I am trying to find a site where it may list the grand master ambient's keyboards but can't find anything.
I have been looking to find what synth was used for the APOLLO album in particular the track 'An Ending (Ascent)'. Which you may of heard at some time even if you don't know his works. For me it is one of the most influential pieces ever written. It is a close to pure Bach or Elgar in electronica as you will get.

I have just heard the PolySix and wooooooo it went very close to that sound. The PolySix has an absolutely magical filter and Oscillator combination. The Filter seems like it sings along side the Oscillator with controlled resonance. he made the album which was after the PolySix was out. His Bruv may have done it, Roger, who collaborated on the album for the famous documentary.

Eno has kept his synth collection relatively small (in variety, not numbers...I think he has something like six DX-7s), and his method has always been to use one or two and get the most out of them. He was a well known fan of the AKS Synthi (though his was broken and he liked it that way...he would put bits of tape on it saying "don't fix this" when he sent it in to be serviced), and that, along with his Minimoog provided much of the sound until the DX-7 came out. He was, and is, a master FM programmer, and can still eek out some brilliant stuff on the DX. A recent Future Music interview showed that the DX-7 was still a vital part of his setup, though he also has a Korg Triton and a Prophet VS in there.

Much of his sound is not derived from the synth itself, but by the treatments he gave them. Lots of effects processing of all sorts. He once said he purposely didn't write down the order of his effects chain (which could be stomp boxes, tapes, rack units) because he didn't want the temptation to repeat himself.

I read that interview, very interesting it was too. He also spoke very highly of the NI FM7. It would be interesting to know if he ever made any patches for it or the DX7 that are available for sale or download.

He also said he uses several Kaos pads in a chain to create ambient effects.

I heard that Brian Eno used to have a picture of a sheep next to the Filter Cutoff knob of his Minimoog. Why? Apparently, because it reminded him that turning the knob made the sound 'wooly'. haha.. He had no idea how it worked, just what it did for him, and at the end of the day I guess that's all that's really important.

Thanks, So his heavenly string may be from the Sine waves of a DX7 plus maybe some low speed heavy flange to get resonance or even a Distortion possibly.

Talking of the Poly 6: spritex posted this link a while ago but I just got around to visiting it: http://www1.keyboards.de/magazine/m0404/404022wp.html It features comparisons between software synths and their hardware counterparts. One of the most notable things for me was that I actually preferred the software version of the Poly 6 to the hardware which sounded rather old and generally shagged out! Maybe it was just in need of a good tuning.

You want to know why Eno's Moogs sound different than most other Moogs....

SMOKE!

The guys a freakin' Pall Mall freak! I hear it causes hair loss too!

I've seen references to BE using a Korg Wavestation AD as well but I believe the DX7 is still his main weapon.
I want An Ending (Ascent) played at my funeral so if you find out how to recreate it let me know....perhaps I could play it live from inside the coffin...

Here's what I found at vintagesynth.org:

Korg M-500 Micropreset
Oberheim Echoplex Digital Pro
Yamaha SY-77
SCI Prophet VS

Mad Jack wrote:

I heard that Brian Eno used to have a picture of a sheep next to the Filter Cutoff knob of his Minimoog...

I remember where I saw that now. It was in an interview with Warren Cann (ULTRAVOX)

Here's a snippet:

What we discovered was that Brian was - AT THAT TIME - actually quite naive in the area of technical expertise, it was not his forte. In the first days in the studio together (Brian came in after we'd already recorded the bulk of the material), I remember looking at his Mini-Moog synthesizer. It was the first one I'd ever gotten my hands on and he had all these little pieces of tape stuck by the keys with the names of the notes written on them, plus little pictures stuck on adjacent to some of the control knobs. I pointed to a cute picture of a sheep and asked, "What's that mean?" He replied, "Well, I don't know what that knob does but, when I turn it, it makes the sound 'wooly', so the picture of the sheep (sheep...wool...get it?) reminds me..." I was quite taken aback, I didn't know what to say to that! I think I just nodded and said, "Umm... good idea!" From that moment on, I had a very strong suspicion that Brian was not the technical master we'd had in mind!

The rest of the review can be found here: Warren Cann interview

Most of his kit seems to be going towards evolving pad sound hence the core ambient sound he effectively invented (or at least recognised the genre). He is a bit of an enigma in music with some of his glory found in collaborations with the likes of U2 (Joshua Tree). The opening sound used on that album resembles that of APOLLO Ascending piece.

AFAIK his main "instrument" is (and has been for years) an Eventide.

Mad Jack - I thought I was the only Ultravox fan on the forum! The WC interview has served me well over the years when people have been asking on other forum about some of the techie things UV were doing years ago.

WC actually emailed me a few weeks ago, asking for help in finding some magazine articles he'd written in the 90s for Sound on Sound magazine - something to do with a formula George Martin gave him for calculating Beats per minute using a stopwatch. I didn't have the magazine anymore - maybe someone else can help?

It was the Brian Eno interview in Future Music that actually inspired me to go out and buy a Korg KP2

Mad Jack wrote:

The rest of the review can be found here: Warren Cann interview

Interesting read - thanks for that. Especially as I've just been working with Mr Currie on these impOSCar Signature Sounds. Oddly enough, I'll be using Warren Cann's old CR78 this week too (albeit with another band). Small world indeed.

timboblackbo wrote:

WC actually emailed me a few weeks ago, asking for help in finding some magazine articles he'd written in the 90s for Sound on Sound magazine - something to do with a formula George Martin gave him for calculating Beats per minute using a stopwatch. I didn't have the magazine anymore - maybe someone else can help?

I think I've got all the SOS issues here - I'll have a look when I get some free time. I seem to remember him doing some drum programming articles for them in the 90s


Dave

Love the Cartoon, a bit sereal like Eno.

Anyway, Dr Whack, what on earth is an Eventide?

I thought i was a geek who knew every single Synthesiser ever invented!

Mind you Eno is so outlandish he is definitely one for not doing anything remotely like anybody else.

PugFace wrote:

Love the Cartoon, a bit sereal like Eno. Anyway, Dr Whack, what on earth is an Eventide? I thought i was a geek who knew every single Synthesiser ever invented! Mind you Eno is so outlandish he is definitely one for not doing anything remotely like anybody else.

Not the good Doc,but...
Eventide's a manufacturer of effects units;they're known primarily for their harmonizers.I know Devon has one,and I'm sure there's a couple other users here.
ew

I just stumbled on this at SynthMuseum.com

http://www.synthmuseum.com/moog/moomini01.html

It shows one of the Moogs

Another Eno concept, if you can still find it, is a thing called "Oblique Strategies". Just thought I'd toss that in. Google for it.

I know that Eno worships the DX7 as the greatest thing to ever happen to synthesis, but every one my favorite Eno records is from '83 or earlier, and therefore it's almost certain that none of them have any DX7 on them!

I adore "Apollo," which came out in '83, the year the DX7 debuted, but I'll bet it was recorded in '82 (and, therefore, sans DX7). Justa hunch... I haven't really loved an Eno record since "Apollo." I blame the DX7!

EDIT: Oops... just remembered "The Pearl" (w. Harold Budd)... 1984! Long live the DX7!

PugFace wrote:

Anyway, Dr Whack, what on earth is an Eventide?

Like ew pointed out already, it's the maker of the Harmonizer, and lately the Orville and others, but they are basically variations on the same theme.

It's much more than just an effect unit - actually its a whole DSP based modular system, kind of the high end version of something like Reaktor or more comparable to a Kyma maybe, and it can well be programmed and used as a synth as well!

http://www.eventide.com/

timboblackbo wrote:

Mad Jack - I thought I was the only Ultravox fan on the forum! The WC interview has served me well over the years when people have been asking on other forum about some of the techie things UV were doing years ago.

No, you're not the only Ultravox fan around here. Although I should point out that I only like a relatively small amount of their catalogue. From Vienna to Quartet. Anything they did before or after seems to be off my radar.. I think it must have been that combination of Ure and Currie back then.

I think I discovered the link for that Warren Cann interview while searching for Ultravox-related stuff on this very site.. In fact, it could well have been you that posted it (I can't remember now, and the search doesn't seem to work properly at the mo').

I did find quite a lot of Ultravox-related info at this site: www.midgeure-interviews.net Unfortunately, as I type this, the site seems to be down... It didn't just contain interviews with Midge Ure - as the name suggests - but also with other band members. Snippets mostly, I think. Anyway, hopefully it'll come back.

whoops! bad post..

timboblackbo wrote:

WC actually emailed me a few weeks ago, asking for help in finding some magazine articles he'd written in the 90s for Sound on Sound magazine - something to do with a formula George Martin gave him for calculating Beats per minute using a stopwatch. I didn't have the magazine anymore - maybe someone else can help?

Did he try their online article search?

LBN wrote:

timboblackbo wrote: WC actually emailed me a few weeks ago, asking for help in finding some magazine articles he'd written in the 90s for Sound on Sound magazine - something to do with a formula George Martin gave him for calculating Beats per minute using a stopwatch. I didn't have the magazine anymore - maybe someone else can help? Did he try their online article search?

It was a good idea.....but unfortunately, if you try clcking on any of those articles, you get this:


SORRY: Not Available

The article or function you have requested is not available on this site.

The majority of SOS articles from January 1994 to the current issue are published on this site. However, due to copyright restrictions, a small number of past articles have not been posted to our site. If you feel there is an error on a file, please email webmaster@soundonsound.com and paste the URL of the missing article into the email.

We include a full database of ALL articles back to Issue 1 (November 1985) as a special service to longterm paper readers who wish to use our search engine to quickly locate material within their magazines.

We have no plans to add pre-1994 articles to this site.



Perhaps a combination of your link and Dave's hard copies could save the day?

Thanks to everyone who replied about the Warren Cann stuff. He said that he'd tried the SOS archive but nothing doing (the articles are from '92-'93). Let me know if anyone can dig it out, and I'll get WC to contact you.

As for the WC interview, I've heard that someone's supposed by reviving it soon.

Christine, who runs the midge ure interviews website, said that she's closing the site down. I'm not sure if anyone's taken all her articles and put them on a new site yet.

Mad Jack wrote:

timboblackbo wrote: Mad Jack - I thought I was the only Ultravox fan on the forum! The WC interview has served me well over the years when people have been asking on other forum about some of the techie things UV were doing years ago. No, you're not the only Ultravox fan around here. Although I should point out that I only like a relatively small amount of their catalogue. From Vienna to Quartet. Anything they did before or after seems to be off my radar.. I think it must have been that combination of Ure and Currie back then. I think I discovered the link for that Warren Cann interview while searching for Ultravox-related stuff on this very site.. In fact, it could well have been you that posted it (I can't remember now, and the search doesn't seem to work properly at the mo'). I did find quite a lot of Ultravox-related info at this site: www.midgeure-interviews.net Unfortunately, as I type this, the site seems to be down... It didn't just contain interviews with Midge Ure - as the name suggests - but also with other band members. Snippets mostly, I think. Anyway, hopefully it'll come back.

Eno worked with Ultravox on "Ultravox!" back in 1977. I preffered them whem they were fronted by John Foxx. I reckon they evolved with the technology. Back then, they were doing Punk, Prog rock and electro music. A lot of "Vienna" sounds like their earlier stuff (apart from Johns vocal style)"Systems of Romance" "Ha, Ha, Ha" both featured tracks that used mainly synths and vocoder like FX and, even a CR78 on "Hiroshima mon Amour" featuring Chriss Cross on Sax!

Quote:

"Hiroshima mon Amour" featuring Chriss Cross on Sax!

I always thought it was Chris Cross on that record, but there was a debate about it a while ago on Ultravox.org.uk, and apparently is was a friend of Billy Currie's who had the same initials. I think there's something about it in that WC interview.

BTW, Warren's old techie guy has been on the Ultravox forum recently, and John Foxx's current equipment guy has been on, too (Chris Curran).

Mr Eno also used the mighty Yamaha CS 80 and later the even mightier Waldorf Wave (used extensively on the shutov assembly album)

I think the CS 80 is used on the Apollo album. Listed on the Before and after science album cover.

I also think that he used a Prophet 5 (4:th world possible music with Jon Hassel)

I reckon there's a bit of some kind of organ in 'an ending'.

I have got Eno the APOLLO sound from the MinimoogV demo last night. It needs a lot of tweaking with the fine to get the evolving filter just right. If it was the MiniMoog then there was a lot of over-dubbing or mods done to a basic moog to make it poly and may be a chorus to thicken it up. Because the sound can't come from a Mono-Mini. It needs a lot of reverb.

It's a mean-Speaker rattler.

Oh god damm it now what notes did he hit (7ths????). Oh boy i gotta get a life, shit, lets get down the pub and get pissed.

Mad Jack wrote:

Perhaps a combination of your link and Dave's hard copies could save the day?

Found it

Timboblackbo - you'll have a PM from me about it.

Dave