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Heart - "Magic Man"


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We used to do that tune. I've gotten by making something on my FantomX6. It's not a Moog, but like alot of patches, the audience couldn't care or has no idea what's on the original recording.

 

I used these main ingredients: monophonic, slightly detuned, portamento and based around a square wave. Again, not a Moog, but good enough for the audience.

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The Minimoog used in "Magic Man" was heavily modified, including being duophonic. The most difficult part of the song, though, is finding a lead singer who can handle the vocals.....
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The Minimoog used in "Magic Man" was heavily modified, including being duophonic. The most difficult part of the song, though, is finding a lead singer who can handle the vocals.....

 

That was the easy part for us. Chicka got pipes. It's so refreshing to find a quality soprano who is actually into doing rock instead of country.

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Yea you can do a respectable version of this sound on an XP-50. Initialize a patch, use the JP8 Square waves A, B, and C (don't just use one - they're meant to work together), activate portamento, set the pitch bend lever range to a couple of octaves for the sweep down.

 

If you know anything about Rolands from the last 16 years (JVs, XPs, XVs, Fantoms - they all work the same at this level), use peaking filters in conjunction with standard lowpass in Structure 2 to replicate the Moog filter. If you don't find someone who does. If I lived in VA I'd help you...

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The Minimoog used in "Magic Man" was heavily modified, including being duophonic...

I know this topic has been discussed at length in the past. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you're suggesting that the synth was actually a modified Moog that had duophonic capabilities, I'm afraid this would be wrong. Judging by the recording, it's simply a multitracked part (using three tracks, two predominantly). And yes, there is a way to duplicate that sound live as others have suggested here. Keyboard splits and some clever layering will get the job done.

 

 

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Yea you can do a respectable version of this sound on an XP-50. Initialize a patch, use the JP8 Square waves A, B, and C (don't just use one - they're meant to work together), activate portamento, set the pitch bend lever range to a couple of octaves for the sweep down.

 

If you know anything about Rolands from the last 16 years (JVs, XPs, XVs, Fantoms - they all work the same at this level), use peaking filters in conjunction with standard lowpass in Structure 2 to replicate the Moog filter. If you don't find someone who does. If I lived in VA I'd help you...

 

I swear, this is my favorite part about these forums. Any sound question like this will eventually be picked up by someone who not only knows the sound you're after, but also has intimate enough knowledge of the gear you're working with to give you a clear path to march down. The Guit forum is equally as impressive with these types of questions.

 

:thu:

 

My hope, though, is that I get enough of a grip on the sound generation process on this board that I won't need to post up here every time I hit a snag. :)

 

tl;dr version:

 

You guys rock! :rawk:

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One of our esteemed forum members recently PM'ed me about this song, and here was my reply:

 

I played this song every night when I was in a Heart tribute band. I played it on my Nord Stage using the VA section with a detuned unison square waveform and a fair amount of portamento/glide. I used the same sound on both panels so that I could split the keyboard to play the "melody" with my right hand and the "harmony" with my left hand. The chick keyboard player in Heart plays the RH/melody on a Voyager, and the LH/Harmony on her Kurzweil. I think I saw the video on YouTube. The problem was how to accommodate the third track coming in (i.e., on the original recording) for the high note (a "G" if I recall correctly) and subsequent "dive bomb." So I had to sacrifice the final note of the "melody" line to do the high-G/dive bomb. You also need a lot of sustain for the LH/harmony line so the last note sustains when you take your hand off the keyboard to increase the portamento for the dive bomb. If you had three hands, you could do all the parts! Complicated part, hard to explain, but hope this helps. Of course, you could simply play only the melody line and be done with it.but I really wanted to nail it as best I could. Let me know if have any questions.

 

"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."

- George Bernard Shaw

 

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Most every synth has a "Lucky Man" patch and you can dial it in pretty quick from that.

 

My Prophet 08 PE has a Fortunate Guy patch...it took me a couple of passes by to make the connection. I'm a little slow, I guess.

 

Nice job assisting on hitting the sound for the OP. I have a similar request for help but will start a new thread as to not hi-jack this one.

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
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One of our esteemed forum members recently PM'ed me about this song, and here was my reply:

 

I'm sure that forum member was deeply appreciative...

What we record in life, echoes in eternity.

 

Montage M7, MOXF8, Electro 6D, XK1c, Motif XS Rack, PolyEvolver, Voyager, Cobalt 8X, Univox MiniKorg.

https://www.abandoned-film.com

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One of our esteemed forum members recently PM'ed me about this song, and here was my reply:

 

I'm sure that forum member was deeply appreciative...

LOL!

 

:D:wave::thu:

"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."

- George Bernard Shaw

 

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I had a back issue of Keyboard mag with an interview of Howard Leese. He never mentioned a duophonic minimoog, and the pictures I have seen of his stage rig always had two minimoogs.

 

That's a cool solo and a cool song. I covered that song using the real deal in a couple of bands, except I use the dual tri/ramp waveform not the square. Sounded more authentic to my ears.

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...except I use the dual tri/ramp waveform not the square. Sounded more authentic to my ears.

 

I read that in quite a few forums as well.

What we record in life, echoes in eternity.

 

Montage M7, MOXF8, Electro 6D, XK1c, Motif XS Rack, PolyEvolver, Voyager, Cobalt 8X, Univox MiniKorg.

https://www.abandoned-film.com

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I had a back issue of Keyboard mag with an interview of Howard Leese. He never mentioned a duophonic minimoog, and the pictures I have seen of his stage rig always had two minimoogs.

 

It was from a late 70's Keyboard mag that I remember reading about Leese's Mini, and how disappointed he was about buying the PolyMoog and finding out it wasn't anything like a Mini in tone. Whatever, it's still a great song....!

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....I use the dual tri/ramp waveform not the square. Sounded more authentic to my ears.

Cool. What's a "dual tri/ramp waveform"?

"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."

- George Bernard Shaw

 

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....I use the dual tri/ramp waveform not the square. Sounded more authentic to my ears.

Cool. What's a "dual tri/ramp waveform"?

 

One of the waveforms on the Minimoog waveform switch, it's between triangle and ramp and is only on VCO 1 & 2.

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