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Synth and synth pop...

13

Comments

  • #62
    JupiterKid
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 14,648 ✭✭✭✭JupiterKid


    There was also the string synthesizer, really big in the mid to late 1970s. Here's a demo of the ARP Solina string synth that came on the market in 1973. Pete Townshend of The Who was a big early user, with it featuring on Quadrophenia and the film Tommy. Gary Wright used the Solina in his seminal Dream Weaver (1975).

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amYy4aqJrQU


  • #63
    JupiterKid
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 14,648 ✭✭✭✭JupiterKid


    And here's Gary Wright's synth magnum opus, Dream Weaver (1975). Enjoy!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loqqA5d5j2A


  • #64
    JupiterKid
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 14,648 ✭✭✭✭JupiterKid


    Goldfrapp - Strict Machine (2003)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeawPUpTHJA


  • #65
    SEPT 23 1989
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 43,038 ✭✭✭✭SEPT 23 1989




  • #66
    donegaLroad
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,379 ✭✭✭donegaLroad


    bnt wrote: »
    Synthesis itself is quite a fascinating topic. The technology and its sound had a huge influence on the music itself. For example, it's hard to over-estimate the impact of the Yamaha DX7 synthesiser, the first affordable version of FM Synthesis, a technique that was kind-of discovered by accident by a young composition graduate student at Stanford University. It went on to make tens of millions of dollars for the university and Yamaha. That bright 80s sound so beloved of a-ha and others: all DX7.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmp9yqhsjqg

    my brother bought one of these when they came out first


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  • #67
    Dolbert
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,154 ✭✭✭Dolbert


    We have a mini-Korg synth and a pocket piano, which is brilliant for writing with as it forces you to be a bit inventive due to the limited range! Also, it looks awesome:



  • #68
    rodneyTrotter.
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 315 ✭✭rodneyTrotter.


    The best group to come out of the synth era has to be Depeche mode who are still going strong playing stadiums across the world every tour . They have a huge hardcore following .Gahan is s particularly good front man , something new order always missed .


  • #69
    Birneybau
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,446 ✭✭✭✭Birneybau


    Obviously:



    And:



  • #70
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 22,384 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

    All SM's best stuff was when Mick McNeill was on keyboards...

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJDx-1L3V9U


    Acc. to Google he used an Oberheim OB-xa and a Roland Jupiter 4...


  • #71
    chicorytip
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,504 ✭✭✭chicorytip


    Capt'n Midnight wrote: »
    Yes, and he was the worst guitarist they had :D


    also
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5XJ2GiR6Bo


    It's 8:15, and that's the time that it's always been
    He is actually a very fine guitarist, but not of that "rock" genre. He happened to be friendly with Lynott who asked him to deputise for the indisposed Brian Robertson on an American tour.


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  • #72
    edbrez
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 214 ✭✭edbrez


    BlaasForRafa wrote: »
    Or a Minimoog, Arp Odyssey, Oberheim OB-X or Polymoog
    No-one would have got those synths for Xmas because they were extremely expensive.


  • #73
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 98,142 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    chicorytip wrote: »
    He is actually a very fine guitarist, but not of that "rock" genre. He happened to be friendly with Lynott who asked him to deputise for the indisposed Brian Robertson on an American tour.
    It was very tongue in cheek ;)

    Being the worst guitarist in Thin Lizzy is like being the slowest person on the US Olympic 4 x 100m relay.


  • #74
    BlaasForRafa
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,020 ✭✭✭BlaasForRafa


    edbrez wrote: »
    No-one would have got those synths for Xmas because they were extremely expensive.

    So what? Why would you want some untalented gimp getting hold of a magnificent piece of machinery? Better left to the experts.

    Anyway, there's nobody as good as Synthesizer Patel was, one of the great lost talents of the 80's

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2myFLUDB74


  • #75
    Irish Guitarist
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,736 ✭✭✭Irish Guitarist


    Deleted User wrote: »
    How about once greats now tossed aside as dinosaurs like Jarre and Oldfield? And Moroder?
    I don't like everything by Jean Michel Jarre but Oxygene still sounds futuristic today. I'd say the main reason Kraftwerk inspired more bands was that their music sounded like it was more achievable to anyone with little or no musical ability.


  • #76
    Two Tone
    Closed Accounts Posts: 513 ✭✭✭Two Tone


    Oxygene was always playing in the supermarket when I was a kid.


  • #77
    Birneybau
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,446 ✭✭✭✭Birneybau


    Two Tone wrote: »
    Oxygene was always playing in the supermarket when I was a kid.

    Was a breath of fresh air.


  • #78
    donegaLroad
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,379 ✭✭✭donegaLroad


    JupiterKid wrote: »
    Goldfrapp - Strict Machine (2003)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeawPUpTHJA

    they have borrowed heavily from Donna Summer imho

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68QnnYLYKrk


  • #79
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 22,384 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Irish Guitarist wrote: »
    I don't like everything by Jean Michel Jarre but Oxygene still sounds futuristic today. I'd say the main reason Kraftwerk inspired more bands was that their music sounded like it was more achievable to anyone with little or no musical ability.

    Kraftwerk...the Sex Pistols...Kraftwerk...the Sex Pistols...I suspect most in the mid 70s with no musical ability might have thought guitars and drums were the easier route!


  • #80
    Birneybau
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,446 ✭✭✭✭Birneybau


    Actually, here's a great modern one by a great band, borrows heavily from Simple Minds:



  • #81
    edbrez
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 214 ✭✭edbrez


    BlaasForRafa wrote: »
    So what? Why would you want some untalented gimp getting hold of a magnificent piece of machinery? Better left to the experts.
    The point of synth pop was it was for the untalented. It was a follow-on from punk. The synth experts were mostly in progressive rock.


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  • #82
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 22,384 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    edbrez wrote: »
    The point of synth pop was it was for the untalented.

    Ah heeeyor, come on. It may have been accessible to the untalented, but so was every instrument and the history of music is littered with examples of people who have made lots of money out of every instrument with little discernible talent. Let's not say the synth was for the untalented. I've referred to punk taking that role yet some like Jean Jacques Burnel of the Stranglers were brilliant.


  • #83
    bnt
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,228 ✭✭✭✭bnt


    Here's another blast from the past:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQDU-2qMre0


    There are a few interesting things going on here. Jan Hammer is a virtuoso keyboardist who was well-known for his synth work in jazz fusion bands such as the Mahavishnu Orchestra, and working with Jeff Beck. When it came to writing music for a TV series, however, he had no track record, was working with new technology, and had to produce a lot of music in a very short period of time. The success of the Miami Vice soundtrack showed what he could do under pressure.

    Most of this piece is made up of samples played on - and by - the computer system you see on screen, which was made in Australia and called a Fairlight IIx Computer Musical Instrument (CMI). Its predecessor was the first "sampler" that could do things with snippets of real sounds. In the wrong hands it could sound cheesy, but in the right hands you could get sounds no synths of the time could get. It also had a graphical sequencer screen, where you could just put notes in step-by-step and it would play them back. Any muppet could do that, in theory, and there was a lot of talk at the time about how it was taking all the skill out of music. The Musician's Union in the UK even wanted to have sequencers banned.

    Sure, there were some idiots who got their hands on this kind of technology and made silly noises with it, but it also found its way in to the hands of musicians such as Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, The Art of Noise, and more. (Not that many: a fully loaded Fairight IIx cost as much as a house, literally.) I like this piece because it also showcases how good musicianship makes the techonlogy even more effective. Not only does he play it live, he also plays guitar, and then he has the lead synth goin through a guitar amp, just for some extra oomph. :cool:

    In its pure form, fascism is the sum total of all irrational reactions of the average human character.

    ― Wilhelm Reich



  • #84
    Easca Peasca
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 243 ✭✭Easca Peasca


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPudE8nDog0


  • #85
    Dolbert
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,154 ✭✭✭Dolbert


    Easca Peasca wrote: »
    Human League - Don't You Want Me

    Awesome synth sound, but the female vocals on that track are some of the worst I've ever heard.

    One of my favourites from recent years:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEFKZ-7x7xU


  • #86
    jmayo
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,226 ✭✭✭✭jmayo


    Mike Oldfield was one of the first users and actually had two of them.

    This is pic from 1984 Discovery album sleeve showing one of the Fairlight Series II in the centre.

    http://equipboard.com/pros/mike-oldfield/fairlight-cmi

    AFAIK The Killing Fields score was largely done on Fairlight.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51OJ2eT7mGw


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr4PxLkbGGM


    He also used Sequential Circuits Prophet-5s on The Killing Fields and also on Platinum.

    BTW for anyone that thinks Oldfield is largely keyboards, he is one damn fine guitarist and solely used guitars on Guitars album.

    I am not allowed discuss …



  • #87
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 22,384 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Dolbert wrote: »
    Awesome synth sound, but the female vocals on that track are some of the worst I've ever heard.

    The Human League was a collection of bad singers that were easy on the eye, Jesus Oakey was awful, sometimes hearing him strain to reach a note was painful.
    bnt wrote: »
    Sure, there were some idiots who got their hands on this kind of technology and made silly noises with it, but it also found its way in to the hands of musicians such as Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, The Art of Noise, and more. (Not that many: a fully loaded Fairight IIx cost as much as a house, literally.) I like this piece because it also showcases how good musicianship makes the techonlogy even more effective. Not only does he play it live, he also plays guitar, and then he has the lead synth goin through a guitar amp, just for some extra oomph. :cool:

    Others from the "damn good musician who used synths" line up...

    Joe Jackson...the wonderful Steppin Out...
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY2YPXI__tg


    Pat Methany...
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJRF8xGzvj4


    Herbie Hancock
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHhD4PD75zY


  • #88
    BlaasForRafa
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,020 ✭✭✭BlaasForRafa


    Some modern proggers are making great sounds with synths.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlrV6QTqtvc


    Although it does seem quite decadent to be playing a Minimoog Voyager with one hand while playing a vintage Minimoog with the other all the while your modular system is parping away in the background :D


  • #89
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 22,384 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    andekwarhola wrote: »
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ux3u31SAeEM

    Glad to see a few references to the Art of Noise here. I was the youngest in a family of 7 kids and the youngest by some distance, so grew up having dirge like Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles and Bon Dylan inflicted on me. And it took songs like this to make me make the break from my siblings and say I like that song even though they all hated it. The original video was pretty spectacular too...but then again my siblings paid no heed to the power of a good video back in the early 80s..

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfkJ53S2x-w


  • #90
    JupiterKid
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 14,648 ✭✭✭✭JupiterKid


    There's also synth pioneer Wendy Carlos who did the soundtrack for A Clockwork Orange and The Shining.


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  • #91
    Heckler
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,382 ✭✭✭Heckler




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