One of things I love about this video is that Alex doesn't just show you the settings, he explains what and why they do what they do. For an imbecile like me, that sort of information really, really helps. Another great video!
I must say, if you want a COMPLETE recreation of the Jupiter-8 plus some really really useful sound control, very tweakable settings, practically a one-to-one sound recreation, and the possibility of having Split and Dual modes, definetly check out the cheap and rad TAL J-8 ! It's got that hi-fi dream machine quality and my favourite bit is there's a knob that can bring linear FM instead of exponential FM to the cross-mod function, and that is REALLY a game changer, lots and lots of different sounds you can create with this
The Roland Plug-ins sounds really good, the Jupiter 4 is amazingly close to the real one. Great video but I do miss a song with those plug-ins at the end. Cheers!
This would be an amazing template for an ongoing series/playlist: how to re-create classic sounds relevant to each classic synth. Maybe one on the 10 most famous uses of the Prophet in the 80s, the 10 most iconic uses of the CS-80, etc. Many might come down to preset X with this much effect Y, but still, it would be fun. 😊
Those actual rock stars were always in s hurry to get out and party, carouse with supermodels etc., no time for tweaking filter envelopes, that's for us sad and lonely hobbyists, lol! (speaking only for myself of course)
I'm not surprised at all. I think musicians are more focused on the song itself rather than tweaking LFOs. They probably look for the quickest path to get them to the goal and not waste too much time on sound design.
REAL musicians cared for music. If a good sound was a preset, nobody threw a fit for not "designing" it like the current idiots bashing presets as if they were evil incarnate ;) Studio time costs money.
Laughed out loud at the FamilyGuy callback, as it was on my mind the moment I heard the track in your intro. You and I seem to share a lot of cultural context! Talking of cultural contexts, as one of the original Numan fans, I always wondered about that sound that opens "I Dream of Wires". Fascinating analysis, thank you. Gary famously used Vox Humana on the Polymoog too. There seems to be a common thread here, involving human-voice-like presets!
@@AlexBallMusic much appreciated.. also! check out Cannons.. (im sure you've heard of em) -- but i found em about a year ago and retrowave sound is right up your alley me thinks... they sound like the female version of tame impala not in a bad way.. in a soulful way
You and a few content creators have slowly been archiving gear that will no longer exist in the future, some maybe museum pieces, some just listenable on albums, some listenable on demos on here, but your hard work Alex, you have documented what heritage gear sounds like, made some mad tunes and brought joy to the masses. You're one of a kind, soon people will be making videos on you!!! xD
Those Jupiter 4 sounds ... absolutely magic. Another heavy user of the JP4 was Mick MacNeil of Simple Minds, who employed two of them on the classic early albums Empire & Dance, Sons & Fascination and Sister Feelings Call. And of course, Nick Rhodes also made great use of the JP4 as well.
It's a great synth. You're absolutely right and I did consider those guys but I'd already done three Jupiter-4 patches so I didn't include them in this video.
LOVE your vids, Alex! It's great to see the younger generations interested in vintage synths over the past 20 years. It's very encouraging to see all the various modular syth systems out there today and the demand coming from the youngins out there. :) I'm covering, "I Dream of Wires" and I'm getting pretty to the record in modifying the 1978 Voice patch on the JP-4 (Roland cloud version). You are so right about the real-time editing of the filter modulation. I think I'm going to automate the stepping of the filter cutoff in Pro Tools. One thought I have on how they might have gotten that stepped filter cutoff is, like you said, using that port on the back of the JP-4 you referenced. I could see using the keyboard as the modulator sending the CV signal out of a Minimoog to step the modulation.
While I agree about the spot on ability of the sounds ....it could be a simple as the chapter titles getting you flagged ... algorithms can be quite simple ,ridged , and dumb .
@@Death_By_Media The copyright notice I got says it automically recognises the audio and gave a timestamp of when it was playing. I must have nailed it. ;)
Ministry's Twitch is basically a Fairlight II, a DX7 and a Juno. If you ever get a chance to hear the original Fairlight samples, lots of down pitch abuse to make the drums on that album. Similar for 242, you can hear the Emulator II presets played well below their intended range for Front by Front.
Wonderful video, Alex. We are so lucky that you have established this channel and are so willing to share your expertise and enthusiasm with us. Great T-shirt too. Is that one of your own creations?
I am probably the only person in the world who doesn't like the Roland sound, however this is a very helpful short synthesis tutorial, thank you very much.
Just looked back at photos of the hardware I took when I borrowed one and it's that trigger section with the VCF mod isn't it! I forgot that was there and the plugin doesn't have it so it threw me.
@@AlexBallMusic It is! Very suprising to me that it is not featured in the plugin, as it is such a big part of what a Jupiter-4 sounds like, especially when using the arpeggiator.
I spoke to Mick MacNeill the former keyboard player of Simple Minds. He told me that the pads at the start of "Theme for Great Cities" is ftom the Jupiter 4.
I love synth videos where they show you where the sound was used so thanks for this. I appreciate you have to tread carefully with copyright etc. but More 'as used in' please! :)
Alex, great work as we’ve come to expect. Have you ever considered doing ‘Artist Patch’ specials eg. A tutorial showing how to programme a range of sounds from a particular artist? Keep up the great work !
As a huge Faltermeyer fan I'd argue that while the basic snappy shape is correct on the Axel F sound, perhaps one of the oscillators should be set to square wave. It doesn't sound pure saw to me. Also, there should little or no resonance on the filter, as the original sound hasn't really got any filter squelch.
More on, "I Dream of Wires": When I take a deep listen to that massively thick Prophet-5 drone that starts with the drums: Some parts of the track throughout the song sound like two separate tracks. But I'm likely just hearing things. There's also something else about that P-5 drone sound -- it seems to swell or beat against the two tracks. Not sure if they used a ton of compression on the P-5 to get that or not. "Films": I've never really figured out how they recorded that massively fat sound "Films", either. Perhaps a three or four-track doubling of a Polymoog? It's phat as hell! I wish we could get ISO tracks for all of Numans early work. Or maybe someone with a PhonicMind subscription will isolate those tracks someday. I have too many other subscriptions and I'm getting pretty tired of this payment model. But I'm afraid subscriptions are here to stay -- it's just too lucrative.
Does anyone know who programmed synths for Depeche Mode on their debut album? Could it be Daniel or Eric Radcliffe? I've known this album for 35+ years, but only now I'm beginning to realize what an astonishing job they did with those synths.
Most likely the band themselves, and Vince Clarke in particular. Mute Records boss Daniel Miller was also involved, particularly with percussive sounds created on his ARP 2600.
I have considered it many times. I know the whereabouts of four working examples, but I'd have to book a time to go and stay there and film for a couple of days at least. That's basically the complication at the moment as I have daily commitments.
They sound brilliant. Which subscription tier to Roland Cloud does one require to acquire this analog polysynth collection? The pricing breakdowns on their site don't really make this clear.
Just go with the 9.99 subscription (lowest tier.) Then you can change whichever selection of legendary synths you want to use with the click of a mouse. You get 2, but can change them whenever you want as long as you’re ok only using 2 per project. That or freeze the track after using. Idk, it’s what I do and saves me 10 bucks a month
I have to agree with young sir Evans in the comments here: I tend to use presets whenever I do "music", but the meticulate explanations that mr. Ball garnishes this video with gives me somewhat of an understanding of what is going on. Who knows, somewhere down the line I might use this on either my VSTs or my HArdware synths...
Ill probably only ever own my Yamaha Reface CP and my TE OP1 but I love the synth content. Someday maybe ill own a rhodes or a wurlitzer 200a but thats my dream purchase lol Great content as always!
hey nice video ... very cool sound ... I would have a question that has nothing to do with the video (again) hahaha in your light music series ... in the third episode a guy in the comments asked you for the mix ... and you said you were going to make a video about it ... so i was wondering if you would ever make that video..i would love to make them sound old that way
I like the idea behind these, Roland making their own VSTs but, if one were to want more hands on approach with these would a System-1m be a good choice for more hardware like control?
I asked Alex if he wanted to borrow my Polymoog to try out a while ago - hoping he'll take up the offer at some point as I'd love to hear what he could create with it!
DM Tora - IIRC Vince got a Jp4 after the first album was recorded and only used it for the last tour before he quit. In the studio it was apparently Daniel Millers Arp2600 that did all the heavy lifting for Speak and Spell.
I could be wrong, but I think there's photographs of them performing with the JP4 before the album was recorded. Ironically, Vince wasn't very happy with the JP4, as he didn't need the polyphony and it was a nightmare to carry around for gigs - it's a heavy machine and he's quite a small guy!
@@chriswareham Not that I am aware of. He was still using his Teisco for first ToTp appearances in May but had the JP4 by the following Sept. Yes it's a bulky heavy thing even for an average guy it's not something you can tuck under your arm. And if you listen to the bootlegs there is a jump in sound complexity for that last tour.
I'm not a Depeche Mode expert by any means, but I found this interview from very early doors and Vince already has the JP-4. It's obviously possible that he just got it as you said. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-npj31Wmg-aw.html Either way, the JP-4 can do the sound even if it's the 2600 so we'll call it poetic license. 😉
@@AlexBallMusic It's just great to have access to the JP4 arp. The same bass preset was also used for Morale on the first league album and I am now sure the arp is what was used for opening of H17 Temple Boys & Geisha Girls cycling through the arp-step.
Would the Depeche Mode one originally have been done on a ProMars ? I believe that's what they had around that time. Monophonic, two oscillators but no ensemble.
I've never seen photos or video of them using the ProMars but they definitely had the Jupiter-4 at the time. I guess it's not impossible, but it does sound very ensemble like.
@@Error6503 I'd be interested to know if he had one. Early doors in 1981 he already had a Jupiter-4 as shown by this footage. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-npj31Wmg-aw.html
Does anyone know how much the collection costs for the lifetime key? In a typical bit of Roland Cloud nonsense there's no indication of price on the web page for it. They insist on you downloading and installing their 'cloud manager' software first
Hmm. Could be, but sounds like it has a little too much bass for a bandpassed sound. Will have to try it on the plugin and find out, interested to know now you say.
@@KimStennabbCaesar software synth emulations are still worth the cost if you want the sound and capabilities of a certain synth though. I want a jupiter 6 but these prices are off the chart right now because of the pandemic
