Soundscape Studios. Posted July 24, 2005 Share Posted July 24, 2005 Vince Clarke is undoubdetly not an unknown in this forum, but I seldom hear bout his work talked about. This track in particular is one of Vince's finest IMO.Besides for all of the obvious leads, basslines and other elements in this song, one thing in particular blew me away... There is a small segment in which there is a synth lead for a total of 2 seconds - yes 2 seconds, at 4:20 in the track. Now, I don't know what this does for anybody else, that line really does it for me. So well placed, short, yet effective. It is such a contrast to the long DT type leads that we are all accustomed too (not that they are bad!) Anybody have any synth info on this one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Fortner Posted July 24, 2005 Share Posted July 24, 2005 One of the most popping quotes of all time is from Vince Clarke, I believe from sometime in the mid-80's: "I hate MIDI. It's so out of time, and gives such a consistently sloshy sound. It's crap." Then there's this gem, from the song "Losing my Edge" of the LCD Soundsystem record: "You say you're buying a synthesizer / With an arpeggiator / And throwing your computer out the window / Because you wanna make something real / You wanna make a Yaz record." Stephen Fortner Principal, Fortner Media Former Editor in Chief, Keyboard Magazine Digital Piano Consultant, Piano Buyer Magazine Industry affiliations: Antares, Arturia, Giles Communications, MS Media, Polyverse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soundscape Studios. Posted July 24, 2005 Author Share Posted July 24, 2005 So if he hated MIDI, how then did he make his music? Yeah - I remember the keyboard issue from way back where he stated his crazy timing preferences. 1 ms really did count to Vince! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Fortner Posted July 24, 2005 Share Posted July 24, 2005 A couple of thoughts, certainly not things I know for sure...\ -IIRC, voltage-controlled analog sequencers and so forth were used on those early records. Tangerine Dream didn't use a lot of MIDI either in the early days, and they just put out some incredible stuff. -I think he played a lot of the parts live. I should research this. Stephen Fortner Principal, Fortner Media Former Editor in Chief, Keyboard Magazine Digital Piano Consultant, Piano Buyer Magazine Industry affiliations: Antares, Arturia, Giles Communications, MS Media, Polyverse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soundscape Studios. Posted July 24, 2005 Author Share Posted July 24, 2005 Wow - now that is just insane! I guess all that stuff was really a precursor to Midi, but without the timing instabilities. Wouldn't it be great if Midi had been implemented better somehow, so that all of these things wouln't be issues? Now, if he did play alot of that stuff live though, I'll eat my hat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waveterm Posted July 24, 2005 Share Posted July 24, 2005 Aah Vince........one of the greatest songwriters/programmers/synthesists there ever was/is. Vince still uses his analogue sequencers ( Roland MC-4B and ARP 1613/23 among others ) to this day. Although I hear the latest Erasure release was made on a laptop, completely ! For a number of years, Vnce has been composing on an ancient BBC Micro computer with a Midi software/hardware package. This has been converted to CV/Gate into the MC-4B before being transferred to tape/harddisc. Not the easiest way of doing things but totally worth it, trust me :-) If you want super tight and no jitter, skip Midi and go either totally softsynth or totally retro vintage. WT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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