Musicmanlv wrote: ↑Tue May 30, 2023 7:37 pm
I would like to correct anyone saying Nik Kershaw used a sampler for the Bass on Don Quixote, he did not, he used a DX7 bass 1 preset. (Fact)
Hey, welcome back! I'm genuinely interested in where this is coming from, as adding the word "fact" does not make it so. It's possible that knowing some of the people you were told this, but they might be mistaken, or the part got changed later on - a lot can happen. Or perhaps it's absolutely true, too. Is the reason you state this as a fact that someone told you it was the case? (In which case, it's hearsay, not fact...
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But I know those DX7 basses incredibly well, and I trust my ears enough as I can quite clearly hear the bass on the record, and it doesn't match. Any of them. Fact.
I think earlier you said you had the exact DX7 patch and would send it to madtheory as proof - given he graciously put his email address here for that purpose, (which would likely have cost him some spam) it would be decent of you to honour that promise and send the patch, which would either completely exonerate you and have the rest of us going "Oh! Yes, clearly we were wrong" - or not.
The thing is, because that never happened, and you didn't back up on your promise to demonstrate your claim, that lessons your credibility every time you use the word "fact" when the evidence we have seems to contravene this.
Let's say you lost the patches, perhaps, and couldn't face saying so for some reason. Not to worry, I have all of the them, assuming they were regular DX7 presets, and I'm sure me or madtheory would be happy to do some more mockups featuring all those Yamaha bass sounds, and compare them directly side-by-side to the record, so you can hear for yourself, if that's helpful. Maybe we might even find the correct patch, and it *was* the DX7 all along, and we can all eat our humble pie, but be happy we learnt something - which is after all the point, to "learn" what was used, not to be right.
Edit: I had another look through my 120,000+ DX7 patch library and pulled out all the ones with "slap bass" in the title - about 60 or so, albeit with lots of duplicates, from all kinds of sources. There *is* a pretty decent slap bass sound in the ballpark which could do the same part, but if you play along with the record, you can hear the record is different tonally, and also in the attack. Basically, the DX7 versions I tried all have a much sharper attack (even at lower velocities) and don't have the roundness or "realism" that a sample of the real thing has. And I don't find that in any of the variations of that patch, either. (Obviously the other standard DX7 basses are nowhere close, it has to be a slap bass.) I have all the Yamaha factory carts, so if that exact patch was there, I would have it.
So there's still no evidence that points me away from being a sample, and not the DX7, on the recording.
Nik, though, what a great musician and songwriter - I should check in with his more recent stuff, I've only heard a bit. He seems super humble too.
