To give you some background; I've been creating a groove template from Foreigner's 'Waiting for a girl like you'. I'm not using PT's Beat Detective or anything similar. I do it manually in Live, dropping warp markers in for every 8th note (yes, I'm a masochist
).One of the techniques I employ is pitching the entire track down an octave so the song plays back at half tempo. This makes it easier to capture every nuance/fluctuation in the timing. Also, I've found this technique reveals details in a mix that are otherwise very difficult to pinpoint at the normal tempo. It's a ridiculously time consuming process but it's a very effective way of deconstructing a track... and I learn a lot.
Anyway, if you listen closely to the intro of 'Waiting for a girl like you', and later on near the end of the track, there's a sound that is exactly the same as one of the K2000 presets. It's mixed very low and is much easier to pick out if you pitch the track down. I can't remember the name of the preset (and my K2000 is back in the UK atm), but it's like an Electric Piano timbre with a lot of pitch modulation repeatedly transposing the sound up and down. I remember it was one of the better presets that first caught my ear when I bought the K2000 in Jan '92.
Thomas Dolby is credited with playing on this track and I'm assuming he was responsible for the pads/textures, but what gear was he using in 1981 that was capable of such digital textures? I've researched this as much as I can but so far I've been unable to find anything suitably specific on Dolby's contribution to the Foreigner 4 album sessions. I can only assume it was the PPG Wave Computer. Can anyone clarify? Does anyone know exactly what synths were used (and other than Dolby, who by)?
Also, just out of curiosity, it would be interesting to learn who re-created this sound 10 years later for the K2000 presets. As ever, any info/contributions greatly appreciated!
