Were 1970’s keyboardists sponsored? (Wakeman, Emerson, etc.)

[Sundown]

Hey all,

 

I’ve often wondered if artists like Rick Wakeman, Keith Emerson, etc. were sponsored or otherwise aligned to specific keyboard companies.

 

For example, RIck had a decent budget based on his 70’s rig, but you would never find an ARP or Sequential instrument in his stable (that I can remember). All of his oscillator-based synths were Moogs. I think about what Tormato would have sounded like with a Prophet 5 instead of a Polymoog. To be fair, the timing would be cutting it close (Tormato sessions began in Feb 1978). 

 

A similar question with Keith … He had his massive GX1 and his Moog Modular, but I can’t ever recall an instance when he was using an ARP, etc. And it’s not just about portability or road worthiness .. Edgar Winter was certainly using a 2600.

 

With so few options at the time, I would think any new invention would be scooped up and added to the arsenal, regardless of brand. 

 

Any thoughts?

 

Todd

[Baldwin Funster]

I'm thinking players like Emerson and Wakeman were bigger names than any keyboard companies in the 70s and the sponsorship went the other way. Moog needed Emerson more than Emerson needed Moog. 

I might be wrong though.

[apple]

There was something of a thing that if you played Moogs you didn't play ARPS and Vice Versa.

 

[Thethirdapple]

Didn't early synths have the whole “east coast-west coast” marketing bonanza of which is better?

 

Perhaps also musicians during the advent of “synths” were much more locked into particular pieces of gear simply because of the actual time needed to create a signature sound from that synth. Even musicians pushing the boundaries with a studio full of gear, each piece did “one” thing and one thing really well, which could not be replicated on any other piece of gear.

 

Every guitarist can pretty much pick up any guitar and play “their” song. Every drummer can sit on any throne and create a beat. Every singer can just sing into any mic. YES, YES, there are vast nuances within those categories. But in 1975 if I learned to create “my” signature on a synth, well there was almost no way to just transfer that to some other synth. Piano yes, synth not so much… The Juno6 is what I have had as “my reference” since ‘82, hard to completely switch that base line expectation even with todays awesome gear.

 

 I can see how musicians became the driving force (along with engineers, programmers etc) in so many advances which the big3 HAD to accommodate to stay relevant. Rocks stars and the like were the gear influencers of days past.

 

From my limited experience, its impossible to know if the likes of Emerson in the past or Rudess still today, having honed their sounds and skill with Korg’s products, are the driving force or is it the other way around?!?! Someone I respect very much who was a part of the Korg team back in the day makes it very clear that “patches” and programming is/was very specific to the architecture of each synth, some parameters transfer easily while some others not at all.
 

My guess is that musicians still drive the innovations! Which then follows that the big3 and famous musicians “choose” partnerships to further develop the sound they want and its a cross pollination rather than a sponsorship.

Now Saxophones, well thats a rabbit hole of G.A.S. If ever…

 

 

 

 

 

PEACE

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[Ed A.]

8 hours ago, apple said:

There was something of a thing that if you played Moogs you didn't play ARPS and Vice Versa.

 

I had a Minimoog, Memorymoog and an ARP 2600 with ARP sequencer back in the day, but I know what you mean, It seems like most synth players took sides.

[Docbop]

Coming from the guitar world endorsements weren't a thing until late 70's and beyond.   Companies would give instruments to big names to get them to try and hopefully use them, but no endorsement deals until later.  Then many guitar fans learned to ignore what guitarists would be seen with in public photos or in concert, if you wanted to know what they really liked you'd have to find out what they recorded with.  

[StickMan393]

They were definitely not sponsored, and Keith Emerson has written about this :).

On the other hand, Emerson got to play with Moog prototypes and i don't think Brain Salad Surgery would have been the same without them. Or the tour that followed.

 

Wakeman I'm not so sure about, didn't he have his own company making Birotrons or whatever? That's the opposite of sponsored

[Tusker]

1 hour ago, StickMan393 said:

On the other hand, Emerson got to play with Moog prototypes and i don't think Brain Salad Surgery would have been the same without them.

 

I enjoyed Marc Doty's description of how Keith Emerson helped Moog refine their concepts of polyphonic synthesis, helping to get from the Moog Apollo to the Moog Polymoog. The Emerson part starts out five minutes into the video.

[The Real MC]

Wakeman used a Prophet-5 with Yes during the late 1970s.

 

Both Wakeman and Emerson were Korg endorsee in the early 1980s, their first endorsement.  Emerson had a Korg PS-3100 and 3300, Wakeman had several Korgs his noted favorite being the Trident.

Keyboard companies during the 1970s listed "artists" but didn't have endorsements or gift their products.  One exception was Rhodes pianos.

[ProfD]

6 hours ago, Thethirdapple said:

My guess is that musicians still drive the innovations! Which then follows that the big3 and famous musicians “choose” partnerships to further develop the sound they want and its a cross pollination rather than a sponsorship.

I don't see any modern-day KB heroes getting endorsements or pioneering sound design similar to yesteryear.

 

Nowadays, there are musicians whose side gig is demoing gear as a YouTube influencer.

 

Otherwise, there's no manufacturer innovation in sound design inspired by famous musicians.

 

Manufacturers are recycling the same aounds with every iteration of a *new* KB. Not to be undone, they are rehashing old KB technology too.  No innovation.😎

 

[Sundown]

1 hour ago, The Real MC said:

Wakeman used a Prophet-5 with Yes during the late 1970s.

 

I stand corrected. I looked it up and there is an article/interview that confirms he later had a Prophet 5.

 

Todd

[StickMan393]

4 hours ago, The Real MC said:

Both Wakeman and Emerson were Korg endorsee in the early 1980s, their first endorsement.  Emerson had a Korg PS-3100 and 3300, Wakeman had several Korgs his noted favorite being the Trident.

You're right! How could i have forgotten that. I feel like that came later than the classic 70's touring period, though. In the 80's there was a lot of Korg endorsements, yeah.

[The Real MC]

4 hours ago, ProfD said:

No innovation.😎

 

I beg to differ

 

 

[ProfD]

57 minutes ago, The Real MC said:

 

I beg to differ

 

 

Very cool looking piece of gear.😎

[retrokeys]

In my hometown in the 1970s when I earned the majority of cash from gigs ( the rest was a grad school assistantship) I was sort of sponsored. My favorite music store would let me take out the latest Korgs.   It was fun but I have to admit that in those days I thought the instrument was something of a gimmick. Most resembled, to my ear at least, a sort of tuned police siren or a machine for making somewhat interesting "fweep fweep" noises. Of course these were monophonic and therefore seemingly limited to a keyboard player at the time.   Point is that the synths available to most of us were a a cut below what the Emersons and Wakemans got and were nowhere near what was available only a few years later.

[wineandkeyz]

The details are a little hazy in my dotage, but I recall an interview (in Keyboard magazine, maybe?) with Keith Emerson in which he complained that keyboard manufacturers didn't sponsor musicians such as himself. I've tried to find the interview on the interwebz but have failed. As I recall, he said Greg Lake and Carl Palmer were always getting free guitar and percussion gear, but he had to purchase everything. He talked about how, even though he had purchased and toured a $60,000 Yamaha GX-1, that Yamaha didn't even mention to him that they were developing the DX-7. He only found out about during a tour in Japan or something. Does anyone else remember reading that interview?

[ProfD]

4 hours ago, wineandkeyz said:

The details are a little hazy in my dotage, but I recall an interview (in Keyboard magazine, maybe?) with Keith Emerson in which he complained that keyboard manufacturers didn't sponsor musicians such as himself.

 

He talked about how, even though he had purchased and toured a $60,000 Yamaha GX-1, that Yamaha didn't even mention to him that they were developing the DX-7. He only found out about during a tour in Japan or something.

Well, if lack of sponsorship is true in Keith Emerson's case, KB players have been the Rodney Dangerfield's (I can't get no respect) in bands for a very long time.🤣

 

 Now, I do remember Emerson endorsing Alesis. Still disrespectful.😁😎

[NewImprov]

I remember this ad, and I can't imagine Joe Z not getting paid for it:

[StickMan393]

21 hours ago, ProfD said:

I do remember Emerson endorsing Alesis

Were the "Emerson Patches" Voice Crystal memory cards for the Alesis?