Pim Posted October 19, 2000 Posted October 19, 2000 It all happened to me in '73. I was twelve years old and the bigger brother of my best friend played this album with car-sounds. Kraftwerk. Autobahn. The word synthesizer became a magic word to me since that day. I had to wait untill '82 before I had enough money to buy one. A Yamaha, small and grey with a mini keyboard. (CS-01??) After that came the Sequential Pro One, JX-3P, Matrix-6, Jupiter-6 etc. etc. How did it happen to you guys? My Music I always wondered what happened after the fade out?
Dave Bryce Posted October 22, 2000 Posted October 22, 2000 Not sure which came first, but for me it was three distinct things: 1) Switched-On Bach. The picture of the IIIC (at least, I think I remember it being a IIIC) on the cover alone took my breath away as a kid. 2) ELP - Pictures at an Exhibition and Tarkus. I had never heard anything like it. My cousin bought them for me when I was in 5th grade - said I'd like it. She was right. 3) A hands-on exhibit at the Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia called Do-Re-Mi Zap! All about early synths. They had a bunch of old modular stuff and ARP synths as well. I would stay there for hours - it got to the point where they knew me and would let me up on the little demo stage to play the Odyssey and the 2500 when they weren't doing shows. I've been an addict ever since. dB ==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <== Professional Affiliations: Royer Labs • Music Player Network
Peake Posted October 23, 2000 Posted October 23, 2000 When I was young, there were two things: Billy Preston's "Space Race" and the music of a game show, "The Joker's Wild", which was a snippet of a Perry and Kingsley track called "The Savers" (but I didn't know that until two years ago when I started seriously collecting "Moog" records. What a blast that was to hear coming out of my speakers!) Years later, 1978, saw a note in a stereo magazine about an album called "Cords" by Synergy, and I grabbed it. The lights came on The next year, a friend build a PAIA kit and I was hooked. Went from there to a 4-Voice and a Putney... But unlike most, I was always into the 'pure' electronic stuff like Cluster, Kraftwerk, TD and Klaus Schulze. It took years to appreciate the pure metaphor of Morton Subotnick's work. Give me the ANALOG and no one gets HURT
Jim Aikin Posted October 23, 2000 Posted October 23, 2000 My first synthesizer experiences were programming Tom Darter's ARP 2600. This was in early '76, shortly after Tom founded Keyboard; he, Dominic, and I were living in a couple of apartments on Oak Rim Court in Los Gatos. Sometimes Dominic would let me fiddle with his Minimoog (but he never let me touch the Polymoog when it came out!). A couple of years later, everybody else was buying Prophet-5s, so I bought a 4-panel Serge Modular instead. That particular Serge is now owned by Vince Clarke, I believe. Its photo has been in a British mag a couple of times. --Jim Aikin
marino Posted October 24, 2000 Posted October 24, 2000 Oh, yes. I was 11 or 12, in music already, studied piano etc. I saw a short article among the TV pages in the newspaper. It said that a famous Italian group (that's where I live) was going to appear on TV that night, premiering a new instrument called the Moog. It was even mispelled. ('Mug' or something) I heard that, and it was like a magnet. The following year I went to see Emerson Lake and Palmer live, and I was hooked. I also had a classmate who was also a piano student, with rich parents. I kept tell him about the synthesizer, and one day he showed with a Minimoog! So I played that one and learned from there. But I didn't have money, so I started BUILDING a synthesizer, with some help, out of a magazine project. It worked, but... it wasn't the same. So I started saving, and bought some of the most incredible pieces of junk: the FBT and the Davolisint, for example. When I was 15, I saw the Weather Report live, and that was the real beginning. Technology, musicianship and creativity were linked forever for me. I started taking lessons in electronic music, and playing jazz at the same time. Also kept studying piano, composition... I was hungry. By the age of 19 I was a musician. Always been. I'm still a pianist, I'm still a synthetist, in no particular order. My grand piano and 12 synthesizers are in front of me. (sorry for the long post, you provoked me! Be thankful I spared you the whole story to this day...)
Guest Posted October 24, 2000 Posted October 24, 2000 I first heard a synthesizer live in 1970 or '71. The Gershon Kingsley Moog Quartet performed in a small auditorim at a local college. What was cool was that these were very accomplished players, each with a Moog modular. The sound was phenomenal. They had Bose speakers in the four corners (front and back), so they could place Moog #1 front-left, Moog #2 front-right, #3 rear-left, etc. Quadraphonic four part Bach inventions, criss-crossing fliter sweeps, etc. Simply amazing in the early '70s. In many ways, it's been down hill for me from there. Shortly after that experience I purchased a Minimoog sight unseen. I had never heard or played one (no music stores carried them in 1971). I traded a Hammond M3 with Leslie + $750 for a clear pitch/mod wheel Mini. What a blast.
Guest Posted December 13, 2000 Posted December 13, 2000 Well, let me start by saying this is definitely one of the best forums I've been too. I'm a hobbist keyboard player, too chicken to ever go ever play professionally (played in a few cover bands) but having a good enough job nowadays to allow me to buy nice gear. Thanks for making me waste 2 hours at work while i looked at the old postings. :-) Well, let's say my start in synthesizers came with an album that my dad got back in 1979, I think, that was just called Moog. It had the previously mentioned Perry and Kingsley track called "The Savers", as well as some other stuff played in a moog. I actually didn't 'find' this album till 1983... around the same time I started taking organ lessons (yeah, those home organs with the dual keyboard and the pedals) First synth was a Poly 800 in 86(yeah, laugh it out), but coming from a cheap casio and the crappy home organ that was a huge improvement. Growing up in Brazil, and still being in high school, having a poly was the equivalent of having a dx7 at the time. Next synth was a big steup, got a korg ds-8. I still remembering playing a battle of the bands my sophmore year with the korg setup from hell, the ds-8 and poly, plus a dw6000 and a dw8000.
Guest Posted December 13, 2000 Posted December 13, 2000 I got seriously turned on to synthesizers around 1979, after hearing a Rick Wakeman (Statue of Justice) song on the radio in Singapore. Up till that point I had heard stuff like the Beatles "Because", "Popcorn", Jean Michel Jarre etc. That was enough to tell me that you could do cool things with a synthesizer, but it didn't get into the excitement of "you can play cool stuff on a synth, yourself" until I heard Rick. I called all around Singapore until I found a record store on the north side of the island that had the album. Went out and got it and...... found that the song I heard on the radio was the only song I really liked. Still, the song was so cool that I went on a tear, buying Genesis, Yes, ELP etc. Around this time I was hanging out with some guitar guys who though this stuff was unplayable, so it became my proud habit to play these pieces to their oohs and aahs. I had an electronic organ... so portamento became glissando.... but they were very forgiving. The next watershed was "Chariots of Fire" the film. I saw it before I knew about Vangelis. The film was moving as was the music. I think that was the time I decided that there were phenomenal powers of expression in these instruments, but only a few could unlock them without using them for cheap efect ("Ring My Bell" was being played at all the dance parties at that time.) A few years later, I was playing in a church band, in Texas. They had a nice 7 foot Yamaha, but they wanted to buy a synth for me to play sustained sounds with. I remember auditioning three synths: a JX8P, a DX&, and an Ensoniq Mirage. I remember making the case for the JX, "even though it doesn't have good electronic piano and wind instruments in it." I was making a decision by the presets of course. The decision was taken away from us because an entire jazz fusion band joined the church, bringing their instruments with them. The keyboardist had a DX7 AND a JX10... so I was able to pursue my interest in electronic sound by switching seats with him from time to time. The itch is still there today... the promise of new sounds and new forms of expression... all locked within electronic circuitry and programming code. Waiting for a new key to unlock it afresh. Cheers, Jerry www.tuskerfort.com
Dave Bryce Posted September 17, 2001 Posted September 17, 2001 I dragged this one up from the back pages of the forum. I'm always interested to hear what it is that got people into this bizarre little addiction of ours... What's your story? dB ==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <== Professional Affiliations: Royer Labs • Music Player Network
nursers Posted September 17, 2001 Posted September 17, 2001 1983 - at school doing a visualisation exercise as part of a Drama class. Teacher blacked out the lights, made us all lay on the floor and close our eyes, and then played "Oxygene IV" by John-Michel Jarre. Never been the same since http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif ------------------ www.mp3.com/thirdstoreystory 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
b_3guy Posted September 17, 2001 Posted September 17, 2001 I've always been this way. I don't remember any different. The Forum is my support group. I keep looking for a thread titled "The Twelve Steps . . ." Steve www.seagullphotodesign.com
Mr Blab Blab Bla Posted September 17, 2001 Posted September 17, 2001 Hearing Jean Michel Jarres Oxygen back in 1977 when it was in the British charts (think it got to no.4 in the singles charts... would that have ever happened in the US?).. also Hot Butters Popcorn was a great tune.. I got more serious about synths when i heard Tangerine Dreams Cyclone LP (a true masterpiece, but every T Dream fan hates it!) and then when I heard their score to The Keep in 1983 i was hooked. Later hearing Herbie Hancock on Headhunters made a rhodes addict of me and I kinda went away from synths and into jazz piano.. but I still love the sound of an Arp String Ensemble! Oh wait... thats wrong.. the first tune i ever heard with synths was Stevie Wonders "Superwoman" which I heard back in 73. Never heard anything like that since... what a bass line, and what a great lead sound topped with the most lucious Rhodes suitcase sound ever... peace Neil
R_dup1 Posted September 18, 2001 Posted September 18, 2001 A stereo store I used to go into to lust after the hi-fi gear of the time, maybe 1977-8? had a picture of an ARP 2600 that just took my breath away. It looked so cool I couldn't imagine learning how to play with it. I learned that it was called a synthesizer and I just wanted one to learn. I finally saved enough to get my first one, a Multivox MX-3000. I played with it for days before finally coming out of my room. By then, I could make helicopter noises, bird chirps, whistling noises and all sorts of fun weird sounds. From there it was Crumar Performer, Moog Prodigy, Prophet 5, etc., etc. Only later did I learn how to play piano, but boy those synths sure are special beasts!!
MusicWorkz Posted September 18, 2001 Posted September 18, 2001 1980 or so. During HBO's early days, Earth, Wind & Fire did a concert when they had the hit single "Let's Groove". Hearing the sounds and seeing Larry Dunn surrounded by mountains Moog's and Arp's really got to me. When I got to HS, the music teacher was fairly progressive and had an Arp Quadra that he was fixing. I got some hands on experience in programming that still benefits me to this day.he also had a 4-track Teac and a Roland TB-303 that I would use. All that and those little plastic 45's that used to be in Keyboard Magazine featuring Chuck Levell and others left a serious impression on me and immediately afflicted me with G.A.S.. Yamaha (Motif XS7, Motif 6, TX81Z), Korg (R3, Triton-R), Roland (XP-30, D-50, Juno 6, P-330). Novation A Station, Arturia Analog Experience Factory 32
Magpel Posted September 18, 2001 Posted September 18, 2001 It's not too far-fetched to suggest that it "all started" here for me. I've been a synth user for well over a decade, but really a preset neophyte exlusively, interested only in decent acoustic emulations with which I would try to perform the most life-like performances I could muster. To that end, my first synth was not a synth at all: a Roland U20, damn good sample playback board in its day, but almost entirely unprogrammable beyond velocity curves and chorus amount, you know? It was a perfect fit for me at the time. Only in the past year or so has my interest turned to really getting inside of synthesizers, by way of a revelation that my acoustic emulations were never going to be good enough and that it is a fool's pursuit anyway. I've had to accept my identity as primarily an electronic musician and then set out to learn all that that entails. This forum has been an enormous inpiration and source of knowledge, as well as a gear lust aphrodisiac. John Check out the Sweet Clementines CD at bandcamp
SFOracle Posted September 18, 2001 Posted September 18, 2001 I was a pianist first, but my older brother needed a keyboard player for his band - so he bullied and coerced me into playing. I had little Roland synth about 6 or 8 preset sounds - can't remember the model, but the only useful sounds were strings and a cheezy organ. I also had and a Rhodes 73 stage piano. At one point I recall my bro used duct tape to tape off all the octave or so of keys on the Rhodes so that I wouldn't jump all over his bass parts with my left hand. He was a bit of a tyrant at times, but eventually I learned to make space in the mix. My chops also improved and by the time the DX7 came out (which I rushed out to buy) I was rockin. At some point in a moment of foolishness, I sold my Rhodes 73 'cause I thought the sound was dated. Doh - was that dumb! Do you know what I replaced it with? A Yamaha PF-15 - talk about a dated sound. Don. Our country is not the only thing to which we owe our allegiance. It is also owed to justice and to humanity. Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong: James Bryce
SFOracle Posted September 18, 2001 Posted September 18, 2001 I was a pianist first, but my older brother needed a keyboard player for his band - so he bullied and coerced me into playing. I had little Roland synth about 6 or 8 preset sounds - can't remember the model, but the only useful sounds were strings and a cheezy organ. I also had and a Rhodes 73 stage piano. At one point I recall my bro used duct tape to tape off all the octave or so of keys on the Rhodes so that I wouldn't jump all over his bass parts with my left hand. He was a bit of a tyrant at times, but eventually I learned to make space in the mix. My chops also improved and by the time the DX7 came out (which I rushed out to buy) I was rockin. At some point in a moment of foolishness, I sold my Rhodes 73 'cause I thought the sound was dated. Doh - was that dumb! Do you know what I replaced it with? A Yamaha PF-15 - talk about a dated sound. Don. Our country is not the only thing to which we owe our allegiance. It is also owed to justice and to humanity. Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong: James Bryce
Pat Azzarello Posted September 18, 2001 Posted September 18, 2001 It had to be about 74 or 75 for me ( was 13 or 14). It started with hearing some of the pop records (Frankenstein, etc.). Then I heard a local band play Karn Evil 9, 1st Impression (2nd part) and I was hooked. Keith definitely got the testocerone going for piano players... Looking back on it, that band didn't do a great job (didn't even have the S/H thing down - just did some octave arpeggios - and it was an Arp Axxe (which did have S/H, but I digress)). Did weird stuff with my Rhodes (phasers, feedback, etc) and Farfisa for a couple of years until I could afford a used Arp Oddysey when I was 16 or 17 (black face, with a pitch pot, not PPV or whatever they called those pads). Freaked out the neighbors for about a week with filter sweeps, lasers, S/H, and other weird stuff. Boy, were my folks patient. Never got into modulars, though. By the time I was in college the electronic music craze in universities had passed, though at DePaul we had a Moog III that just sat in a lab, unused (wish I could go back). Even at limited time at Berklee I didn't get to play synth at all, although I did have Dave Mash (I think he was later the electronic music chair) for a related class (theory?). He and I had a number of after-class discussions on synthesizer theory - cool guy. Pat http://www.patazzarello.com
Llarion Posted September 18, 2001 Posted September 18, 2001 Oh, man. I was so lucky. My MIDDLE SCHOOL (6th - 8th grade) bought a Mini Moog (or was it a micro?) in 1978. I got to twiddle to my young heart's content. Our Rock Ensemble that year did lots of Steve Miller (I was the drummer though.. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif ) It was great coming up in a school system that was one of the more musical on the east coast... My first keyboard was my Rhodes, then my Juno-106, then my RD500, then my Triton 61... I still have em all. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif ------------------ Cheers! Phil "Llarion: The Jazzinator" Traynor www.mp3.com/llarion Smooth Jazz Cheers! Phil "Llarion: The Jazzinator" Traynor www.llarion.com Smooth Jazz - QUESTION AUTHORITY. Go ahead, ask me anything. http://www.llarion.com/images/dichotomybanner.jpg
Botch. Posted September 18, 2001 Posted September 18, 2001 Because my folks subjected me to so much country music when I was growing up, synths didn't hit me until some awards show on TV, and there was Edgar Winter doing "Frankenstein". Aaahhhhhh..... Botch "Eccentric language often is symptomatic of peculiar thinking" - George Will www.puddlestone.net
Gus Lozada Posted September 19, 2001 Posted September 19, 2001 Originally posted by pim@dancewave.nl: How did it happen to you guys? It happened like this, at my dad's KAWAI organ... http://iuma.speedera.net/artists3.iuma.com/IUMA/Bands/TraX/images/lg-83249.jpg ... http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif What a cute guy, right? (yeah, that's ME!, 1979) Anyone of you have some similar pics? ----- Gus Lozada This message has been edited by GusTraX on 09-19-2001 at 02:39 AM Músico, Productor, Ingeniero, Tecnólogo Senior Product Manager, América Latina y Caribe - PreSonus at Fender Musical Instruments Company Instagram: guslozada Facebook: Lozada - Música y Tecnología www.guslozada.com
coyote Posted September 19, 2001 Posted September 19, 2001 For me it wasn't so much synths, but Hammonds. My first rock concert ever was Deep Purple in NYC in 1974. Jon Lord was just incredible - and I recognized the sound as something I'd heard on other records in my collection. Someone told me it was a Hammond organ.... In the years following I became a drummer, then learned how to play guitar & bass. But that sound was always in my head, and I relished the opportunities to play w/ keyboardists who played Hammond. Then a few years ago I finally bought a house of my own. The first addition I made was a Hammond CV, and then upgraded to an A100. I even bought an analog-modeling JP8000 to get that 'synth' thing happening. But the Hammond was the key - without it I would not have gotten the keyboard 'bug' the way I have it. I used to think I was Libertarian. Until I saw their platform; now I know I'm no more Libertarian than I am RepubliCrat or neoCON or Liberal or Socialist. This ain't no track meet; this is football.
surfjazz Posted September 19, 2001 Posted September 19, 2001 well... im much younger than you guys but i started out with a roland d-5 and then an alesis qs-7 then a yamaha cs2x and pretty soon a korg karma... the more the better and keep all your old synths, they will bring many riches when sold later on! keep your fingers on the keys...
MusicWorkz Posted September 20, 2001 Posted September 20, 2001 Originally posted by surfjazz: ...the more the better and keep all your old synths, they will bring many riches when sold later on! ... If that is why you are keeping your old keyboards, then you might as well sell them now. I think the whole point of keeping gear is two-fold, and has little to do with financial gain: 1. Using vintage gear will help you develop a sound all your own and provide inspiration when you least expect it. If in good working order, the gear will always be useful and will always be a source for giving you some musical 'umph' when you least expect it. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/cool.gif 2. Vintage gear also provides a welcomed bit of nostalgia back to less complicated times years later when you start to remember what your 'early' days were like. When I play my D-50, almost always am I transported back to Sam Ash on Queens Blvd in NYC when I played the Fantasia and Digital Native Dance patches for the first time and was enamored for hours on end with the sounds that keyboard made. It lead to me buying one, and still to this day, I always get a 'where did you get such-and-such sound from' question when I use the D-50 on a track... http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif This message has been edited by MusicWorkz on 09-20-2001 at 10:36 AM Yamaha (Motif XS7, Motif 6, TX81Z), Korg (R3, Triton-R), Roland (XP-30, D-50, Juno 6, P-330). Novation A Station, Arturia Analog Experience Factory 32
Pat Azzarello Posted September 21, 2001 Posted September 21, 2001 Originally posted by PatAzz: It started with hearing some of the pop records (Frankenstein, etc.). There was another tune that had a big impact on me, but was on the fringe of my memory. For some reason I kept thinking "Head East" but that wasn't it. It came to me last night. "Fox on the Run"... it had that minimoog lick with some portamento, etc. I wonder if it's still in print somewhere? Pat http://www.patazzarello.com
surfjazz Posted September 22, 2001 Posted September 22, 2001 Originally posted by MusicWorkz: If that is why you are keeping your old keyboards, then you might as well sell them now. I think the whole point of keeping gear is two-fold, and has little to do with financial gain: 1. Using vintage gear will help you develop a sound all your own and provide inspiration when you least expect it. If in good working order, the gear will always be useful and will always be a source for giving you some musical 'umph' when you least expect it. http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/cool.gif 2. Vintage gear also provides a welcomed bit of nostalgia back to less complicated times years later when you start to remember what your 'early' days were like. When I play my D-50, almost always am I transported back to Sam Ash on Queens Blvd in NYC when I played the Fantasia and Digital Native Dance patches for the first time and was enamored for hours on end with the sounds that keyboard made. It lead to me buying one, and still to this day, I always get a 'where did you get such-and-such sound from' question when I use the D-50 on a track... http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif This message has been edited by MusicWorkz on 09-20-2001 at 10:36 AM [/QU i wasnt harping on the whole idea of selling the things... i just was implying that they will be worth more if you keep them out of other peoples hands... truly the real value lies in thier meaning to the musician,my d-5 will always help define my sound and therefore i will hold onto it{not to mention it isalmost in the vintage synth status}...
notazappa Posted September 22, 2001 Posted September 22, 2001 I think the year was 1979 or 1980. Two names: Billy Joel and Kansas. Bought their records, tried to remember what little I had learned from piano lessons as a kid. Then I saw Kansas in concert. Kerry Livgren (?) would play chords while doing handstands on his board! Then I saw Billy Joel live, and realized what an incredible tool a keyboard could be in the hands of a great songwriter. That was all it took.
Doctor Frankensteinway Posted September 22, 2001 Posted September 22, 2001 How did it all start? At the piano. Ruler-rapped knuckles and all. All the guys in grade two laughed at me for taking piano lessons. Look who's laughing now! Well, um they are still . .. but ... well... I can play 'House of the Rising Sun' and they can't. First Inspiration: being 6 years old and taken by parents to "Yellow Submarine" in the movie theatre. All that music etched itself on my brain. Then somehow when I was about ten somebody gave me this Doctor John album . . my mind has never been the same since. Keyboard Inspiration: Wanted a Hammond, got a Farfisa . . . Met Igor when I was very young. He always understood the importance of taking the lid of your keyboard and mucking about with the wires. First Synth: ARP Explorer, but the high school I was at had this program of music history and composition featuring a small, patchable, modular synth with all the basics. Favorite Synth Ever: Would have to be these three - Moog Memorymoog, Oberhem 8-voice and the Yamaha CS-80. With perhaps the CS-80 simply being the most fun to play. Keyboard Influences: Garth Hudson, Doctor John, Elton John (up to and including Yellow Brick Road), Emmerson, Seth Justman, Wakeman, Greg Allman, Terry Adams, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard. Influential Moment Along the Way: Being about 12 or 11 and seeing "American Graffiti" and getting the album. That synth part in Del Shannon's "Runaway" and of course "Green Onions" riveted me. That fusing of sound and song. Oh yeah? That's fine for you, you're an accepted member of the entertainment community. What about me? What about Igor? Marginalized by Hollywood yet again. I want my Mummy . . .
MusicWorkz Posted September 24, 2001 Posted September 24, 2001 Originally posted by surfjazz: Originally posted by MusicWorkz: i just was implying that they will be worth more if you keep them out of other peoples hands... truly the real value lies in thier meaning to the musician,my d-5 will always help define my sound and therefore i will hold onto it{not to mention it isalmost in the vintage synth status}... You should know by now us musicians are sensitive about these things... http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif Yamaha (Motif XS7, Motif 6, TX81Z), Korg (R3, Triton-R), Roland (XP-30, D-50, Juno 6, P-330). Novation A Station, Arturia Analog Experience Factory 32
Pat Azzarello Posted September 24, 2001 Posted September 24, 2001 Originally posted by notazappa: Then I saw Kansas in concert. Kerry Livgren (?) would play chords while doing handstands on his board! That would be Steve Walsh (keys/vocals). I saw him in '95 and he was still doing handstands (then playing the solo in Carry on Wayward Son). Pat http://www.patazzarello.com
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