Korg Al Engine vs Sequential’s Take 5

video upload by Eric Jones

"Combining Sequential’s Take 5 FM synthesis with Korg’s AL synth engine for some wild results!😲"

Sequential Take 5 Brass Pad

video upload by Eric Jones

"This brass pad is so warm! With only five voices of polyphony it sounds rich and full!"

1970's ARP Demo featuring Tom Piggott & Conversations with Tom Piggott & Greg Phillinganes

video upload by Alan R. Pearlman Foundation

"PLEASE NOTE: The beginning of the video is glitchy... both the sound and video will resolve at between 1:30 and 2:07.

Originally aired on WOVB-TV, in association with The Ohio University Telecommunications Center, this is one of several UMATIC demo tapes found in a box when d'ARP (Dina Pearlman-Ifil, Alan Pearlman's daughter) was going through her father's effects.

Tom Piggott was one of several educators that worked at ARP Instruments in the 1970s. He worked closely with Al, helping write the classic: 'Learning Music with Synthesizers' David Friend, Alan R. Pearlman, Thomas D. Piggott)."

A Conversation with Tom Piggott


"d'ARP had several conversations with Tom over the past few years. This interview highlights some recent footage.

Tom Piggott has been a product specialist and clinician for numerous companies, including ARP, CRUMAR, SYNERGY and more, and worked with Peter Nero, Stevie Wonder, Nyle Steiner, Linda McCartney, Vangellis, John Entwhistle, Klaus Schulze,T Lavitz, Wendy Carlos, Dr. Richard Boulanger, Mike Bergeman, Donald Fagan, Edgar Winter, Tom Coster, Jimmy Page, Roger Powell, Jerry Kovarski, and many others.

Tom Piggott was one of several educators that worked at ARP Instruments in the 1970s. He worked closely with Al, helping write the classic: 'Learning Music with Synthesizers' David Friend, Alan R. Pearlman, Thomas D. Piggott)."

A Conversation with Greg Phillinganes


"D'ARP has a conversation about ARP Synthesizers with Greg Phillinganes, who has recorded or toured with the likes of Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, George Harrison, the Bee Gees, Donna Summer, Anita Baker, George Benson, Karen Carpenter, Eric Clapton, Donald Fagen, Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, Michael Jackson, Richard Marx, Paul McCartney, Al Jarreau, Quincy Jones, and Stevie Nicks (whew!)!"

Alan R. Pearlman Foundation Interview with Greg Phillinganes

video upload by Alan R. Pearlman Foundation

"D'ARP has a conversation about ARP Synthesizers with Greg Phillinganes, who has recorded or toured with the likes of Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, George Harrison, the Bee Gees, Donna Summer, Anita Baker, George Benson, Karen Carpenter, Eric Clapton, Donald Fagen, Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, Michael Jackson, Richard Marx, Paul McCartney, Al Jarreau, Quincy Jones, and Stevie Nicks (whew!)!"

https://alanrpearlmanfoundation.org/

MajorOSC Element 6 Full Bank Preview for Sequential's Prophet 6

Major OSC

Be sure to check out MajorOSC's other synth presets here as well.

"Out of leftfield, MajorOSC brings 100 fresh new patches to Sequential's Prophet 6! Available Now at http://MajorOSC.com/Element6

Element 6 presets sound organic and alive. Expect plenty of movement, rhythm, variety, and that unmistakable MajorOSC style; bold, musical, and addictive to play.

This is nothing short of a joy ride on one of the best VCO analog polysynths currently on the market.

No themes. No limits. Wait, no theme? Nope. So what is Element 6?

This is a collection of analog synth patches designed for electronic music. This should become exceedingly apparent once you hit the play button. Genres; Progressive House, Big Beat Techno / Industrial, Synth Pop, and Classic Rock. Expect a healthy dose of soft and sophisticated pads, grimey and far-out distorted epic leads, ultra smooth plucks and keys to throw down your latest chord progression ideas, and last but not least, some deep funky bass.
There's 2 main sections of Element 6, split evenly 50/50.

The first 50 presets are a variety of sounds that explore the prophet 6. They're designed to strike a balance between experimental and accessible. They're edgy, yet musical and fused onto familiar patch types that tend to work incredibly well on VCO synths. In other words, they'll be musical and expressive, as opposed to conceptual and useless.
The second half is relatively more organized, for your convenience. Expect to find 10 or so of each; Bass, Pads, Distortion/Leads, Arps. and classics. They're the ones I designed with the intention for you to use them as go-to starting points. They're purpose built to be ready for throwing down in a jam session, or new project/track. But they're made in a way that should allow easy tweaks without too much head scratching.

Inflences of this Patch Bank include the following artists:
Eric Prydz / Pryda *2005-2010 progressive house era*
Quincy Jones
Chemical Bros
Tycho / Ghostly Digital
The Rolling Stones
GrandMaster Flash & The Furious Five
Nine Inch Nails
Vangelis
Haywyre
Maceo Plex / CrossTown Rebels
DeadMau5
Knife Party
Crystal Method
Alice in Chains

(That'd be the most incredible and random lineup to have at a concert wouldn't it?)"

Studio tour of the Experimental Televsion Center in Owego, NY

"A short piece of video shot at Owego during a residency. We documented our set-up in the studio. 1992.

The Luminists
Charles Cohen - audio
Eric Schefter - video"

12-10-92 by The Luminists

"The Luminists
Charles Cohen - audio
Eric Schefter - video
(1992)

In this piece Charle's Buchla synthesizers were directly controlling various video devices, shaping and patterning video feedback images and fading visual elements in and out of the scene. 12-10-92 was created in real time on at the Experimental Television Center during a residency in 1992."

Dancing Calligraphy by The Luminists

"The Luminists
Charles Cohen - audio
Eric Schefter - video
(1992)

Dancing Calligraphy was created at ETC in Jan. 1992, and edited later that year. In this piece we slowly strip away the layers of processing to reveal the source feedback that forms the basic ground from which the imagery arises.

In Dancing Calligraphy, the imagery was created utilizing control voltages from Charles' analog Buchla Synth controlling the Paik Raster Control Unit, the Jones Colorizer, and Jones Sequencer. We also used MidiMice and Buchla's Thunder midi controller to trigger DPaint4. The DPaint4 image cut a key in the video, revealing the many layers of processing that make up the final image."

FLASHER 003 by The Luminists

"The Luminists
Charles Cohen - audio
Eric Schefter - video
(1994)

FLASHER 003 is an ETC studio version of one of our live pieces. The piece offers impressions of a relationship in the process of disintegration. In it Charles triggers still frames of two bodies which are then weaved together (but not quite) through rapid fire live switching and ”editing”. The rhythm is determined through midi coming from Charles’ controller."

Satan's Web - Gabriele's Lace by The Luminists

"The Luminists
Charles Cohen - audio
Eric Schefter - video

Satan's Web was created at the Experimental Television Center during a residency in 1994(?)."


via TRASH_AUDIO

Eric Clapton and Phil Collins - Behind the Mask

YouTube via MeanAuntie

OK, I'm stretching it with this one, but this is truly bizarre. YMO's Behind the Mask with Eric Clapton and others. For reference see these posts. Spot the synths.
"Prince's Trust circa '87 - Clapton, Collins, Midge Ure, various others... Behind the Mask"

Update via tim in the comments:
"Clapton's cover came about because of Greg Philliganes being his keyboardist at the time. He did a version on his 1984 album Pulse, with uncredited backing vocals and added lyrics by Michael Jackson. And I think Jackson had considered doing it on Thriller after Quincy Jones pointed out the original to him."

And some fascinating info from the AH list:
"I don't think anyone's spoken up about lyricist or how that song got to Clapton;-)

Okay. First off Yellow Magic Orchestra was meant to be a more or less one-off concept project in Japan (1978) it was meant to be as if Martin Denny's music was played by Kraftwerk. In other words taking the West's notion of inauthentic but cool "Oriental" music and give it the edge of modern technology (the impression Westerners had of Japan).

A&M Records liked what they heard, moderately remixed it to their tastes and YMO were ready to tour and promote the album. They did a lot of promotion in LA, then swung by NYC, London and Paris. The year was 1979. Back in Japan they were doing well though not chart topping. They eventually did gain real chart success in Japan. Their success was more moderate in the US though their use of video games and electronic beats was influential. They took 1982 off for Sakamoto to work on "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" and then reformed in 1983 with the understanding that they'd disband at the end of the year. They really did want to go their own ways but it was a great marketing tool to really make them iconic in Japan. They reformed 10 years later for a one-off album and concert.

They started to work together again on and off in the 2000s. They have a show next weekend in London. Definitely a one off thing. I guess they were asked nicely by Massive Attack to do a show. They aren't promoting anything new or doing more shows. I sort of wish I could go.

As for gear, it's ironic that they played maybe 90% American synths. Early on - lots of Moog Modular. Later on lots of Prophet. Always: Arp Odyssey. They do sound very different in 1983 versus 1978.

Okay now for the weird part of the Clapton story -- Michael Jackson took an interest in high tech music in the early 80s. He was trying to get Kraftwerk to work with him but nothing came of it. What did happen was YMO's song "Behind the Mask" originally only had "chorus" vocals so he wrote new lead lyrics and kept the chorus. I assume he wrote the song for himself to sing, but he had lots of (all original) material then so it was offered to Clapton. It did quite well in terms of Clapton's career. Sakamoto, who wrote the melody (Chris Mosdel did the chorus lyrics) liked the new lyrics and the then prestige of Michael Jackson' additions. There is a mid 80s EP of Sakamoto's solo band doing it. He was trying to do a more contemporary R&B sound back then (not intended to be ironic). YMO's label commissioned Human League to do a remix version in the early 90s, instead (apparently) they did a cover version.

nick
http://technopop.info"

Sequential Circuits Pro-One Synthesizer by Retrosound

YouTube via retrosound72.
"first impressions of my new SCI Pro-One. famous users: Yazoo (Upstairs At Eric's album), New Order, Soft Cell, Howard Jones, Marillion and many more. more info: www.retrosound.de"

Sonicstate.com Airs Top 20 Synths Show On Valentines Day

Just in time to snuggle up and watch with your loved one!

"Sonic State will soon be streaming a new IPTV video show called The Top 20 Greatest Synths. The show is based around interviews with synth users and collectors like Will Gregory (Goldfrapp), Roger O’Donnell (The Cure), Ade Utley (Portishead) and Howard Jones (Howard Jones) and features footage, photos and facts about the greatest electronic instruments ever made.

”We’ve based the chart on the votes that have been coming in plus a bit of poetic license to include some outsiders, underdogs and a few surprises!”

Sonic founder Nick Batt and former BBC producer Simon Power have been pleased with the response to previews of the show already available to watch at Sonic.

“It’s basically an excuse to rant about all-things-synth in a show that’s shamelessly nostalgic about electronic music and keyboards with knobs on.”

The Jupiter 8, Korg M1, Yamaha CS80, JV10-80, SH101 and Odyssey all get featured on the chart as well as some youngsters like the Access Virus, Dave Smith’s Evolver, the Alesis Andromeda and the Korg Oasys.

“We know not everyone will be happy with the positioning on the chart, but there’s enough in the show’s to keep everyone smiling.”

The Top 20 Synths will be presented as eight 10 minute videocasts posted once a fortnight on Sonic and YouTube and at various other outlets. Then the programme will be posted in its entirety at the end of the run.

“There may be a DVD version available and we also have some TV interest. But that’s for the future!”

With their recent excellent Winter NAMM (the largest musical instrument trade show) video coverage and weekly Sonic TALK podcasts, it certainly looks like Sonic are staying ahead of the game.

“Sonic are working on a lot of new ideas for audio and visual downloads. 2007 is gonna be great!”

And what’s number one on the Greatest Synths chart?

“I can’t possibly comment, but you can still vote for your Top 3 by visiting the site, so there’s still time to change the outcome!”

The Top 20 Greatest Synths goes live at sonicstate.com on February 14th.

Link

About Sonicstate.com
Begun in 1994, the founding members came together from a wide range of disciplines.
Nick Batt from pop/dance act DNA (Suzanne Vegas Toms Diner amongst their works), Neal Slateford also from DNA, Andy McCreeth a touring musician with art rockers Blue Aeroplanes and pro-audio dealer, Dave Brown - astrophysicist majoring in nanotechnology and Eric Winbolt – a rep for EMI records.
In the ten years since then Sonicstate.com has become the primary resource for electronic music. With an up-to-date news service, essential video streaming from all the major tradeshows and now features thousands of pages on musical equipment from last century to this."

BTW, SonicState was one of the first synth sites I went to back in in 1995/96. It remained at the top of my old site's synth list starting in October of 97 until today.