I'm thinking of the Human League main riff sound on 'Don't You Want Me' or Soft Cell's stuff. And I'm talking analogue style not FM synths or a PPG.

Can anyone suggest any good soft synths for these sorts of rich 80s synth timbres? I mean pop as opposed to house/techno (whose timbres seem much easier to create).

Sorry if this is too obvious but what about Pro-52 err 3?

for certain 53 will cut it.
plasticz might too

We were using the ReFX Junox2 yesterday and commenting on how 'new romantic' it sounded, but I see that it has been dicontinued, which isn't much use, unless anyone knows where to obtain a copy!?

You might want to take a look at GMedia Oddity/impOSCar or Arturia Moog Modular/CS-80V. These 4 softsynths sound very much like their hardware counterparts and are excellent for 70-80ties pop/rock.

Peter.

rgc triangle or pentagon? v-station (or what ever that novation one is, haven't tried it).

Paul Corello wrote:

ReFX Junox2

Is now called Vanguard.

Peter.

albino!

... i bet 10 bucks that 20 posts later nearly every VA-Synth is suggested here

For some great freebies with 80s sounds try Super Wave P8, Iblit, and polyIblit. They are difficult to beat even with commercial VSTis for 80s sounds.

trip wrote:

... i bet 10 bucks that 20 posts later nearly every VA-Synth is suggested here

i was thinking the exact same thing..

JX Synth is cool for those sounds, as is JunoX2 (Vanguard...stupid name)

but as someone said, prob every VA will get a mention

Kriminal wrote:

but as someone said, prob every VA will get a mention

and probably FM7 and PPG wave also

Try this for super 80's cheese, full of JX Synth and JunoX2 goodness

http://kriminal.phreque.com/diskotek.mp3

(it was a comp entry here a while back)

If you're on a budget, you could try LinPlug FreeAlpha. Its free and its the most analog-ish vsti I've heard.

Vaz 2010 !

I also suggest you try Iblit or PolyIblit as mentioned above. You can get good 80's/90's music bass out of these...especially for old rave, house & techno sounds. If you want cheezy sounds go for Crazy Diamonds or Cheeze Machine which I get good 80's cheezy leads etc with...

en

Arturia's Moog Modular V is the only soft synth I've found that can perfectly do that modulated screech that's all over early 80's pop records.

IMO Reaktor's Junatik and especially the SH2K/2000 are "up there" with the Pro-53 as the best all rounders for authentic-sounding 80's analogue synth pop, that don't sound soft synthy.

GMedia's Oddity (Arp Odyssey clone?) does perhaps the best Moog bass imitation I've ever heard (Though I've never played a real one.)

Superwave P8 is a freebee well worth having.

would be nice to have a Roland Jupiter6 for those synthpop sounds....was the most popular synth with bands like Depeche Mode and Soft Cell in the early 80s.
i know there's a synthedit emulation ...but it ain't the same thing

I vaguely remember reading Human League's Dare album has extensive gear listings; Roland System 100, Jupiter 4, Linn LM-1 etc.

Thanks for all the replies, people. I guess I'm pretty damn fussy and particular when it comes to timbre. All the synths mentioned (or at least those I've tried on my ageing Mac) can make lovely sounds and I was recently blown away by the Albino demo which I will purchase when I stop being poor. But if anyone can give me proof that they've created that lovely rich 'Don't You Want Me' main synth riff sound and send me a screenshot of the VSTi patch, then I'll believe it!

Mercury and mda's JX10 get closest for me. Maybe I'll give PlastiCZ a try next. JunoX2 I have already (apart from Mercury the only softsynth I've paid for) and it's a nice dirty synth but I've not managed Human League-y noises on it. Techno/breakbeat/trance noises, yes.

Dare's synth equipment listing is incidentally: Roland System 700 and JP4, Korg 770 and Delta, Yamaha CS15. Plus a couple of Casios I've not heard of (which may or may not be synths... Casion VLT 1 (?) and M10 (?))

And before anyone accuses me of living in the past, I should point that I don't make 80s music. I just love that sound. Maybe I will have to admit defeat one day and go out and get a 2nd hand real analogue. Anyone who heard the gloriously obese bass sound of Ty and Drew playing on the Korg MS20 on Future Music's recent cover CD video may know what I mean.

One that is definitely worth checking out is Arturia's CS-80V. I also forgot that you might want to check out Novation's Bass Station. In addition to bass it can do some of those great monosynth riffs from the early '80s.

In case you're not already bored, more from me on those other suggestions. Keep 'em coming. I love the Arturia demos but they were too CPU-intensive for my old system. Next upgrade though...

And I think Oddity is brilliant. But then OhmForce are always great so this is no surprise. Bit more 70s than 80s though with that edgy sound.

Reaktor is another on my fantasy wish-list. Does anyone have mp3s of the SH2K module?

FreeAlpha doesn't do it for me at all in terms of phatness, unlike its Albino sibling. For freebies, much prefer the JX10 or CM101.

Novation Bass Station sounded nice but that and Mercury feels like overkill. Similar sonic territory, I think.

And nice demo, Kriminal. Love that opening sound. Which one did you do it on? Got a screenshot of the patch?

I feel I miss out on too many cheap synths by not having a PC. Would love to give some of those people have suggested a try, like Vaz and Triangle and that Superwave one. Hmm, maybe this is the time to start teaching my nephews how to make computer music and get to play on their PC as an innocent by-product.

Sigh. Every post I ever did on KVR has had a moan about how I wish I had money and a 2nd computer of the opposite platform. I should make this a part of my signature. Now there's an idea.

Nearly forgot...

Sweet Thunder, just curious but which sound do you mean by the modulated screech... Any particular famous songs it features in?

In my own testing, Iblit compared very favorably to my Jupiter-6. Unfortunately for oranjpenguin, Iblit and PolyIblit are for Windows only.

Synth1?

oranjpenguin wrote:

Dare's synth equipment listing is incidentally: Roland System 700 and JP4, Korg 770 and Delta, Yamaha CS15. Plus a couple of Casios I've not heard of (which may or may not be synths... Casion VLT 1 (?) and M10 (?))

Here's some info on the Casio stuff:

http://www.synthmuseum.com/casio/casvltone01.html

and

http://www.sonicstate.com/synth/_inc/specs_only.cfm?synthid=1247

/ea

PS. I used to have two VL Tone's, smashed one with a hammer, gave the other one to my kidbrother (who smashed it with a hammer), a pity really as it was kinda cool! DS.

anything from the vaz line is your best bet.

ea wrote:

I used to have two VL Tone's, smashed one with a hammer, gave the other one to my kidbrother (who smashed it with a hammer), a pity really as it was kinda cool! DS.

DA DA DA

Even though I'm tired of VA synths...

Somebody please clone the Jupiter 8!!!

That's the machine for the 80's sound.

oranjpenguin wrote:

And nice demo, Kriminal. Love that opening sound. Which one did you do it on? Got a screenshot of the patch?

First sound was this:



second sound was this (lead)

... as you see, ianweb123, i was right

(not exactly 20 posts, but who cares )

JohnVulich wrote:

Even though I'm tired of VA synths... Somebody please clone the Jupiter 8!!! That's the machine for the 80's sound.

Absolutely!

Quote:

Sweet Thunder, just curious but which sound do you mean by the modulated screech... Any particular famous songs it features in?

Y'know that buzzy synth brass (I think) Prince uses for I Feel For You's hook? - Same sort of thing features in Grandmaster Flash's The Message and Ghostbusters - Where the modulation is so extreme, it almost sounds like its screaming. Several aforementioned soft synths can do a passable imitation; but so far I've found only Artura's (Buggy, CPU draining) Moog Modular V can match it.

Hmmm, IMHO, the 80's was definitely the "Digital" decade, most synth bands and users(Like Thomas Dolby) were heavy into the new crop of digital synths like the PPG, DX7, etc, but also the Prophet V and the Oberheims were biggies back then. Toto and Vangelis were big too and they were using the Yamaha CS-80 and you just can't get anything more awesome then the Arturia CS-80v to get close to "that" sound. I pretty much only use the CS-80v for my synth stuff now, it is close enough to fool my colleagues into thinking I bought the real thing ! Listen, I've tried all the main vSynths out there and for the $$, IMHO nothing, really nothing touches the Arturia MMV and the CS-80v in terms of the warmth, sound animation, and faithful emulation of the real thing !! OTOH, if I wanted to capture that 80's synth sound, I would probably look into the PPG vsti since that was the prevalent sound on most synth hits.... There is also that DX7 emulation fron Native Instruments right ?

azurecrystal
sorry man but you're confusing the sound of 80-85 to the 85-90 period (the latter being more digital).
the guy asked about that typical sound of early 80s synthpop. I think he refers to early works of depeche Mode (speak&spell) , soft cell (memorabilia), yeazoo (any) etc....no digital there!(80-83)

depeche Mode started using the PPG only after 84 (and extensively only in the album Black celebration 1987)...and they had a completely different sound by then. less bouncy ...less analog.....and less good to my ears

Vince Clark and Daniel Miller, probably the inventors of that early synthpop sound, are famous for their analogue purism. Vince Clark kept refusing midi,samplers, and digital synths till the mid 90s!!!
vince clark btw is the guy behind yazoo, erasure etc...

depeche Mode's Speak&spell (81) was done with Roland's Jupiters, Minimoogs, ProOne.. a yamaha5...and a analog Boss drum machine. Soft Cell were signed to Mute too and shared similar equipment.....although they were not as good with it

Me too I vote for cloning the Jupiter8!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
it is exactly waht we need.

starcraft wrote:

Vince Clark kept refusing midi,samplers, and digital synths till the mid 90s!!!

Not true.

A bit of trainspotting here, but I remember a segment with Vince Clark from the mid-80s in the Rock School series, where he gives a demo on how to set up a song sequence on computer via midi (an Atari ST maybe?).

This would have been early Erasure days (post-Circus, pre-Innocents). There also was a live performance clip of Erasure performing "My heart, so blue" where he clearly wasn't playing all the parts at once.

Come to think of it, it would be nice to be able to watch the Rock School series again. Very informative at the time.

Sorry to distract from the main thread.

Cheers,
Steve

i was going to post a link to the Klaus Schulze site of a 1993 interview that starts out mention 'Death of an Analog' circa 1980.

recall Klaus' 1st album was overtracked as he basically rewired and eventually destroyed a Hammond B-3 over the course of recording, then, of course the analog era, followed by the digital era.

the translation of the interview is pretty funny, do a search on Google for Deat of an analog Klause Schulze and it comes up in 3rd or 4th place if interested in thi sancient history. He does mention the singular sound of analog with its drifting electronics.
but early 80's was a transitional period, later 80's was pretty much digital

remember 180,000 DX7's sold on this its 25th anniversary.

shamann wrote:

starcraft wrote: Vince Clark kept refusing midi,samplers, and digital synths till the mid 90s!!! Not true. A bit of trainspotting here, but I remember a segment with Vince Clark from the mid-80s in the Rock School series, where he gives a demo on how to set up a song sequence on computer via midi (an Atari ST maybe?). This would have been early Erasure days (post-Circus, pre-Innocents). There also was a live performance clip of Erasure performing "My heart, so blue" where he clearly wasn't playing all the parts at once. Come to think of it, it would be nice to be able to watch the Rock School series again. Very informative at the time. Sorry to distract from the main thread. Cheers, Steve

As a matter of fact,on an early Yazoo tour he didn't play anything at all...ran two Fairlights and sat there with a smoke in one hand and a drink in the other
His favorite synth for years was an Oberheim Xpander-definitely a MIDI synth.
ew

I feel like I've lifted up a stone and found my fellow synth anoraks crawling in the damp underneath

Thanks, Kriminal for the screenshot, and ea for the Casio links.

Overall, I think the Arturia synths are top of the shopping list for when I have a new computer.

And Sweet Thunder, that's amazing you mentioning the 80s modulated synth brass sound as featured on Grand Master Flash's 'The Message' cos that was going to be my next post. Love that sound. Wonder what they used.

And, for those debating the use of digital v analogue equipment, I'm talking about 1981/1982, pre DX7 days, and it's definitely analogue stuff, and in the case of Soft Cell, a couple of cheap Korgs I think when they started out.

Speaking of Korg, when are their virtual classics coming out?

you are correct I was wrong it's the 20th anniverary of the DX7, not the 25th -- so 1983 makes a lot more sense as the watershed year

ew wrote:

His favorite synth for years was an Oberheim Xpander-definitely a MIDI synth. ew

The Xpander had both MIDI and CV inputs.

True,and he DID use the CV inputs a lot.It was just a rebuttal to the "no MIDI synths" thing...
ew

I'm not sure about the sound on the Grandmaster Flash song but I'm pretty sure that the one on 1999 is an Oberheim synth of some sort, with maybe a little oscillator sync.

Vince Clarke didn't go completely analog until the time of "Chorus" in 1991. There are plenty of interviews around the net (and some I remember reading) where he talks about the instruments he used at the time. He used the Casio CZ line on "Wonderland." He used a TX816 on "Circus." He used the Roland D-50 synth and the S-550 sampler on "Innocents." He used a Korg M1R for the piano sound on "Piano Song" from "Wild." He also talked about used drum samples with an Akai sampler on "Wild" (although this was probably more the influence of producer Mark Saunders than anything). However, he did use analog exclusively for bass - usually the Oberheim Xpander.

The computer he was shown using in the instructional series was his trusty BBC Micro II which he still uses to this day.

There is a possibility some VSTis may have snuck into "Other People's Songs" thanks to producer Gareth Jones.

Soft Cell used a Synclavier on "Tainted Love." There's an interview with Dave Ball in Sound On Sound where he talks about using the Synclavier's ribbon controller while recording "Tainted Love."

Quote:

"There was actually a ribbon controller for the Synclavier, which was what I used on 'Tainted Love'," he adds by way of an example. "That bit in the middle where it goes into 'Where did the love go?' — the descending sound was done on a ribbon controller with my thumb."

I suppose my point is that not everything we associate with that early '80s sound is necessarily going to be analog.

Sorry if this is slightly off topic, but it sounds like you guys know your '80's synths. WHAT was the drum machine Prince used on 1999 and Purple Rain?! I've looked everywhere and never found the answer.

I'm amazed how the drums on tracks like "When Doves Cry" have stood the test of time...

OH - and more importantly, is there a VSTi or sample library that covers that sound?

intRsoul wrote:

Sorry if this is slightly off topic, but it sounds like you guys know your '80's synths. WHAT was the drum machine Prince used on 1999 and Purple Rain?! I've looked everywhere and never found the answer. I'm amazed how the drums on tracks like "When Doves Cry" have stood the test of time... OH - and more importantly, is there a VSTi or sample library that covers that sound?

LinnDrum...it's still at Paisley.
ew

intRsoul wrote:

'80's synths

intRsoul wrote:

1999

Oops, slight time glitch there!

Peter.

Quote:

Oops, slight time glitch there!

err, um...1999 was the name of the ALBUM Prince released in 1982. No, no time glitch...

ew - I thought it was LinnDrum, but then I download a LinnDrum "library" and I couldn't find the classic hits on it. Were there different versions of it (like the jump from an 808 to a 909)? Do you know of a respectable library or VSTi with the sounds?

thanks

Loops sampled from dozens of vintage drum machines, used to be freely downloadable at www.drummachine.com.
To my surprise, one of the (1979) "LM-1" preset loops can be heard in 1999's intro (coincidentally, it's the Don't You Want Me? drum machine too.)

I don't know of any Linn LM-1 VSTis, but in the recent past I've managed to find a couple of decent quality sample packs(?) on some very obscure web pages (all legal.)
Though they never seem to include the most recognizable snare. Fortunately I managed to pinch it from a drummachine.com loop.


Sorry to stretch the page by posting this.

Sweet Thunder - thanks! very cool post.

I found a set that's pretty decent - tell me what you think:

http://machines.hyperreal.org/manufacturers/Linn/LinnDrum/

Do the sounds vary from the LM-1 to the LinnDrum?

cheers

I fear they probably do. Although I think some sounds are near identical. At this moment I'm away from my music PC address, so can't verify this.
That's a very nice set. The "sdl.wav" sounds like the opening snare to Michael Jackson's Wanna be Startin Something (-Thriller 1982)

Free LinnDrum "LM2" samples for Akai samplers anyone?:
http://www.hollowsun.com/donations/linn/index.html

Quote:

A short demo loop of the (LM-1) Linn drums sound.

http://www.vintagesynth.org/audio/linn1.ram

lbn wrote:

The computer he was shown using in the instructional series was his trusty BBC Micro II which he still uses to this day.

Yes..
Here....Vince Clarke fans should check out this page that I did ooh....ages ago (demo-track link at the top of the page.) http://website.lineone.net/~mad.jack/merry-go-round.htm
Although the page says that he hasn't used midi since, I think he may still use the BBC when sequencing his songs, before transferring the finished results to a four-track analogue sequencer.

And if you're still wanting more, here's a couple of links to demo-tracks from his earlier Fairlight days:http://www.zen8075.zen.co.uk/music/oldtapestuff/vince&fairlight_g uitar.mp3
http://www.zen8075.zen.co.uk/music/oldtapestuff/vince&fairlight_rythm. mp3

Mad Jack.

lbn wrote:

Vince Clarke didn't go completely analog until the time of "Chorus" in 1991.

u should have wrote instead:
"Erasure didn't go completely analog till 1991..."

Vince Clark had formed the band Depeche Mode in 1980(!!!) and wrote the whole first album Speak&Spell (which is pure 100% analog).
Then in 1982 he left Depeche Mode and formed Yazoo and released the hit "Don't Go ".....and that's 100% analog too. he continued with Yazoo till 1985...closing the synthpop era.

Vince Clark formed Erasure in 1986!
Erasure is part of the second half of the 80s(digital synths and also guitars and real drums in some albums)...and I don't consider them as a early 80s synthpop band. Like everyone in those days he surrendered to digital synths and to all sorts of cheesyness....although he still used analog synths vastly.


about the MIDI issue i'm tryin to locate the inetrview where Martin Gore talks about Vince....it's an interview from 1985 where he explains why he opened to digital synths and midi (being more practical) ....and he says something about Vince Clark sticking only to analog.
Vince did embrace digital and midi eventually (who didn't?) but obviously only after 1985....and then sort fo regretted it.

Remember ppl that in the early 80s they had ANALOG SEQUENCERS which did not have anything to do with the MIDI standard....and they worked good...
most memorable synth solos of the era were made with "random sequencing"
and live they also brought tapes to play the parts...as they didn't have cds;)

Hey Kriminal,

Do you have the full demo up anywhere? I like what I've heard so far. Also, where did you get those drum sounds? They're pretty sweet.

starcraft wrote:

Remeber ppl that in the early 80s they had ANALOG SEQUENCERS which did not have anything to do with the MIDI standard....and they worked good...

...and they still do.

..and not only doepfer.

Mad Jack wrote:

Although the page says that he hasn't used midi since, I think he may still use the BBC when sequencing his songs, before transferring the finished results to a four-track analogue sequencer.

He is still using the BBC along with Logic on a G4. Reason and Battery were also used on the last Erasure album.

starcraft wrote:

u should have wrote instead: "Erasure didn't go completely analog till 1991..." Vince Clark had formed the band Depeche Mode in 1980(!!!) and wrote the whole first album Speak&Spell (which is pure 100% analog). Then in 1982 he left Depeche Mode and formed Yazoo and released the hit "Don't Go ".....and that's 100% analog too. he continued with Yazoo till 1985...closing the synthpop era. Vince Clark formed Erasure in 1986!

If you want to be pedantic about it: He didn't write all of Speak & Spell (Gore wrote two songs). Clarke used Fairlight samplers with Yazoo. And they broke up in '83, not '85. The Assembly put out "Never, Never" in '83. He put out "One Day" with Paul Quinn in '84. And Erasure released their first single in '85.

starcraft wrote:

Erasure is part of the second half of the 80s(digital synths and also guitars and real drums in some albums)

On which song(s) did Erasure use a live drummer instead of a drum machine/sampler/synth?

Ibn....sorry man but when the debate falls on Vince and Depeche I get a bit carried away.
the song a "A little respect" apart from loads of guitars seems to have real sounding drum sounds....they might be 8 bit samples loaded into the Emu...but surely that ain't an analog drum machine.(that's what i meant).
I knew about those 2 Gore songs(Big Muff and Tora).....the Assemby had same formation as yazoo ...the rest is dates I don't remeber exactly ...sorry

anyway have fun with this funny video (Tv appearence with Vince Clark on the right) :
http://www.depeche-mode.it/newlife.wmv
those sounds are just soo good!

can be found along with many other early 80s dm videos on this site:
http://www.depechemodeitalia.com
very nice site....although no english.just check the video section....just awesome.

starcraft wrote:

Ibn....sorry man but when someone touches Vince is like they are touching my father. the song a "A little respect" apart from loads of guitars seems to have real sounding drum sounds....they might be 8 bit samples loaded into the Emu...but surely that ain't an analog drum machine.(that's what i meant). I knew about those 2 Gore songs(Big Muff and Tora).....the rest is dates I honestly don't remember precisely.pardon

No problem. I didn't mean to...uh...touch your dad. Someone would have a difficult time besting me when it comes to Vince Clarke trivia. I used to obsessively read every interview I could find.

As far as I know he used drum machines or samplers on "Innocents." I believe the only guest musicians they brought in were for the horn section on "Heart of Stone." And those weren't even Clarke's idea but instead producer Stephen Hague's. Clarke didn't like them because they sounded too "middle of the road." He did use a Roland S-550 sampler for horn parts later on - listen to the middle of "Stop."

Anyway, for the drums they were probably from any of a variety of standalone drum machines that were around at the time. He mentioned they used four of them live for the "Circus" tour. I suspect that the Yamaha RX5 or RX7 was used a lot around that time. I was digging through some samples of those and they are all over those albums.

starcraft wrote:

anyway have fun with this funny video (Tv appearence with Vince Clark on the right) : http://www.depeche-mode.it/newlife.wmv those sounds are just soo good! can be found along with many other early 80s dm videos on this site: http://www.depechemodeitalia.com very nice site....although no english.just check the video section....just awesome.

That's some vintage stuff there. They all look like kids. I guess they would have been around 19 at that time.

intRsoul wrote:

ew - I thought it was LinnDrum, but then I download a LinnDrum "library" and I couldn't find the classic hits on it. Were there different versions of it (like the jump from an 808 to a 909)? Do you know of a respectable library or VSTi with the sounds?

If you think about it for two seconds it might occur to you that when he recorded the stuff he didn't keep the drum sounds clean. Chances are he EQ'd, compressed and generally worked on the original sounds. In fact Punce was famous for his very unique drum sound at that time.

starcraft wrote:

Remember ppl that in the early 80s they had ANALOG SEQUENCERS which did not have anything to do with the MIDI standard....and they worked good...

Are you serious!?! Do you have any idea what a complete fucking nightmare it was setting that krap up? It used to take me 3 hours sometimes when I first started gigging. And don't even ask me how many fucking leads I needed. No ability to save patches, absolutely none of the convenience of our digital age and the sound was completely fucking awful because affordable mixers just couldn't cut it with channel separation or EQ.

Bones I don't think u read the whole thread.
I never said they worked better than todays software sequencers...
I just wanted to point out that in 80-82 there was no chance to use Midi ....and that they used analog sequencers instead....and they were more advanced than ppl might think.
even Vince Clark now uses Logic...would be crazy if he were still using an analog sequencer.

oranjpenguin wrote:

Dare's synth equipment listing is incidentally: Roland System 700 and JP4, Korg 770 and Delta, Yamaha CS15. Plus a couple of Casios I've not heard of (which may or may not be synths... Casion VLT 1 (?) and M10 (?))

I have a CS15 emulation for Reaktor

liqih wrote:

oranjpenguin wrote: Dare's synth equipment listing is incidentally: Roland System 700 and JP4, Korg 770 and Delta, Yamaha CS15. Plus a couple of Casios I've not heard of (which may or may not be synths... Casion VLT 1 (?) and M10 (?)) I have a CS15 emulation for Reaktor

I used to have a Korg Delta - I really liked it, used it on a couple of albums. But had to sell to pay the rent...

A friend had a CS30 - great machine, had an 8 note pattern sequencer where to set the variations using pots, so you could have really badly tuned appeggios!

Sadly no VSTis available for either. If I had samples of them I would have a go at modelling them, but I only have memories! Oh well!

DSP

intRsoul wrote:

err, um...1999 was the name of the ALBUM Prince released in 1982. No, no time glitch...

That old already?! Guess I'm not a big Prince fan.

Peter.

starcraft wrote:

even Vince Clark now uses Logic...would be crazy if he were still using an analog sequencer.

I don't know about this "Vince Clark" of which you speak, but Vince Clark(e)'s a "crazy" kind of guy... It says in the inlay of his "Lucky Bastard" sample CD (1993) that he "doesn't take his hat off for days." Doesn't his scalp get all itchy?! Erm.. Perhaps he's breeding some fungus under there..

Anyway, I think he only went back to analogue sequencers because he was unhappy with the timing accuracy of midi, something software synths neatly side-step.

To be honest, I started to lose interest in his music after the "Chorus" album. I bought the next three (excluding the "Pop!" one), but couldn't be bothered anymore. After following the link that lbn kindly provided, it seems I was far from being the only one not to board the "Loveboat"...

BTW: thanks for those links to that DM site, starcraft. I can't believe Martin's hair!! HAHAHA!!! Ooh, sorry..

ok...
now that we finished with Vince CalrkE...
let's talk about Martin Gore!!!....and not only about his funny haircut!
He loved the Jupiter8 ( who didn't!).....why don't we have a jupiter 8 vsti ???????? developers??????

trip wrote:

... i bet 10 bucks that 20 posts later nearly every VA-Synth is suggested here

Hey trip... Five pages of this and no mention of Synth 1...

Where can I collect my 10 bucks..?

andywanders wrote:

trip wrote: ... i bet 10 bucks that 20 posts later nearly every VA-Synth is suggested here Hey trip... Five pages of this and no mention of Synth 1... Where can I collect my 10 bucks..?

Wrong-Teksonik suggested it on page 2 .
ew

ew wrote:

andywanders wrote: trip wrote: ... i bet 10 bucks that 20 posts later nearly every VA-Synth is suggested here Hey trip... Five pages of this and no mention of Synth 1... Where can I collect my 10 bucks..? Wrong-Teksonik suggested it on page 2 . ew

Shit..! Missed that.

For me, I feel that VAZ Modular is my favorite 'analogue'-like VSTi. I feel that it sounds the most analogue-like of all the other plugins I've tried and is one of the most flexible.

If you don't need the flexibility, there are other non-modular VAZ synths that sound just as good.

For an '80s punk or Devo-esque sound, I'll take the DashSignature daHornet everytime. Something about that VSTi just screams attitude.

To be filed under Vince trevia:

Vince Clark used the Roland TR-505 for it's bass drum during touring with Erasure and in the studio. I remember reading in one the the Roland magazine interviews that he used the TR-505 for bass drum and the S-550 for the rest of the drums that was the basis of his live drum sound. Many of his S-550 samples are though originated from his analogs.

Don't ask me for when though, I'm getting senile and are having troubles remembering years... mid/end 80s, since the S-550 did exist before '87/88.

starcraft wrote:

ok... now that we finished with Vince CalrkE...

Sorry about that, starcraft. That was very naughty of me.

starcraft wrote:

why don't we have a jupiter 8 vsti ???????? developers??????

Yeah, the Jupiter 8 is a great synth. Actually, I think there is kinda one. Don't know if it really counts as a VSTi though, as it needs special hardware to run on.
I'd also like to see an Oberheim Matrix 12/Xpander VSTi. I read something on this site about Arturia wishing to make one, but being put off by Gibson, who - I guess - still own the Oberheim name. Bah!

invitia wrote:

Vince Clark used the Roland TR-505 for it's bass drum during touring with Erasure and in the studio. I remember reading in one the the Roland magazine interviews that he used the TR-505 for bass drum and the S-550 for the rest of the drums that was the basis of his live drum sound. Many of his S-550 samples are though originated from his analogs.

I remember reading somewhere that the only percussion sounds Vince didn't synthesize were cymbals. Couldn't get them up to standard, apparently. He may have 'cracked' those sounds by now, of course.

Also, that "Lucky Bastard" sample CD contains all the samples he used on tour. Mostly drum/percussion-type sounds, but there's also a surprisingly high amount of other sounds in there too. These include that strange Sample&Hold-type noise from the introduction to "Am I Right?"

Mad Jack.

Just my two penneth....
I would currently say Oddity but I haven't tried impOSCar yet so we'll have to wait and see

StudioSense wrote:

Just my two penneth.... I would currently say Oddity but I haven't tried impOSCar yet so we'll have to wait and see

Well if anyone is in London today and they'd like to try out the ImpOSCar, it's being demoed in Sound Control on Oxford Street (basement of Virgin Megastore).

Arden Hart will be giving demos at 3pm and 6pm (probably worth turning up just to hear him play, he's a excellent musician), and you'll also be able to play with it yourselves.

Hope I'll see a KVRer or two there