# The V.i.c. "Synthesizer Music" Thread...



## AlexandreSafi (Nov 2, 2015)

Alright Guys, through all this passionate & helpful talk about the gear, I tried to find a sort of "complete" thread about this topic, but to my surprise I couldn't really find any, so I thought let's add a little accessible talk in about the music itself, let's try to build and share a web of ideas about sound on this place big time!

From the Electronica scene, EDM, Classical, Pop, Ambient, Abstract, Film Scores, TV, Trailers, Commercials, Video Games, Analog, Digital, FM, Substractive, Additive, Modular, Granular, Vintage to Modern genres... Which pieces, works, (or even sounds!!) featuring the synthesizer do you find now aesthetically pleasing or satisfying to listen to, and maybe why do you find so?

The thing is...I'm personally in a dilemma where i grew up and will always love some of the sounds invented from the universe of the synthesizer, I'm actually going to seriously study sound synthesis next year because of some serious faith I have in how musical & emotional it can truly become, but I always have this recurrent question coming up, sometimes out of fear, on how one piece's longevity or aspired timelessness, if you will, might be affected by the careful or not-so-careful sounds & programming within, when cooking up & executing the final composition... I think of 2 inspiring works such as "Blade Runner" and much more recently "Chappie" featuring the synthesizer at the forefront with a sort of unapologetic desire to stand on their own two feet, and I realize this isn't really something that's done often...

So I, just like I'm sure all of us in the community, would love to hear your suggestions about again the music itself, "the which & the why": -pieces & works--(funnily we probably all can easily find & quote the same greatest synth albums ever made). --- And if you feel like it also...what does the word "synthesizer" evoke to you, what does the synthesizer does best according to you and what is it about the synthesizer that "you" exclusively & unconditionally love?...

Thank you so much
for sharing your ideas
guys and girls!
A.


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## chimuelo (Nov 2, 2015)

Listen to Isao Tomita's Snowflakes are Dancing.
I sat down on an Oberheim OBX and spent days learning how to program the sounds.
The beauty of learning Tomita is a programming and performing challenge.
Just in case you want to know what synth kids from the 80s did.
Wouldn't surprise me if that isn't part of a thesis for Electronic Music degrees.


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## KEnK (Nov 2, 2015)

chimuelo said:


> Listen to Isao Tomita's Snowflakes are Dancing.


YES! Tomita was an absolute synth genius- on par w/ W. Carlos but w/ his own take on it-
And that was the beauty of synthesis in those days-
No presets- You were on your own.

And then there's Morton Subotnik- Also brilliant and a musical maverick.
Also Oskar Sala- That's the S**T! 

Listen to those guys Alexander- That' what synthesis is about to me.
There were barely even "synthesizers" then- just walls of components soldered together
by a few visionaries-

Then the DX7 came out and it all went to hell. 
k


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## bryla (Nov 2, 2015)

Tomita, Carlos and Jarre are to me the 'childhood heroes'. It was not until 3 years ago that I discovered Daft Punk – they were doing amazing stuff in the '90's, not just with the synthesizer but also production wise. Now there are people like Trent Reznor and Celldweller that are taking the synthesizer out there.

I can recommend 'I Dream of Wires' which is the story of the synthesizer and more specifically about the modular and what artists have championed it. It's on Netflix.


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## chimuelo (Nov 3, 2015)

The guy who also gave me inspiration was the ZMan himself.
Read an SOS review about his secret weapon. Scope DSP Cards with those amazing synths used by Reznor the ZMan and Tangerine Dream.
Made my own MIDI Devices. FX and synths ever since.
Anyone heard of Infected Mushroom?
If not give them a listen.
These guys are big in Latin America and they're all pinche gringos...


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## ed buller (Nov 3, 2015)

tangerine dream : Rubycon..........it doesn't get any better.



e

and a shameless plugg:


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## Baron Greuner (Nov 3, 2015)

You had to be careful with DX7's on stage. If they got the lighting wrong and shone the lights directly on the top of a DX7 it almost melted the one I had.


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## scarred bunny (Nov 3, 2015)

I don't know anything about anything really, but since this is the internet where everyone is an expert on everything, I'll talk anyway. 

I guess to me the synthesizer, most of all, is interesting because it can create sounds and tones that aren't possible with acoustic instruments. It's fascinating because it's different - it's own little aural universe. I know a lot of people who don't like electronic music because they feel it's 'cold' or 'inhuman', and I don't think that's _entirely _without merit but that's also kind of why I like it. 

I suspect one thing that may work against the longevity of electronic music is that it's sort of intrinsically tied to technology to a bigger degree, which has an annoying habit of evolving and changing; especially if you're leaning too heavily on whatever happens to be the new and exciting thing at the time. The DX7 came out and FM synthesis was the shiznits, and now many of those tones are instantly in a time and place for us now (not that I don't love 80s cheese). Just like the massive supersaw leads. Just like the brostep wubble bass and stutter effect will be soon, if they aren't already. Not necessarily a bad thing, but perhaps something to be aware of. Everyone using the same presets as everyone else is also a factor that serves to homogenize the sound. 

Another thing is that people tend to connect better with a musical _performance _and a lot of electronic music is sequenced - I don't mind sequenced music myself (I think it has its own sound, which is as valid an aesthetic choice as anything else), but many others do. I think that's part of why something like Blade Runner still holds up well today. It uses fairly simple sounds that are comparatively classic and timeless, not just the flavor of the week, and Vangelis tends to play his music rather than simply program it. At least to me it feels a lot less dated than it should. 

Anyway. Here's a random grabbag of Things I Like(tm), on the off chance that someone finds something interesting: 

Isao Tomita is an obvious choice. In fact, I think Tomita - more than anything else - was my big gateway drug into classical music. The aforementioned Wendy Carlos and Jean Michel Jarre are also worth a listen. I would add Klaus Shulze's solo work to that list in a similar vein. Larry Fast did some interesting work with his Synergy project. 

Since I like the idea of using electronics to produce 'different' sounds, it makes sense that I'd have a particular softspot for the experimental side of things. My personal favorite from this general field would be the British band Coil, who were a very significant influence on me personally (both musically and otherwise). It's hard to describe what they sound like because it's all very abstract and weird, and certainly not everyone's cup of tea; their catalog is also very uneven. I usually recommend people start by listening to their original soundtrack to the first Hellraiser film ("The Unreleased Themes for Hellraiser", alternatively just "Hellraiser Themes") - very different from the music that actually ended up in the film. According to legend, Clive Barker said it's "the only group I've heard on disc whose records I've taken off because they made my bowels churn". It also showcases one of their more musical moments. From there, try something like Love's Secret Domain (notice the acronym ) and Stolen And Contaminated Songs. They're also responsible for the title music in the film Seven. Enjoy the insanity. 

I quite like Richard Devine's old stuff. Pretty heavy on the chaos and noise factor, but I like it. Very beat-driven, in ways (both timbrally and rhythmically) that a 'real' drummer would probably never play. The British band Autechre is another good one for rhyhmic oddities. 

I've listened to a fair bit of EDM music over the years - still like Robert Miles for the more conventional club sound, or something like Shpongle for the more psychedelic side of things (best enjoyed under the influence of anything and everything ). EBM or electro-industrial or 'aggrotech' or whatever I'm supposed to call it (I usually call it "techno with scary voices") has been a bit of a guilty pleasure. I still like old Front Line Assembly and Wumspcut, but a lot of that particular subgenre is a little too cheesy even for me. As far as band-oriented music goes, the demented synth rock of Skinny Puppy is a big stand-out for me (much more so than Nine Inch Nails) - because it's not cheesy and formulaic and nothing sounds quite like it. They also did a lot of interesting side projects; like the experimental Download, but in particular cEvin Key's solo work. Listen to his 'The Ghost of Each Room' - plain ol' nice and interesting music, quirky sounds and rhythms, occasional theremin performances and whatnot. 

There's been a lot of interesting electronics within soundtracks, so I'll just namedrop a few. I've never been a big fan of Daft Punk, but I really enjoyed the music they did for Tron: Legacy (awful awful film though). Yeah, it's simple and repetitive, but I love the sound of it - that particular blend of electronics and orchestra, and how the electronics sometimes take the more prominent role. Inception was really good (in my view much better than the film itself). I really liked the score to the Mass Effect games, all three of them; also a very nice blend of electronic and 'acoustic'. For something less well-known, I would nominate Jarrid Mendelsson's work on Westwood's 'Emperor: Battle for Dune' game - each of the three Dune houses got its own soundtrack, typically a synth/orchestra/rock hybrid, but Mendelsson's music for House Ordos is purely synthetic and abstract, and still one of my favorites. It seems he hasn't released much of anything before or since, and I've always wondered why. 

Also: Kraftwerk. The end.


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## AlexandreSafi (Nov 3, 2015)

Thanks a lot chimuelo, KenK , Baron, ed, bryla, and Scarred Bunny for your great contributions! I have to admit I'd never heard of this "Isao Tomita" before, and I have to just say... wow! Just listened to his "Debussy Arabesque & Pictures at an Exhibition", now THIS is the kind of Synthesizer music & programming I love and expect from people, I've just recently heard of Mike Leghorn re-orchestration of "Holst's Planets" on Zebra, Diva & Ace, which is similar and which I found absolutely inspiring as a whole, but there were still some places were i personally felt some of my favorite moments were ruined because of a difference of taste, and maybe too abstract a choice in the sounds chosen compared to the initial orchestration...
But Tomita clearly knows what he's doing from beginning to start, and it feels quite bold to let the electronics just "take over" the piece like that...

I really happen to be driven funnily to the "acoustic/orchestral side" of electronics, as in how can we approximate an acoustic feel to synths as best as we can, things like lyricism/voices/flutes and vibrato, orch./ethnic flutes, organs, brass, strings, Percussion such as toms & metals & snares, but also dolphin noises, birds, water, wind, stars, rumblings like earthquakes and I'm sure the list goes on... One thing I also find Electronics does best is "humor music", which you'd think [to quote part of "Scarred Bunny" great post] is anything but as it can be perceived as mostly "cold technology", but honestly you can just put a nice vibrato on some crazy sound and you'll get the job done in a second...
The acoustic side of it with ultimately expressing "the 4 elements" of Earth, Fire, Water & Air is where I feel the machine has its true potential to be fully explored, either as a standalone or complimentary palette....

But I really have to check those guys and albums too, i personally think we are even getting to a point today where the craft and legacy of electronics is i feel neglected and where a supposedly inventiveness in new sounds is constantly happening, if it is then it usually is oriented toward the "hardcore close-to-the-chest cold side" of it, but i definitely don't hear the same warmth, vision & performance as much as I'm sure anyone can definitely hear it instead in those 70's-90's efforts...

I don't know if you guys also heard of this French artist, Ed Starink, who made 7 great volumes of "Synthesizer's Greatest" music, 





To me those recreations are sometimes a serious hit, or a "could-be-much-more" miss depending maybe even on the interest of the composition itself, or how you contrast those low to high freq. sounds, but I nonetheless thought everyone should know about him also...
Thanks again, fellow musicians!


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## EastWest Lurker (Nov 3, 2015)

In the concert hall music world, Pauline Oliveros did some amazing work. Personally though, I am not particularly interested in synth versions of famous Classical pieces. much rather hear people breaking new ground.


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## AlexandreSafi (Nov 3, 2015)

Thank you Jay! I was also thinking about the underuse of the accordion the other day...She sounds really interesting, I'll have to check more of Pauline's work! 

Your "new ground" comment reminds me i need to ask: 
Do any of you guys have any particular favorites, names worth discovering in the realm of "Experimental" Electronic Music?...


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## Baron Greuner (Nov 3, 2015)

It's very difficult to break new ground in music.

Alexandre you might want to go right back and watch the film Forbiden Planet and things like Delia Derbyshire and the Dr Who theme. These of course were not synthesizers as we know them today but arguably a synthetic sound.

One of the greatest exponents of the synthesizer and who really brought it to the attention of everyone in the rock world, even after Walter Carlos brought out Switched on Bach was Keith Emerson. Belated happy birthday to Keith btw and Derek sends his regards.

Emerson I think got the idea to use this Moog monster after listening to SOB because Bach was very much part of his rock reportoire at the time.
The track Tank from the first ELP album is well worth listening to and you will notice how he built the chords at the end on this monophonic battleship.


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## Jetzer (Nov 3, 2015)




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## Ned Bouhalassa (Nov 3, 2015)

Two good videos:
Synth Britannia: 
I Dream of Wires: 
Although I'm a huge fan of the greats of the past (hello Kraftwerk, Stockhausen, Hugh Le Caine, Subotnick), I like synthesizer artists/bands from this century just as much:
Deadmau5, Imogen Heap, Soulwax, Pan Sonic, Moderat and Apparat, LCD Soundsystem, Trentmøller, Siriusmo, Clark, Mono/Poly, Emika, Boards of Canada, HZ, Reznor, and many more.
Why do I like them? Because they take chances, break new ground, open up new sound avenues - and that's what synthesis is all about, IMHO, *not* making a synth sound like an acoustic instrument we've heard before.


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## Saxer (Nov 3, 2015)

I was always a fan of solo synthesizers in a band context. Around the late 70s and early 80s I looked for every synth solo I could find: George Duke, Chick Corea, Tom Scott with his Lyricon and Michael Brecker with the EWI... I listened to death to all that solos... Reinhold Heil in the Nina Hagen Band and Ian Hammer on Cobhams Spectrum, really great stuff!
I never really liked the 'all synth' music like Kraftwerk, Jarre, Tomita, Tangerine Dream... too much tutti plastic and less agile life. Synths were really good when played in bands like Pink Floyd, Alan Parsons Project... also in film and tv music like Rockford Files or Inspector Columbo. At that time synths had the solo parts in bands and orchestras.

I can't understand why this culture completely died. In electronic music there's no synth solo or even a melody any more. Same in film music. A lot of synths but they are never allowed to do anything 'musical'. Pad and ostinato job, fat basses and efx. That's it.

Maybe it's time for synth solos again?


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## chimuelo (Nov 3, 2015)

That era is alive and well in the Production Company I work for.
Auditioned for 1 gig and ended up doing 3.
Have my own subs for last minute changes.
Yes ELP Floyd Kansas you name they have a group for the occasion.
Personally this stuff was passe in Vegas years ago.
The rest of the national conventions and shin digs cant get enough.

Another person I whole heatedly admire is a synthesist from Europe named Roland Kuit.
A combination of mad skills science and decades of experience on hardware and DSP systems.

Definately a ground breaker with modules I cant even pronounce.


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## AlexandreSafi (Nov 3, 2015)

Ned Bouhalassa said:


> Two good videos:
> Synth Britannia:
> I Dream of Wires:
> Although I'm a huge fan of the greats of the past (hello Kraftwerk, Stockhausen, Hugh Le Caine, Subotnick), I like synthesizer artists/bands from this century just as much:
> ...




*Ned*, Thank you so much for those little treasure videos, along with BBC Kraftwerk, they have been suggested a few times already on this forum, I really need to find the time and watch those! That little list of Artists you compiled is also really great & eclectic, some of them I never heard of. Ultimately you are spot on, this is also about making Sound Synthesis an independent legacy from the orchestra in its own right and not necessarily an imitative tool! Here's a great quote from "_Journey to Ithaka_" about and from _Vangelis_:
_
"I still believe that the Electronic sounds are equally natural, the only thing that's changed is the source, and somehow even to go further than the acoustic instruments, because you can produce sounds closer to the sounds of the universe. Human beings express themselves through the acoustic instruments we know today, but these have limitations as well, not of the expression of feeling, but they have limitations of sound, and I guess that's why we produced the symphony orchestra, because it's like the first synthesizer, it is something that we put together, the different areas of sound together, and then we create colors, and situations between those different families of sound, and then you have the symphony orchestra, otherwise why having one, there was a need to have that, in order to enrich/enlarge the spectrum, but with the electronic instruments we go even further than that, and why are they not natural? I mean, the whole universe is Electricity, it's Waves..."_

*Saxer, *"_I can't understand why this culture completely died. In electronic music there's no synth solo or even a melody any more. Same in film music. A lot of synths but they are never allowed to do anything 'musical'. Pad and ostinato job, fat basses and efx. That's it.
Maybe it's time for synth solos again?_"

This is sort of exactly one of my motivations for this thread, being that I consider myself a very melody-focused writer, my own perception leads me to see that not only a lot of iconic sonic content was created in the analog world, but analog also had its fair amounts melodies going for it, it's probably actually 60% at least of what made those greatest synth works great... And so I am interested today in hearing about people's tastes and what particular pieces/works featuring a fair amount of the synthesizer they love to listen to...

Off the top of my head of recent examples which stood out for me were _The Social Network, Slumdog Millionaire, Drive, Chappie,_ some of the fresh material made by _Tony Anderson_, and quite a few things on _Her by Arcade Fire_, and indeed some lovely things done by _Imogen Heap_, but as you said: "Melodic Synth Solos"? I'd say I personally agree with you, a bit of a void these years, isn'it?, which is surprising given the amounts of new affordable digital synths in our era! I don't know... maybe I just expect/crave too much and more of such releases to become the new norm!


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## D.Salzenberg (Nov 3, 2015)

Great topic!
Saw Tangerine Dream on their first UK tour (still have the concert programme) and from then was hooked. Going to see them in concert back then was like seeing something from the future with the three of them sat there surrounded by massive banks of gear covered in flashing lights that looked like something from NASA, and sounded like nothing ever heard before, a truly groundbreaking and visionary experience, and music that still sounds amazing today.
Klaus Schulze doesn't always get the credit he deserves but Trancefer is an amazing and very influential album, well worth a listen for synth heads!
Around the same time saw John Carpenters early movies at the cinema, Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, The Fog, and Escape from New York, all amazing synths soundtracks.
Hawkwind albums from the seventies also feature great synth soundscapes and were very influential.
Don't think any of this great groundbreaking music would have happened if those early synths had been stuffed full of hundreds of presets. The very nature of those early synths actually forced you to make your own sounds every time you switched them on.


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## AlexandreSafi (Nov 3, 2015)

D.Salzenberg said:


> Great topic!
> Saw Tangerine Dream on their first UK tour (still have the concert programme) and from then was hooked. Going to
> Klaus Schulze doesn't always get the credit he deserves but Trancefer is an amazing and very influential album, well worth a listen for synth heads!
> Don't think any of this great groundbreaking music would have happened if those early synths had been stuffed full of hundreds of presets. The very nature of those early synths actually forced you to make your own sounds every time you switched them on.


So True... Couldn't agree more! When I saw this performance, I was completely sold on the power of synthesis, he uses the Spectrasonics choir quite extensively in it I think also, but the "one-man-synths-show" aspect is incredible:


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## KEnK (Nov 3, 2015)

Since we're posting vids-
Oskar Sala on the Trautonium


a Morton Subotnik "classic"


This is what I'm talking about


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## Gregg Chmara (Nov 3, 2015)

For the past month I have been thinking, dreaming and monomaniacally been focused on a parallel idea which I will broiefly explain here BEFORE opening a new thread, which, if a new "Synthesizer Music" thread might work.

Simply, it has taken hundreds of years to score and notate music with the system(s) in plat today -- and the staff & dotted noted in key signature language seems to wotk -- and limiting and marking the ruled manuscript with note values. expression, up and down bow markings, consideration of breath in winds played solo, reverberation of unamplified uinprocessed guitar strums and plucks and the like -- well written orchastral and band scores can sound pretty much alike with some variation based upon skill, interpretation and conductor's whim.

BUT, how in the heck to you score for a synth? Range, pulse, duration, process filtering vary from machine to machine, program to program.

The development of MIDI was a far sighted product and the limited assignment of General MIdi was a good idea if you wanted common sounds replicated from unvarying samples and ROM constructs. I must maintain that today's pallet of sound, effects, filters, waves,oscillators and samples as working starts for sound variation, can only give us a chance of replicating (as some of clips above) old recognizable MELODY or piece -- BUT cannot reflect cross platform sound creation for exact duplication by ONLY USING PAPER. 

If, say, Omnisphere user one wants to allow live performance on tweaked and tone sounds he can duplicate settings and get them electronically to the performer with another copy of Omnisphere. He or she can send a midi set for replication of essential drones and the like --- BUT -- is there really any way to score ALL the needed information on a traditional notational score.

Maybe we need a new set of thoughts on scoring and repetition or emulation by LIVE artists -- across platforms. We are getting close with SAMPLES and orchestration with automated MIDI relaying to old scores. The range and use of the individual instruments are known and chartable.

But, how do we explain that the noted sound played on a synth can mostly only be almost duplicated by the live artist's ear as he/she sets up for a live performance -- and that only those with the same system or program parameters could replicate the original exactly.

The marriage of Science (Synths) and Art -- has given us some tremendous opportunities to create. But how do we transmit that sound to future generations who never used a wired patch, a unique oscillator which, thankls to the manufacturer had a clock that did things to sound different and away form any other standard?

Or, is this a classic pipe dream and all future performance will have to be approximations of what we think the composer/propgrammer meant?

And is this worth exploring in another thread?


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## chimuelo (Nov 3, 2015)

A deep concept.
But definately do-able.
I scribble down 1-127 for lfo depth cutoff frequeny static eg settings.
Actually have lay outs of my Physis K4 with set values for knobs buttons and sliders.

Even though I use 32bit MIDI in DSP.
0-100,000.
Too many numbers so my brain defaults to 7bit.
For 31 years I have been obsessed with MIDI.
Wasnt until 2006 with the Behringer BCF 2000 did I start visualizing the numbers.
Thanks Ulli.

But you are definately onto something.
Another thread where we can elaborate further would be very interesting to bounce ideas around.

This forum has become the land of the brave since it came back online.

Cheerz


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## AlexandreSafi (Nov 3, 2015)

Great topic Gregg, I can personally imagine it being adaptable to standard notation. To my mind, I guess if you really get into the specificity needed for duplication purposes, i can only imagine this new notation looking a little like maybe what the concert world has been producing with 21st century contemporary art sheet picture music, or something...


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## KEnK (Nov 3, 2015)

Gregg Chmara said:


> BUT, how in the heck to you score for a synth? Range, pulse, duration, process filtering vary from machine to machine, program to program.


Amazing thing to discuss-
but think about how much one violin varies from another-
not to mention individual performers technique and interpretation.

So - we'll have to accept that there are variances between synth components,
but certainly the "settings" can be reduced to numbers (voltages, midi commands etc)

A bigger (more interesting) question might be- Do we want to do that?
Would it work anyway? Is a panel of knobs a "classical" instrument?
I don't think composers like Xenakis, Subotnik, Stockhausen et al
expected their electronic compositions to be "uniform"-
and there have been forays into notating filters etc.

I think it's a similar kind of crossover to a jazz or Indian classical musician doing something w/ a western orchestra- 
they sort of meld the 2 worlds

k


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Nov 4, 2015)

FWIW, the very last thing I would want to look at when working with synthesizers is a chart/score. But hey, maybe that's just me.


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## SterlingArcher (Nov 4, 2015)

One modern album that uses synth sound is the soundtrack 'Far Cry: Blood Dragon' by Power Glove which was a 80s style homage video game. Uses a few of the classic 80s style sound including those bloody panpipes you heard in the old Steven Seagal movies.


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## AlexandreSafi (Nov 4, 2015)

Thanks for sharing SterlingArcher, I'll look into the rest of the score!
I think you might be interested in hearing this, just in case...:


But go listen to the whole score, it's quite haunting!


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## chimuelo (Nov 4, 2015)

I use to sweat the Telathon gigs because it was ledger line 100%.
Id be scared to death trying to bluff my way through a synth chart.
Love to see a fake book of Jarre Tomita or Infected Mushrooms.
Imagine a call from the Hall for a green sheet gig. You show up with a ROMpler and they hand you book of synth scores.


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## chimuelo (Nov 4, 2015)

Terminator was so perfect.
Total freedom for the artisis and some of the finest sounding synths.
iirc I heard a VS or Waldorf. Really quite ahead of the SEM. CS80 Moog sounds that were all over the rock mtv scene.


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## SterlingArcher (Nov 4, 2015)

AlexandreSafi said:


> Thanks for sharing SterlingArcher, I'll look into the rest of the score!
> I think you might be interested in hearing this, just in case...:
> 
> 
> But go listen to the whole score, it's quite haunting!





AlexandreSafi said:


> Thanks for sharing SterlingArcher, I'll look into the rest of the score!
> I think you might be interested in hearing this, just in case...:
> 
> 
> But go listen to the whole score, it's quite haunting!




Coincidentally I've been rewatching the Terminator films before I buy Genisys. Never saw the film at the cinema but I do like Lorne's score.


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## AlexandreSafi (Nov 4, 2015)

Anybody listened to JMJ - Electronica 1: The Time Machine?
Really liking the first track! Synthesizer standalone music at its best! I think this is the obvious melodic standout from the album. I do wish every tracks had a more cohesive story to tell though, but anyways... I also really like the last one with Lang Lang, It's got that "streets of Tokyo" feel, although the piano sounds "too" digital for my taste!
This will be overall, for me, a good work to learn from sonically!

Anyways, I often come back to this piece, as if I hadn't posted enough videos already, I don't remember how I discovered it, but it became truly one of my favorite pieces for Synth, what an ARP!! Hans... You really are an example on how to do it right!:


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## chimuelo (Nov 6, 2015)

Coolness.
Noticed you remixxed your partials from the stock presets.
I had fun with the D50/550/70/MV30 and 700s in the 90s.


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## IFM (Nov 6, 2015)

I grew up with Jarre, TD, Vangelis, Kitaro, and Synergy to name a few. I love my synths as much as I love orchestral and Celtic music. However I am not much into EDM. I do really like some stuff but most of it I don't. 

I still listen to it as much as possible and with Jarre's new Electronica album I'm all excited about synths again.


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## AlexandreSafi (Nov 7, 2015)

Dragonwind said:


> I grew up with Jarre, TD, Vangelis, Kitaro, and Synergy to name a few. I love my synths as much as I love orchestral and Celtic music. However I am not much into EDM. I do really like some stuff but most of it I don't.
> 
> I still listen to it as much as possible and with Jarre's new Electronica album I'm all excited about synths again.


That's great to hear Dragonwind! I like your enthusiasm for the future of Synths, more people like you...Really!! I'll be really honest, I just spent a full night yesterday with Zebra, and I also bought a while back DIVA & DZ, which I both adore, but I really have come to the conclusion that between my beloved Malmsjö and this Z-synth, with a great ear and imagination for what all these OSC, VCF, XMF, MSEG, Comb knobs can do (Can't hide my cluelessness, can I?!...), is really all you need to stand out, especially in the samples world! It's a poor musician's savior, and the result of a music thought from a trained "perfomance & orchestration" point of view with those tools is where I believe a new respect & true admiration for those synthesizers will grow... Looking back on this thread, it's clear to me how young this music technology era still is, with still a huge void which needs filling, everybody loves and makes some form of Synthesizer Music at one point or another, but there's still quite a lot of figuring out what to "really" do with these! That's my usual "theorized" view of it all anyways. Western Z-Electronica, Count Me In! 

But today? Back to my 60.ex Hanon treat now !
Thank you for posting Dragonwind, and thank you all guys so much for your sharing your thoughts!


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Nov 7, 2015)

Sorry, Alexandre, but I have to seriously disagree with you about how there's, "still quite a lot of figuring out what to 'really' do with these [synths]..." Synths have been used in a musical context since the late 50s (in universities and public radios), and late 60s (everywhere else). There have been many, many thousands of records which heavily feature synthesizer music. There are many dozens of sub-genres of electronic music where synthesizers are at the heart. And you need to do a lot more than play a few notes on a sophisticated synthesizer to 'stand-out', just like plonking a few notes on a 100,000 $ grand piano in a music store will not make you stand-out - your musicality will, regardless of whether the instrument is made of wood or mostly plastic. With all due respect, your point of view just betrays your lack of awareness of the use and exploration of synthesizers in the past 60+ years, the, "huge void which needs filling" may simply be your own experience/listening.


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Nov 7, 2015)

Hugh Le Caine (Canada) and his electronic sackbut, in 1948.







More info: http://www.hughlecaine.com/en/sackbut.html


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## AlexandreSafi (Nov 7, 2015)

Ned Bouhalassa said:


> Sorry, Alexandre, but I have to seriously disagree with you about how there's, "still quite a lot of figuring out what to 'really' do with these [synths]..." Synths have been used in a musical context since the late 50s (in universities and public radios), and late 60s (everywhere else). There have been many, many thousands of records which heavily feature synthesizer music. There are many dozens of sub-genres of electronic music where synthesizers are at the heart. And you need to do a lot more than play a few notes on a sophisticated synthesizer to 'stand-out', just like plonking a few notes on a 100,000 $ grand piano in a music store will not make you stand-out - your musicality will, regardless of whether the instrument is made of wood or mostly plastic. With all due respect, your point of view just betrays your lack of awareness of the use and exploration of synthesizers in the past 60+ years, the, "huge void which needs filling" may simply be your own experience/listening.


No for sure Ned, You are right to correct me on this statement! I understand that what I said might lead anyone to believe I am completely disregarding not only the history, the genres dependent on the synthesizer, and all the ways it's been used, so...sorry for the misunderstanding on my part, I think when I wrote this statement, I was more thinking of the young age of synthesizers as it relates to "Popular Music", which I'm all about, and i don't mean "Pop" Music, but "Popular-as-in-memorable" whether it's a Popular tune played in the Orchestra, Jazz, Rock...
My understanding is that if you just go to Youtube and check out the amounts of traditional Synthesizer music the way it used to be played by the true melodic greats of the 70-80's, I personally won't find all that much by those standards today, except for sure you have EDM, etc.... and for sure i might not know what to type in the search bar  these days, so I might definitely be wrong on the quantity... But personally my main interest in Synthesizer is, again, the kind of use with which both a "popular & orchestral" thinking lies, the way especially Vangelis, HZ, and to a certain extent J.M.Jarre used it... If you're not "all about melody", then sure you'll love and find WAY more music that fits your aesthetic out there than mine. And also sorry for "the standout" misunderstaning, as i also definitely took the [skills of programming, tune and musicality] to standout as a given. But it's ok, by this point, this thread sure already really helped me expand my mind on the history mostly, which is always great...! 

What I really meant is that, in the synthesizer world, as an analogy we may already have had, since the 70's, our Bach, Mozart & Beethoven, but because it's still relatively new compared to the orchestra, we still haven't had time to have our own Berlioz, Strauss, Debussy, Ravel, Tchaikovsky, and the list goes on, so I used the term "void", as an expectancy of more ongoing well-crafted tunes to be done in the future by more artists to "restore that balance in the force..." 
Hope that clarified it a bit, and I understand that might still lead to a disagreement, but anyways!
Sorry for the confusion Ned! 
Thank you for your thoughts...
Best.


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## IFM (Nov 8, 2015)

Alex on a side note if you get a chance go to NAMM this year. The sheer amount for synths (mainly analog) that are coming out is staggering and wonderful.

Just did some rearranging myself as I hear up for the next album.


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Nov 8, 2015)

Nice. Is that a Pittsburgh modular on the right? Hard to tell at low res.


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## IFM (Nov 8, 2015)

Ned Bouhalassa said:


> Nice. Is that a Pittsburgh modular on the right? Hard to tell at low res.


Yes it is. Still has a little room left for a couple modules. It is sitting on top of a MS20 mini.


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Nov 8, 2015)

Dragonwind said:


> Still has a little room left for a couple modules.



I don't mean to freak you out, but here's a recent pic of a friend of mine, 2 years after he had said the exact same thing to me:


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## NYC Composer (Nov 8, 2015)

Dragonwind said:


> Alex on a side note if you get a chance go to NAMM this year. The sheer amount for synths (mainly analog) that are coming out is staggering and wonderful.
> 
> Just did some rearranging myself as I hear up for the next album.


Are you liking your lovely Arturia Keylab 88 as much as I'm liking mine?


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## IFM (Nov 9, 2015)

NYC Composer said:


> Are you liking your lovely Arturia Keylab 88 as much as I'm liking mine?



Yes it rocks. I did have a weird situation early on where it was losing contact with a small section in the upper range unless I pushed on the chassis. I read about a few people with this issue and was pointing to a improperly seated ribbon cable. I opened it up and it did appear I was one of the few with that issue as after reseating them the problem disappeared.

This board is a joy to play.


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## chimuelo (Nov 9, 2015)

Hey Ned....
Cool demos at u-He.


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Nov 9, 2015)

Thanks, my man! There are a few more in my soundcloud page...


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## Anders Wall (Nov 9, 2015)

I teach this system.





Gregg Chmara said:


> BUT, how in the heck to you score for a synth? Range, pulse, duration, process filtering vary from machine to machine, program to program.



Best,
/Anders


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Nov 9, 2015)

Åke Parmerud! A dear friend, and a master composer!


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## chimuelo (Nov 9, 2015)

WallofSound said:


> I teach this system.
> Best,
> /Anders



Is there a downloadable course of videos for this?
I must evolve constantly.
This seems like a great direction.
Building a synth while learning to apply calligraphy.......awesome.


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## KEnK (Nov 9, 2015)

WallofSound said:


> I teach this system.


Anders-
That is SOOOOOO COOL! 
My favorite kind of "electronic music"-
Because it is totally realized in and from the electronic realm.

Would you care to provide a "key" of the symbols
or a description of the equipment used?

This in my opinion is what this thread should be about!

Thanks for posting that
Very inspiring 

k


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## IFM (Nov 10, 2015)

Interesting Anders but not my cup of tea.


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## chimuelo (Nov 10, 2015)

Learning is my cup of Tea.
I am so tired of ledger line reading and charts.
So much that my site reading chops are embarrasing.
Use to sit and play a Bach Invention without looking at my hands.

This could reinvigorate my burned out ass...


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## bryla (Nov 10, 2015)

WallofSound said:


> I teach this system.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Hej Anders,
How do you teach this? Is there a ressource that defines this language?


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Nov 10, 2015)

Check this out Bryla: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectromorphology

And especially this, from the great composer/teacher Denis Smalley:
http://expressionmaxclub.pbworks.com/f/spectromorphology.pdf


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## chimuelo (Nov 10, 2015)

Yeah I read the pdf's and this stuff is complicated and not universal enough for me.
I already write out synth parts combining 16 different colors for modulation sources.
Crescendos can be LFO EG VCF Resonance. All negative or positve.
Problem is nobody reads it but me.
But after learning so many different songs and arrangements everyweek it started off as reminder notes.
But now I actually can read it and it makes sense to me.

Live and Learn....


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## Anders Wall (Nov 10, 2015)

bryla said:


> Hej Anders,
> How do you teach this? Is there a ressource that defines this language?


Hello, sorry for late reply.
I'm in the wilderness recording... no internet... on cell...

...
Here's a link that hasn't been posted, and what I use as reference.

http://www.spectromusic.com

How to teach?
This is part of a lager program.
I show the students this system.
They get something to analyse, we talk about their "findings".

You can use statens like these to analyse anything from traffic to the sound of a *youfillintheblanks*.

Best,
/Anders


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## kunst91 (Nov 15, 2015)

Thanks guys, this thread is absolutely fascinating. Especially for a guy who plunked out his first notes on a synthesizer only a couple years ago


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## Saxer (Nov 19, 2015)

X-mas is saved (if you have 36.400 € in Berlin):

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Roland-Boss-Amdek-Sammlung-mit-etwa-1000-Artikeln-MKS-MKB-SH-TR-G-707-usw-/301803081851?


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