Ultravox Synth Setup - 1984

Title link takes you to the full sized mapping of Ultravox's setup in 1984.

via LJ on AH.

Cómo hacer un bajo a corcheas al estilo Ultravox

Published on Feb 6, 2017 Hispasonic

"Usada hasta la extenuación por Ultravox, os mostramos una técnica que funde toque humano y precisión maquinal."

With the Arturia MatrixBrute.

ARP Odyssey Sound Design Tutorial Ultravox

Published on Apr 24, 2014 RetroSound·273 videos

 "(c) 2014 vintage synthesizer sound tutorial series by RetroSound part two: the agressive synth lead sound from the new wave group Ultravox. very important is the oscillator sync function and the pitch modulation. unfortunately it came to a few disturbing noises during the recording. the output level was a bit too high for the electric mistress guitar pedal. ;-)"

2022: A Fifty-Year ARP Odyssey Odyssey Synthposium

video upload by Alan R. Pearlman Foundation

"November 5 we'll be having our annual Synthposium! Check out bit.ly/2022-Odyssey to learn more. Get your tickets now!

Music by Alex Ball
Video by Mary Lock
Artwork by Sharon Wasko (with art from original ARP artist Margaret Shepherd)"

ABOUT THE 2022: A 50 YEAR ARP ODYSSEY SYNTHPOSIUM

Location: Online, streaming from David Friend Recital Hall, Boston, MA

Date: November 5th, 2022 10:00am – 2:00pm (East Coast USA time)

*Please adjust your time zones accordingly*

Hosted by: The Berklee College of Music's Electronic Production and Design Department

CLICK FOR MORE »

Conny Plank's Studio For Sale

Synths include: ARP Sequencer model 1611, Roland JD800, Emulator II, Yamaha DX7-II, Oberheim OBX-a, ARP Odyssey, OSCar, and Korg VC10 vocoder as well as a Fender Rhodes Mark I and Leslie 760 solid state.

Via Music Thing (via this auction). Pics saved below for posterity.

More on Conny Plank on Wikipedia. I first heard of Conny Plank via Ultravox. Some excerpts:

"During the 1970s Conny Plank produced and/or engineered many of the most important recordings by significant German progressive/experimental music acts (given the derogratory label krautrock by the UK music press at the time), including Kraftwerk (Kraftwerk, Kraftwerk 2, Ralf und Florian, Autobahn, and the precursor album Tone Float), Neu! (all their recordings), Cluster, Harmonia, Ash Ra Tempel, Holger Czukay (Can), and Guru Guru. His long association with Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius of Cluster began in 1970 and endured until his death."

"Plank, via Bowie and especially Eno, in turn had a strong influence on many acts of the New Wave period in the late 1970s and 1980s. Neu!'s Hero is said to have been a major influence on John Lydon's work with his post-Sex Pistols group Public Image Limited. Eno produced an album for DEVO (another overseas act strongly influenced by Plank's work) and enjoyed a fruitful collaboration with Talking Heads and David Byrne, followed by an even longer and more successful partnership with Irish band U2. The earlier work of Australian band Hunters & Collectors also showed unmistakeable signs of familiarity with Plank's production techniques, and they were one of many international acts who recorded with him.

Plank's other production credits include Echo and the Bunnymen, Les Rita Mitsouko, Einstürzende Neubauten, Annie Lennox, Astor Piazolla, The Damned, Miranda Sex Garden, DAF (including the classic single Der Mussolini) and Nina Hagen."

"In the eighties Plank remained in high demand with the new generation of electronic pop and New Wave artists, including DEVO, Ultravox! (Systems of Romance, Vienna and Rage in Eden), Freur and The Tourists (Luminous Basement)/Eurythmics (In the Garden). He also worked on pop and rock productions with artists such as The Scorpions, Clannad, Killing Joke, Play Dead, and Gianna Nannini (Latin Lover, Sogno Di Una Notte d'Estate, Tutto Live and others, also credited for music)."

CLICK FOR MORE »

OSCar Advert

Another from the Technik site.

That's Geoff Downes from Asia, Bill Currie from Ultravox, John Foxx post Ultravox, and Mark Stonway of Grand Slam. Click image for a bigger shot.

via fmasetti.

ARP Odyssey MkIII Shots

via this auction

One pretty "interesting" detail below; well to me at least. : )

Details from auction:

"Reconditioned by Than Muir, this rare & classic synth is in immaculate condition, cosmetically and functionally. Serial # 2825 0005. The Odyssey is a duo-phonic, fully analog synth developed in the 1970's. It is a simplified, non-modular yet more gig-able version of their famous 2600 modular mono-synth (sharing many of the same components). This is the mark 3 version, distinguishable by its orange and black facia detailing. It is considered the superior revision of the Odyssey for its sound (-24db filter), technical capability, reliability and service-ablity (see: http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/2006/01/why-white-arp-odyssey-is-not-always.html). Includes colour spiral-bound copy of user manual and patch sheets. Electronic copy of service manual also available. Famous users include ABBA, Depeche Mode, Bomb The Bass, Ultravox, Gary Numan, Vince Clark, LTJ Bukem, Air, Tangerine Dream, 808 State, Apollo 440, Nine Inch Nails, Astral Projection, Chick Corea, George Duke, Josef Zawinul, John Foxx, Vangelis, Elton John, Jethro Tull, Jimmy Edgar, DEVO, R.E.M. and Herbie Hancock. Please don't hesitate to contact me for more info. Includes colour spiral-bound copy of user manual and patch sheets. Electronic copy of service manual also available. Famous users include ABBA, Depeche Mode, Bomb The Bass, Ultravox, Gary Numan, Vince Clark, LTJ Bukem, Air, Tangerine Dream, 808 State, Apollo 440, Nine Inch Nails, Astral Projection, Chick Corea, George Duke, Josef Zawinul, John Foxx, Vangelis, Elton John, Jethro Tull, Jimmy Edgar, DEVO, R.E.M. and Herbie Hancock. Please don't hesitate to contact me for more info."

Yep, my first "reference" on the *bay. That shot of Pete pretty much captured my reaction when I saw it. And no, I don't mind being referrenced to one bit.

CS80 Motherload on YouTube

Title link takes you to a post on VSE where I found a motherload of YouTube videos featuring the Yamaha CS80 - the credit goes to Micke for finding and listing these. It was a trip back in time seeing the Chariots of Fire video. I didn't realize there was an ARP 2500 featured throughout and this glimpse of a Korg PS3300. The ARP Odyssey lead by Billie Curie of Ultravox in Sleepwalk is worth noting as well; it's an amazing lead. Video links below.

Vangelis - Note the ARP 2500 in the background


Update: looks like the original link I had for Chariots of Fire got pulled, so here is another version currently up on YouTube:
Vangelis ( Chariots of Fire )


Ultravox - Sleepwalk (1980)
ELO - Here is the News (1981)
John Foxx - Underpass (1980)
John Foxx - No-One Driving (1980)

Update: Regarding the Korg modular, "That looks pretty much like a PS3300 as it doesn´t have the two vertical rows of tuning pots down the left-hand side of the 3200. I think Vangelis actually had a 3300, and during the session with Neuronium I believe they also used Huygen´s 3200 alongside the 3300, ARP 2500, and other stuff like Prophet 5 etc. What strikes me even more is the mystery synth on the backside photo of the original "In London" EP by Neuronium and Vangelis... it looks like a Mini Moog but I´m not sure it´s one." Stephen Parsick.

Ultravox Gear P*rn

Yowsa! I posted earlier on Ultravox, well looks like the thread has updated and there are some amazing live shots of the band's performance in Live Aid '85 and Top of the Pops. I remember staying up all night to see them perform on Live Aid. It was amazing. I'll never forget when Billie Currie whips out the violin during Vienna. Wow. I remember the thing that bothered me at the time was that Midge Ure was the other half setting up Live Aid with Bob Geldof, but it seemed like he got zero credit. I heard he worked a bit on Live 8 with Bob again, but I heard zilch - just a rumor on a blog somewhere. I still need to look it up and confirm. Anyway, Title link takes you to the thread with more shots. If they go down for whatever reason, post a comment in this thread and I'll put them up here. I saved them just in case.

ULTRAVOX - THE THIN WALL - TOTP

YouTube via transceive. via sequencer.de.

Vintage Roland Rhythm 77 Rare Analog Drum Machine

via this auction
Some of the description appears to be from the dubsounds.com sample pack page. "The Rhythm-77 (TR-77) was the product that launched the Roland Corp. in 1972 and was the flagship of the Rhythm trio, which included the R-33 and R-55. Its place in history is secured as the first Roland drum machine ever made. It was Ikutaro Kakehashi's baby which he used to introduce the world to ROLAND after he sold off Ace Tone and moved on to bigger things. The Rhythm-77 (TR-77) came in two versions, the more common organ style wooden case with built in music stand and a black tolex "roadie protected" (TR-77V). Incidentally, if you don't already know TR stood for Transistor Rhythm. It had separate faders for the Kick, Snare, Guiro and Hi-Hat/Cymbal/Maracas, making it a very flexible machine in the studio. As with many early drum machines you could get more out of them by selecting multiple rhythms and layering them over each other.

Sonically, the 77 is probably the warmest sounding of all Roland's analogue beat boxes (before or since). The kick does lack punch but more than made up for that in bass content and the percussion sounds are very nice indeed. The standout sound has to be the guiro pattern which you can fade in over the top of the Cha-Cha and Mambo rhythms. Unashamedly "lounge" and instantly recognizable.

You can spot the TR-77 on quite a few tracks from the late '70s. It was quite popular for a few years until the CompuRhythm range took over. Gary Numan used it briefly on the "Replicas" album before moving on to the CR-78. Ultravox (with John Foxx) also used a 77 first before Foxx immortalized the CR-78 on his seminal "Metamatic" album. The 77 is also heard quite prominently in the intro to Squeeze's "Take Me I'm Yours" and "Girls On Film" by Duran Duran.

Rhythms:
Latin: Rhumba, Beguine, Cha-Cha, Mambo, Samba 1&2, Bossa Nova, Baion, Bolero, Tango
Rock: Rock'n'Roll 1&2, Slow Rock, Ballad, Western, March, Jazz Waltz, Waltz, Cancel (quiet)
2beat & 4beat: Bass Drum, Snare, Fox Trot, Swing, Parade, Shuffle

Drum Sounds:
Bass Drum, Snare Drum, Low Conga, Low Bongo, High Bongo, Rim Shot, Maracas, High Hat, Cymbal, Tambourine, Guiro, Cowbell."

Circuit Bent Speak and Spell + MIDI - SPEAKING BETA 2

YouTube via radial77. Part 1 here
"Once again being triggered with Live. I threw this one together to provide a rough second example. For a slightly better shot of the setup, see my first one"
The rhythm kind of reminds me of Ultravox's Alles Klar mixed with The Thin Wall.
Update: up for auction here.

PPG Waveterm A + EVU Expansion Voice Unit for Sale

via this auction

"PPG EVU Expansion Voice Unit module

This is the "brains" of a PPG Wave 2.3: Classic vintage 8 voice wavetable synth; digital oscillators for complex waveforms; warmed up with rich analog filters [8x Curtis SSM 2044 VCF chips], designed by Wolfgang Palm, used by famously by David Bowie, The Fixx, Trevor Horn, Jean Michel Jarre, Art of Noise, Rush, Depeche Mode, Gary Numan, Robert Palmer, Psychadelic Furs, Talk Talk, The Cars, Ultravox, Steve Winwood, Rush, Stevie Nicks, Thomas Dolby, Pet Shop Boys, Mike and the Mechanics, and Stevie Wonder.

If you already have a PPG Wave with an active PPG Bus, the unit will work directly, but won't work with MIDI until you or a technician complete

When complete, you can sample with the Waveterm-A, edit the sounds via MIDI over sysex and dump wavetables back and forth from computer to EVU and Waveterm-A.

However the buyer should know:

CLICK FOR MORE »

Synth Spotting with Visage in 2013

Visage - New Romantics, The Blitz Club and the New Album HEARTS AND KNIVES. EPK from March 2013

Published on Apr 3, 2013 therealvisage·5 videos

Additional videos below.

"A Video introduction to Visage, The Blitz Club (the cauldron of 1980s style and fashion) and the new Visage album and line up. More info on www.visage.cc

Founding fathers of the New Romantics and pioneers of the 80s sound Visage, return with a new album "Hearts And Knives" May 2013. Visage began in 1978 when Steve Strange and Blitz Club partner-in-crime Rusty Egan joined forces with Midge Ure to create a futuristic, synthesizer-led group where style and fashion were matched by experimental but accessible music. The group was soon Magazine and Billy Currie. They recorded their first single Tar with Martin Rushent at his Genetic Studio in 1978 (shortly to become the birthplace of the Human League Dare album). Their breakthrough track "Fade To Grey" became a European hit and reached number 1 in 8 countries in 1980. As the public face of the band Steve Strange shot to stardom throughout Europe and beyond.

Steve Strange has been through his own share of highs and lows in the past 29 years. His emergence as a fashion and style icon of the 80s and beyond is one of the many highs. Steve had always believed that Visage had not yet reached its endpoint. Slowly the circumstances and pieces started falling into place to enable a new album to come to fruition. Firstly Steve reconnected with Steve Barnacle (a Visage band member from the 1984 Visage album "Beatboy") and began writing songs once more. This was augmented when ex Ultravox guitarist Robin Simon joined into the equation bringing not only a large slice of shared musical DNA (that "Visage sound") to the project but also his own distinctive style and ethereal musicianship. Lauren Duvall joined adding not only her sultry vocal ability but also a slice of the classic Visage glamour. Secondly the environment and interest in 80's fashion, style and music continues on unabated. The phone continues to ring for shows, television, news and exhibitions.

More info on www.visage.cc"

Additional videos: Two from the early days of Visage and the new single below. Fade To Grey was one of the first tracks that sparked my love for synths.

Visage - Fade To Grey

Published on Mar 7, 2013 therealvisage·5 videos

Original music video for the Visage hit "Fade To Grey"

Visage - Visage

Published on Mar 7, 2013 therealvisage·5 videos

"Original video for Visage, by the band Visage."

And the first new track:

Visage - Shameless Fashion

Published on Apr 9, 2013 therealvisage·5 videos

Roland JX-3P analog synthesizer with RC-20XL loopstation Ultravox "Lament"

YouTube Uploaded by CmathTV on Oct 31, 2011

"This is not intended to be exact.I just wanted capture the vibe of the intro on one keyboard using the Roland JX-3P and a Roland loopstation."

50-year-old Rhythm Machine with Midi! & Joe Jackson's - Steppin' Out

Published on Dec 20, 2019

"My Roland TR-77 / Rhythm -77 is just back from surgery after it had a Unipulse midi kit installed.

Here's Tubbutec's page on it: https://tubbutec.de/unipulse/

Here's the other videos I mentioned:

Sampling the TR-77: [below]

Processing with the Maxon RM-60: [posted here]

Thanks for watching!"

Sampling Vintage Rhythm Machines [INCLUDES FREE SAMPLES]

Published on Sep 12, 2019 Alex Ball

"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

Bit of background: Although the earlier rhythm machines were intended to accompany lone musicians (mainly organists) and were controlled with start/stop footswitches, they do crop up in a few records.

The “Cha-Cha” preset from the TR-77 appears in Ultravox’s “Hiroshima Mon Amour” and it’s apparently the (rather processed) rhythm machine heard at the start of Squeeze’s “Take me I’m yours”. The seemingly popular “Cha-Cha” also appears at the start of Duran Duran’s “Girls on Film” albeit at a different pitch (perhaps done with tape speed).

The earlier version of the Rhythm 55B (the Rhythm 55) was also the very unit used by Joe Jackson on “Steppin’ Out”. In fact, he’s recently been bringing it out on tour with him: [below]

The Korg is a bit of a hanger on being released in 1982 given that 808s, LinnDrums and DMXs were out by then. The Roland CR-5000 and CR-8000 also snuck into the 80s, but they were really at the end of this kind of instrument that had its heyday in the late 60s and 70s.

Instruments used in this video:
Roland Rhythm 77 / TR-77 (1972)
Korg Rhythm 55B / KR-55B (1982)
Roland SH-1000 (1973)
Korg MS-20 (1978)
ARP Odyssey model 2813 (1975)
Roland Juno-6 (1982)"

Joe Jackson - Steppin' Out (Studio version, Joe explains the song) - Live in Italy 2019

Published on Mar 20, 2019

Studio version, with the original drum machine!
Four Decade Tour
Rome, 19 March 2019
Auditorium Conciliazione

ULTRAVOX - HYMN - ORS 82

YouTube via transceive. Spot the synths. Don't miss the ARP Odyssey solo by Billy Currie starting at 3:22.
"LIVE TV PERFORMANCE ON THE OXFORD ROAD SHOW NOVEMBER 1982"
Also... ULATRAVOX has announced a reunion tour. So far dates are only in the UK.

OSCar Synthesizer | The New Romance

Published on Jan 21, 2018 Alex Ball

"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.

Synths:
OSCar (sequences, bass, leads, FX)
Yamaha DX7 (bell piano)
Roland JX-3P (pads)
Roland Juno-6 (pads)
Roland SH-101 (some doubling of bass parts)
Rhythmic Robot EMU Emulator II VST (sampled piano)

Guitars:
Ibanez JEM 7DBK
Squier Jagmaster
Fender Blues Junior II mic'd with an SM57
Ibanez Tube Screamer 808
Boss Chorus CE-2

Bass:
Fender Jazz Bass
Orange OB1-300
DBX 266XL Compressor

Drums:
Past to future - California Drums
Fairlight CMI III samples

Vocals:
Recorded with an AKG C414

Plugins:
Waves, U-he, Goodhertz, T-racks, Past to future reverb impulses

All instruments performed by Alex Ball & Dave Grant
Song and recording by Alex Ball 2018"

Bob Moog Foundation 2020 Trifecta Raffle: The Moog Source

moogfoundation

"The Moog Source: Grand Prize of our 2020 Trifecta Raffle!

The Source was first Moog to offer patch memory storage and a data wheel to edit the parameters. The Source's rich sound has been used by Tangerine Dream, Jan Hammer, Depeche Mode, Devo, Vince Clarke, New Order (especially on the track “Blue Monday” for which provides the throbbing bassline throughout the song), Ultravox, Josh Wink, Front Line Assembly, Moog Cookbook, Kitaro, Imperial Drag, The Cars, Phish, The Rentals, King Crimson, Blur, Gary Numan, and Toby Smith (of Jamiroquai)

Read more about this synthesizer, as well as the Rogue and Source being offered in our Trifecta Raffle, and purchase your tickets here: http://bit.ly/2020TrifectaRaffle

All three synthesizers have been expertly restored and are in excellent technical and physical condition.

The raffle is a fundraiser for the important work of the Bob Moog Foundation. Proceeds benefit our hallmark educational project, Dr. Bob's SoundSchool, the Bob Moog Foundation Archives, and the Moogseum. Find out more here: www.moogfoundation.org.

The raffle is open internationally.

Big Moog Love to @MaryFrances-MamaFunk for exploring these synths with us!"

PPG EVU Expansion Voice Unit 80's wavetable synth by Wolfgang Palm

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.
via this auction

"This is the "brains" of a PPG Wave 2.3: Classic vintage 8 voice wavetable synth; digital oscillators for complex waveforms; warmed up with rich analog filters [8x Curtis SSM 2044 VCF chips], designed by Wolfgang Palm, used by famously by David Bowie, The Fixx, Trevor Horn, Jean Michel Jarre, Art of Noise, Rush, Depeche Mode, Gary Numan, Robert Palmer, Psychadelic Furs, Talk Talk, The Cars, Ultravox, Steve Winwood, Rush, Stevie Nicks, Thomas Dolby, Pet Shop Boys, Mike and the Mechanics, and Stevie Wonder.

However the buyer should know:

This unit predates MIDI [was built between 1982-1984] and will require a technician to complete the build we started for the MIDI to EVU converter, as planned here: http://www.hermannseib.com/english/synths/ppg/midiretro.htm

All of the parts, veroboard circuit, and new OS ROMs are included."

more pics here

SN 01012 or 07072?


Update via Rich in the comments: "Just a short note of clarification:
The above mentioned Curtis SSM2044 was a combination of 2 different companies:

Curtis Electromusic Specialties, founded by Doug Curtis - made the CEM3340 VCO, (Roland Jupiter 6 and others if I recall correctly), CEM3320 VCF, CEM3310 ADSR and quite a few others.

Their biggest competitor was Solid State Microtechnologies by solid state music who made the infamous SSM2040 4 cell chip that was used for 4 pole Low Pass Filters, 2 pole State Variable Filters and a few other configurations. (Prophet 5 versions 1 and 2. Version 3's used the thinner sounding Curtis CEM3320.)
The Korg Mono/Poly and Polysix (amoung many other units) used the SSM2044 4 pole Low Pass Filter."