LEGEND isn’t a big enough word to describe his contributions to modern music!!! Earth, Wind and Fire, Brothers Johnson, Michael Jackson and of course his own band, TOTO!!! Genres don’t matter much when you’re that good!!
I remember seeing him play live with Gary Wright promoting the Dream Weaver LP, but that was before most people had even heard of him. He was rockin’ back then too.
Those 4 artists you have cited are some of the best of all times...rock...disco....funk...soul....pop....they were the masters of the best styles of modern great Music but you forgot to mention Donna Summer who was one of the greatest female singer of all times ...the queen of one of the best styles ever : DISCO! Too many people never realized that the vast majority of disco albums were recorded by the VERY best Musicians EVER .
My very first live concert was Toto when they came to the USF Sun Dome in Tampa for the Isolation Tour. I remember walking on one of the upper levels and I could look over the edge and peer behind the stage at the massive stacks of equipment they were using. Then the concert started and I was blown away. Instantly Steve Pocaro and David Paich became my heroes. Toto still holds a place in my heart and I listen to them several times a week. Absolutely amazing.
He talks like he was just some part of any kind of ensemble when he was one of a kind cornerstone among very few exceptional ones. This is so humbling. Thank you so much Mr Porcaro.
I met Steve at the now-closed Josefina’s club in Sherman Oaks, CA, circa 1985. I was sitting in with the Tower of Power Rhythm Section, and Steve was sitting in a booth by himself listening to the group. After I played, I walked by his table and immediately recognized him and said “Hello”. He couldn’t have been any nicer or more approachable. I mentioned to him that I loved his song, “Takin’ It Back” from the TOTO I album, and it really flattered him, or so he told me. He then wrote his number on a napkin and told me to phone him to get together to hang and talk keyboards. I did so, but we never ended up connecting up. Still, it was a huge compliment to have him want me to get in touch personally and do the keyboard hang. Steve is and was a class act and a great musician. Great memories of meeting him those many years ago.
Listening to the CS80 makes me cry. It sounds so perfect like the holy grail lost to time. 40 years since nothing has been able to come close to the organic living breathing grandeur of this pinnacle of synth beauty. Sorry but no emulation can come close to the loving warmth it has. The brass sounds like archangels appearing in the clouds on judgement day. Vangelis and Steve knew what emotions a CS80 can stir and demonstrated it well through their work.
Yes indeed, good comment. Personally I think the fact that such a complex instrument -- perhaps the pinnacle of analog polysynthesis -- could be emulated this well is pretty amazing. Even Steve Porcaro seems to agree here. Still, what is apparent is that no VST synth is ever going to be quite as rich and dynamic as the real thing.
@@Topsy_Krett Steve likes his VST's as he's as he can just hook it to a midi controller up to his laptop and hit save which he back then in the early 80's with his epic rig he had.
A legend and a hero. He taught me so much! I was fortunate to see him live with band and Joseph Williams, playing a lot of songs from Fahrenheit. A touching experience. Love you, Steve. ❤️
When Steve played the intro to Takin’ It Back it gave me goose bumps. That’s my all time favourite song of all songs that I’ve been exposed to. It touches me very deeply. I bought the “Hold the Line” 45 rpm as soon as it was released. I flipped the record over to hear Takin’ It Back. I went crazy over that song. I never understood why it was a B side recording. One thing I find about musicians playing songs they made in the 70s and 80s is they can never fully recreate the synthesizer sounds. They are almost always off. It really removes a lot from the song. I NEVER like it nearly as much. I figured it was because the synthesizer is no longer made and the new ones cannot reproduce the same sounds. That’s why I’m so shocked today to hear Steve, many decades later, reproducing the exact same sound. Wow. Just so awesome.
@@PEC2528 I agree. I loved the entire album. I worked in the TV and electronics department in a big department store when I was in my late teens. I would often take my own cassette tapes in and play them in the ghetto blasters the store had on display. Twice when Takin’ It Back was playing I had customers come up to me and ask me who is singing that song. It seemed to have instant appeal. No other song that I played garnered this sort of reaction. I think if it was released as a hit it would have sold many millions.
La très grande classe Mr Porcaro vous resterez à jamais un grand génie des synthétiseurs car tout vos productions ainsi que vos collaborations ont toujours été de très grandes qualités vous avez énormément apporté à la musique des années 70 et 80. Merci beaucoup!!!Monsieur Monsieur Porcaro
Everyone on this planet has the right to have their own opinion, even if it does not coincide with the legends of the music industry, this is normal. As for me, Arturia is currently the best thing from the emulation of analog synthesizers, they are constantly updated, the company understands where to go and what to do, it's very nice.
STEVE is a definite hero of mine, I actually had a CS80 back in the day, and my head is about to explode thinking about the fact that there was no way to actually save a patch back then. Using the CS80 live you had to adjust those very touchy toggles. as fast as you could between and/or during songs for the next patch. Just thinking about being able to save and call up the sounds with Aturia, WOW. Iconic player and talent, iconic synth!
He's a one of the true legend. This video made my day! But it would be really good if we can see the preset's names he is playing. Thanks Arturia Thanks Stece Porcaro
Once aspect of Steve's career that is hard to appreciate on the video, is how much of a showman he is on stage. Went to see Toto Live in the early eightees, and I could not take my eyes off him. He really would steal the show.
Sounds much improved over what it was. Much of the CS80 was about the polyphonic aftertouch to me so its important to have a controller than can provide that aspect (not sure the keyboard Steve was playing had that facility). As the price of the originals are now out of reach of everyone it's great that Arturia are providing those sounds....
In this video, Steve uses a discontinued GEM S3 Turbo as the controller keyboard, because it has a nice keyboard that transmits poly-AT and responds well to it.
Sounds nice. I'm just now exploring these sounds on my Yamaha Montage 6. I have the synth going into a Warm Audio WA273-EQ, with an Elektron Analog Heat on the WA's stereo insert. And then going into my Audient iD 44 MK II. Then into Logic Pro X. It sounds amazing. And I know the Lexicon Reverb plug-in I have will only make it sound better. Yea, it sounds better than what the Arturia plugin does. My way gives it a way more full and rich sound.
The only thing that there isn’t really a controller for is the pitch bend strip. Not sure how that could be approximated without the original. Maybe something like the Linnstrument. But for sure, Arturia is the next best thing to the real thing, when it comes to analog synths.
The ribbon on the CS80V GUI behaves like the original CS-80 ribbon, when you control it with a mouse/touchpad/touchscreen. Otherwise, it responds to standard MIDI Pitch Bend messages.
Hey Steve I have a question. What is the name of that "Jam" that you played right before the end of the interview ????? Is it something you made up or is it an actual song you produced back in the days of Toto ? I want to learn how to play that. Thanks 👍👍 👍 👍👍
I don't know the name of that "jam" but for sure it is very similar to a great instrumental track that Toto made in the 80's...it is called Moodido...great synth riff and guitar solo.
I believe it's called "Jimmy". As far as I know he's never recorded/released it, but there's a slightly longer clip of him playing it more than 40 years ago. I would LOVE for him to record a version for his next solo album!
Anyone know what keyboard controller he’s using? And does it have poly aftertouch? Does your keyboard need poly AT for the CS80V’s poly AT to be triggered?
Yes, you need a poly-AT keyboard to use the poly-AT modulations. Of course, if you only have channel aftertouch, you can still modulate various parameters with it, but all the notes at the same time. Most Arturia softsynths also respond to MPE (MIDI Polyphonic Expression)
Yeah....Great to see Steve Again ! I worked in the Yamaha/Buena-Park Combo service dept in late 70's to mid 80's and actually worked on Steve's CS-80 ( sent in for repairs & to up-grade the voice...VCO's with the latest..Diode-Stabilization MOD ); unfortunately, that BIG CS-80 power supply had broken-loose from it's mounting and pretty much distroyed many of the pcb's in that area of the CS-80 ( including the Matrix-pcb ). Sorry way-to much to repair....SO - We just gave him a new one. In fact, I still have the original CS-80 / Serial number tag from Steve's CS-80 he sent in !!! One of my keep sakes, beside some other Toto-only keep-sake stuff that I was given, while I worked there at Yamaha. Some great memories !! Thanks Steve & all the guys in ToTo & especially to " David Paich " / Sent in his CP70B for repairs, BUT....broken cast iron Harp Section. So again, Yamaha gave him another one ( I of course have the serial-number tag & front-YAMAHA aluminum emblem from the very front of the harp section. GREAT ToTo keep sakes ! Tks All......Jeffrie T
It wasn't until now that I recognized what a signature his CS80 artwork actually put on Toto's music. When he started playing, it "felt" instantly like Toto. What a legacy he created with his dedication to synths.
Well done Arturia - at last, a proper and worthwhile celebrity endorsement, from a real musician with the real keyboard, real experience, and real knowledge. So much better than all those previous arty-farty promo videos.
Bless The Porcaro Family!!! Master Musicians displaying THE ART OF MUSIC at the highest level in the most humble manner, driven by passion, talent and the most beautiful personalities...... And although I hear them almost everyday I miss Jeff, Mike & Joe and I bless them everyday for having left behind so much amazing music for us to listen to. Steve, your humbleness makes me think sometimes that you don't have an idea how incredible invaluable you and your family have been to music for the whole world!!! You guys have changed lives! For what it's worth "Takin it Back" mesmerized me from the first time I heard it and has been on the top of my list of reference songs that I use regularly when installing and tweaking sound for over 40 years! I pray that you'll be around for a long time in good health, prospering in happiness, with the same passion we see in this video ( and every other ). Thank you!!!! By the way, this Arturia CS-80 V is amazing!
No doubt, Steve Porcaro is one of the pioneers to define the classic 80's sound, the synth sound. Even modern genres like Synthwave take a lot of this library.
Steve was the sound of Toto................Legend and Visionary is an understatement. Thank you very much for your current and future contributions to music around the world. Only YOU could take a digital sound, and make it sound like music to my ears.
The wall behind the piano at 6:50 really says about all that could be said with words. I would love to meet Steve and just shake his hand and say thank you, but I never will. The music he helped create in the late 70's early 80's was a big part of my childhood. I miss that. I still have my original Toto, Hydra and IV albums along with Thriller that I bought with chore money. That music was and still is my favorite. Nothing will ever surpass that era. Certainly nothing produced now.
Steve Porcaro is not a keyboard player. He's "Captain Synthesizer " in my book . I became a keyboard player because of in this order (1) Dennis Deyoung (Styx) (2) David Paich (3) Steve Porcaro and I'm especially motivated by Steve Porcaro because he plus Michael Gray who played Billy Batson in SHAZAM my favorite super hero in the 70s and me all shared a birthday > September 2, 2022 . This is interview with Steve I count it as my be-lated birthday present 🎁 🎁 . Great interview.
I've been a keyboardist for 40 years. Like Steve my hero was Keith Emerson. Emerson was another one not satisfied with "default" patches and tones. Me either. Every time I used to hear someone say, "see what this thing can do" I am thinking "that's nice, but what can YOU do". Steve's history with synths more than answered that question.
I'm spotting that lovely obscure and forgotten italian Generalmusic / GEM S3 synthesizer used as master keyboard for the VST. It's one of the best digital poly-at keyboards I have ever used.
Exactly I had it, it's the _one_ instrument I've loved the most. Absolutely useless for leads, but boy, besides being a fantastic controller it did have some great poly pads in its own right. The Elka sounds were _amazing_ and to this day unrivalled in any of the big Japanese workstations.
Things like this should be in the credits. What surprises me is that it was made until 1998 (I read), so this is already over 30 years old. An I guess Steve is not on a budget, so it must have some special qualities. The looks alone are great already.
Porcaro family is one of the most important thing happened in modern great Music ....when he play the intro of one of the most beautiful Toto song at 3:10 (Takin it back) I realized one more time how GREAT are the first 5 Toto albums...5 absolute MASTERPIECES where songs like Africa ...Hold the line or Rosanna are good but absolutely NOT their best. I'd love Arturia to make a MINIMUM 1 hour episode with Steve Porcaro . P.S. I'm desperatley searching for an instrumental track that Toto recorded in the 80's that it was made with a powerful majestic synth riff that reminds the song Steve is playing in the end (but is not the same) I don't think it was included in any of the official Toto albums....maybe it was a compilation or a soundtrack (it was not dune by the way) ...I hope you will help me to find it 🙂
I have finally saved enough money to purchase an Arturia keyboard, essential 61 black...it will arrive in Zimbabwe in the next 2 weeks and i cant wait to dig into these beautiful synths that Arturia has to offer and ill unlikely never see these synths irl but this is just a perfect 😃thank you Arturia for this offering
I rank having met Steve Porcaro being one of 2 highlights of my life besides forming the family I’m in. He’s such a huge inspiration words are not enough. Nothing but respect for Steve P.
This man, wow what can I say! Absolute legend, monster & hero! Could watch this guy play his parts on his own all day! It just doesn't get any better! The guys in Toto with their music and sessions, are part of my life!
