808 State - In Your Face

[GooGoo]

Hi, anyone have an idea what the bass stab sound coming in at about 41 seconds could of come from? 808 State had loads of keyboards including a PPG and a Microwave which is what I suspect the sound may of come from. Maybe it's a few synths layered? FM? Any one? Thanks.

[madtheory]

Great track. That's a PPG preset, doubled in octaves with brass from something else. Could be Microwave as well- it's cleaner sounding than a PPG. It's doing the opening lead sound too, layered with Proteus strings I'd wager. Lots of Proteus on this track

[GooGoo]

Are those the Proteus strings at the beginning? If it's a PPG preset(what's it called?)for the bass - do you think I could get something similar from Waldorf's software VST's? Thanks.

[madtheory]

Yes I do, and I just tried it in the Wave 3.V plugin. Preset 42 for the brass, layered with preset 32 for the metallic sound, is very very close. I spent a shortwhile tweaking the filter envelope times of 32 to get it closer, and it sounds good. The strings at the start sound more like something from one of the M1 PCM cards, not the Proteus. That is the source almost all of the drums and percussion, except the 909 snare.

Here's a demo of the PPG:

[StepLogik]

Great tune. Excellent album.

The anti-American sentiment of "In Your Face" offends me though.

[mute]

There's no anti-american sentiment in that track. You just don't know the history behind it.

The quote comes from one of Aistair Cooke's "Letters from America" radio shows on the BBC which were his reports on the cultural experiences of America for a British audience. Before he moved to America he did the same thing for American audiences called the London Letter for NBC. The show (Letters from America) was on for many, many decades (he moved here in the 30s) and that particular quote comes from the 1960's. It's a description about the conflict of generations within America (during the 60's) and not a critique or statement itself, but observational fact. In 808's usage it's the youth holding the middle finger up to the establishment, etc. (hence, in yer face) Which sits itself right in the middle of warehouse parties and rave culture. Etc. In other words, not about America but the generational divide/conflict. Those broadcasts (particularly during the 60's) are very well known/respected and the historical context is not lost here.

[StepLogik]

Zoinks! I was being silly but thanks anyway for the background on the vocal sample. Didn't know that was where it was from... Never saw any of Cooke's shows but I've read some interesting pieces about him.

[GooGoo]

Thanks for the background info Mute and thanks for the example Madtheory. I got a somewhere near with FM7 and a sub bass to beef it up.