the score has taken on a life of its own and had great influence upon many musicians. I was planning to break down how some of the cues were made and decided to try to contact Alan Howarth to ask him some questions. Amazingly, he responded and was gracious enough to be interviewed for this film. A rare treat, we hear from the horses mouth how the whole collaboration came about, how the music was composed, what equipment was used and how on earth they sync'd things up in a pre-digital world. Alan is still active and working on new scores and new technology, so we also get to hear what he's up to in 2019 and even get a peak at his current studio where some gear from Escape from New York still resides.
A bit of a different upload this week, but I think it’s good to mix things up. Whilst working on my documentary about ARP Instruments I got the opportunity to speak to David Frederick (aka Dave Fredericks) who was one of the key people who worked there from 1970 - 1976. His full role will be told in the film, but in a nutshell, David’s background was as a performer, recording artist, demonstrator and regional sales manager for the Lowrey Organ Company. When one of his friends at a music store took in a strange new invention called the "ARP 2600" in 1970, David was asked to demonstrate it. A certain Mr Pearlman turned up to see his instrument demonstrated live and was impressed enough to snap David up to join him at what was then Tonus Inc.
Over a 12-month period from August 2018 to July 2019, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to record with a large array of classic synthesizers and drum machines. The music I'd written with these instruments was combined with performance videos and documentaries that live on my YouTube channel. In the Spring of 2019, I was approached by Danish mix engineer JSN of Sonic Peak Studios who offered to remix one of these tracks. This then lead to further remixes and conversations about putting together an album.
"Electromotive is the definitive documentary charting the rise and demise of one of the world’s most influential and pioneering synth companies. It dives deep into the world of ARP and their instruments, with fascinating insights from those involved, copious amounts of previously undocumented information, and then debunks many myths. A triumph, a true labour of love and essential viewing for any synth nerd."
Hi, my latest album "Tableaux" is finally here. Links below.
To answer the many questions I get about these specific modern polysynths I've decided to cover it off in a massive video. Hopefully this clears up which synth is or isn't the one for you! All sounds are presented "raw" meaning that only FX from the synths themselves were used (if they have them) and that there was no processing of the audio afterwards. What you hear is what the synths sound like.
Roland recently bundled together five of their plug-in / plug-out synthesizers into a package called the "Analogue Polysynth Collection". I thought it would be fun to take seven famous songs that used the original hardware and recreate the sounds using the equivalent software and explain how they were made. 1:36 The Human League - Dreams of Leaving 3:04 Depeche Mode - Tora Tora 4:34 Gary Numan - I Dream of Wires 7:03 Michael Jackson - Thriller 8:29 Mr Fingers - Can You Feel It 9:15 Harold Faltermeyer - Axel F 10:04 Tame Impala - Eventually
In 1963 two young men stepped into a factory next to the Keio railway line in Shinjuku, Japan. Their ambition was to make a new autorhythm machine, but over the next six decades their company would become one of the biggest players in music technology and would help define the sound of music around the world.
A video that I've been wanting to make for a long time demonstrating how to create short snippets of music that you can then sample and remix using hardware and/or software.
A detailed look at some famous Prodigy synthesizer sounds recreated with the original hardware that Liam Howlett used back in the day.
New album out now! Thank you.
A lot of people have asked for a thorough studio tour and so I finally did one! There's a LOT of info in this, so use the chapters to skip to the bits that are relevant to you. 0:00 Studio Tour Song 1:41 Computer / Cubase / Kontakt 6:03 Midi Inputs and Outputs 7:05 Audio Interface / Patch Bay 9:46 The Great Pedal Solution 18:25 Monitors / Acoustic Treatment / Cable Management 20:32 Korg Corner 31:02 303 / 8606 / 808 / 103 34:16 Ise-Nin / Prophet~10 35:40 System 100 37:44 S2400 / SP-12 / MPC-60 40:14 Guitars / Amps 46:45 Strings / Piano 49:55 System 100m - The Godular 55:24 My First Analogue Synth