Sound of the 80s

[planetearth]

And who today think to the awesome Proteus Emulator II (and its immediate successor Emulator III) when we talk about the music of the second half of the eighties?

It was one of the most used at this time between 1985 and 1990.

And now it is totally forgotten in the historical limbo.

Although E-Mu has made us a wonderful gift by recreating it in VST... and free (Proteus VX)!

I love the Proteus! Too bad it doesn't work in a 64-bit OS. As I understand it, the E-MU X3 Player will work in a 64-bit OS, and it reads the Proteus files.

Steve

[planetearth]

I still don't even know what kinds of sounds/patches we are talking about. Maybe some examples would help...

You've asked some good questions as far as a style he's trying to emulate. (I hadn't heard of the band he'd named, so I'm not familiar with their "sound". I *have* heard all the bands you named.) Perhaps the OP will visit us again to offer us a bit more insight into what he wants. Otherwise, this will turn out like last week's thread about "new synthesis methods from the '90s" where the OP threw a hand-grenade of a question into a forum...and never came back.

Steve

[planetearth]

Quite a list there Winnie But I think it is counterproductive as nobody will check out all those plugins. Makes more sense to recommend just a few in my view...

It depends... Simply there are some probably forgotten names in some minds which will come back as "Gosh! I had forgotten this one!"


And also... sometimes I like to loose a bit of my time to come back myself in my list of oldies...


Many of them had merits. For those having a name which don't talk to someone, it's an occasion to pick at random in them and perhaps discover good products which will interest the picker... It's also the reason why in the links I have used the URL written by the number of the entry in the database index instead of revealing the literal URL as it appears generally by the mouse flight over.

I like the list BlackWinny created, for the same reasons he offers here. I agree that not everyone will look up every synth on the list, but I know what I'm going to be doing for a few hours tonight, at least!

I also agree with Ingonator about the PPG emulations. I love the Wave 2.x emulators I have (though I wish they had descriptive names for the patches!) and the Wave 3 emulator. Ingonator has forgotten more about the PPG synths than most of us will ever know, and the PPG Wave was used on a lot of records and sounds in the early '80s.

I would also vote for all of Arturia's "Collection", or at least the free emulations thereof. And all of Korg's Digital Legacy Collection, too...or, at least, the M1 and Wavestation.

Beyond these actual synths, you're getting into early samplers. The earliest ones certainly had their own "sound", but I wouldn't buy a sample collection of Fairlight or E-MU "samples" that have basically been re-sampled. (Yeah, I'm talking about you, UVI "Darklight IIx" http://www.uvi.net/en/vintage-corner/darklight-iix.html).

Steve

[deastman]

IMHO, the only distinctive sounds of the 80s which really need to be captured in VST form were the ones based on samples. As someone mentioned on the first page, just about any subtractive synth will work for the rest. Making 80s music is about more than just the choice of instruments. In fact, for some of us who started making music in those days, it remains difficult to come up with anything which didn't still sound very 80s. It has far more to do with the songwriting and the arrangement. And your Linndrum, Fairlight orchestra hits, Emu Loon Garden, and D-50 chiff. And if course that damn DX7 piano.

[Chopper]

...And of course that damn DX7 piano.

And this is were we nail it. I mean, yes, i would puke if i hear that preset one more time, but the the fact is not everyone could afford to record in a place were fairlight, Emulator or PPGs would be nested. The DXs on the other hand were common. Browsing through the presets would lead you to familiar territories. But yeah, any substractive would provide the basics too. Don't forget your choruses and harmonizers.....

[fluffy_little_something]

I am almost afraid to say it, but I like the DX7 piano in certain songs And I occasionally use it myself I do prefer the real Rhodes, though, by far.

[davidv@plogue]

Has anyone made a "crap D/A convertor" plugin yet?

Well of course!
http://www.plogue.com/products/chipcrusher

[beely]

Has anyone made a "crap D/A convertor" plugin yet?

Well of course!
http://www.plogue.com/products/chipcrusher

Looks like that would do the trick..!

[BlackWinny]

I see that I've forgotten this superb collection from UVI:
UVI Digital Synsations

It contains emulations of the Korg M1 (already very known in the KLC), the Yamaha SY77 (1989), the Ensoniq VFX (1989) and... the Roland D-50 (1987) that everybody cries as missing in the VST world!!!

Here is the KVR Database page:
http://www.kvraudio.com/product/digital ... vi/details

They all fit my spread of years, so I'm gonna add it to my list above.

And you know what?
I've just received a newsletter from Korg saying that the "Digital Synsations" software synthesizer package by UVI is now available on KORG LICENSE CENTER.COM for free download, being now included in the free offer when one purchases a model of their Korg controllers (nanoKontrol2, nanoPad2, nanoKey2, microKey, Taktile, and Triton Taktile).

As a long user for several years of their controllers I have tried to get back to the Korg License Center webpage, but I see nothing concerning the customers already registered...

[Ingonator]

I see that I've forgotten this superb collection from UVI:
UVI Digital Synsations

It contains emulations of the Korg M1 (already very known in the KLC), the Yamaha SY77 (1989), the Ensoniq VFX (1989) and... the Roland D-50 (1987) that everybody cries as missing in the VST world!!!

UVi does not really offer proper "emulations". They offer sample libraries with ha scripted GUI (comparable to Kontakt 4/5 libraries).
Those are based on UVI Workstation which itself is based on the engine of Mach Five 3. The Mach Five 3 engine also seems to offer FM synthesis.

I am not against sample based libraries. I like e.g. the Kontakt based instruments from Synth Magic, Hollow Sun and Sonic Couture (their Novachord Kontakt 4 instrument includes all controls of the real synth) .

Anyway for a proper M1 emulation the Korg plugin is a good choice and a LOT smaller in size too (the installer is around 119 MB). The Korg plugina lso seems to be quite cheap, has an updated resonant filter and includes an insane amount of patches and additional samples. Besides new patches doen for the plugin those are 21 M1 + 11 T1 expansion cards (both patches and additional samples) with up to 100 patches on each card.
For this the M1 plugin also includes a quite nice browser including categories.

IMO both the M1 and Wavestation emulation do show that you don't need ridiculously big sample libraries to get really nice sounds while i agree that for certain acoustic instruments bigger samples could do a better job maybe (while high quality sampling will not improve the basic quality of the samples included with the M1...).For the M1 it doesn't really matter and with a too high sampling quality you maybe even destroy the more low-fi character of the synth like it seemed to happen with e.g. the PPG wave library of them that based on the demos lost all of it's "Character" (opposing to the Waldorf emulations wher this is done right, especially in PPG Wave 3.V)

BTW i got the old (v1) Korg NanoKONTROL and NanoPAD. Have not checked if the free UVI library is also available for that.


Ingo

[BlackWinny]

Yes, you're absolutely right, Ingo.

As I have written as comment for that entry in the list "All these "emulations" are sample based, and these collections seem very expensive for what are probably good samples... but only samples, and I mention them only to above all let you know links on their real original synths and to hear these awesome original devices. Like all the samples, they have sounds which are not alive between the attack and the release (and the effects can't recover something which is dead at its origin but only add a layer of varnish) and also all the sample "synthesis" requires huge amounts of Gigabytes (we accumulates up to hundreds of Gigabytes for this pseudo-synthesis) on a hard disk while only a few Megabytes are needed for a subtractive synthese and modelled synthesis with a far better living sound. I strongly recommend you to always prefer real emulations (physically or electronically modeled) instead of samples".

I have although taken the time to insert this big suite of links (one for each synth used in the spread 1978-1994) to give everyone the opportunity to discover and listen (the website Vintage Synth Explorer is excellent for that) all those jewels of these years.

[planetearth]

I see that I've forgotten this superb collection from UVI:
UVI Digital Synsations

It contains emulations of the Korg M1 (already very known in the KLC), the Yamaha SY77 (1989), the Ensoniq VFX (1989) and... the Roland D-50 (1987) that everybody cries as missing in the VST world!!!

Here is the KVR Database page:
http://www.kvraudio.com/product/digital ... vi/details

They all fit my spread of years, so I'm gonna add it to my list above.

And you know what?
I've just received a newsletter from Korg saying that the "Digital Synsations" software synthesizer package by UVI is now available on KORG LICENSE CENTER.COM for free download, being now included in the free offer when one purchases a model of their Korg controllers (nanoKontrol2, nanoPad2, nanoKey2, microKey, Taktile, and Triton Taktile).

As a long user for several years of their controllers I have tried to get back to the Korg License Center webpage, but I see nothing concerning the customers already registered...

I saw this last night too, and I was excited at first. However, from what I saw, you have to re-enter the "PIN" you received on an included card when you first bought the nanoKontrol2, nanoKey2 or other device. And if you've already used that PIN to get a deal on any of the other offers, it may not work now.

Since the Korg User Net website isn't directly affiliated with Korg, and this offer is kind of "in-between" the two, I don't know where we can get support if we no longer have our PIN. (Who knew they'd add new synths to the give-away 2 years after you bought and registered the nano device?)

Steve

[beely]

Making 80s music is about more than just the choice of instruments. In fact, for some of us who started making music in those days, it remains difficult to come up with anything which didn't still sound very 80s. It has far more to do with the songwriting and the arrangement.

Totally agree with this - most musicians are indelibly inspired and shaped by the first music we discovered, and even though we continue to be shaped and influences, and these change over time, part of our musical DNA is still seeded or imprinted by the first music we loved, and it shapes our whole approach in some form.

So if you are trying to do 80s music, but weren't from that generation, and you start by loading up sample loops and beat slicers and granular synths and mashup beats and so on - it's not going to sound of that time because you are using processes that are completely different.

In short - the music result is, as always shaped by both the musician and the tools, but the tools are a smaller part of the equation.

[layzer]

anything that sounds like a minimoog, prophet 5, OBX(8,A), Juno, Jupiter, JX, MS20, DX7, M1, D50, SQ-80, VFX, CZ-1, PPG Wave, Fairlight Cmi, CP-70M.

[fluffy_little_something]

Accidentally saw the old Latte synth on MaxSynth's site earlier, it seems to be an Oberheim emulation to a certain extent...

And more or less all TubeOhm synths seem to be emulations...