I hear this snappy and fat synth bass sound used frequently in R&B and Pop Jazz productions between 1987 and 1990. But the exact machine it came from has remained a mystery.
So far the closest thing I have found is the Roland JX/Alpha-Juno/MKS family. But their synth bass sounds lack the mystery synth's "body" (for lack of a better description), which resembles the vibrating string sound from a real electric or acoustic bass.
I'm not betting on the usual suspect, Minimoog, since we can hear velocity-sensitive filter cutoff variation in the samples below. Minis are only capable of that after modification, and the high similarity among these samples suggests that it's likely a synth preset, a concept that doesn't apply to Minis.
The snippets below are from 3 different songs that all featured this synth bass sound. Can you identify the synth it came from?
Thanks a bunch!
Can You Identify This Mystery Synth Bass?
- KVRist
- 435 posts since 13 Sep, 2004
For me, the snippets sound FM. They could be from any of the DXs or TXs. The Casio CZs also can produce those kind of sounds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0Dt5TJQBG4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujW9moSXl3g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0Dt5TJQBG4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujW9moSXl3g
- KVRAF
- 16400 posts since 22 Nov, 2000 from Southern California
Agreed. Sounds like FM to me, too. Most likely DX7, based on the era.