707 (Korg 707)

video upload by WilliamSalmela

"Here’s a song I made with the Korg 707 from 1987. The Korg 707 is a digital FM synthesizer with 8 voices of polyphony.

”707” by The William Salmela Project

No other sound sources were used. The Korg 707 doesn’t have any built in effects, so the sound was further processed with the following equipment:
Boss CE-300 Super Chorus
EHX Small Stone phaser
Korg SDD-1200 (used this heavily for chorusing the sounds)
Roland SDE-2000 delay
TC-Electronic Powercore reverbs"

Linear Ambience (Roland D-50, V-Synth)

video upload by WilliamSalmela

"The Roland V-Synth XT has a faithful recreation of the classic Roland D-50 synth. I used this VC-1 (D-50 emulation) to make this song.
Linear Ambience by The William Salmela Project
No other sound sources were used. The sound was further processed with the following equipment:
EHX Small Stone phaser
Korg SDD-1200 chorus
Roland SDE-2000
Korg MDE-X, (phaser) and TC-Electronic Powercore reverbs."

Voltage Controlled (Akai VX90)

video upload by WilliamSalmela

"Some great analog sound from one of the last vintage analogs. It's the Akai VX-90 from year 1986, a synth with true VCOs. All sounds are from the VX-90. Some external effects were also used but mainly on the delay department.

Effects:
Korg SDD-1200 (delay, chorus)
Roland SDE-2000, delay
Roland RS-505, chorus
MXR Phase 100
TC-Electronic DVR2, VSS3 (Reverb)

For more information, please visit:
‪http://the-wsproject.com/‬"

Analog synth heaven. Parallel Reality

video upload by WilliamSalmela

"The William Salmela Project: Subtle Moves / Parallel Reality

I got to play with a theremin! So, how to make something cool with it... without actually learning how to play... check it out :)

Lots of nice vintage stuff used in the piece:
Keio Donca Matic - Mini Pops
Korg EX-800
Korg Delta
Korg Sigma
Moog Etherwave Theremin
Micromoog
Yamaha CS-15D
(and a sampled 12-string acoustic guitar)

There's some outboard effects also, like EHX Deluxe Electric Mistress, Stereo Clone Theory, Small Clone and Roland SDE-2000 (the only digital unit here, but hey, it's vintage too).

For more information, please visit:
http://the-wsproject.com/

© 2010 W.T.Salmela"

Analog synth heaven, Veteran Jam

video upload by WilliamSalmela

"The William Salmela Project: Subtle Moves / Veteran Jam
People have been asking for new videos, which warms my soul. I know I haven’t been too active here nor in my studio lately. But I decided to publish this older piece because I had a couple of video clips from the recording sessions.
Sadly I don't have any of these instruments anymore...

Some very nice pieces of vintage kit was used in the piece (along with a few digital things):
Keio DoncaMatic MiniPops (Boss RPD-10, EHX Small Stone)
Korg Delta (Boss KM-60, Boss RPD-10, Joemeek mc2)
Korg MiniPops 7 sampled
Korg EX-800 (EHX Small Stone, Roland SDE-2000)
Korg Polysix – Legacy
Korg Trident (Boss RPD-10, Roland SDE-2000)
Roland RS-505 Paraphonic (EHX Small Stone rus)
Roland V-Synth-XT

© 2010 W.T.Salmela"

Ultimate Vintage String Synth Comparison

video upload by WilliamSalmela

"The Ultimate String Synth Comparison.
I’ve got my hands on some of the best stringers ever and decided to give you a little side by side comparison. I played three different excerpts with seven different string synths - ”Basic strings”, ”Full strings” and ”Dark strings”. You can easily compare the sound character of each synth.
The first two excerpts are pretty straightfoward, but the ”dark strings” involved a little bit more sound design to see if the synths can be pushed to produce more mellow kind of pad sounds straight out of the instrument.

The samples are not complete dry but they all have the same amount of delay and reverb.
The instruments are (in the order of the audio track) as follows:
-Korg Delta
-Korg Trident (mk1)
-Korg Lambda
-Roland RS-505 Paraphonic
-Arp Solina SE-II by Eminent
-Roland RS-09 Organ/Strings
-Waldorf Streichfett

Unfortunately I couldn’t include the Yamaha SK-20 here because I sold it before recording these. It has quite a unique sound character among these vintage stringers. Of course there are other string synths too, but I never owned them.

The Streichfett is the only modern and digital instrument here and it shows, in a bad way - it sounds flat, lifeless and characterless in comparison. The notes don’t blend well within a chord and the root notes dominate the balance in a nasty way. I’d pick any analog stringer over it in a heartbeat.

My personal ranking list for these instruments would be as follows:
1. Korg Trident
2. Roland RS-505
3. Korg Lambda
4. Korg Delta, Roland RS-09, Arp Solina
x- Waldorf Streichfett

My opinion is based on knowing the instruments and not only based on these sound clips."

Farewell Trident (Korg Trident Mk I)

video upload by WilliamSalmela

"I did something I thought I never would - sold my Korg Trident synthesizer. I had only a few days to compose a farewell song with that fantastic synth. And this is what I came up with.
'Farewell Trident' by The William Salmela Project.

All sounds are from the Korg Trident Mk I, a synth that was released in 1980. It’s a mighty 8 voice polysynth with 2 VCOs per voice. It has separate synth, brass and string sections that can be layered and played at the same time. For the strings there’s an ensemble effect and on top of all this there’s even an onboard flanger. In this song only additional reverbs and delays are used to effect the sound. The synth was installed with MIDI and it was multitracked in Logic Pro.

Show me a modern piece of kit that sounds like this and I’ll buy it."

Synthetic Ensemble (Yamaha SK-20)

video upload by WilliamSalmela

"The William Salmela Project: Synthetic (Analogue), Synthetic Ensemble

All sounds are from a Yamaha SK-20 synthesizer. Additional effects were used.
Video footage from actual recording session.

The SK-20 is my first analog synth and I have used it a lot for it's good sound. The synth is kind of versatile while not very deep programming-wise. There are organ, synthesizer and a very limited string-synth sections. Nice basic sounds are available but not any fancy modulation-stuff is possible. I had to make this piece before selling the synth - it has served me well on many albums. The piece is not the most original composition but it's good stuff anyway - and it sounds lovely analogue!



Effects:

Chorus: Boss RCE-10

Phaser: EHX Small Stone, Roland Phase II AP-2

Delay: Roland SDE-2000, Delay Designer (Logic)


TC-Electronic (Powercore) ClassicVerb, VSS3


For more information, please visit:
‪http://the-wsproject.com/‬"

Cosmo Synth (Casio CZ-3000)

video upload by WilliamSalmela

"The William Salmela Project: Synthetic (Digital), Cosmo Synth
All sounds are from a Casio CZ-3000 synthesizer. Additional effects were used.

I was in a hurry to produce this piece because I sold the synth and hadn't used it in anything yet. While making the piece I began to be a bit fond of the sound of the Casio CZ synth. The overall sound quality is obviously somewhat lo-fi, but it still can deliver surprisingly wonderful sounds. The phase-distortion synthesis of the CZ-series makes quite a variety of sounds possible and it can even produce some analog style stuff. The raw sound of the CZ isn't just as meaty as analogs and the bottom end is pretty weak, but it makes sounds that are difficult or not possible at all with analog synths.

Effects:
Chorus: Boss RCE-10, EHX Small Clone
Phaser: MXR Phase 100
Delay: Roland SDE-2000
TC-Electronic (Powercore) EQsat
Reverb: DVR2, VSS3

For more information, please visit:
http://the-wsproject.com/"