"you can sit there for hours, just dreaming away, can't you? And having a nice time ... maybe you get a piece of music out it at the end" -- synth use in a nutshell
I have a few physical sythersizors and they are used for exactly that, fun but I will record the audio output and sample any good bits. I use a DAW for 95% of My music production.
Always the best way to assess one's true priorities and sometimes surprising. I'd grab my Roland AE-30, my humble but mojo-filled Reface CS, and my MPC. I'd be leaving a bunch of irreplaceable gear to burn which would be sad.
Korg PS3300! Can't be many of those in the UK, might even be the only one here! Seriously mythical synth. On a Will note, I saw the Moog ensemble some years back and remember a guy at the back making a fabulous sound with some synths I couldn't see. With a Moog modular and all sorts on stage I thought it would be something fancy, so I shouted over the barrier at the end to the guy and he kindly came over; he was playing a little SH-101 and a JX-3P! It did make me chuckle how good those (once) budget Rolands sounded in the midst of the monsters. Anyway, very enjoyable upload, many thanks.
@@alistairsteadman3765 Ah yes, of course! He had three at one point, goodness knows where he found those! I remembered they have one at Church Studios too, which I guess could be the one RDJ sold on Vemia a few years back.
@@alistairsteadman3765 Have just found out that Will's 3300 was one of RDJs. Makes sense that the same few are moving around given there were only 50 odd to start with. And yep, there is indeed a great shot of him sat in front of 3 of those beasts. I once saw a 3200 in a studio, but didn't get to play it. That's as close as I've got thus far.
wow, well shot and recorded and the content is fantastic. So relaxing, enjoyable and informative. takes me back to the late 70s and early 80s when i had a MiniMoog and a rhodes, and took a quadrophonic music composition course at U of T with Wes Wraggett. tape loops and 2 big ARPs i was 14 at the time. what a blast.
I'm slightly encouraged by the fact Will says he's a "rubbish keyboard player", but can knock out the kind of stuff he's done with Goldfrapp and elsewhere. Even the poppiest Goldfrapp stuff is very richly layered, so you're trying to figure out what's going on.
00:00 roland jupiter 4 06:40 roland space echo 08:06 mini moog and yamaha wx7 wind instrument 14:00 how do you recdord 16:00 edp wasp synth 18:50 korg PS-3300 poly synth 25:00 randomness? 27:00 polymoog 30:00 power supplies 32:00 outro
I was listening back to the Goldfrapp albums recently, knowing now what I do about synthesis they blow my mind at the level of detail and sound design. Beautiful.
I just discovered Goldfrapp recently, heard Alison's voice once and was hooked. Working my way slowly through their catalog, taking a while as some songs I just can't leave for a couple days.
This video has just one major fail: it ends. I could listen to Will showing us details of his setup for days! What a genius. I think he must be related to Einstein. I mean - I‘m composing for over 25 years, but when he noodles on that gorgeous PS-3300 it sounds like sheer magic. I was wondering why he didn’t show his beloved Two Voice.
I saw Goldfrapp once at a festival and didn't know them that well. It was an incredible show, Alison an incredible performer, but in particular I was just was blown away by the synth sounds (long before I was into synths) - I'd never heard synths sound so enormous and phat - now I know why! Might listen to some now..
They have switched to a midi keyboard and software emulsions of there physical sythersizors they used to use, they say its easier to preform that way but I think they might of lost something by doing that.
I remember the first time I saw them, and I remember feeling the same thing - how phat and huge the sound was. It was so enjoyable. I didn't want it to end!
Great stuff. I'm fully on board with Will's observation that composition is half happy mistakes, and being able and open to capitalise on them when they happen!
This is a great video. I’ve had the privilege of working in Will’s studio building but not in a musical capacity. He’s a wonderful person and great to talk to. It’s quite an experience to hear a composition come to life after an hour of Will making beeps and noises. The whole building is an Aladdin’s cave of synthesisers and studio kit. The man is a genius.
Felt Mountain? Which songs do you mean? To me it is more Black Cherry rather in my ears: i hear Train, Crystalline Green, Twist, Strict Machine in an instant..
The Jupite r4 is one of my bucket list synths. Such a beautiful instrument. For me, VSTs, emulations and clones will never be a substitute for big ol' wood and steel analog synthesizers. I have a couple JUNOs but one day I hope to have a Jupiter-4 or ProMars in the studio.
i definitely need a breath controller after seeing this. reminds me of dr mix using breath to do sax vst sounds, sounded absolutely amazing & realistic
The Wasp, Mini Moog, Monopoly and several other vintage synths have been replicated very well by Bahringer and you can buy sevraul of them for the same price as a single vintage one.
Love the jupiter-4. but i have never been a fan of arps. too mechanical too rigid. but then again i am a jazz guitarist so i dont care for most electronic dance music. It dont mean a thing if aint got that swing.
It's amazing to see how solid these machines are build with such love and care. Buy a tv these days and you're lucky when it will be working and usefull for 10 years or so. Some of these machines are over 50 years old, but still full of character.
Bahringer has actually done a great job at recreating these vintage synths for a good price, I have there Monopoly and sounds identical to the Vintage Korg.
@@HOLLASOUNDS I agree to that. People test the Behringer gear vs the original analog gear. But can you hear the difference in a mix? I don't think so. Even two identical analog machines do not sound the same. So price and qualitywise Behringer nailed it ;-)
@@kostradamus5739 Well you could say the same for software emulsions apart from that any digital or Software will sound the same every time but no two Analog sythersizors will be identical. I dont have a Korg Monopoly but have watched youtubers who have both in the video and they all say the Korg and Bahringer Monopoly are pretty much identical.
A 🔥 fire. First One out the Door. Mini MOOG. Actually I can see why. I believe him. Jupiter. Prophets OBERHIEM. All great. DX7 as well. Most Guitarist pretty much have a TELECASTER. Keyboardist well Mini MOOG. They all have there place. I won't part with mine. Among Prophets and OBERHEIMS. It's endless.
Great video Will. Nice to see you after 44 years or so - we were at school together (BGS). Only recently realised you were with Goldfrapp. Also enjoyed your piece with Charles Hazlewood on Sky Arts recently. Your analog noodling in this video has inspired me to get my Juno 6 out of the loft! And maybe the JX8P as well.
He comes across like he really knows his stuff and synths and seems very humble and intelligent.That Korg is so amazing. I also loved that Bach mini moog stuff....it never gets boring does it. Makes me want to learn a wind instrument and get a Moog.That keyboard is cool on the Wasp.....what a curious instrument it was. Yes I agree with have to fiddle around with things and see what comes out. You have to say I don’t know. Completely!
Old analog consoles also rely on their power supplies. I have a big 'ol heavy custom power supply for my Trident Series 80B console and the 2 together sound awesome. All of your timbres remind me of orchestral color choices but your colors are from those synths. You have the woodwinds square waveish sounding instrument, the sawtoothy stringy instrument, etc... Pretty cool pallet choices.
The 8 minute mark is exactly Keith Emerson's sound from the late 70's early 80's, love it. As for the PS-3300, I think I'm lost in its awesomeness. I'm just imagining all these intense emotional movie moments that thing was built for.
I'd be interested where you took that sound. We all know it's not the instrument that makes music, it's the person who understands how to coax the sounds we all find musical. You can make the cheapest of gear sound like it's worth $1,000s, talent goes a long long way like you and Will have proven.
I think i would be just like this man someday. Its like seeing yourself in s future and calm down - none of nowadays experiments can get me out of mind. Im gonna be okay.
10:18 I can honestly say I dont think I have ever seen a mini Moog or any sythersizor being played with a electrictronic wind instrument, Im fascinated by it, what an intresting concept.
I love the English. Their idioms and phrases and ways of expressing things are always fascinating to me. I got a feeling I could listen to this guy for hours.
Would be really good to have an interview with David Morley, as hes very much like Will: lots of old analogue gear and really into his sound design. And I really like his music as well as Wills!
You don't really need one. You can literally record a clock/pulse in your DAW and output it on one of your audio interface's audio channels to a clock or trigger in.
@@BlackMan614 You are the man, Blackman614! Thank you! I connected my Alesis DM5 to the Jupiter clock input and when I play a Congo the arpeggiator triggers!
Great use of wx7 with the minimoog via the kenton pro solo. The patch is set up similarly to a moog taurus-y sound, with the one oscillator set for modulation. Will made it sing so well. Most people - inc myself- who use a mini, tend to play riffs and runs within the range as that's what is in front of you, so to speak. The jumps using the wind controller sounded sweet and 'airy' , for want of a better phrase. A wonderful sound. I think the wasp (maybe that particular one), is used on a lot of tracks on Black Cherry. The PS3300 I've never knowingly heard (it might have been on some vangelis works from the late 70s, but i can't place it) and Will made it sound lush, and creamy. Even the polymoog sounded good. Thank you for sharing 👍
I’ve met Will a number of times at gigs, before, after, once sitting outside a venue in Cambridge & he’s always such a sweet guy with time to chat & interested to hear what you think. That comment about mistakes is so true, fingering a chord & getting one finger in the wrong place & thinking “hey, wait a minute…” Great film.
Bob Williams from analogue systems once offered me a Korg PS (possibly a 3200?) in part exchange for my AKS but much as the Korg was tempting I decided to keep the EMS. As a fellow owner of a JP4 I'm with you on how much fun it is. Nice for doing Kraftwerk or Vince Clarke impressions!
Bro he hit that arp on the Jup4 and I had to turn off the damn video! Sounds like Aphrodite Cam on the synth 🙄 💦. $4k and I have it ugh I can't listen cause I'd no longer have that 4k lol. "Roland cloud is enough... Roland cloud is enough" 🤞
Breath control over midi creates a lot of steppy artifacts especially on analog synths, as you only have 128 steps of dynamic range. He should check out the new Berglund Instruments wind controllers that have direct analog breath CV out. There's also mods that can be done to the WX7
Can't say I've had a problem with steppiness when playing my Neutron using my AE-30. Just using the Neutron's built-in conversion for pitch and breath (via the assign CV).
@@unclemick-synths indeed it is grossly exaggerated rubbish, Daniel Riera either swallowed the kool aid or had a bad experience with poorly optimised gear (possibly even repeatedly!) . and it's this kind of nonsense that could stop people getting wind controllers. HD MIDI and CV are not needed to subjectively smooth velocity. In fact 127 steps gives you plenty spare to throw some away in lossy velocity curves! When you understand enough about the human hearing system you can see that 127 velocity steps with typical dynamic range actually means fractions of a decibel per step! - this is already way lower than the threshold of human perception. IOW you have to have grossly lossy velocity curves throwing away the vast majority of those 127 steps to percieve any stepping at all - or badly set up gear.
The Berglund EWI and EVI are great and being able to control CV is great. It's not needed for smooth velocity. That said there will hopefully soon be Photon to add to EWI and other controllers. This might work even better than the standard sensor but 127 steps isn't the reason - even if the marketing tells you that.
@@wd25a Behind-the-scenes interpolation, coded into the synth's MIDI control processor, is the only reason you don't hear stepping when you control a filter's cut-off via 127 step MIDI CC. If the developer didn't do this (and with other parameters too), you'd notice the stepping. Other than in DIY and coding subforums, people only usually talk about this if it's implemented in a weird way or not at all (look up "Roland SE-02 filter cutoff stepping ext box" if you want to see a little forum discussion from when this functionality was implemented in a weird way). 127 steps is enough to keep up with a 2-sensor keyboard's static velocity measurement (which is then usually modified by an amp envelope), but it's noticeable with some other parameters, and for when your sensitive controller is actually playing the attack portion of your sound's amplitude (with a good breath controller or Haken Continuum etc). Pitchbend over more than roughly 3 semitones is one area where you can hear 127 steps clearly... UNLESS (as is usually the case) the developer coded an interpolation routine to smooth those MIDI steps. It will then seem smooth, but it's because a microprocessor is calculating and filling in all the missing steps. That's the reason that digitally controlled synths often use over 1000 steps on their most critical knobs, and compromise with 127 and digital interpolation on their less critical parameter knobs. They can work around the MIDI CC limitations by using 2 CCs together for one value, splitting the value into MSB and LSB where needed. The Novation Bass Station II is an example of a synth that does this, and most owners have no idea. But they can feel the difference vs if it was less resolution and interpolated. That's why Novation went the extra mile, even on a budget synth (but not with every parameter - just the most critical).
Wow, I'm amazed at how well the moog works with the midi wind. That's sounds like an MPE controller. Vielen Dank Will ❤🔥und Sound on Sound für das Interview.
It was like being a kid in a sweetshop. All the wonderful things but just out of reach on high shelves. Hoping one day I could reach them and sample the elusive flavours and textures, but ultimately never achieving it.
