What synths made this gorgeous sound?

[iProg]

The chord progression from the beginning...some steel drum sounds in there...song came out in 1980 or early 1981.

Micke?

[Synthaholic]

Here's a live video from the same time period:

He has 3 keyboard players. One has a Minimoog, and another has a synth I haven't had much luck identifying... yet. The chords at the beginning are the 3 keyboard players playing together, to get chords. (EDIT: Maybe not... the video is likely lip-synched based on what I saw later)

EDIT: There's an OB-X in his Mockingbird video:

EDIT 2: At 1:08 in "Live Is For Living" there's a close-up of one of the keyboardists, and he's clearly playing chords... on the Mini!?? Probably a lip-synched performance.

So, he has a Mini, an OB-X, and a black synth (probably another mono) I haven't successfully IDed yet.

Since it's chords you're talking about, maybe they were originally done on the OB-X. Or a Prophet-5.

[Micke]

"Life Is For Living" was recorded in Sept 1980. Kevin McAlea, BJH's main keyboarder at the time used an Oberheim OB-X, Yamaha CS-80, Minimoog, ARP/Solina string ensemble, Arp Pro-soloist etc. I'm suspecting the Pro-soloist is the "mystery" keyboard mentioned by Synthaholic above.

[Synthaholic]

Pro-Soloist... dang, I think I looked at all the ARP synth pics on VSE and missed that one. That's probably what it was. Hard to tell due to lighting and angle.

The string sounds in that song sound like a Solina too.

[ned-ryarson]

when any synth could make this sound, why do you need to know specifically which one was used?

i know its interesting to discover what gear bands/artists use. but your asking what synth was used to create a really common and basic sound.

your question should be something like, on an analogue synth, how does one programme this sound?

knowing how to go about achieving it yourself is very better than knowing what synth may have been used

[Synthaholic]

Knowing what synth (or at least, type/vintage of synth) was used can help when re-creating the sound. For example, knowing that an analog monosynth was used, or a DX7 was used, so you can approach it from the right angle. Maybe not so much for a basic, obviously analog subtractive derived sound like this one, but for more complex timbres knowing what was used can be helpful in recreating it. But even for basic sounds, knowing for example that an OB-X was used, you can use that when approaching recreating the sound, knowing that you should use a 12db filter instead of a 24db, etc.

Plus, it's fun to see what synths are/were used in favorite songs.

[Micke]

Pro-Soloist... dang, I think I looked at all the ARP synth pics on VSE and missed that one. That's probably what it was. Hard to tell due to lighting and angle.

The string sounds in that song sound like a Solina too.

Yeah it does.

[clusterchord]

heh havent seen these guys in a looong time.. i was into "Turn Of The Tide" for a while early 80s. it didnt linger on for me, like other stuff from that period like Saga or PG.. but it was still nice, in a prog-meets-ballad kinda way. lots of analog sound on that album too.

listening to "Life Is For Living" again, all i can figure out is Pro Soloist doing the (played) arpeggio 16ths on that bridge/c chorus ..

anyways, i think, im gonna pick "turn of the tide" on CD .. time to revisit.


PS i think their early/mid 70s stuff is c**p. sounds like a very bad copy of Yes, paired with pop ballad choruses.. .

[iProg]

Knowing what synth (or at least, type/vintage of synth) was used can help when re-creating the sound. For example, knowing that an analog monosynth was used, or a DX7 was used, so you can approach it from the right angle. Maybe not so much for a basic, obviously analog subtractive derived sound like this one, but for more complex timbres knowing what was used can be helpful in recreating it. But even for basic sounds, knowing for example that an OB-X was used, you can use that when approaching recreating the sound, knowing that you should use a 12db filter instead of a 24db, etc.

Plus, it's fun to see what synths are/were used in favorite songs.

This is exactly my purpose!
That was perhaps the best thing ever said to me on this forum thank you!