"Mr.Pharmacist (aka Gregg Foreman), is a multi-instrumentalist musician residing in Los Angeles. He has been playing music for decades alongside of artists like: Cat Power, The Gossip, Beth Ditto, James Williamson (of the Stooges), Lydia Lunch, Alan Vega (Suicide), Martin Rev (Suicide), Jesse Malin, Lucinda Williams, Linda Perry, Toody (Dead Moon), Peter Buck (REM) David J (Bauhaus), Pink Mountaintops, The Delta 72, and is currently Band Leader and key synth player for Kat Von D.
Gregg has been using Sequential instruments since he was a kid — his relationship with Sequential started when he bought a second-hand TOM drum machine. Mr.Pharmacist refers to his style and genre as “Moth,” referring to being one part Mod and one part Goth. He draws his influences from the soundtrack music of Blade Runner and John Carpenter, and the post-punk sounds of Suicide, Fad Gadget, and Cabaret Votaire.
ARP QUADRA - analog synthesizer from the year 1978
I used in the track all four synth sections (analog strings and phase shifter, poly-synth, bass-synth, lead-synth);
All played live by hand, no midi
The Quadra is a four-section synthesizer consisting of a bass-synth (monophonic), poly-synth (full polyphonic), lead-synth (duophonic), and Solina like analog strings (full polyphonic)
The synth has included a awesome 12 stage phase shifter, dual portamento controls and fantastic arpeggiator.
used by: Genesis, Pink Floyd, New Order, Joe Zawinul, John Carpenter...
RetroSound synthesizer demo videos since january 2007.
All is for free. If you like my work, so can you support me with a donation or a purchase of my music albums. Thank you!"
"This is a super underrated and beautiful keyboard w / sequencer and included virtual modular synthesizer which is basically like having a full eurorack setup without any messy patch wires! Seriously it's amazing to be able to open a Moog preset and throw a cs-80 filter on it if you want... I've taken the time to update it to the latest firmware available with the yamaha cs80 / moog options and also included patches from Depeche Mode, John Carpenter and more.
"Ennio Morricone tribute patch based on the Good, Bad & Ugly soundtrack.
In this patch we are using Furthrrrrr generator with exponential FM to add inconsistent pitch drift in order to make the sound more realistic and human."
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As many of you likely know, film composer Ennio Morricone passed away on July 6. He didn't work primarily with synths but he did incorporate them. He actually composed the soundtrack for The Thing using synths as a tribute in a sense to John Carpenter. From The Vinyl Factory:
"This is an unusual release in the soundtrack back-catalogue in it being a rare instance where John Carpenter chose not to score one of his own films, and where Morricone experiments with synth-tones in his composition, seemingly in acknowledgement of Carpenter’s style.
There’s a lot of muddied details that surround it, but as the story goes Carpenter was disappointed with what his musical hero (he got married to the music of Morricone) presented and embellished what appeared in the cinema with some of his own fills, leaving out a great deal of what Morricone had prepared. The LP however, includes tracks selected by Morricone and trumps his other works for horror in suspense and execution. Nominated for a razzie. Go figure."
I read that Ennio Morricone believed a synth shouldn't be used to recreate real world instruments, but rather as it's own instrument. via Wired:
"To create that original score for Tarantino, Morricone largely turns to tools unavailable in 1964, like synthesizers, which drive the tense, gloomy eight-minute overture. (Morricone’s compositions for The Thing, used in The Hateful Eight, were some of his first work with synths in the early 1980s.)
The experimenting composer isn’t above technological advances, but he’s quick to warn young composers of the dangers of seductive technology. “Electronic instruments have to be used to justify something that doesn’t exist, not to replace for instance an orchestra,” he says. “If you use the synth just to recreate the sound of an existing musical instrument, it is wrong. But if you use the synth to create sound that doesn’t exist, that’s a very wise way to use it.”
So technology can be a cautious step forward in music composition, as long as you don’t use it as a crutch. “If the composer—or the so-called composer—becomes a kind of slave of technology, if he uses technology in a toxic way, this is not progress,” he says. As Morricone sees it, technology’s role in music is “a moral stance, not only a technical stance.” A broader variety of possible sounds can benefit a soundtrack, of course, but the ease of synthetic sounds is not worth the loss of the authentic and everyday. Use technology to add a human whistle or the real tick of a watch, but don’t replace them with false facsimiles. As he describes it, in composing, “everything must start from your soul, from your heart, even when you use technology.” In his score for The Hateful Eight, Morricone is, in part, reusing music composed for a thriller in 1982 for a Western in 2015—but 70 years after his first Western, he insists he’s still experimenting, from the heart."
P.S. Thanks to gridsleep for requesting a post on Ennio Morricone and TheEndorphines for the video. I was hoping something to pay proper tribute would come in and it did.
"Mid-70's Oberheim 2-Voice TVS-1 vintage analog synth in pristine condition. It is one of the cleanest TVS-1's on the planet and the cleanest one I've had the privilege of owning over the past 25 years of collecting synths. Many years of painstaking work and detail have gone into this synth to get it into the condition you see here.
ABOUT THE TVS-1:
The TVS-1 (or 2-voice) was the first Oberheim polyphonic synthesizer. Oberheim put two standalone S.E.M.'s (synthesizer expander module) into a case with a keyboard and an integrated 8-track sequencer. Really revolutionary for the time. The sequencer could control either S.E.M. and you could play along with the other S.E.M. triggered by the keyboard. Or you could play 2-voice sounds. Or you could sequence both S.E.M.'s externally. The possibilities are endless (almost). What does it sound like? In my opinion, the best album this synth is showcased on is called DROKK by Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury. This entirely instrumental album is an homage to John Carpenter's Escape from New York soundtrack, and they used no less than three 2-voice's on the album. People often ask Tom Oberheim: "What was your favorite synthesizer that Oberheim put out?" And his answer is always: "The Two Voice"! He has since reissued it, but to be honest, it sounds nothing like the original 2-voice. I know, I've compared them side-by-side. The asking price of this pristine example reflects the rarity of such a synth, which is very rare to find on the used market in this condition, fully functioning.
FUNCTIONALITY:
No double-triggering of switches. Everything works as it should. No crackly pots. All knobs/pots/switches/LED's function as they should. There are some anomalies when using the sequencer to trigger the S.E.M's, particularly when setting the octave switch lower or higher and playing the keyboard. This is detailed in the original owner's manual, page one (included), and is standard for all 2-voice synths. I learned to work within the limitations of what Tom designed.
I removed every key and replaced and lubed every single bushing on the synth. I also dialed in the j-wires so the keys all trigger identically. Every tine on the keybed was meticulously adjusted so that the keys are level and consistent front to back and across the keybed. It now plays very smooth—like butter. Nobody takes this kind of care with older synths, but I do!
The synth was recently overhauled and electronically serviced by my tech and no expense was spared to get it to the state where it will continue to function well for many years to come."
"The SQ-80 is basically a reved-up ESQ-1 with a total of 75 waveforms, a 61-note keyboard with velocity & aftertouch, floppy disk drive for storing patches and sequences, and an enhanced sequencer. Great for organs, analog-type sounds, pads and sound effects. Like the classic ESQ-1, the SQ-80 functions in providing analog-type 4-pole lowpass filtering and editing of digital waveforms.
As for playing the SQ-80, it is a dream! Its 61-note keyboard is full, responsive and has polyphonic aftertouch. Polyphonic aftertouch simply means that each key pressed will respond to aftertouch independently of the other keys. The aftertouch can be used to control a variety of modulation parameters such as the LFO. Pitch and mod wheels and plenty of front-panel buttons and a few sliders make accessing and editing fairly easy and hands-on. The keyboard can be split or layered. The pattern-based 8-track multitimbral sequencer is great for creating short to complex sequences live, or in step time with quantization, bounce-able tracks, 60 sequence patterns and 20 songs. And they can be saved to disk along with any patches you've created and any SysEx Midi data. Unfortunately, the SQ-80 has no built-in effects. The SQ-80 is certainly a classic analog/digital hybrid of the late eighties which still holds up well today. It has been used by filmaker/composer John Carpenter. This thing is heavy like an analog Synth with the sounds to match."
" E-MU Systems Emulator II Sampler w/ lots of floppy discs and flash drives. Here it is, the mothership of samplers. The analog filters and the 8-bit samples give this beast that thick, warm, lo-fi sounds that appear on some of our favorite records. Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer", tons of Depeche Mode, New Order, John Carpenter, and "Ferris Beuller's Day Off" just to name a few.
As you can see this baby is really clean, nice shape. Everything functions and sounds great. It has one 3.5 floppy drive and one flash drive. It even comes with 2 flash drive sticks, and 104 floppy discs of sounds to load. Also included is a nice case with drawers to store floppy discs."
"Hurdy Gurdy (Denis Soirat model) tracked 10 times + a few synth lines to colour it up
Gurdy was processed (distortion, chorus etc...)
I could lie and say the synths were vintage machines but it was all a bunch of cheap plug ins : )
music by John Carpenter
murdered by Miguel d'Oliveira in isolation"
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Never realized a Hurdy Gurdy could sound like a synth.
"CYCLONE analogic TT-303 Bass-Bot TB-303 Clone with all the Midnight Engineering Mods, very similar to the famous Devilfish mods for TB-303, modified by Doern Doelmen (Henntt).
ROLAND TR-606 with all the Analogue Solutions Mods, modified by Tom Carpenter, and Quicksilver CPU UPGRADE from Social Entropy by John Kimble"
"Daniel Fisher is demonstrating the Moog Vocoder, originally released in 1979 and used by artists such as Wendy Carlos, Devo, Giorgio Moroder, Moog Cookbook, Saga, Yellow Magic Orchestra, and filmmaker/composer John Carpenter, among others. A 16-band analog signal processor that continuously analyzes the timbral characteristics of a sound (the Program) and impresses its timbral characteristics upon a second signal (the Carrier), the Vocoder is perfect for mutating vocals, warping synthesizers, and much more. The 16-channel Vocoder’s analog voice circuits are hand-soldered at the employee-owned Moog Factory in Asheville, NC to deliver that classic ’70s sound.
Fisher is using the Moog Matriarch Semi-Modular Analog Synthesizer both in front of the Vocoder (with its oscillators and filters) as well as after the Vocoder (with its Stereo Analog Ping Pong Delay)."
A 4-instrument collection, JP Legacy delivers the sounds of an iconic Japanese synth line. Explore the actual hardware sound of these instruments through 800+ presets, all with the genuine warmth, character and grit of real analog circuits. Get all their analog mojo right into your DAW!
Video Credits: Matt Vanacoro
Music Credits: Louis Couka
UVI is a developer of software instruments, effects and soundware. We leverage leading-edge synthesis, DSP research and design to provide unique and expressive tools for musicians and audio professionals.
Our goal is to help you achieve the highest-quality sound possible with innovative and reliable solutions. You can hear our work around the world at live shows, on hit-records, in blockbuster films and AAA games.
We're a small but spirited team with a global footprint, music and sound lovers eager to share our passion. We're honored to be a part of your creative journey and thankful to you for sharing ours."
The synths:
SATURN-4 based on the Roland Jupiter-4
"The first under the moniker and the first self-contained polyphonic synth under the brand, this synth is a 4-voice poly from 1978. The voices can be synced to create a meaty 4-osc monophonic sound and has been famously used by acts such as the Cars, Duran Duran, Simple Minds, Vangelis and Meat Beat Manifesto. For this synth we deeply-sampled the oscillator section to replicate the hardware use as closely as possible with samples. Every position of the oscillator section was multisampled, and every sound in the library was captured with and without the hardware unison and hardware ensemble effect providing an incredibly rich and authentic sound."
SATURN-6 based on the Roland Jupiter-6
"A true vintage gem, this 12-oscillator, 6-voice analog polysynth can create massively thick sounds - a pad and drone dream machine. Debuting in 1983 this instrument has been famously used by The Prodigy, Crystal Method, Chemical Brothers, Devo, Tangerine Dream, Human League and Orbital among others. A comprehensive sampling provides two unison settings for all presets allowing you to create a wide variety of sounds from modulating drones to ripping basses."
SATURN-8 based on the Roland Jupiter-8
"One of the most iconic analog synthesizers ever produced, and the brands flagship, this featured synth sports 16-oscillators on 8-voices with cross-modulation, sync, PWM, an HPF, variable LPF, an LFO and two EGs. An incredible polyphonic unison mode allows all 16 oscillators to be stacked on a single note! We captured everything, with and without the hardware unison, giving you an incredible catalog of powerful analog sounds."
MERCURY-80 based on the Roland MKS-80
"The expanded rackmount brother of our Saturn-6, this 16-oscillator 8-voice super-synth came equipped with fully-analog VCOs and a low boost circuit. Able to replicate many sounds of its keyboard counterpart, this synth wasn't simply a rackmount adaptation but a unique instrument with its own character and strengths. Due to its friendly form factor these were in high demand in the day, popular on tours but equally potent in the studio, used extensively by acts like Tangerine Dream, Herbie Hancock, Vangelis, John Carpenter, Talk Talk, and Madonna. We captured every sound with and without the hardware unison including many unique and inspiring tones."
Soundtrack comes to the Rev2!
Inspired by the sounds of movies and TV ‘Soundtrack’ is designed to be a composers swiss army knife.
Packed with atmospheric and evolving soundscapes, haunting pianos, emotive Hollywood strings, cosmic arpeggios, growling analog leads and wild and wonderful sound FX.
Soundtrack is ideal for movie and TV score work but can also be used for popular music. Use it on your tracks to add atmosphere, vibe, life and movement.
Soundtrack features a handful of recreations of classic sounds from classic movies and TV shows such as John Carpenter Halloween, Vangelis- Blade Runner, Stranger Things (Theme & Kids) & Brad Fiedel- The Terminator Theme.
If you looking for those sci fi sounds, those horror sounds, those distant haunting sounds, those emotional sounds…..
Look no further, Soundtrack is the one for you.
On purchase you will receive step by step instructions on how to load the sounds and how to back up any of your existing patches should you wish to.
Soundtrack loads onto bank 1 so you can have all current Luke Neptune soundsets for the Rev2 on your synth at the same time."
"An easy going jam in a John Carpenter mood, sounding like a low budget sci-fi movie score. All sounds from Yamaha QY70. No FX or Post-productionPeace!AW"
#vstplugin #abletonlive #halloweentheme #halloweenmusic
"Halloween VST 2019 Classic + Dance Mix"
Virtual Synthesizer Plug-in Demo by Rik Marston
***Watch in HD!!*** ***Turn it UP!!*** ***No Talking!!!***
Halloween originally composed by John Carpenter
Here is the original 1978 "Classic" version done RIK style,
with virtual analog string synths, thick Leads & Pads...
then I add my own little 2019 "Dance" version with hard kick
and some flying ARPs! These kids, nowadays! LOL
(yes this is 2 of my cover versions of this awesome theme)
VST plug-ins used:
TAL Elek7ro-II
Osiris
Horus
PG8X
Microtrance
Superwave Trance Pro
M-Audio Keystation 61 for MIDI controller
Recorded into Ableton LIVE with no extra FX! ;)
Published on Oct 16, 2019 Sean Christopher Evoking Emotion with Synthesizers
"It's October, so I thought some classic synth horror movie soundtrack music was in order, so I present to you John Carpenter's iconic Halloween soundtrack music.
John Howard Carpenter is an American filmmaker, screenwriter and composer. Although Carpenter has worked with various movie genres, he is associated most commonly with horror, action, and science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s....including 1978's classic Halloween and its subsequent sequels.
These pieces were multitracked to Cubase entirely from the OB6. I did use some Valhalla reverb though, as I do love their reverbs."
"Betamaxx is an 80’s synth revival project by Nick Morey, hailing from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania U.S.A. The project was formed in mid-2012 with the release of the Lost Formats LP in September of that year. The name “Betamaxx” was contrived from Sony’s “Betamax” video player from the mid-80’s. Betamaxx’s sound is inspired and created with analog and digital synths from the 80’s and today. They include Roland’s Juno-60, Sequential’s Prophet-6, and Korg’s M1 workstation. Combining these sounds with a soundtrack inspiration in mind, Betamaxx has created a neo retro-future sound similar to the likes of John Hughes and John Carpenter. He has been featured on such works as the Kung Fury official soundtrack, and the Amazon prime series Red Oaks. His most notable remix was Tangerine Dream’s “Love on a Real Train” from the Risky Business soundtrack.
We chatted with Nick on how he’s using the Prophet-6 in his music."
ARP QUADRA - rare analog synthesizer from the year 1979
I used in the demo track all four synth sections (analog strings and phase shifter, poly-synth, bass-synth, lead-synth);
All played live by hand,
The Quadra is a four-section synthesizer consisting of a bass-synth (monophonic), poly-synth (full polyphonic), lead-synth (duophonic), and Solina like analog strings (full polyphonic)
The synth has included a awesome 12 stage phase shifter, dual portamento controls and fantastic arpeggiator.
used by: Genesis, Pink Floyd, New Order, Joe Zawinul, John Carpenter..."
"Short vid insipired from my evil cat during the nightSounds From Elka Synthex, Moog Minimoog D and Yamaha DX5 ! A big respect to master John Carpenter."
"Arpeggiator/Sequencer party! I was at the studio this weekend and decided to record a few tunes. John Carpenter and Alan Howarth's score for Big Trouble In Little China is easily one of the best synth scores out there and it features probably the greatest synth setup in history. I decided to do a small tribute using the synths I have. Not a direct cover but there's certainly some motifs and riffs from the amazing score.
Sequential Prophet X Sampler-Slap bass, Middle Eastern percussion, Mandolin and Glass Marimba samples as well as some string, choir, Prophet VS and ethnic instrument overdubs.
Prophet 6-Some filtered pad sounds at the beginning, the iconic "rising brass" stab and some low arpeggiation.
Tempest-Lots of frantic percussion using the built in arpeggiator with both the LM-1 and Linn Drum Samples
