14/04/2015 Famous Sounds Famous Sounds "Famous sounds" are sounds that have been created or used by somebody, liked and then copied by many others, and thus earned a "classic" status. I'd like to open this section of Synth Mania utilizing as a starting point portions of an article appeared in the October 1995 issue of Keyboard magazine, titled "20 Sounds That Must Die", in which the author David Battino analyzes many sounds that have, over the years, been used, re­ used and abused again. I added audio examples to the list for those who might not be familiar with those sounds. From there, I'll start adding my own examples of more sounds, including loops. When possible, audio examples are available. Keyboard magazine List: Audio SOUND NAME DESCRIPTION example 1. The square/triangle wave solo This flutey, highly synthetic lead sound sure stands out, but already belongs to someone. Still, add portamento and maybe you'll get Lucky Man lucky, man. (Note: the author is referring to the song "Lucky Man", by Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Emerson's Moog solo is regarded as the first rock synthesizer solo in history) 2. The sample­and­hold­to­pitch computer processing effect "Professor, why don't you ask the computer?" Bee­poo­bee­bee­boo­ Processing poo­bah­pah... has anyone ever really heard a computer make this noise? (Note: I used an Alesis airSynth for this sound.) 3. Rez zaps Feed white noise through a rapidly closing VCF with the resonance cranked. Kraftwerk did. And now most every techno band does. Numbers Psheeeew! Replace the noise with a sawtooth wave and you've got another offender, rez bass. Now play wet eight­notes ad nauseam. On second thought, please don't. (Note: the mp3 example is an excerpt from Kraftwerk "Numbers", from Computer World) http://www.synthmania.com/Famous%20Sounds.htm 1/27 14/04/2015 Famous Sounds 4. Simmons­type syndrum A burst of noise and a sine wave that pitch­bends down, this synthetic tom­tom may have single­handedly killed disco. 5. Roland TR­808 kick drum An impossibly low hum, this sound could crumble concrete. But it always gets a bad rap. (Note: the author is referring to the fact that TR­808 bass the TR­808 was at the time the de facto standard in rap music) ­ Note drum ­ In the mp3 example I am playing a TR­808 sample set from the Roland Drums & Cymbals Vol. 1 CD­ROM for the S­series of Roland samplers. 6. TR­808 cowbell This clangorous noise never disappears in a mix, though sometimes we wish it would. You can spot it on Kashif's "Ain't no woman (like the one I got))" from Kashif, George Michael's "A Last Request" from A Last Request Faith, and "Anything you want" from EWF's Heritage, among zillions of others. And let's not forget the TR­808 hi­hat, a short, metallic noise useful for playing expressionless machine­gun sixteenth notes. 7. Yamaha DX7 Rhodes The DX7's screeching overtones (generated by digital frequency The Greatest modulation) punched through a lot of mixes. Way too many. Check Love Of All out any pop ballad for an example of this crispy electric piano. (Here's Whitney Houston's "Greatest Love Of All" for a particularly well­produced FM ballad piano.) 8. DX7 anything http://www.synthmania.com/Famous%20Sounds.htm 2/27 14/04/2015 Famous Sounds (A special nomination from Will Alexander, Keith Emerson's collaborator, programmer, and producer.) Marimba ostinati, Wimpy see DX7 page brass. "Super" bass. FM sound recently had a resurgence on computer soundcards, but we may be free of it any decade now. 9. E­mu Emulator II shakuhachi This bamboo flute sound is readily identifiable by the sudden upward pitch­bend at the end of the note. Experience it again on "Sledgehammer" from Peter Gabriel's So, "Yellowstone Park" from Sledgehammer Tangerine Dream's Le Parc, "Love Is Stronger Than Pride" from Sade's Stronger Than Pride, "Wake up, Stop dreaming" from Wang Chung's To Live and Die in L.A., and Roger Waters' Radio KAOS, where it's actually singled out in the liner notes. 10. Orchestra hits A brilliant idea the first time they were used (by Art of Noise? Malcolm McLaren? We forget), these stabbing samples of exuberant orchestras become gritty and doubly annoying when transposed. Will Owner of a Alexander believes the hit on Yes's "Owner of a Lonely Heart" from lonely heart 90125 was sampled from Kool & the Gang's Celebration. Roland's Eric Persing notes that the original Fairlight orch hit ended up in a lot of ROM sets, including on a Kawai drum machine. 11. Roland D­50 Soundtrack A simple yet irresistible sound, Soundtrack is a chorused, filter­ Violet swept, sawtooth fifth. Easily spotted on Seal's "Violet" from Seal and Gary Numan's "America" from New Anger. 12. D­50 DigitalNativeDance A raspy metallic vocal sample that blooms, then suddenly dances a little jig, this preset opens countless songs. At the beginning of Miles Davis's "Catémbe" (from Amandla) and Gary Numan's "Devious" Catémbe (from New Anger), it's even the same note. (Yep, that's two presets in a row from Numan. He must have liked his D­50, because he also used the Fantasia preset on the song "Cold Metal Rhythm.") 13. D­50 Fantasia An evocative, mysterious sound, this was an otherworldly bell layered Fantasia with a synth pad. And used with wild abandon. 14. James Brown grunts and screams "Huh!" "Haaieyah!" "Hit me!" Okay, settle down. That's quite enough hitting already. http://www.synthmania.com/Famous%20Sounds.htm 3/27 14/04/2015 Famous Sounds 15. Pan Flute This windbag has got to be one of the most overused solo sounds. It lives in the Korg M1, the Roland D­50 (as Living Calliope and Breathy Behind the Veil Chiffer), the Fairlight (as Steamer), and many other synths. Just when we thought it was hopelessly overexposed, Tony Hymas made None of us are interesting use of it in "Behind the Veil" (from Jeff Beck's Guitar free Shop) by playing afterbeat chords. Adding a marimba attack produces the ubiquitous M1 Pan Mallet preset, recently heard in "None of Us Are Free" on Ray Charles' My World. The underwater windchimey thing heard on a thousand commercials. But what is it? Jack Hotop of Korg reports, "Originally, Michael Brecker brought the sample back from England, passed it to Robbie 16. Korg M1 Lore Kilgore, I got it from Robbie, and we stuck it in the DSS­1 library. But when it came time to do the M1 ROM, we had to truncate stuff, so I gave the file to Charlie Bright at Korg R&D. He relooped it, remapped it, and trunc'ed it down. When we used it in subsequent ROMS, it would keep getting chopped up, and when you chop up something Korg M1 Lore rhythmic like that, the loop changes somewhat. So people who have the DSS­1 version will have one kind of loop; if anyone's lucky enough to have the files that Robbie and Michael had, that's a different version of it, and the M1 version is different from the M3R version, which is kind of similar to the 01/W version and the X version. So it exists in many forms, ant it's a really cool sound. No one knows what it is. Not even the people at Korg." There's some speculation, though, that Lore was originally a Fairlight sound. 17. M1 Pole Who'd have thought that tapping a metal pole would have so many Korg M1 Pole repercussions? As Kim Aikin noted in a March '90 Keyboard Report, the Pole sample even ended up in the Peavey DPM 3's ROM. 18. M1 Magic Organ A burbling, tinkling digitalian, this sample has built more pads than a mattress factory. Jack Hotop reveals that the original sample was Korg M1 Magic created in Digidesign's Turbosynth program. There was some doubt Organ that it could be looped successfully because it's a rhythmic, evolving sound, but they pulled it off. Magic Organ will return in the ROM of an upcoming instrument. 19. Gated Snare http://www.synthmania.com/Famous%20Sounds.htm 4/27 14/04/2015 Famous Sounds First heard on Peter Gabriel's third album, then virtually trademarked Against All by Phil Collins, this is what happens when you run a drum through Odds excessive reverb and then chop off the decay. So don't do it. In the example, Phil Collins' beautiful '80s hit, "Against All Odds". 20. High­pitched snare Possibly a reaction to the deep, space­hogging gated snare, this thin, She drives me light sound dances through untold numbers of pop tunes. Can you crazy Fine Young Cannibals? I can't find a "b­b­b­b­baby" sample at the moment, so how about a "n­n­n­n­nineteen" Overused but Not Cool Award: Stuttering sampled Nineteen instead? The 1985 hit "Nineteen", by Paul Hardcastle (who now plays smooth jazz and vocals (B­b­b­b­baby!) is still very successful) is a perfect example of this technique. Hardcastle used an Emulator II for the Vietnam documetary samples). SynthMania List: SOUND NAME Audio DESCRIPTION example Drum Loops / Breakbeats / full groove samples This loop has been used as the backbone of countless tracks. Deservedly one of the classic breakbeats, it opens Funky Drummer Loop Funky Drummer the first sample CD of the classic "Datafile" trilogy, by Zero­ G.