ArnoldLayne Posted April 5, 2008 Share Posted April 5, 2008 I recently figured out how to back up my Ensoniq E-Prime Patch and song files using sysex and have begun to finally do some programing on the thing. The synth part in "who are you" has always amazed me and I have been spending some time trying to reproduce it. I would be interested to hear if any of you know (or think) how it was accomplished. Is it echo or is it panning, or both? Is the keyboardist playing 1/8th notes or quarter notes with a slapback echo that pans to the opposite channel? Or is it 2 separate tracks with one track played on the down beat and one on the up beat? I have programmed a patch that modulates the panning back and forth triggered by velocity but I have discovered that the way the keyboard simulates resonance it doesn't quite work. The resonance is added to the sample and controlled by an effect parameter that is last in the chain - past the panning so it does not pan with the sampled sound. It blends pretty good and creates some nice analog type patches, though. Anyway, does anyone care to theorize with me? How'd they do it? Prophet 6, '38 Hammond BC, HR40, 2 Leslie 760's, Prophet 08 PE, RD700GX, Ensoniq E-Prime, SCI Pro-One, TX-7, CP80, Arturia VI's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucktunes Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 I don't know this for a fact, but here's my educated guess... When the song came out around `79-`80, guitarist/keyboardist Pete Townsend was featured in ARP ads playing an Avatar. The Avatar was a primitive guitar synth that used the ARP Odyssey synth engine. It didn't work very well and is often blamed for sinking ARP instruments. Anyway, I guess he could have used this for the quacking synth part that carries most of the song. The panning was probably done with the slapback echo you mentioned, with the initial signal and the echoed signal panned in opposite directions. If anybody knows better, straighten me out! ><> Steve ><> Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mate stubb Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 From the horse's mouth: "I still had the full-size barn studio that I built for mixing Quadrophenia and, while working on the demo for this track, nearly blew my own brains out developing the backing track for the song. The weird background guitar sound on this was created with a top-secret ARP 2600 patch I invented, but the sawing guitar sound at its heart was generated with an 'E-Bow.' Andy Fairweather-Low sang and Rod Argent played piano on this cut." Moe --- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichieP_MechE Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 EDIT: I posted this without seeing matestubb's; his is probably more correct If anybody knows better, straighten me out! ><> Steve Here's what I dug up: check out this page from thewhotabs.net An excerpt from that page: An overdriven ARP 2500 or ARP 2600 synth. The overdriven guitar is fed into a voltage-controlled filter (VCF), which is being controlled by a low-frequency oscillator (LFO) triangle wave. The LFO is set to the tempo of the song at eight pulses per bar, making the tone of the VCF rapidly rise and fall in time with the song. The next step is to make each pulse from the LFO to trigger sound alternately from the left and right sides of the stereo picture. Gotta love the internet! -Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky2 Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 I'd be interested in discussing tips/tricks to cover this tune with a basic keyboard rig in mono. Anyone have success they'd care to share? Thanks. Mark "Think Pink Floyd are whiny old men? No Problem. Turn em off and enjoy the Miley Cyrus remix featuring Pitbull." - Cygnus64 Life is shorter than you think...make it count. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArnoldLayne Posted April 6, 2008 Author Share Posted April 6, 2008 I'm beginning to think it is not possible to re-create close enough to state outright that you have re-created it. Of course, that's all subject to opinion. The guitar trigger is what i think i was missing. That makes so much sense. I think with the right keyboard you can get close. Not with mine. I'd be interested in hearing anyone's efforts, though. Prophet 6, '38 Hammond BC, HR40, 2 Leslie 760's, Prophet 08 PE, RD700GX, Ensoniq E-Prime, SCI Pro-One, TX-7, CP80, Arturia VI's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grockvt Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 I used to do this tune with a korg dw8000 midi'd to a korg ex 8000 and I did mess with the built in ddl's on those units...I recall that the final sound was quiet because of how the envelopes worked out and I always had to boost myself on that tune... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d halfnote Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 completely OT but I have to axe : is the "><>" section of signature equivalent to a fish......? d=halfnote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grockvt Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 I would just play the notes like a madman - it only needed to be dead on at the intro and middle part anyways...and you need to play the piano parts... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d halfnote Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 I would just play the notes like a madman - it only needed to be dead on at the intro and middle part anyways...and you need to play the piano parts... ..."like a madman"... that would be in the tradition of Pete T ... d=halfnote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musicale Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 I surfed on to the WHO at the Isle of Wight concert just last night on cable. They did this tune , live and it was great. I didn't note the additional players but they had a fellow playing synth and also had a piano sound and a B3 on stage. It sounded right on, but maybe it was sequenced. Couldn't tell the keyboard guy was rarely shown in the video. Seemed to be a newer concert as Pete didn't look like he did in the 60's. Definitely a classic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewImprov Posted April 11, 2008 Share Posted April 11, 2008 I'm not sure about "Who Are You", but for "Baba O'Reilly" and "Won't Get Fooled Again", they used backing tracks on analog tapes for the pulsey synth parts. Townshend would record the tracks at his home studio, edit the interesting bits together, then they recorded and played live to the tape. They probably did the same with "Who Are You." I had an interesting gig about a year ago, I was hired to create the backing tracks for "Won't" and "Baba" by a local Who tribute band. It was an interesting challenge, "Baba" in particular, but it was a lot of fun. They just contacted me recently to remake the parts as Ableton Live sets (they were playing to a CD), since their keybordist just got a laptop. Turn up the speaker Hop, flop, squawk It's a keeper -Captain Beefheart, Ice Cream for Crow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GovernorSilver Posted April 11, 2008 Share Posted April 11, 2008 "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "Baba O'Riley" used a Lowrey Berkshire Deluxe TBO-1 organ and its "marimba repeat" feature, according to this page: http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/equip-baba.htm I heard about that fun fact from the guy who recorded this demo of his VG-99 Lowrey patch: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=781088&songID=6374480 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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