KVR Audio

Lady J · Post by **Lady J** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 3:16 pm

Hello,

I was wondering what synths were used on Inner City's Good Life? I and a friend are going to do a remake of it.

psynus · Post by **psynus** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 3:33 pm

Lady J wrote:Hello,

I was wondering what synths were used on Inner City's Good Life? I and a friend are going to do a remake of it.

This is for sure:
909 for the drums
303 for the bass line
a sampler
a standard female singer

the characterstic MAIN synth sound:
Somewhere I read they used a sampled KORG M1 piano (heavily edited with EQ, chorus, dist. etc.). Probably they used the M1 for a couple of other sounds, too. It was THE synth at that time.

I know this won't be helpful. But I wanted to be the first to answer as I really like this track.

Armadillo · Post by **Armadillo** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 3:43 pm

Lady J wrote:Hello,

I was wondering what synths were used on Inner City's Good Life? I and a friend are going to do a remake of it.

Was it you asking on cubase.net then a few days ago?

There was an updated version done about 4 years ago. Killer tune back then. sorry can't help with the synth. have you tried google?

bastien · Post by **bastien** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 3:48 pm

Agreed on the 909 drums (lots of compression on the clap!) but my vote goes for the DX100 'Solid Bass' sound (aka. Lately Bass on other machines) plus the old 'sampled piano-ish chord' in unison with it, PLUS some 303ish squidge. And that's just the bassline...

The rest is pretty standard M1ish stuff though.

Sielsynth · Post by **Sielsynth** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 4:12 pm

I can't remember exactly what year "Good Life" came out, but here is a section from a 1988 issue of Music Technology featuring an interview with Kevin Saunderson.

Saunderson's instrument arsenal now takes in a Roland S550, Casio CZ5000, Roland JX8P, Korg Poly 800, Roland TB303 (the acid house bassline machine) and Ensoniq Mirage. Drum machine chores are taken care of by Roland's TR909, 808 and 727 together with an Alesis HR16 ("one of the cleanest drum machines I've ever heard") and his own sampled sounds."I like to use a combination of 909 and HRl6 hi-hats, together with the 808 bass drum or sometimes the bass on the 909", he explains: "Those drum machines have a real good feel, both together and on their own."Saunderson refuses to use sampled drum machine sounds in place of the genuine article, as he explains: "Sampling changes the sounds in some way. I'll go into a studio and they'll say 'We have the 808 right here, sampled on disk, but I won't use those samples 'cos they're not the same at all. At one time a lot of groups were using samples rather than the actual machines; and somehow the results just didn't have the same feel, there was something missing."Instead he prefers an offbeat approach to obtaining percussive sounds which is in tune wit the creative spirit of sampling, for instance sampling a handclap, or a piece of paper being crumpled, and playing around with the tuning to see what sort of results he can get.Currently Saunderson's favourite sampler is his Roland S550 - a fairly recent acquisition.

Maybe he used some of this equipment. It also goes on to say he really likes to use the Roland Juno 106. It was one of his first synths and he returns to it for many sounds.

Lady J · Post by **Lady J** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 5:33 pm

psynus wrote:
This is for sure:
303 for the bass

Really? I heard this was actually the "Solid Bass" preset from a Yamaha DX-100.

the characterstic MAIN synth sound:
Somewhere I read they used a sampled KORG M1 piano (heavily edited with EQ, chorus, dist. etc.). Probably they used the M1 for a couple of other sounds, too. It was THE synth at that time.

Are you sure? it doesn't sound like the M1 Piano. I'm talking about the original mix not the remixes. It definately sounds sampled but from where?

I know this won't be helpful. But I wanted to be the first to answer as I really like this track.

hehe. It's a stomper. I love it too. I and my friend are both going to do the vocals as we're forming a duo and this may be our first song.

Svante · Post by **Svante** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 5:44 pm

I always thought the main synth riff was a Juno 106. But I have nothing to back it up. But you can get some similar sounds using the Juno6 VSTi.

Lady J · Post by **Lady J** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 5:46 pm

Oooo thank you for the responses so far. I used to have a Siel DK something that made that Good Life Piano sound. I know a version was done 4 years ago but that only means Good Life 2005 is just around the corner. The tune is a classic it is like a dance 'standard'. Better that I do it again before Kylie.

Lady J · Post by **Lady J** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 5:49 pm

Svante wrote:I always thought the main synth riff was a Juno 106. But I have nothing to back it up. But you can get some similar sounds using the Juno6 VSTi.

Pity it has not been ported to Mac yet.

Any other suggestions? Would Junatik enesmble in Reaktor make this sound?

Lady J · Post by **Lady J** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 6:00 pm

Sielsynth wrote:I can't remember exactly what year "Good Life" came out, but here is a section from a 1988 issue of Music Technology featuring an interview with Kevin Saunderson.

Saunderson's instrument arsenal now takes in a Roland S550, Casio CZ5000, Roland JX8P, Korg Poly 800, Roland TB303 (the acid house bassline machine) and Ensoniq Mirage. Drum machine chores are taken care of by Roland's TR909, 808 and 727 together with an Alesis HR16 ("one of the cleanest drum machines I've ever heard") and his own sampled sounds."I like to use a combination of 909 and HRl6 hi-hats, together with the 808 bass drum or sometimes the bass on the 909", he explains: "Those drum machines have a real good feel, both together and on their own."Saunderson refuses to use sampled drum machine sounds in place of the genuine article, as he explains: "Sampling changes the sounds in some way. I'll go into a studio and they'll say 'We have the 808 right here, sampled on disk, but I won't use those samples 'cos they're not the same at all. At one time a lot of groups were using samples rather than the actual machines; and somehow the results just didn't have the same feel, there was something missing."Instead he prefers an offbeat approach to obtaining percussive sounds which is in tune wit the creative spirit of sampling, for instance sampling a handclap, or a piece of paper being crumpled, and playing around with the tuning to see what sort of results he can get.Currently Saunderson's favourite sampler is his Roland S550 - a fairly recent acquisition.
Maybe he used some of this equipment. It also goes on to say he really likes to use the Roland Juno 106. It was one of his first synths and he returns to it for many sounds.

I am willing to bet that percussive piano hit was either the juno-106 or jx8p sampled with the 8bit Mirage.

So all i need is a similar VSTi for mac and Logic's Bitcrusher. I am really after the main synth sound, the other sound's i sussed were:

DX-100 'Solid Bass" (I can use the FM7 for this)

Roland analogish strings (JX10 or Atmosphere can be used here)

909 for drums with one 727 agogo sound thrown in (Plugsound Drums 909 and 727 kits)

Alesis HR16 Whistle sample (Battery HR-16 kit)

303 Acid line mixed very low (Muon Tau2)

"Aaah" and "dooo" vocals - M1 or sampler voices.

Sielsynth · Post by **Sielsynth** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 6:07 pm

LadyJ wrote:

I used to have a Siel DK something that made that Good Life Piano sound.

what do you mean used to have a Siel DK something? How could anyone ever part with a Siel synth. Am I the only one holding on to these things. I could loan you a couple but I'm afraid they're far to valuable to ship across the pond...humidity,fog and what not.

Lady J · Post by **Lady J** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 6:12 pm

Sielsynth wrote:LadyJ wrote:

I used to have a Siel DK something that made that Good Life Piano sound.
what do you mean used to have a Siel DK something? How could anyone ever part with a Siel synth. Am I the only one holding on to these things. I could loan you a couple but I'm afraid they're far to valuable to ship across the pond...humidity,fog and what not.

Woah! you are definately a fanatic. The one I used to have, I picked up at a second hand shop for $50 USD. I think I traded it and an Alesis SR-16 for a Roland 909 to two guys who were doing a sort of Pet Shop Boys thing.

Are these actually worth something now? To me they seemed like lesser Juno 6's. I rated them one cut above a Korg Poly800

Sielsynth · Post by **Sielsynth** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 6:22 pm

NO

We won't explain why I like them because... well, there is no explanation. I occassionally program them to stay sharp with my synth programming skills. I actually stil have all the programming guides, Siel footpedals, expansion modules, ram cards.. you name it I got it! But still there's why?

Lady J · Post by **Lady J** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 6:51 pm

Sielsynth wrote:NO

We won't explain why I like them because... well, there is no explanation. I occassionally program them to stay sharp with my synth programming skills. I actually stil have all the programming guides, Siel footpedals, expansion modules, ram cards.. you name it I got it! But still there's why?

Its ok, I used to feel the same way about my Kawai K3 and K3m.

I still wish someone would do a Kawai K3 VSTi

Lesha · Post by **Lesha** » Fri Mar 18, 2005 1:23 am

Lady J, did you have any luck in finding how to make this sound ?

Inner City - Good Life synths?