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)

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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. From "Amen my brother" by the Winstons, this is the Amen breakbeat Amen my brother jungle/drum'n'bass loop. Pitch­shift it up to 160 bpm, and you get a groovalicious beat Apache breakbeat Apache that many a jungle producers find irresistible. From "Apache", by the Incredible Bongo Band. An irresistible loop, this was perfect to build up a House track. Ooh! Jazz! Ooh! Yeah! Ohh! Jam! Or, what is it The loop of '88 (The "Ooh! Yeah!" loop) The loop of '88 that they say? This loop is from the song "Think" by Lyn Collins and was very popular at the end of the '80s/beginning of the '90s. I have this and the previous loop identified this way in a double sample LP package by Simon Harris, that contained Set Adrift many other loops and sounds suitable for scratching and http://www.synthmania.com/Famous%20Sounds.htm 5/27 14/04/2015 Famous Sounds The loop of '89 Girl You Know It's True backbeat purposes. P.M Dawn used this one for their hit "Set adrift on memory bliss", where they also sample Spandau Ballet's song "True"! Other examples: Milli Vanilli's "Girl You Know It's True" Roland TR­909

The Techno­House drum­machine. Over the years its Pump up the Jam sounds have been eagerly sought after by every dance music producer, and it has truly defined a genre. An This Beat Is Technotronic analog/digital hybrid, its bass drum, snare, open hat and all of its onboard sounds have ended up in every sample cd Pullover with the name house/techno on it. Check out Technotronic's "Pump Up the Jam" and "This Beat Is Technotronic, Speedy Power_Of_Love J's "Pullover", and Dee­Lite's "Power Of Love" from the album "World Clique".

Roland TR­808

The classic Hip­Hop and House drum machine. All of its sounds ­ just like its sister, the TR­909, are famous: the tight, small snare, the characteristic rim shot and cowbell, Mantronix the analog tom­toms.. and the biggest bass drum boom ever made. Used by everybody, its sounds are still widely used Sexual Healing for so many different musical genres.

Check out Mantronix doing an homage to this drum machine, Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing",

The "Stutter edit"

Fat Boy Slim (Norman Cook) and the "Big Beat" movement (Propellerheads, Chemical Brothers, the Prodigy et alii) were one of the first to popularize the stutter edit (utilizing a software sequencer to arrange small snippets of sounds together). Artists like BT (Brian Transeau) took the Stutter The Rockafeller Skank edit further ­ creating the Micro edit. BT is the champ in this department. Just listen to any of his songs and you'll realize how much work he put in arranging very small portions of sound in his sequenced songs. In the example, a snippet from Fatboy Slim hit "The Rockafeller Skank" aka "The funk soul brother".

The "Pump Up The Volume" loop

Characteristic early house loop ­ from MARRS' hit ­ TR­909 Pump up the volume galore, with analog 808 bongos.

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The "When the levee breaks" loop

Notably used by the Beastie Boys in "Rhymin' and Stealin'", When the levee breaks this loop was taken from a Led Zeppelin song.

Casio VL­1 rhythms and tones

German group Trio's hit "Da da da" and Dee­lite's "Who Was Da da da That", among others, use this wonderful, little machine. It's actually a cross between a keyboard and a calculator, but Who_Was_That? the "Fantasy" tone is pretty groovy.. (and you can make your own tones too.)

The "Genie in a bottle" bass­drum pattern

Genie In A Bottle Very cool 16th drum bass programming in this song.

The "Glory Box" loop

A very beautiful loop, used in the background of Portishead's "Glory Box", from Dummy, and Tricky's "Hell is Glory Box round the corner", from Maxinquaye. Scratchy vinyl noise, a http://www.synthmania.com/Famous%20Sounds.htm 7/27 14/04/2015 Famous Sounds Hell is round the corner melancholic string loop, a great bass, Rhodes with tremolo, wha­wha guitars. . . aaah, I like Trip­Hop. Slick people, too. Any song is going to sound nice with that dreamy loop in the background. The original music is from Isaac Hayes.

The busy 1980s 16th­beat programmed percussion pattern

Wow.. what a crazy track this was! "You Spin Me Round" was a huge hit for Dead Or Alive in 1985, and countless bands imitated their arrangement afterwards. The You Spin Me Round (Like programmed drum machine pattern, in combination with other a Record) sequenced parts, was absolutely phenomenal and ground­ breaking. I wonder what equipment they used. The bass Weird Science could be DX7, or maybe was obtained with a sampler? Still a great party song! :­) This type of percussion programming is also featured in Oingo Boingo's "Weird Science"

The "Rockit"

Everything about this song is great: the scratches, the rez­ zap loop, the percussion, and finally the synth sound used Rockit for the melody. And let us not forget the Vocoder :­)Herbie Hancock during his rap­electronic phase. A synthesizer cult­ song of the '80s.

The "I've got the power" drum loop

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A classic sound from Snap's hit: the characteristic bell loop I've got the power is a signature drum pattern or the early '90s.

The "Blue Monday" drum pattern

The classic Blue Monday, by New Order, featured clever Blue_Monday Oberheim DMX programming.

Bass / Synth Bass/ Bass Lines The Brooklyn Bounce synth bass

A great­sounding TB­303 synth bass gives this '90s hit great Get ready to bounce character. Also used ­ the typical techno pizzicato very in vogue at the time.

The "Oh, Yeah" samples & synth bass

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From great pioneer of electronic pop Swiss band "Yello". The song was featured in several '80s films and is a feast of Oh Yeah samples made with early samplers, and punchy 80s drum machines.

The ARP Odyssey "biting" synth bass

As played by Herbie Hancock in "Chameleon", from Headhunters. Great synth bass sound! As you can tell, Chameleon quite different from the Minimoog bass... Back in the '70s, the Odyssey and Minimoog were contenders in the monophonic portable/performance synth market.

Yamaha TX81Z Lately Bass This unassuming 4­operator FM module contains many strong sounds, and certainly one of the best is this. For Pussycat Meow Rap, Hip­Hop or House, you can't go wrong by using it. Check out Deee­Lite's "Pussycat Meow", ______or ______.

Korg MS­20 "Flatbeat" bass sound

Made famous by the French movie director and techno composer Mr. Oizo, this warbly bass sound is strange and immediately hooking. "Flatbeat" was a hit (at least in Flat Beat Europe), also thanks to the adorable yellow puppet that moved his head to the beat in the song's video. My bet is that this sound will become a classic and will appear in the factory patches of new synths.

The "Deutsche" Euro synth bass http://www.synthmania.com/Famous%20Sounds.htm 10/27 14/04/2015 Famous Sounds

An aggressive, highly resonant and powerful synth bass sound that was very much in vogue during the 1990s. This DeutschBas example in particular comes from a preset on the Alesis QS8.

This was a very typical bass sound heard in the 1980s. I The ring­modulated / vibrato bass was able to get a GREAT rendition of it just adding ring Take my breath away modulation to the preset synth bass in my Casio CZ­1000! In the examples, Commodores' "Night Shift" and Berlin's "Take my breath away". The Paul Hardcastle style Prophet­5 bass Paul Hardcastle has used this type of bass patch, with lots King Tut of "bite", in many of his compositions, including "Rain Forest" and, in the mp3 example, "King Tut". Roland TB­303

The mythical TB­303, aka the "Silver Box", aka the "Acid Dream Machine", but more simply "the 303". A genre, Acid­ Acperience House (or Acid­Techno), was created around this machine. Has spanned a series of emulators, both in hardware and Everybody needs a 303 software. In the examples: Hardfloor's "Acperience" and Fatboy Slim's "Everybody needs a 303" ­ yes, everybody does... or at least a 303 emulator :­)

The "Persuaders" synth bass

This is the incredibly beautiful "Persuaders theme", by the great John Barry of the James Bond 007 theme. I was The_Persuaders always fascinated by this song, since watching the show when I was a child. The supremely analog, creamy, oscillator­detuned bass is very characteristic. I'm trying to find out which synthesizer was used for this song! ­ so, if you know, contact me, please at

Synth/Synth Pad/Synth Lead

Roland α­Juno What the...? (aka "the Hoover") Mentasm Joey Beltram's "Mentasm", as well as Prodigy's "Charlie" helped popularize this Techno­Rave must­have sound. Charly Human Resource's "Dominator" is also a great example of this classic type of rave sound. Dominator

The Techno pizzicato sound Insomnia In a Future Music interview... Faithless reveal that the sound is an edited version of a Roland JD­990 patch. In "Encore Encore Une Fois une fois" DJ Sash popularized it.

Roland D­50 "Pizzagogo" http://www.synthmania.com/Famous%20Sounds.htm 11/27 14/04/2015 Famous Sounds

Yet another famous D­50 preset, this is a lovely sound that Orinoco Flow defines New Age pieces. Enya and her "Orinoco Flow" come to mind.

Roland JP­8000 SuperSaw

The sound of euphoric Trance

Roland D­50 "Staccato Heaven"

One of the reasons why I bought a D­50 in 1989 instead of Staccato Heaven an M1. Eric Persing is one talented sound designer...

D­50 "DigitalNativeDance"

An innovation at the time, this famous D­50 preset utilized DigitalNativeDance short loops that gave the instrument instant character.

Roland D­50 "Fantasia"

One of the most easily recognizable synthesizer sounds of Fantasia all time. It's now become a standard in the ROM of most new digital workstations.

Roland D­50 "Glass Voices"

The perfect pad for many applications. Haunting, dramatic, Glass Voices evolving...

Korg M1 "Universe"

Together with "Staccato Heaven", one of my favorite presets Korg M1 Universe of all time.

The "Popcorn" sound

Hot Butter's success is an irresistible electro­pop piece. The Popcorn http://www.synthmania.com/Famous%20Sounds.htm 12/27 14/04/2015 Famous Sounds sound probably comes from a modular Moog.

The Polymoog "Vox Humana" sound

Gary Numan used that Polymoog preset for the great mega­ Cars analog synth lead in his hit song.

Minimoog lead

The Moog Minimoog is probably the most famous Minimoog in "Catherine synthesizer ever made. Rick Wakeman (he played in Yes) Parr" used it, among other classic keys, in his album "The Six Wives of Henry VIII".

The "Night in motion" synth stab

From Cubic 22 "Night in motion". This song was very popular during the early nineties. The stab is in the "I got the Night in motion power" vein ­ a cross between a distorted guitar sample and an aggressive synth... great sound.

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Moog "From the Beginning" sound

Different and rich in personality, this sound appears, as usual with ELP, at the end of a pretty standard guitar song, From the Beginning and changes the atmosphere completely. More recently, From the Beginning has become part of the Alesis QS7 and 8 sound arsenal.

Oberheim Four Voice lead sound

Pat Metheny's keyboardist Lyle Mays popularized this sound ­ a hollow­sounding square wave with a soft tonality.

The "Worm" squiggly monosynth sound Classic '70s synth lead The "Enola Gay" synth sound

http://www.synthmania.com/Famous%20Sounds.htm 14/27 14/04/2015 Famous Sounds Famous hit song by the new wave band "Orchestral Enola Gay Maneuvers in the Dark" (OMD) This cool sound was apparently sourced from the unpretentious Korg micro­ preset!

The "Axel F" synth

A 1980s hit for Harold Faltermeyer. The synthesizers Axel F involved were apparently Roland Jupiter­8, Roland JX­3P, and Yamaha DX7.

The Prophet­5 synth pad

In the air tonight Phil Collins for "In the air tonight" and Spandau Ballet for "True" both reportedly used this great analog synth for their True pads.

The "I've got the power" synth stab

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A characteristic early house stab, popularized by the band I've got the power "Snap". Probably a digitally manipulated distorted electric guitar sample.

Oberheim OB­Xa "Jump" patch

Great analog synth brass, made famous by the song "Jump", by Van Halen, and by the great ­ ironically ­ guitarist Jump Eddie. I remember a great patch for the Roland D­50 called "OB­Xa Jumper" that was an uncanny recreation.

The Super­Detuned Sawtooth Wave sound

Who is Elvis Yet another Techno classic sound, this was introduced with Phenomenia's "Who is Elvis" and used by countless others This is mothaf**ker (Digital Boy in "This is mothaf**ker" for example).

The "Rydeen" sound

From Yellow Magic Orchestra's hit, this is a cross between an organ and a synth sound ­ a popular combination in the Rydeen late '70s. I'm not sure what synthesizer(s) was used. update; apparently it was a Korg PS­3100.

The No Limit techno lead

From 2Unlimited's hit song, this was a typical detuned­synth No Limit Techno sound.

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The Chick Corea FM+analog fusion lead synth

This was a sound that Chick Corea used very often during his "electrik" period in the eighties. It's based on FM Rumble (Yamaha TX­802) mixed with an analog (in the audio example, excerpt from "Rumble", from "The Elektric Band".

Fluke's "Absurd" vocal sample bass fx

This is a great sample found at the beginning of Fluke's hit "Absurd" (from the album "Risotto"). I guess it consists of Absurd some kind of guttural vocal sampled with added fx and something that reminds of a cabasa. Great sound.

http://www.synthmania.com/Famous%20Sounds.htm 17/27 14/04/2015 Famous Sounds The Macarena delayed synth

Say what you want about the Macarena, but the synth that Macarena opens the Bayside Boys' super­popular remix of the song is very particular and recognizable.

The "Smack My Bitch Up" distorted reso­ synth

Liam reportedly used a Korg Prophecy for this infectious, Smack My Bitch Up distorted TB­303ish synth lead. From the Prodigy's "Fat Of The Land".

The "No Coke" synth & bass

Very particular­sounding, highly­resonant synth and dance hall reggae bass. Exclusively done on synth. From Dr. No Coke Alban's hit of the early 90s. I received an email from a reader and it looks like the synth used was a Roland Juno­ 106.

The "Sexy Boy" voco­synth

Featured all through Air's "Sexy Boy" (from their breakthrough album "Moon Safari"), this is a characteristic Sexy Boy guttural, vocal­like and vocoded synth that gives the song a robotic aura.

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I've always loved this song by Propaganda. The marvelous, incredibly haunting soft pad featured in the chorus is one of The "Duel" soft pad Duel the best analog soft pads I've heard. I'm not sure what synth was used for this, but I know they used a lot of PPG. Pure '80s nostalgia. A triumph of analog synthesis, this was Visage's big hit. Fade To Grey The "Fade To Grey" synth bass, fx and pad Lovely analog string pad throughout the song. Very, very cool dance synth lead. Is that PWM in action? Satisfaction The "Benny Benassi sound" In the example, the Italian DJ's hit "Satisfaction". Darude's dance hit features an infectious (some would say The "Sandstorm" techno synth lead Sandstorm annoying), piercing techno synth lead. Very effective at high volume. "Pullover" was a big hit by Speedy J in the early '90s. "Pullover" features a repetitive techno synthesizer line to Pullover The "Pullover" techno synth lead which pitch bend is applied, over an evolving TR­909 drum pattern.

Let's go Possibly taken from the Prophet­5 "Sync II" patch, this is a great­sounding, The Cars' "Let's Go" oscillator­sync lead characteristic patch, with a great resonant filter effect. Vocoder Vocoder (Kraftwerk style)

The Vocoder is.. Trans Europe Express Check out "Trans Europe Express", by Kraftwerk. More recently, the Beastie Boys used it in "Intergalactic".

Vocoder (Cher style)

Yes, pop mega­diva Cher created a trend applying some kind of vocoding to her voice in "Do you believe in Life after Love". It's not clear how they did it (some say with Antares Do you believe Auto­Tune ...), but it seems her producers used a Digitech Talker and a Nord Lead. Edit: it looks it was indeed Auto­ Tune.

Piano/Electric Piano The Dream­House piano ­ aka the "Children" sound These are basically standard piano, syn bass and string/pad sounds bathed in delay and reverb, but they are particular nonetheless. Italian dj/producer Robert Miles wrote this hit using a Kurzweil K2000 to "calm down" the kids before they Children drove back home from the discos (he even used the great K2000 "Thunder" patch in this song). His song also created a genre, "Dream­House". The Roland JV­2080 would feature http://www.synthmania.com/Famous%20Sounds.htm 19/27 14/04/2015 Famous Sounds several patches inspired by these sounds.

Rhodes electric piano Beautiful sound used by many 70's fusion players and more Riders on the Storm recently by Incognito with the Acid Jazz trend of the 90's. For me, "Riders on the Storm" by the Doors does it. Wurlitzer electric piano

A different sound from the Rhodes, and very, very The Logical Song characteristic. Comes in fun colors, too, like green. Listen to Supertramp's "The Logical Song".

Glossy, highly produced mega­expensive Hollywood studio The layered acoustic+FM piano ­ aka "L.A. type sound typically produced combining an acoustic grand L.A. Piano piano" piano with a Rhodes/FM type sound. In this examples I'm using the preset "Pf:For Ballads" on the Yamaha EX5R. Korg M1 House piano

Used in a lot of House tracks, especially in the "Italo­House" Ride on Time genre for its percussive tone. "Ride on Time" by the Italian group Black Box was a huge success.

Keyboard Hohner Clavinet

In the 70's, it was the Funk instrument par excellence. Run Superstition through a wah­wah, it's even better. Stevie Wonder (Superstitious ) and Herbie Hancock (Head Hunters' Chameleon Chameleon) surely knew how to use it.

The '60s­style harpsichord played in a pop/rock, not classical, fashion: Mancini, ....F Organ Korg M1 Perc Organ

The mythical "17 Organ2" preset on the M1 defined House music of the early 1990s. Listen for example to Double Please Don't Go You's version of KC & the Sunshine Bands's classic "Please don't Go", which was a hit in Europe in the early '90s.

Jimmy Smith­style Hammond Organ

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Back at the Chicken C3 vibrato, 3rd harmonic percussion, the first three drawbars Shack all out...this is the sound of jazz organ. "Back at the chicken shack" was the first Jimmy Smith album I ever bought... and I was immediately hooked.

Vox Continental

The sound of The Doors and many other 60's bands. Light My Fire According to Ray Manzarek, it's the "California sound". "Light My Fire" is one of the Doors' most loved songs.

Similar to the Vox yet different, sligthly warmer and more Farfisa Rock Lobster nasal­sounding, deservedly one of the classic 60's combo organs. The "Won't get fooled again" phased / At the beginning of the great Who song. The Alesis Ion Won't get fooled again filtered organ sound offers a great recreation of this sound. I remember reading that the organ used by the Beatles for The "Lucy in the sky with diamonds" intro Lucy in the sky with the introduction to this hit was a Lowrey. Pretty cool retro diamonds organ sound sound. An awesome sounding, expressive early electronic keyboard! ­­­ Del Shannon's "Runaway", The Tornadoes' "Telstar" are examples of this precursor to the modern synthesizer.

UPDATE FROM A READER: "Hiyas.

You list the Del Shannon hit "runaway" as featuring a clavoline. I listened to the audio sample of the pertinent section, and I'm assuming that you refer to the high, reedy sort of solo that plays.

That's not a clavoline, though. That's a sax played through Telstar an organ leslie. Clavioline Runaway Several years ago, PBS ran a series called "The history of rock n' roll" ­ and one of the songs it touched on was Del http://www.synthmania.com/Famous%20Sounds.htm 21/27 14/04/2015 Famous Sounds Shannon's runaway. Survuving members of the band were interiewed and it was revealed that that's what the sound was ­ people had been trying like mad for decades to figure out what it was, and all it was, was a sax through a leslie.

I searched google but was unable to find anyone who had this info posted, so your best bet is to try and hunt up a copy of that old PBS series, and view the interviews for yourself.

cheers

­cobalt* " Awesome chorused sound, with some high drawbars out and The reggae organ ver. 1 No Woman No Cry leslie running. Bob Marley's "No Woman No Cry", the live version, is a great example. The reggae organ ver. 2 Strings ARP String Ensemble ­ also known as Solina

One of the best analog string machines ever.

Used in a lot of classic "teutonic rock", or "kosmische The Solina through phaser sound musik", and Jean Michel Jarre. A wonderful sound. Truly innovative not becase it's the first time that somebody filters vocals, but because of her amazing operatic technique combined with technology. I call The "Goldfrapp" sound this "Goldfrapp" sound, because Alison Goldfrapp uses this technique with beautiful results. She sings through a microphone whose signal is being processed by a synthesizer filter (at a Goldfrapp concert in D.C., I noticed it was a Korg MS­20). Yep, it's not a Theremin or a synth... even though the first times you hear the songs, one can't exactly figure out how they produced it.. it's her voice going through a synthesizer filter ­ I've seen it with my eyes at their concert.

Lovely Head UPDATE FROM A READER: "I think she's actually singing into the MS­20's control voltage input. The MS­20 is drawing its pitch information from Alison Goldfrapp's voice, via the CV input. Korg's Legacy VST edition of the MS­20 has a preset which does this, and it produces a similar effect, particularly the "squally" sound in between the notes, which must come from the microphone picking up noise, or Goldfrapp's breath. It's one of those interesting techniques that is little­used because it requires pitch­perfect singing in order to sound right. She could probably have the same effect with another old CV/Gate synthesiser, but I wonder if the different voltage standards might make it impossible to control in the audio range." The "Frampton" sound The famous sound obtained with a "talk box".

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The Elka Synthex Laser Harp

The famous Laser Harp sound used by Jean Michel Jarre ­ utilizing the classic Elka Synthex.

The typical '80s comp synth Propaganda, Madonna The Proteus/2 "X­Files whistle"

Originated from an E­mu Proteus/2 sound module (source: The X­Files Keyboard magazine article with Mark Snow, xx/199x)

Choirs/Vox/Syn Vox

The Anasthasia techno choir

I truly loved this song when it came out! in the early '90s! Belgian group T­99 created this techno standard sound sampling the sound of an orchestral choir (supposedly a recording of The Rite of Spring by Stravinsky) and shifting the starting point of its wave so to obtain a very fast attack, Anasthasia indispensable to play the characteristic riff. Tons of other artists copied it (for example, LA Style in "James Brown is James Brown is dead dead") ­ Update: reader Anders writes: I've bought an old Roland S­330 sampler and guess what i found!! Original System Disk nr­2 contains some orchestral sound, and one called "Ending 1" is that famous "James Brown Is Dead" choir sound :)

E­mu Emulator choir

Depeche Mode used Emulators in the '80s. I believe the choirs in their incredibly beautiful "Enjoy The Silence" are Enjoy The Silence from the Emulator II. Also, here's a gritty choir sound from the Emulator, 1st version: Italian New Wave band Litfiba's Tziganata "Tziganata". Listen carefully and you'll notice the "Mellotronish" choir sound in the background.

Gated choir sequenced triplets

A few years ago this sound was created by some producer gating a choir sound and utilizing a hi­hat pattern to open and close the gate and this is the ­ impressive ­ result. Or Nowhere Land maybe it's all done with a sequencer.. Anyway, "Nowhere http://www.synthmania.com/Famous%20Sounds.htm 23/27 14/04/2015 Famous Sounds Land" was a hit (in Europe, at least) and countless other tracks imitated this technique.

The uber­famous Fairlight syn vox. This breathy synthetic voice was also part of the Emulator II library, the Roland S­ Moments In Love series samplers (Mary Ann vox), and made it even in the GM The Fairlight Syn Vox standard bank. Check out Art Of Noise's "Moments In O Superman Love", Laurie Anderson's "O' Superman" (probably not a good example but is reminiscent of that sound) D­50 "Star Trek Voices"

STAR­TREK Voices A gorgeous, Fairlight­esque vox pad that sparkles and swims in space. Contained in the PN­D50­04 Roland card.

The most beautiful and famous CMI Fairlight factory sample, this was, and still is, widely used in the ROM of many Shout The Fairlight syn vox sample­based, modern era synthesizers. In the example, the solo in Tears For Fears' 1984 hit "Shout". The "I Can't Wait" early­sampler sampled vocals A very cool 1980s song, Nu Shooz "I Can't Wait" features a very characteristic vocal sample, very "Fairlight like". An early, low­bit rate, limited­memory sampler was probably used.

UPDATE FROM A READER: "Hi im almost 40 now... but i have seen nu shooz when they have the i cant wait hit... they came here to my town laredo... I Can't Wait the bass player played a synth with a bass patch... dont know what it was but... i see this one Sequential Circuits • ProphetVS

http://www.vintagesynth.com/sci/pvs.shtml being played on the main riff.... so i think that was it.."

Reeds Mellotron flute sound

Played polyphonically by the Beatles in their song "Strawberry fields forever", this haunting sound is very beautiful, and the original instrument is still very sought after Strawberry Fields Forever today. Noteworthy is its appearance in the Vintage Keyboard expansion board for the Roland JV/XP series. http://www.synthmania.com/Famous%20Sounds.htm 24/27 14/04/2015 Famous Sounds Other Mellotron sounds, like strings and choirs are very, very evocative.

The '80s synth harmonica sound

What's love got to do with The synth used for this famous harmonica sound was the it Yamaha DX7. (actually, a preset on a DX7 library cartridge).

Brass/Synth Brass The "Wish you were here" analog synth­ brass Wish You Were Here From Pink Floyd's popular song

The "Africa" FM brass sound

Apparently, an early FM synth, the Yamaha GS­1, was used for the brass sound of this famous 1980s hit.

The '80s "Hair­Metal" synth brass Do you remember the hit "The Final Countdown" from 1985, by the band "Europe"? This song was so overplayed on the radio that every kind of people, from a 4­year­old child to the octogenarian grandma, were whistling in the street. I don't The Final Countdown remember what keyboards were used, but I'll find out. Update: several Swedish and Norwegian readers have contacted me and confirmed that the synth used was a Roland JX­8P ­ apparently a preset, "Stab..." something.

Sequences/Arpeggios The Tangerine Dream classic analog sequencer pattern

Excerpt from "Cherokee Lane", from the live Album Cherokee Lane "Encore". Analog sequencers were at the base of Tangerine Dream's music during the '70s. http://www.synthmania.com/Famous%20Sounds.htm 25/27 14/04/2015 Famous Sounds

The "I feel love" Moroder 16th sequenced pattern

A classic disco song, "I feel love" by Donna Summer was produced by Giorgio Moroder and is based on a fabulous I feel love analog sequencer pattern. Giorgio went on to produce many other (synthesizer­based) hits all throughout the '80s and beyond.

The Jupiter­8 arpeggio

Featured at the beginning of Duran Duran's beautiful "Save A Save A Prayer Prayer". There's also a great syn­flute with pitch bending that's prominent in this track.

The Jupiter­4 random arpeggio

Famously used by Nick Rhodes in the intro to Duran Duran's Hungry like the wolf "Hungry like the wolf"

Plucked The "Get Your Freak On" koto loop A repetitive koto loop, this was a hit for Missy Elliott. A Get Your Freak On characteristic use of new­sounding sampled instruments in modern hip­hop production Misc This shouldn't probably be here, but I've always been http://www.synthmania.com/Famous%20Sounds.htm 26/27 14/04/2015 Famous Sounds curious. Does anybody know what synthesizer was used for this great portamento effect? Lucas? Anybody? ANSWER: [sound clip removed at here's an email from reader Gilles, with the answer to this The "THX" sound request of the copyright question: This sound comes from a Synclavier 2, owners] intensively used in SkyWalker studio, managed by George Lucas (according to Harmony Central web site) ­ UPDATE: you can read the real and very interesting story about how the THX sound was made (by Andy Moorer on a mainframe computer at LucasFilm) here at Music Thing

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