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I really like many of the stock 606 sounds; they're a little "smaller" than the 808, but work really nicely. The 303 and 606 were designed as companion units, incidentally; auto-accompniament devices for guitarists. Why they put *that filter* on is beyond me, but thank god they did.
Other important noises: let's start with the hoover noise. Think Joey Beltram, Energy Flash, etcetera. Pure Roland Alpha Juno - the aJs were these analogue synthesizers with digital controls, released in 86/87, and they have these stonking filters. And the make the hoover noise which swathed hardcore and hardhouse for a while.
And then the 909. Now, the 808 has the whole boom-bip thing going on, but for sheer FLUM it's got to be the 909. Technology note: the 808 is pure analogue, little individual synthesis circuits for each sound. The 909, however mixes samples and synthesis. The hi-hats are sampled from life - low-sample-rate, sure, but samples; the kick and the snare are pure analogue goodness. So you've got these crisp hats and this hellish-deep bass and this snappy snare, and it is just so tight.
Anyhow, take one of them, sync it up with an old disco or soul record, and woah fuck you've got house music. Fabulous instrument, and markedly different from the 808 sound.
Another important synth hook (regardless of quality): the Oberheim riff on Van Halen's Jump. Just because, you know, it's this COLOSSAL synth riff as the main hook on a song from a band mainly known as a guitar band.
Massive props for the Akai MPC60, though. It combines the slightly rough 12-bit sound with the tightest motherfucking midi sequencer known to man. And those pads; if you've never played Akai drum pads, you need to, because they have a subtelty and sensitivity that's quite uncanny. Not real, but not like anything else.
Anyhow, all these old drum machines that people were paying the earth for (after they got expensive because they got popular) ended up being sampled - at those crunch 12-bit rates that just makes the boom and the bip bigger - and then everyone's swapping floppy disks instead of equipment. The MPC60 is also quite special because, basically, it's all you need: it samples, it sequences. You stick a record deck on the input, play sounds in to it, chop, edit, sequence, hit play, and out of your speakers comes a track. Never exactly cheap, but it's an important product for hip-hop because it's all you need. So it sparks a sound, a style, because it's an all-in-one thing.
And they still work today.
Oh, of course! Other classic sound: Korg M1 piano.
So, Korg bring out this sample/synthesis workstation, the M1. It's got more memory than anything before, it's more realistic. And it has this piano sound, which is rich, clangy, big-in-the-middle. Not really much like a grand piano.
But it's the house piano. All those big house piano riffs? Korg M1, or something trying it's damndest to be there. Again, it's not even the unique "sound" of the instrument (the filters, the oscillators) because at the end of the day, it's a ROMpler. No, it's just a standard sample. It's really interesting to hear how the presets of the digital era crop up in all sorts of genres. I think the Roland D50's digital native dance patch crops up all over the shop, for instance, it's very new-age.
Phew. Think that's all I can think of for now. In my next post, I'll talk about Auto-tune. |
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