Virginity?

[Pat Azzarello]

The first time I was really aware of synth was "Fox On The Run". I'm certain I heard them before but didn't really put 2+2 together.

 

Played: Some preset synth at a Baldwin store. Had a heckuva time not playing more than one note at a time. The first "real" synth was an Oberheim 8 voice (the SEM version, on vacation in West Covina, I played it at a music store there).

 

Owned: Arp Oddysey (never can spell that right ). It was a black face from about '74 (bought it used in '77). Couldn't afford new, and used Minimoogs were extremely rare in suburban Chicago. Sold it off long ago, but still miss it (kind of like a first girlfriend - your first synth is either a great memory or an awful scar that won't heal.

 

Coveted (OK, I'm adding on here): A mini and the old OB SEM. Someone here at work has one of the Evolver keyboards - I may need to whack him over the head and take it (or maybe I need to whack my wife over the head and buy one ).

[Reverend Rhythm]

The synth solo to ELP's Lucky Man was, I think, the first time I noticed a synth... but there was Pop Corn....

The first synth I played was an Arp 2600, in college. But I didn't own my own until the DX-7.

[Legatoboy]

-Theremin and my older brother's fascination with it as a drummer no less and his ranting to me about it in 65' and pointing it out in 50's horror flicks and it's use in psychedelica in the mid 60's (65-67).

 

-The Beatles Abby Road . . .they used it a couple of times on that LP

 

-Walter Carlos's soundtrack for a Clockwork Orange (the ol' Ludwick Van)

 

-and of course Switched on Bach

 

Then it was just showing up all over the place!

 

I had a Mini Moog in 1974 on top of my RMI piano on top of my ol Hammond CV!

 

I ain't no spring chicken either!

lb

 

[DafDuc]

Heard - Switched on Bach. Um, 1968?

 

Saw - Minimoog used by Northwind, a local Detroit prog rock band, 1971 or 72. It had a tuning mod - a light that would come on when it was "in tune", developed by their sound tech. Forget his name, but I "borrowed" his drunk girlfriend that night, LOL. Cooler heads talked me out of doing anything too awfully stupid.

 

Played - a whiteface Odyssey at a 1974 jam session in South Bend. Very cool, but had trouble figuring it out.

 

Owned - Arp Axxe, 1976. Still miss it - sold it for $65 in the late 80's when $$ and space were tight. I used to run it through a BiPhase and a Univox tape echo. I bought a blackface Odyssey to fill the void a couple years ago, but it's not My Baby. Sniff...

[kwgm]

When was the first time you heard of or became aware of a "synthesizer..."?

 

 

 

dB

 

 

It was during the physical act of love...

 

 

[retrokeys]

But did you correctly interpret the resulting profound sense of tiredness as loss of essence?

[C.J. Lewis]

It's been a long time since I last sent a post, I seem to be very busy lately.

 

Anyway, for me it was seeing a band called Landscape on a tv show called Tomorrows World all about future technology and they were showing the Roland 100M, the Microcomposer and the Lyricon. I was totally blown away. After that I bought my first music magazine and started saving up for a Casio CS01 with breath control as it was the only synth I had any chance of buying (I was still at school and a paper round only pays you so much a week). I also toyed with the idea of buying a kit synth called the Tran something 2000, can't remember the full name.

 

I ended up getting neither. I got a summer job which became permanent and blew my first months wages on a Moog Rogue. I never looked back after that. I am also a believer in things coming to those who wait. I now have an Andromeda - oooooohhhhh seeexxxxxx! ;-)

 

cheers,

 

Bassment

 

Hey Rob - glad to see you here, too.

[C.J. Lewis]

Oh, by the way...

 

Tonight, I just happened to be in one of the local Denver GC stores, and they had a copy of the first 'real' synth I ever played (being from Wyoming and all) - the Roland Super JX10 for a cool $199.

 

Alas, now I have a copy of the first 'real' synth I ever played (being from Wyoming and all), and after a little Goo Gone and some finger exercises, she cleaned up pretty well. I need the little square button that goes on the master volume slider, and a new contact for one of the 'B' keys on the lower half, but that's about it.

 

By the way, did all JX10's have a plywood bottom? (if I could ever figure out how to post pictures, I'd upload some) I don't remember that, and it doesn't seem right, but I'd be curious either way...

[Jeff_D_in_MD]

When was the first time you heard of or became aware of a "synthesizer..."?

 

Close Encounters of the Third Kind. 1977, age 14.

 

[SilverDragonSoun]

I can't remember the first synth I saw. I know the first one I wanted was the Korg Poly Six. My memory of the first synth sounds I heard though was much more prevelant for me. When I heard Frankenstein by Edgar Winter I was holy $#!* what was that unbelievable sound. My friend said that was damn cool but listen to these, at that point he played The who's teenage wasteland, won't get fooled again and Pink Floyd's Darkside of the Moon. I think I had my first musical orgasm that night.

[jimtheswede]

I can't remember the very first synth I saw or heard.

 

But I clearly remember going countless times to the keyboard dept (in the owner's office) of the biggest music store and trying to decide between the Minimoog or the Odyssey. But, what I really drooled over was an Oberheim 2 voice w/8 step sequencer at a music store way across town. It was a bit more expensive (maybe $1750 vs $1600 for the Moog & ARP), and I had never heard of Oberheim at that point. I thought the S&H on the Odyssey was way cool, so I ended up with the ARP. I've always kind of regretted not saving up for the Obie 2 voice . But, I loved exploring the sounds on the Odyssey, and spent countless hours with it and an echoplex . It's now in a case in the basement needing some serious rehab and TLC.

[Legatoboy]

SilverDragon Sound,

 

The Korg Polysix, I loved that synth. The poor mans Prophet 5!

Todd Rudgren used one live right after it came out and validated it for me. Low self esteem based on gear relationships of a 26 year old! It was half the price of a Prophet-5, single Osc though with a Sub Osc.! I thought' Real Polyphonic Men' had to play with 2 Osc's and memories of 3 on my ol' lost MiniMoog just made the feeling worse but the polysix was a kool ax for it's time! and Polyphonic. It could produce some nice timbres!

 

 

I don't think I every got that excited about a synth again till I finally understood what a Yamaha CS80 could truly do sonically, alas I never owned one! The closest I got to a CS80 beside my one close friend being a tech and tuning them constantly in Manhattan was Jackie Hotop's one night playing with Race Race Choir. Jackie had played with my other best friend in a few projects and he brought me up on stage to introduce me to him. He demoed all his stage axes for me, he was destined to work at Korg cause he had a Polysix and wouldn't stop talking about it as he was playing it for me, he had Korg fever without a doubt, he fn LOVED it. He had a CS80 on stage that night too, and I couldn't understand the Polysix fever with the CS80 sitting right there, but the Lord works in strange and wonderful ways I guess. This was about a year or so before he started working for Korg and 2 years or so before the M1 if my memory serves me!

 

I had heard Bill Payne using the CS80 on those live LF tracks if my ears served me right and I thought that was the sh#t man, WOW what a fn sound! With that aftertouch and those filters and those LFO's it was an 'Immense' sound with movement and dimension. Almost as big and heavy as a B3, man it was like the Caddy of Synths to me having played Hammonds/Leslies out for so many years!

 

lb

[kwgm]

 

I love this forum, Mandrake.

 

[The Real MC]

I knew that Billy Payne used an Oberheim SEM polysynth but never knew of him using a CS80.

[Legatoboy]

Real MC,

 

You know it may have been the OB but I could swear there is a picture with him on stage with a CS80. I know there is in fact I just can't think of were it is. On the LP Hoy Hoy the last tune with Linda Rondstat,On 'all that you dream', Thats the OB?, I always thought after I saw him with the CS80 in that picture that that was the CS80. I have found out recently with the new Waiting for Columbus package that it may have been the OB as you say. But there is a picture of him playing a CS80 somwhere! I thought some of Waiting for Columbus had CS80 on it, sounds like CS80 to me???

 

Maybe I have my CS80 sound cross-moded with those OB filters with some LF stuff but the CS80 really is a to Die-For AX as far as I'm concerned. I love it's sound!

 

lb

[Finale]

Close Encounters of the Third Kind. 1977, age 14.

 

I remember what melody the giant ET starship used to communicate. :grin:

[Steve Force]

"Popcorn" circa 1969...

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popcorn_%28instrumental%29

 

First time I ever saw a synth? Easy: ELP at Detroit Cobo Arena (1971??) Tarkus tour.

 

 

[Hammodel AV]

My best friend from elementary school, Dave Tohir (trombonist), introducted me to ELP, Rick Wakeman (wanted his keyboards from Six Wives inside album pic!), and Pink Floyd in high school. Plus one of our school friends played a B-3 and Arp Odyssey. Working at my college planetarium, I was introduced to Tomita, Jean Michel Jarre, and Vangelis, plus our extension use of Pink Floyd. Wanted an ARP or Moog in the worst way after hearing the Wakeman solo from "Sir Lancelot and the Black Knight".

[Legatoboy]

The Real MC,

 

On the bottom of this page from the Synth Museum on the CS80 it lists Billy Payne:

 

CS80 - Artists who used - very bottom of long CS80 page.

 

There was also this from a Autrias CS80V write up that lists Billy(list looks the same as above, huh!):

 

[font:Comic Sans MS]Sound generator's very own synth guru Garry Hughes spreads the word on Arturia's virtual version of the Classic CS80

 

 

Famous users have included: 10cc, Tony Banks of Genesis, Michael Boddicker, Kate Bush, Geoff Downes (Buggles, Asia), Brian Eno, Peter Frampton, Peter Gabriel, Groove Corporation, Stephen Hague, Herbie Hancock, Landscape -- bass on Einstein a Go Go, Peter Howell of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Garth Hudson, Bo Jovi, Jean-Michel Jarre, Toto, Incognito, Eddie Jobson, Daniel Lanois, Paul McCartney and Wings, Patrick Moraz, Bill Payne, George Duke, Propaganda, Peter Robinson, David Sancious, Klaus Schulz, Split Enz, ELO, Pete Townshend, Tomita, Ultravox, Vangelis, Rick Wakeman, Steve Winwood (a really distinctive sound,) ,Stevie Wonder, Vangelis and Frank Zappa.

 

For a masterclass in CS80 use you need look no further than Vangelis' score for "Blade runner" which shows off the instrument perfectly. [/font]

 

 

I think there is a good change some of the live stuff from LF from the old days has CS80 on it, might not be on Waiting for Columbus but it might be. Maybe on bootlegs. That sounds like CS80 to me though on W.F.C.. I'm not 100% familiar with the old OB SEM sound. I had an OBsx and an OB Expander once upon a time. Billy used and Expander also for a few albums and with the tour he did with James Taylor. I told him I had an OB Expander and a penchant for similiar gear (I played a Korg SGX/Pro and preferred it over a Roland RD600, both 97' vintage selections of the year) and he responded in a pretty positive way to that on an autograph line one night, his old OB connection I guess. I did see the CS80 in one of Billy's onstage photos with the CP80 SOMEWHERE! He could have very well gone from the OB SEM/Mini Moog (dependant on gig) to the CS80 and then the band disbanded with Lowell headed out on the road and his solo project with Fred Tackett, that would make sense to me!

 

The time-frame would be about right for the end of LF's 1st incarnation touring and the CS80 in active use cause the CS80 came out in 77'. If someone could nail the dates to the live Waiting for Columbus and knows if Billy did in fact have the CS80 with him, that would be cool. I personally would love to know this! The WFC album photo may not be accurate in the time line with the albums release cause he had the B3/Wurli/Minimoog rig and not even the OB SEM on the cover or liner photos as far as I can see. And whatever it is on WFC it definitely polyphonic I would say at least a 6 voice to 8 voice instrument.

 

lb

[Dave Bryce]

Famous users have included: Tony Banks of Genesis,

Really? I don't ever remember seeing a CS80 in Banks' rig...

 

dB

[Legatoboy]

Dave,

 

I realized what made me think Payne was using a CS80 on Waiting for Columbus, it was how the filters open up when he uses whatever he is using. Espically on the intro tune "Join the Band", it sounds like 'Key Pressure' is being used to open up the filter envelope not a knob or a pedal. Also the LFO depth seems to be assigned to Pressure also. I'm not so sure the OB SEM could do some of the things I hear on Waiting for Columbus cause I don't think it had Key Pressure, but I'm as fallable as anyone. I don't really know the OB SEM but I'm pretty sure the OB SEM vintage was pre Key Pressure in regards to the keyboard spec. and couldn't be used as a modulation source. If I remember correctly the CS80 was the very first instrument to have polyphonic key pressure. I'm sure alot of artists wanted the instrument in the late 70's just based on that spec. alone!

 

And as far as the list. It may be suspect as I have never know Tony Banks to use a CS80 either. Maybe he used it once on a track or at one time had a Yamaha endorsement and people got on the list that way. Sometimes those lists are like the Software world I work in. References, References, References and at some point MFG's just adds as many people as possible to the heap!

lb

 

[realtrance]

First synth I ever heard: on record, Switched on Bach, when it came out. Live, probably when I saw Edgar Winter perform live, as a teenager, when he was in his prime.

 

Played and owned: many years later, Roland XP-80. Still have it, still a fantastic synth. I can claim, for my ears, with all the cleaner, hotter, 24/96/48kHZ madness in full play now, that the XP-80's old-fashioned digital sound is, well, warmer and fuller to my ears. 32kHZ for the win!

[realtrance]

Oh and just one more small amusing anecdote: I remember as a teenager going through a phase of really being excited about synth bands, and remember getting ELP's Tarkus, Yes's Tales from Topographic Oceans, and a few others I can't recall right now, and then giving most of them away a few years later, because I thought the music sounded too mechanical and unexpressive (!). More Paganini than Chopin, if you know what I mean.

 

But then just a little while after that, without really thinking about it, I was hooked on Stevie Wonder's Innervision, and Earth, Wind and Fire, and loving synth-based (mainly in the bass) music again.

[clusterchord]

on record: EMS Synthi 100, John Keating: Space Experience

Moog Modular on Carlos's SOB II, Tomita's Firebird, TD's Rubycon and Stratosfear

minimoog n m400 on tales from topographic oceans

pro soloist n m400 on selling england by the pound n the lamb etc

 

actually "tales" album is one of my earliest audio memories.. my brother played it to me when i was six.

 

 

 

 

live: tweakin an white-faced Oddysey (mk1), in a friend's garage in SO-CA in '83. blipp blopp fizzz etc

 

 

first i owned: poly800 1984. i thought it was the greatest thing ever. hehe. followed by a dx7 (what a suprise..)

[Bosendorphen]

Famous users have included: Tony Banks of Genesis,

Really? I don't ever remember seeing a CS80 in Banks' rig...

 

dB

 

He never used it live. He said in Armando Gallo's I Know What I Like that he used it for an "orchestral backcloth" on A Curious Feeling. There's a pic of him in the book in his home studio with it. I also read he used it on Duke quite a bit.

[execlass2]

First time I knew I wanted to play keyboards (organ, to the best of my knowlege), was when I heard Cliff Richard's "We Don't Talk Anymore". I bugged my parents, so they put me in a music school and i learned classic piano. "Boring", I thought, while at it. BUT ... one day (must have been 1981/2) the school held a show in a local theatre featuring the students, and at one point two came to stage with two small keyboards, playing something that immediatly catch me. later I learned that tune was Jean-Michel Jarre's "Magnetic Fields II". That's when i learned there were keyboards thatone could not only play but also shape the sound they made, and I learned what a synthesizer was. Immediatly i started listening closer and discovered Jarre, Vangelis, A Flock Of Seagulls, Pink Floyd, Aphaville (my first record ever was "Forever Young") etc etc. The first synth I saw (from what i can recall) was in an Alphaville's clip "Sounds Like a Melody". The first one I ever played was a Roland Synth Plus 10 (Later I learned it was another name for the Alpha Juno I. My first ever synth was (after pesting my father for a couple of years) was a Casio CZ-1. Wow, such fun with it.

[The Real MC]

I have a DVD of a German TV concert of Little Feat around the time Waiting For Columbus was released.

 

Billy Payne was using the Oberheim SEM polysynth then.

 

I *do* recall a pic of Tony Banks in his home studio which included a CS-80. It was from a Genesis book about twenty years ago, with lots of gearpr0n pics. I don't think he ever used it on tour.

[GBell1961]

The first time I really noticed a synth on record was probably Lucky Man - ELP.

 

The first synth I saw was an Arp 2600 at a science fair at my high school back in the 70's. I hogged that Arp for most of the time the fair was there.

 

A few years later I bought a MicroMoog off of a fellow musician. I still have it - it needs a good cleaning and the keyboard sticks - but it is very dear to me :-)