The Classic Keys thread

**bassybill** · #1 12-22-2011, 07:10 AM

Many of you will already know I'm a huge fan of classic keyboard instruments. I thought it might be fun to post a few more clips of these as examples of why they sound so cool, and also maybe make some recommendations for software versions for those of us who can't afford the expense and/or inconvenience of the real things. I think I started another thread on these lines a while back, to be honest, but in a slightly different format. Anyway, it's always fun to see more clips. I'll start...

HAMMOND B3
Four Hammond B3's playing The Cat - YouTube
VSTi recommendation - GSi - Soundware for musicians
Guido has done a great job modelling this instrument.

FENDER RHODES
Deodato - Carly and Carole - YouTube
Nice solo on this Deodato track.

WURLITZER PIANO
GoodBye Stranger by SuperTramp - YouTube
My favourite bit of Supertramp.

For both these pianos, I like Lounge Lizard by AAS.
AAS - Lounge Lizard EP-3 - Electric piano VST, VSTi, Audio Unit (AU), and RTAS plug-in

And my favourite polysynth (although I'm sure I'll be adding a few more), the Oberheim OB-X, immortalised by Van Halen.
Van Halen - Jump (HQ music video) - YouTube

This is the best virtual synth I have for copping the Oberheim vibe, but it also does much, much more.
OP-X PRO-II - Virtual Oberheim Clone - Description

There's sound clips on the webpages of all the instruments listed. I have no affiliation to any of these companies other than as a very satisfied customer and user.

So, will this thread fly, I wonder? Let's have some of your examples and suggestions.

avvie · #2 12-22-2011, 09:40 AM

Donald Fagan's (Steely Dan) signature sound post-Gaucho is AFAICT a Wurlitzer piano run through a phaser. I absolutely LOVE it. Most people probably have heard it on that shopping mall standard, Steely Dan's "Hey Nineteen".

Another huge fave is the ARP Solina Strings Ensemble, also run through a phaser or even a heavy chorus to give it some 'sheen'. Hear it in Gary Wright's "Dream Weaver", Exile's "I Want To Kiss You All Over", Styx's "Come Sail Away" right at the beginning of the keyboard solos. I'm a little bummed out because I started to 'resurrect' that sound in my own recordings and now I'm starting to hear it in current pop/rock. Hey, what can I say?... I'm a trendsetter...and I have a thing for phasers...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu9HQ9JQ6e4

The Solina Strings Ensemble without a phaser was- at it's introduction around '74- sortof a modernized drawboard organ-like synth attempting to sound like orchestral strings (obviously). It's most famous appearance was in Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond". It was first generation tech and still sounded very artificial, but became magic when phased.

**bassybill** · #3 12-22-2011, 09:56 AM

Avvie, I have to agree about the Fagen sound.

Donald Fagen Green Flower Street (HQ) - YouTube

This second tune is my own favourite example of that swirling lush Solina strings sound. This is a great version of the old Joni Mitchell song with some great guitar work by the late Gary Moore (it might come as a bit of a revelation who are familar with his stuff with Thin Lizzy, G-Force and his later blues incarnation). Dan Airey's keyboard playing in the middle section is also superb. Some of you might thank me for sharing this little gem if you haven't heard it before.

COLOSSEUM II Strange New Flesh 02 down to you.wmv - YouTube

avvie · #4 12-22-2011, 10:09 AM

That Carly and Carole track is SOOO 1972... with the woodwinds and the Rhodes...

I love the Rhodes in it's dry form... HATED it when Dennis DeYoung and every soul crooner cranked up the chorus on it and turned it into that godawful sappy love song piano that saturated the 80's. For you young'uns, it sounded like this:

Styx - Babe - YouTube

I don't know if DeYoung was the first to use it like this or not... this track was from 1979 and I know that thousands of copycat love songs were released after that time...but I've hated him ever since.

avvie · #5 12-22-2011, 10:14 AM

Quote:

This second tune is my own favourite example of that swirling lush Solina strings sound.

Had to go dig out my plaid polyester and honky fro after listening to that!

BTW, that Mitchell album- Court And Spark- was a perfect example of that '72 Rhodes and woodwinds sound... especially "Just Like This Train".

PDGood · #6 12-22-2011, 10:19 AM

I've been a fan of most of the ones you've listed bassybill, and owned many of them. I've still got my Yamaha DX7IIFD from the 70s. I got way into programming it at the time. A good friend was the Yamaha rep and he got me sound discs that weren't available to the public.

I played a Wurlitzer for many years before that, and as much as I love Steely Dan and Wurlitzers, that sounds like a Rhodes to me on Hey Nineteen. Supertramp is the Wurly sound.

PDGood · #7 12-22-2011, 10:21 AM

One of my favorite Rhodes sounds is on Still Crazy After All These Years.

avvie · #8 12-22-2011, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PDGood

as much as I love Steely Dan and Wurlitzers, that sounds like a Rhodes to me on Hey Nineteen. Supertramp is the Wurly sound.

Now we have a mystery to solve! I've always thought the exact opposite. Of course they're both more similar than they are dissimilar.

avvie · #9 12-22-2011, 10:39 AM

BTW, I'd like to introduce you to a band you've never heard of and never will outside of this post. Keys, sax, drums and bass, and it's great grooves.

The Brothers' Love and Movie by Hipbone | Album | Listen for Free and Download

elgecko · #10 12-22-2011, 10:45 AM

I think these are Clavinet. Way killer sound!

BOB MARLEY ( Concrete Jungle ) - YouTube

Stevie Wonder Superstition - YouTube

Passinwind · #11 12-22-2011, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassybill

So, will this thread fly, I wonder? Let's have some of your examples and suggestions.

My very first tech job was at ARP, ca. 1977. Pretty much all of the stuff in production then was cool, but the 2500 has to be my favorite. I built a couple of wing panels with one other tech; it took several weeks and a lot of head scratching to get it done, since by then it was already obsolete and the blueprints were hard to find. I assume the appearance of one in Close Encounters was the driving factor for this build, although I don't think the parts I built were the ones in the film.

PDGood · #12 12-22-2011, 10:56 AM

Clavs are great. Don't forget about Mellotrons.

Getting back to the Rhodes - it can be set up to have different sounds. There is the growly sound (Deodata) and the chimey sound (Paul Simon's Still Crazy). Also there were different models with the Suitcase ones in particular sounding a bit different from the err....non-suitcase ones.

The basic ubiquitous black Wurly gets just one non-processed sound (although you can add that very nice Vibrato). There is an older, white, wooden Wurly that is a different animal that you don't see so much. Those are highly desirable.

A friend also had a Hohner which was really unique. The tines on it were not struck, they had a sticky substance on them and when you pressed a key it pulled away from the sticky tine kind of like taking fingers off of a piece of duct tape. Weird.

PDGood · #13 12-22-2011, 11:02 AM

I remember the ARP 2500 too! A keyboardist I knew took out a 3 year loan to pay for his. He put on a solo concert to help make the payments. It was one of the first synths any of us had ever heard and all he did was make sounds - bombs exploding, hellicopters, swishes and whirls.

elgecko · #14 12-22-2011, 11:04 AM

Anyone know which old keys kick in at 3:25? I've always wondered.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Lucky Man - YouTube

avvie · #15 12-22-2011, 11:07 AM

Me too... in my Logic program, it's called a "wood synth" or something like that...some sort of Moog monophonic thing?...

Passinwind · #16 12-22-2011, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by avvie

Me too... in my Logic program, it's called a "wood synth" or something like that...some sort of Moog monophonic thing?...

3C, maybe? Keith Emerson had some sort of Moog modular rig onstage at all the early 70s shows I saw.

**bassybill** · #17 12-22-2011, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PDGood

A friend also had a Hohner which was really unique. The tines on it were not struck, they had a sticky substance on them and when you pressed a key it pulled away from the sticky tine kind of like taking fingers off of a piece of duct tape. Weird.

That would be the Pianet. Cheap and tacky (no pun intended) but it actually sounded pretty cool.

It's not easy to get that clav sound on Superstition - 8 tracks! This video is way cool.

Stevie Wonder's clavinet- Superstition: The Multitrack Masters! - YouTube

Mellotron - Wakeman and Moody Blues always spring to mind.

Avvie - will check out Hipbone later when I'm on my machine at home with better sound.

Charlie - loving the old ARP stuff. I just started playing with a little freeware VST called the OddyFree which models - well, I'm sure you can guess. Very true to the original as I recall it (I never owned one myself, but I've have had the opportunity to try one about 10 years back).

elgecko - Lucky Man at 3:25 has Minimoog with portamento writ large all over it for me. I think avvie might be referring to Logic's "Structure" virtual synth and that will do all sorts of weird and wonderful stuff. AAS String Studio and Chromaphone are similar modelling synths. But for this particular patch, I'd go to a Minimoog clone first, something like the Minimogue VA.

Thanks for checking in guys. I think this could turn out to be a fun thread!

elgecko · #18 12-22-2011, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassybill

...elgecko - Lucky Man at 3:25 has Minimoog with portamento writ large all over it for me. I think avvie might be breferring to Logic's "Structure" virtual synth and that will do all sorts of weird and wonderful stuff. AAS String Studio and Chromapnone are similar modelling synths. But for this particular patch, I'd go to a Minimoog clone first, something like the Minimogue VA.

Thanks for checking in guys. I think this could turn out to be a fun thread!

It would always remind me of this classic!

Disneyland's Main Street Electrical Parade Music - YouTube

**bassybill** · #19 12-22-2011, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elgecko

It would always remind me of this classic!

Disneyland's Main Street Electrical Parade Music - YouTube

You know I mentioned the OP-X Pro II in the first post? Go to this page...

OP-X PRO-II - Virtual Oberheim Clone - Audioclips

And scroll down to the clips from the "famous bank". Lucky Man, solo! Some of the other clips are also totally great. Check out the "Save a Prayer" patch. It sounds EXACTLY like a real Jupiter 8 to me. Way better than the Arturia clone which sounded very thin when I tried it out (the factory patches, anyway).

See what I mean about this OP-X Pro II being much more than just an Oberheim clone? It's amazing, and was an absolute steal at the upgrade price I got it for.

Passinwind · #20 12-22-2011, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassybill

elgecko - Lucky Man at 3:25 has Minimoog with portamento writ large all over it for me. I think avvie might be referring to Logic's "Structure" virtual synth and that will do all sorts of weird and wonderful stuff. AAS String Studio and Chromaphone are similar modelling synths. But for this particular patch, I'd go to a Minimoog clone first, something like the Minimogue VA.

I've always seen Lucky Man spec'ed as being a Minimoog on the record. You could try this patch for starters. Keith had a lot going on live, to put it mildly. I think I saw him use the big modular rig for that solo, but that doesn't necessarily mean it actually happened that way...

For me, the classic Minimoog thing would be Jan Hammer with Mahavishnu or Jeff Beck.