Favorite synth sounds

[Mooger5]

I've a feeling the lead in "King's Lead Hat" is a guitar being processed through Eno's Synthi AKS.

Micke

Probably is, plus a delay line helping the sound to blend so well to the background "chaos", but perhaps it´s a Minimoog instead of a guitar? I got Before And After Science at home and I think I recall Eno´s Mini (as well as Fripp´s guitar) in the personell list for that song... All the sounds are very distinctive but I thought Fripp´s part was the solo starting at 02:17 (it could be a guitar).

Also the strings/pad in Energy Fools The Magician sound great. CS-80?

Ultravox fans might be interested to know the band played a King´s Lead Hat cover live. I´d be curious to know what sounds they used for that final solo.

"""King's Lead Hat" is an anagram of Talking Heads, and the song is indeed a Talking Heads pastiche. Eno's intention was to record the song with members of the band but that could not be arranged. It was covered by Ultravox as a live B-side on the 12" version of their single "Passing Strangers" in 1980, and by The Dirtbombs as a limited-edition bonus track on their album Dangerous Magical Noise in 2003. "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Before_and_after_Science

[Micke]

Also the strings/pad in Energy Fools The Magician sound great. CS-80?

Yeah, that's gotta be the CS-80 even though it isn't credited on this particular track. The only other synths
being used on that album were the Synthi AKS and Minimoog.

[iProg]

Thieves Like Us is one of my favorite New Order songs! Brilliant work!
Could very well be the Prophet-5 doing the PHAT chords!

Yep, the Prophet 5 does the fat leads and staccato chords while the Arp Quadra provides the high strings.

Ah, it's the Quadra. Great tune!

Micke, you surely contribute to the forum more than anyone!

[DX]

Just a few Depeche Mode references here..
Altough they used to play samplers a lot, they did some interesting synth sounds too. Just for example:

"World In My Eyes" bassline , done with some layers including a minimoog.
"Stripped" intro lead

[iProg]

Just a few Depeche Mode references here..
Altough they used to play samplers a lot, they did some interesting synth sounds too. Just for example:

"World In My Eyes" bassline , done with some layers including a minimoog.
"Stripped" intro lead

The intro to "World In My Eyes" is the mighty ARP 2600 afaik. Timeless, scary, dark and classic.

Stripped is a very good song. I'm going to see the on the gig in Sweden next summer!

[DX]

iprog, I guess we both are right:

Extract from Recoil Website Questions & Answers:

Q: Is it a mini moog bass we hear on 'World In My Eyes', 'Halo', and 'Enjoy The Silence' ?

A: Again, can't remember exactly -most likely a combination of moog and Flood's Arp.

[iProg]

iprog, I guess we both are right:

Extract from Recoil Website Questions & Answers:

Q: Is it a mini moog bass we hear on 'World In My Eyes', 'Halo', and 'Enjoy The Silence' ?

A: Again, can't remember exactly -most likely a combination of moog and Flood's Arp.

Indeed we are

Enjoy The Silence intro bass line MUST be the Minimoog though

[TheBeezus]

1) Any synth sound on Stevie Wonder's " Innervisions "
2) Whatever Brian Eno was using for " An Ending (Ascent) "
3) Simple Sinewave Sub-basslines. So simple but few things can enrich a track like deep bass.
4) Garage/Dubstep Wobble Bass - Same as above.
5) Supersaw __________ - Yeah, overused we all know. But if it wasn't good, it wouldn't be overused.

Honorable mentions - I don't have a 303 but I like the way they sound when lightly distorted. Anything run through a frostwave. And mellotron sounds !

[Joey]

iprog, I guess we both are right:

Extract from Recoil Website Questions & Answers:

Q: Is it a mini moog bass we hear on 'World In My Eyes', 'Halo', and 'Enjoy The Silence' ?

A: Again, can't remember exactly -most likely a combination of moog and Flood's Arp.

Indeed we are

Enjoy The Silence intro bass line MUST be the Minimoog though

IIRC the bassline on enjoy the silence is samples of one of them hitting pvc pipes that were cut at different lengths...

as for another of my favorite sounds, the synth arpeggio on Marilyn Manson's 'Rock is Dead', which is actually a preset on the Waldorf Pulse

[iProg]

Afaik, the Jup-4 is responsible for the ascending "ghost tones" on Night Boat. Nick didn't use a Jup-8 on DD's debut album, besides it was recorded in late 1980 almost a year before that synth appeared.
I bet the Prophet 5 provided the fat synth textures that can be heard on this song.

Micke

Here we can spot the synths in the song....

[Micke]

Afaik, the Jup-4 is responsible for the ascending "ghost tones" on Night Boat. Nick didn't use a Jup-8 on DD's debut album, besides it was recorded in late 1980 almost a year before that synth appeared.
I bet the Prophet 5 provided the fat synth textures that can be heard on this song.

Micke

Here we can spot the synths in the song....

Nick doesn't appear to be playing the Prophet 5 so I reckon the synth textures are on tape. Btw, the synth under the Jup-4 is a Roland SH-2. He used it both in the studio and live.

[iProg]

Afaik, the Jup-4 is responsible for the ascending "ghost tones" on Night Boat. Nick didn't use a Jup-8 on DD's debut album, besides it was recorded in late 1980 almost a year before that synth appeared.
I bet the Prophet 5 provided the fat synth textures that can be heard on this song.

Micke

Here we can spot the synths in the song....

Nick doesn't appear to be playing the Prophet 5 so I reckon the synth textures are on tape. Btw, the synth under the Jup-4 is a Roland SH-2. He used it both in the studio and live.

On the DVD "Classic Albums - Rio" from Eagle Rock Entertainment, Nick says he wrote the intro to "Save A Prayer" on the Roland SH-2 with Roland Space Echo for the delay effect. He later program the sound as a sequence on his JP-8. Hungry Like The Wolf is also made with the JP-8.

What other synths is in the "Night Boat" clip?

[iProg]

I'm listening to "Reap The Wild Wind" by Ultravox right now, I really like the string lead sound. ARP?

[Micke]

On the DVD "Classic Albums - Rio" from Eagle Rock Entertainment, Nick says he wrote the intro to "Save A Prayer" on the Roland SH-2 with Roland Space Echo for the delay effect. He later program the sound as a sequence on his JP-8. Hungry Like The Wolf is also made with the JP-8.

What other synths is in the "Night Boat" clip?

Afaik, the sequenced parts on "Save A Prayer" and "Hold back the rain" were actually recorded with the SH-2/CSQ-100 combo. Nick did use the Jup-8 for the bendy lead line on SAP though (and I always thought it was the Prophet 5 .

In the "Night Boat" clip we can see the Jup-4, Crumar performer, Prophet 5 and SH-2.

[Micke]

I'm listening to "Reap The Wild Wind" by Ultravox right now, I really like the string lead sound. ARP?

That's the Yamaha SS-30 stringer--sometimes referred to as the string sound of Ultravox-- easily one of the best sounding string-machines ever. U-vox started using the SS-30 back in 1980 on the Vienna album. Prior to that Billy Currie used an Elka Rhapsody for string sounds.

Some other famous users of the SS-30:

Images In Vogue
Benny Andersson/ABBA
Tomita
(early) Simple Minds
Rick Wakeman
Logic System (Hideki Matsutake)
Loverboy
PiL