How to make an Ultravox' lead synth sound?

[Benedict]

I'm a sucker for Ultravox covers - the good ones as well as the bad ones

Well you did say that so...

I did this back in 1998 a cover (of sorts) of I Remember (Death In The Afternoon) from Rage In Eden. I kept the words and approximated the music and then really killed it by singing

file removed

At the time my main synth was an Emax II into a Quadraverb, the Hetradyne was a Roland JV-880 that I kinda hated and vocals would have been through my Boss SE-70. I think the CZ-1000 and DX-100 sat this one out. Sequencing was Vision 2 on a Mac Performa 580.

If you like this I also did

Bowie's - Ashes To Ashes
Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated
Sinatra's - Something Stupid

Whenever I hear Alan Jackson's Midnight In Montgomery I get to thinking I should cover that too. But seeing as I just kill songs I try to cover then perhaps I shouldn't

[pekadan]

To get a typical Currie lead sound you want to use a fair bit of portamento and slow pitch modulation and have a patch where you can sweep through the sync manualy, this coupled with distortion and some hollow flanging will get you in the right ballpark but about 60% of it is in the performance, not the patch, true of all great classic lead sounds.

Can I just ask what "sweep through the sync" means technically. As an Ultravox lover - yet simple synth programming amateur - I'd love to get the technique explained. It sounds really interesting!

[jupiter8]

To get a typical Currie lead sound you want to use a fair bit of portamento and slow pitch modulation and have a patch where you can sweep through the sync manualy, this coupled with distortion and some hollow flanging will get you in the right ballpark but about 60% of it is in the performance, not the patch, true of all great classic lead sounds.

Can I just ask what "sweep through the sync" means technically. As an Ultravox lover - yet simple synth programming amateur - I'd love to get the technique explained. It sounds really interesting!

It is common to have a pitch envelope on the sync "master" oscillator. Then you get that characteristc "Eeeooowwwww" sound. But you can adjust the pitch manually instead to get greater control over the performance. If you have 4 hands.

[pekadan]

To get a typical Currie lead sound you want to use a fair bit of portamento and slow pitch modulation and have a patch where you can sweep through the sync manualy, this coupled with distortion and some hollow flanging will get you in the right ballpark but about 60% of it is in the performance, not the patch, true of all great classic lead sounds.

Can I just ask what "sweep through the sync" means technically. As an Ultravox lover - yet simple synth programming amateur - I'd love to get the technique explained. It sounds really interesting!

It is common to have a pitch envelope on the sync "master" oscillator. Then you get that characteristc "Eeeooowwwww" sound. But you can adjust the pitch manually instead to get greater control over the performance. If you have 4 hands.

Aha! Cool! This I have to try. Thanks!!!

[Dave Blakely]

To get a typical Currie lead sound you want to use a fair bit of portamento and slow pitch modulation and have a patch where you can sweep through the sync manualy, this coupled with distortion and some hollow flanging will get you in the right ballpark but about 60% of it is in the performance, not the patch, true of all great classic lead sounds.

Can I just ask what "sweep through the sync" means technically. As an Ultravox lover - yet simple synth programming amateur - I'd love to get the technique explained. It sounds really interesting!

It is common to have a pitch envelope on the sync "master" oscillator. Then you get that characteristc "Eeeooowwwww" sound. But you can adjust the pitch manually instead to get greater control over the performance. If you have 4 hands.

On the Oddity, or real Oddysey you can sweep through the sync range using a variety of sliders, with osc 2 sync'ed to osc one (the master osc), any of the modulation amount sliders at the bottom of osc two's area will have an effect on the sweep range and amount and classic sync'ed leads can be got quite easily by applying envelope or lfo modulation to osc two's pitch. If you have Oddity then check out the BassSync preset by Dave Spiers or the Punchsync preset by myself in bank 4, these are goodish starting points to get sync type leads, try moving the pitch slider of osc two while playing, some well chosen fx on the output will make a hell of a difference (as with all synths )

[Terryg]

U-Vox--I saw those guys live at Carnegie Hall in the 80's --pretty amazing...I wish I could remember what gear they had on stage...

[astanine]

No link, we're still deciding whether to put it or One Hundred Years on the next album. I really love Sleepwalk but Ultravox is nowhere near as obvious for our audience as The Cure. Sleepwalk will probably win the day, however, because it is much shorter and the album is nudging towards an hour, which we both feel is too long.

Choose Sleepwalk and I'll promise to buy the album!

I'm a sucker for Ultravox covers - the good ones as well as the bad ones

One day I'll put a list up.....

Another Ultravox fan here (mainly the first three John Foxx albums but Sleepwalk is still good) and another sale to me if its on your album.

[RPdigital]

It is also known that Ultravox used mostly OSCar synth for its lead synth sounds.
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep99/a ... /oscar.htm

Try impOSCar...
http://www.gmediamusic.com/gforce/impos ... OSCar.html

[mickeh]

I'm a sucker for Ultravox covers - the good ones as well as the bad ones

Well you did say that so...

I did this back in 1998 a cover (of sorts) of I Remember (Death In The Afternoon) from Rage In Eden. I kept the words and approximated the music and then really killed it by singing

- - - -

If you like this I also did

Bowie's - Ashes To Ashes
Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated
Sinatra's - Something Stupid

- - -

Sorry; haven't answered yet.

Yeah, I really liked it!
That's the thing with covers, you have to put in something personal in them and not just try to copy it note by note.
If You like, i really would love to hear the others as well




And to everybode else:
Thanks for all the answers!
Really appreciate it!

[rustman]

This thread is ANCIENT, but I just had to add my little input.

When I ask myself what is my favorite synth lead from a commercial album, the song Passing Strangers pops right into my head. I'm probably just clouded by sentiment and longing for my youth, but when that lead kicks in after the breakdown in the middle of the song, it makes my hair stand on end. So cool.

[jonpen69]

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Check out this version of Sleepwalk I made in Logic Audio and using the G Force Oddity. https://click-bait.bandcamp.com/track/sleepwalk-cover (https://click-bait.bandcamp.com/track/sleepwalk-cover)