Quick'ish Question

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Quick'ish Question

Postby natwalk » Thu Jun 02, 2011 10:45 pm

Hi guys not a big Synth guy myself, not good enough on the keys yet to get too heavily into it, but a mate of mine has been going nuts for years looking for 'the sound'. He likes the sort of synth stuff from the early to mid eighties, mentions the Cars a lot for example. He's looking for ways to get close or preferably recreate the sounds from the albums he loves. I suggested that using guitar pedals along with the synths might get him some of the way but he is primarily a midi guy he has a bunch of newer synths and a few older models - nothing earth shakingly amazing as far as I can tell. So after the long ramble I was just wondering if you guys could give me a few pointers in the right direction as far as that sort of sound that I can pass-on to him. He is driving me nuts trying to work this out and I'd like to put both of us out of our misery if I can, that and I'm curious myself I guess. I am really asking if anyone has any knowledge about what was used on the recording of bands like the Cars as far a synths both gear and techniques.

Thanks for your help,

Nate
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Re: Quick'ish Question

Postby Futureman » Thu Jun 02, 2011 11:28 pm

I'm a bit of a 'Cars' fan..

& I like old synths.

That over used 'oowww' 'oooww' sound on "Lets go" etc is a 'Sequential Circuits Pro 1'.. but a Prophet 5 will do it also... That sound was overused a bit, but it's still a good one.

They also used an eminent solina a bit. (String synth)

Dunno if that helps
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Re: Quick'ish Question

Postby natwalk » Fri Jun 03, 2011 9:40 am

Thanks for the quick reply futureman, will pass that on, I'm not sure if he's got a Prophet or not but I'm sure he won't mind looking into it :D This is a good start. Also the eminent solina and Sequential Circuits Pro 1 probably have software synth versions that he can have a go at at least.

Thanks for the info,

Nate
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Re: Quick'ish Question

Postby Futureman » Fri Jun 03, 2011 2:59 pm

A prophet 5 will set him back a few clams.
The Nord lead 1 and Nord lead 2 do ok emulations of a prophet 5, and are muuuch easier to buy second hand.
Also, there is a virtual string synth plugin / emulator and I'm sure it does a solina. Google will help here.

Best of luck
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Re: Quick'ish Question

Postby natwalk » Fri Jun 03, 2011 4:02 pm

Thanks for that, had a bit of a google earlier and came across the Native Instruments Pro 53 vst plugin so he can give the sounds a try in the midi environment and see what he thinks. Apparently it is aimed at the 80's sounds to a big extent, emulates some of the big names - I think I read that it mentions the Sequential Circuits Pro 1 specifically. Will have to see how it goes if he decides to go for it, that and keeping eyes and ears out for other 80's gems floating around out there. Thanks again for your help,

Nate
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Re: Quick'ish Question

Postby lonearranger » Fri Jun 03, 2011 6:48 pm

natwalk wrote:Thanks for that, had a bit of a google earlier and came across the Native Instruments Pro 53 vst plugin so he can give the sounds a try in the midi environment and see what he thinks. Apparently it is aimed at the 80's sounds to a big extent, emulates some of the big names - I think I read that it mentions the Sequential Circuits Pro 1 specifically. Will have to see how it goes if he decides to go for it, that and keeping eyes and ears out for other 80's gems floating around out there. Thanks again for your help,

Nate

NI have dropped the Pro53 as a supported product, so you would need to aquire used/transfer licence etc. Not sure if they ever got a 64bit version out, so perhaps some issues with future viability. MIke - how close do the Dave Smith products come to the old skool pro sounds?
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Re: Quick'ish Question

Postby Futureman » Fri Jun 03, 2011 10:31 pm

Not sure how close, I've never used a prophet 08, but I'd imagine it would be ok.
Also look at the creamware hardware racks.. They did a P5 clone too.
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Re: Quick'ish Question

Postby natwalk » Sat Jun 04, 2011 12:17 am

Cool, I'll let him know to check them out too.

Nate
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Re: Quick'ish Question

Postby Nigel99 » Sat Jun 04, 2011 10:08 am

It all depends on what Cars synth sounds your mate is looking for. I know for a fact that they had two jupiter 8's, a synclavier, Dx-7 and used a fairlight cmi on their later lps.

The cheesey organ sound on 'just what I needed' is a korg minikorg. There's usually one on eBay. As for the others (apart from the dx-7) good luck finding those without bleeding your bank account dry.
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Re: Quick'ish Question

Postby natwalk » Sat Jun 04, 2011 10:23 am

Yeah I've seen the prices of some of this old gear, I thought studio gear was pricey! Thanks for the info waill pass it on and keep eyes on ebay and see what emulators are around to cover the impossible purchases.

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