Level 42 Something about you Clavi sound?

[iProg]

Update:

The Clavinet on "Something About You" was a DX-7 played by Wally Badarou. He used the Synclavier for portamento counter-melodies and bells.

Always nice to get it confirmed!

[Lucien]

He used the Prophet 5 a lot as well. I don't know what's more convincing than straight sound sample from Prophet 5... Again it explains why the TX816 was not used at the Wembley concert for that sound (the lights don't flash during that sequence but they do later on).

You could repro the sound on a DX7 by modulating a pulse+triangle against same stacked wave form. Not easy with DX7 unless you'd stack them but newer FM synth do support other waveforms directly.

UPDATE: here's a comparison (1st original, then played over it):



Since that creates a chorus like effect, here's 2nd comparison with repeating same fifth offset:

[Dano]

but newer FM synth do support other waveforms directly.

...like the TX81Z.

[Lucien]

but newer FM synth do support other waveforms directly.

...like the TX81Z.

Which was released in 1987... Well either way I don't need to be convinced since I got the sound now.
If you can repro the sound with DX7 great. I'd be interested to hear.

[Micke]

He used the Prophet 5 a lot as well. I don't know what's more convincing than straight sound sample from Prophet 5... Again it explains why the TX816 was not used at the Wembley concert for that sound (the lights don't flash during that sequence but they do later on).

You could repro the sound on a DX7 by modulating a pulse+triangle against same stacked wave form. Not easy with DX7 unless you'd stack them but newer FM synth do support other waveforms directly.

It was a DX-7, I emailed Wally about it the other day and he confirmed that he played the clavinet part on a DX-7.

[bigman2005]

This is from Saturday Night Live in 1986.

[elsongs]

It was a DX-7, I emailed Wally about it the other day and he confirmed that he played the clavinet part on a DX-7.

Cool. Now can you ask Wally to share the clav patch parameters or a sysex file?

[bigman2005]

In case people missed it

[minime123]

theres some great synth work on level 42 albums! lots of dx7...

[Automatic Gainsay]

Every single "clavinet" reference in this thread should be retitled as "clavinet-like."

[Max Websta]

I agree with Marc. My Clavinet C sounds nothing like a Dx7 patch.

[Lucien]

Hey I called it clavi, completely different . Especially the metallic sounding attack sounds different. But then again every sound is 'like'. Piano, brass, strings are all approximations including the infamous DX7 Rhodes...

I went through several massive DX7 libraries but nothing could quite repro the attack. Sustain sound no problem and I found at least 3 patches that sounded similar. I also noticed that the lower bass sound is again different (key C2 and then it goes up 1 octave with a different sound).

Here is the original sound and playing repeatedly the P5 attack sound over it to compare better. I think it's pretty decent:

[Lucien]

It was a DX-7, I emailed Wally about it the other day and he confirmed that he played the clavinet part on a DX-7.

Cool. Now can you ask Wally to share the clav patch parameters or a sysex file?

Super old thread but just for the record Wally also said around that time he couldn't remember which synth it was other than it couldn't be Synclavier (since n/a at that time at the studio). He also mentioned he provided a sample for the sound for Mike which makes the DX7 highly unlikely since Mike used a TX-816 for live play with plenty of modules.

All I know I can perfectly recreate the sound with Prophet 5 using poly-mod with a saw waveform and the sustain sound is not same as the attack sound. Yet if you change the mod wheel on Prophet you can switch between the 2.

If anyone though has anything close to that sound on DX7 then definitely let me know.