What keyboard patch is Greg Hawkes playing here?

[rockit31]

Hello.  I am trying to learn My Best Friend's Girl by The Cars and am always a stickler for trying to emulate as close as possible,  the sound on my keyboards.   Roland RD2000 and Yamaha MX88.    I've got hundreds and hundreds of stock presets on both and I always have the darndest time finding something close to Hawkes's sounds on any given Cars song.

 

So this song has a very nice sounding EP or Organ.   I am bad at recognizing,   Can somebody tell me some more detail about this keyboard playing in this song?   

 

 

 

[nursers]

You've actually blown my mind with this question - for the past 40 years I've assumed that's an organ sound but it could indeed be some sort of e-piano with some tweaks, particularly in the last verse when he plays up an octave. Sadly I don't know the answer but a total guess would be some sort of Farfisa-like organ if it's not an e-piano 

[rockit31]

I need to add that I just did a little searching and I see he played a Yamaha CP30 on this song.   I guess I will look closer at my MX88 EP patches and pick something close enough.   Also,  nice website called Equipboard  that documents Greg's gear.  

Also a live concert back in the beginning for them in France.    3 song video with Best Friends Girl playing last.  

 

 

 

[Ivan May]

I believe that Greg Hawkes also used a Korg and an ARP String Ensemble on the early Cars albums.

[analogika]

The fact that it’s from 1978 severely limits the gear options. My gut instinct is a Rhodes with chorus — maybe a JC120 with the highs turned down — and compressed hard. 

[AWkeys]

Greg used the CP-30 for EP on the first few albums, IIRC.

 

 

[rockit31]

Thanks for all the input.  Yes,  it's a CP30 as witnessed on the live France video I posted.    

 

Since I have some of your attention,  there is also this note on one of his synths that he periodically hits and the note basically slides down the scale once hit and held.  The first one comes at 30 seconds into the  record.    How does one program something like this on their board?      Again,  I have a Yamaha mx88 and Roland RD2000.

[Konnector]

He used a Yamaha CP-30 electric piano and a Korg Mini-Korg 700 mono synth on that album. 

 

For the note that slides down, that would've been done using portamento on the Korg. Once you set up the proper glide time, you will need to hit a high note before the song starts, so that when you hit a low note to trigger the portamento, it will work. (Used to do that all the time.) 

 

Another way to do it is to program a separate patch using a pitch envelope so that any note you hit will glide down when played. 

 

don't think your keyboards have a pitch envelope. Those boards are primarily preset machines with limited tone editing parameters compared to some other synths.

 

You could just use the pitch wheel set to -12 or -24 (whatever sounds right) and do it manually.

 

[dazzjazz]

I love how in Good Times Roll the drummer opens the hi-hat to complement Greg Hawkes little synth riff. 

[zxcvbnm098]

I know there are others here that feel the same way I do, which is an unabashed admiration for the hooks and sounds Greg came up with in The Cars. So memorable and identifiable. Perfection.....

[obxa]

One of my all time faves.  So creative with the little he had and really inventive.

 

I still totally love that dissonant string riff  on "Touch and Go" .

 

I think worth mentioning a big part  of the  magic icing on Greg's sound was the Roland space echo on the Korg,  and whatever chorus was on that CP30.   I think later on  he used a Jupiter 4?      My first synth was a  Mini Korg  back in the day -  was always a treat to be able to replicate his sound from the early stuff. 

 

[KuruPrionz]

18 hours ago, zxcvbnm098 said:

I know there are others here that feel the same way I do, which is an unabashed admiration for the hooks and sounds Greg came up with in The Cars. So memorable and identifiable. Perfection.....

The Cars remain one of my favorite bands ever. Their first album is fantastic. 

Greg played amazingly, so did the rest of the band and the songs are great. 

[kpl1228]

The guy evolved bigtime from the first album on. From a mini-Korg to a Synclavier in a short time.

[AWkeys]

It should be noted that Greg played an ARP Omni on the first Cars record as well.

 

Also, wasn't sure if the descending sound you were referring to might be the early Pollard Syndrum that David Robinson was using. It's all over the first album, especially right up front in "Let The Good Times Roll". Seems like it might have also provided some of the ethereal sounds at the end of "Moving In Stereo" along with Greg's ARP Omni. Check this video out - right around 4:00 you can hear that down-tuned tom-tom sound: