konaboy Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 Hi all, Can you help compile a list of the most famous and popular songs of the 80s that heavily featured the iconic (and over-used) DX7 e-piano sound? For use as a video topic, so thanks in advance. Quote hang out with me at woody piano shack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonysounds Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 Really. Really? Might be easier to ask which ones didn't. Most famous n popular: um... (I really disliked that sound and thus a lot of the music featuring it....so much so I started playing bass).... Anything by Chicago in that era maybe? Wind beneath my wings? Miami Vice? billy Ocean? Luther Vandross. I'm sure some toto is in there. I th ink I have a serious mental block about that sound. I know it's not famous, but Goodness n Mercy, Santana. Quote Hitting "Play" does NOT constitute live performance. -Me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CEB Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 Hard to say what is a specifically DX7. More often than not famous tracks probably used TX816s ... but in a very generic sense Tony nailed it. Quote "It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne "A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!! So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonysounds Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 The DX7 bass is just as prominent. If for no other reason than Seinfeld, but I can name a busload more dx bass Pop Hits . Quote Hitting "Play" does NOT constitute live performance. -Me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mykhailo Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 Seinfeld was done on a Korg M1. [video:youtube] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
konaboy Posted October 25, 2020 Author Share Posted October 25, 2020 it's specifically the e-piano, 11. E.PIANO 1 on the DX7 factory rom. i guess we can broaden to Yamaha FM e-piano, not just DX, but not interested in basses, flute or ref's whistle (it's a factory preset) this time. Sorry to include my old cringy video, this sound, at 07:13 [video:youtube] Quote hang out with me at woody piano shack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CowboyNQ Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 Seinfeld was done on a Korg M1. Apparently during the lunch break on day one of a cricket test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeronyne Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 Just off the top of my head. 'Next time I fall in love' Peter Cetera and Amy Grant 'Best for Last' Vanessa Williams 'Hard habit to break' Chicago 'Saving all my love for you' Whitney Houston 'One more night' Phil Collins 'The finer things' Steve Winwood 'Sweetest Taboo' Sade If you are my age, this should trigger a slew of additional songs. Quote "For instance" is not proof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherScott Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 Seinfeld was done on a Korg M1. The keyboard he's playing in the video is a Kurzweil. (Though it's not impossible that he could be triggering something else, he couldn't have done the mouth-drum samples on an M1.) Quote Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mate stubb Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 No. No. No. Quote Moe --- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Music Bird Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 If you want to be international. Never too fun to have an English-centric list. Even though the keyboard players have a Rhodes and an SH-101, the keys here are from a DX7. Quote Yamaha MX49, Casio SK1/WK-7600, Korg Minilogue, Alesis SR-16, Casio CT-X3000, FL Studio, many VSTs, percussion, woodwinds, strings, and sound effects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mykhailo Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 Seinfeld was done on a Korg M1. The keyboard he's playing in the video is a Kurzweil. (Though it's not impossible that he could be triggering something else, he couldn't have done the mouth-drum samples on an M1.) haha, super tough crowd, from reverb.com (5th keyboard down ): https://reverb.com/news/which-synth-was-it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nursers Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 Thanks for posting this Mike - I just finished watching the last season of Seinfeld again over the weekend and had always assumed it was a 'real' bass used. Quote The Keyboard Chronicles Podcast Check out your fellow forumites in an Apple Music playlist Check out your fellow forumites in a Spotify playlist My Music: Stainless Fields Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mykhailo Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 Got to love the M1...though I never actually owned one. At the time, I went with a roland JV80 instead. Still have it and use it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherScott Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 Seinfeld was done on a Korg M1. The keyboard he's playing in the video is a Kurzweil. (Though it's not impossible that he could be triggering something else, he couldn't have done the mouth-drum samples on an M1.) haha, super tough crowd, from reverb.com (5th keyboard down ): https://reverb.com/news/which-synth-was-it Well, there's no doubt that he's playing a Kurzweil in the video. So if the Kurz didn't have that sound, then I guess he could have been triggering an M1, or could even have resampled the M1 into the Kurz...? Quote Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Motif Max Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 The Greatest Love Of All takes the cake for me. It also fits excellently in the song. I think it's been processed and possibly layered but it's the sound. [video:youtube] Yes, I'm one of the sorry souls who really likes the DX electric piano and always will. It probably helps that I didn't grow up hearing it 24/7 in the '80s. Quote Yamaha: Motif XF8, MODX7, YS200, CVP-305, CLP-130, YPG-235, PSR-295, PSS-470 | Roland: Fantom 7, JV-1000 Kurzweil: PC3-76, PC4 (88) | Hammond: SK Pro 73 | Korg: Triton LE 76, N1R, X5DR | Emu: Proteus/1 | Casio: CT-370 | Novation: Launchkey 37 MK3 | Technics: WSA1R Former: Emu Proformance Plus & Mo'Phatt, Korg Krome 61, Roland Fantom XR & JV-1010, Yamaha MX61, Behringer CAT Assorted electric & acoustic guitars and electric basses | Roland TD-17 KVX | Alesis SamplePad Pro | Assorted organs, accordions, other instruments Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AROIOS Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 Hi all, Can you help compile a list of the most famous and popular songs of the 80s that heavily featured the iconic (and over-used) DX7 e-piano sound? For use as a video topic, so thanks in advance. Anything that Robbie Buchanan played keyboard on after 1983, which by itself is already a huge list of Pop/Bolero/Smooth Jazz songs. Luckily, Robbie did an excellent job compiling the list of tunes he had a hand in creating: https://robbiebuchanan.com/discography/ Robbie was so prolific that his famous TX816 sound is instantly recognizable and remains a staple in Pop history. Keyboardist around the world have been searching for Robbie's secret sauce for decades, the closest programming (that's an understatement, it's a sonic exact match) I've heard comes from Urs Wiesendanger and Audio Lounge: https://soundcloud.com/user-825056984/sets/rhodes-affair-demo. Technically, Robbie layers 2 to 4 modules on his TX816 (and occasionally adds an MKS-20 or a Rhodes). But we can simply consider that equivalent to a few DX7s, so his sound still fits your quest for "DX7 e-piano sound". Hope that's helpful, I'm looking forward to your new contents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRW Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 If you take this really literally, then IMO it's really tough to pinpoint the exact uses of the DX7 Mk1 exact "E.Piano" factory ROM preset. That would mean releases around 1983, 1984. After that it was probably the TX816. Or people started to at least tweak that factory sound a little bit. Regarding the Seinfeld bass, I recall it's not an M1 either. Yes, the M1 has those similar types of lame sampled slap bass sounds, but it's not from there. I recall that it's actually 360 Systems MIDI Bass: https://encyclotronic.com/synthesizers/360-systems/midi-bass-r1296/ Personally, I would've said Chicago' "Stay The Night" with the wobbly EP sound. In one FM library, there's even a patch called STAYTHENIGHT... [video:youtube] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moj Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 Billy Ocean [video:youtube] Chaka Khan [video:youtube] Gregory Abbott - DX7 E-Piano & Harmonica (probably just as ubiquitous) [video:youtube] Kenny Loggins [video:youtube] Al Jarreau - With David Foster on DX1 [video:youtube] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRW Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 ^ That is exactly what I mean. At least those Foster productions had a TX816 and possibly also a Roland MKS-20 layered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xp50player Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 Holding Back the Years Do You Remember(with CP-70) No One is to Blame(with CP-70) How Am I Supposed to Live Without You(Bolton version) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mykhailo Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 Seinfeld was done on a Korg M1. The keyboard he's playing in the video is a Kurzweil. (Though it's not impossible that he could be triggering something else, he couldn't have done the mouth-drum samples on an M1.) haha, super tough crowd, from reverb.com (5th keyboard down ): https://reverb.com/news/which-synth-was-it Well, there's no doubt that he's playing a Kurzweil in the video. So if the Kurz didn't have that sound, then I guess he could have been triggering an M1, or could even have resampled the M1 into the Kurz...? I trigger all of my synths with my yamaha P200 in my studio, being a piano player. Not uncommon. Maybe he just digs using 'Colonel Kurtz' as a master controller. He wouldn"t be the first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherScott Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 Well, there's no doubt that he's playing a Kurzweil in the video. So if the Kurz didn't have that sound, then I guess he could have been triggering an M1, or could even have resampled the M1 into the Kurz...? I trigger all of my synths with my yamaha P200 in my studio, being a piano player. Not uncommon. Maybe he just digs using 'Colonel Kurtz' as a master controller. He wouldn"t be the first. And here's yet another possibility... https://www.rhythmicrobot.com/product/seinfeld-bass Quote Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mykhailo Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 I doubt reverb would post an article like that without fact checking first...this is getting too 'moon landing conspiracy' weird for my taste, not to mention detracting from the OP. Check ya later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABECK Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 I heard it was Bootsy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
konaboy Posted October 26, 2020 Author Share Posted October 26, 2020 thanks so far, although no "super mega famous hits", not by my recollection anyway, apart from whitney the greatest love, and it's been said on this forum before that it's actually a very processed rhodes, and not a dx7. maybe some kind of rhodes-dx7 layer, if you listen closely. Quote hang out with me at woody piano shack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rod76 Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 The Jets - You Got It All Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABECK Posted October 27, 2020 Share Posted October 27, 2020 Tony Banks had a DX7 in the studio (not sure if he had a TX as well). There's several sections here where the EP is prominent. At other times, it's clearly layered with a CP70 and other Pads. I don't know if you'd call this a mega hit, but it was all over the radio. [video:youtube] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimboK Posted October 27, 2020 Share Posted October 27, 2020 Doogie Howser Theme Song. About as Prototypical as the DX-7 gets? Quote Korg Kronos 2 61, Kronos 1 61, Dave Smith Mopho x4, 1954 Hammond C2, Wurlitzer 200A, Yamaha Motif 6, Casio CDP-100, Alesis Vortex Wireless, too much PA gear! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outkaster Posted October 28, 2020 Share Posted October 28, 2020 Great thread.....takes me back.......... Quote "Danny, ci manchi a tutti. La E-Street Band non e' la stessa senza di te. Riposa in pace, fratello" noblevibes.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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