…and only 4 months in to the year. Well I’m writing this inbetween mixing, actually I’m waiting for a mixdown to export out of my daw into a 16bit file that I can stick on a CD-R and test in the car etc… so as I’ve kept my head down since December I’ve got quite a bit done.

Firstly I moved house, to a much better place with more space to surround myself with my beloved (old) synthesizers… the balance thus far is more towards digital synths but I only hand picked the best of the bunch from the decade that meant a lot to me (the 1980s)… Roland D-50 is a particular piece of joy to me… if you play around with the factory sounds you WILL end up sounding a bit like Jackson’s ‘Bad’ album, or Enya’s ‘Orinoco Flow’… slap in some ‘Jarre’ patches and woh.. instant ‘Revolutions’ (Album)… the D-50 was the main ingredient of all of those records and many more (inc some by Duran Duran around that time)

I have to point out though, I did not get it to to play ’80s preset’ sounds or recreate famous songs of the 80s. It’s the powerful synthesis engine that is underneath… it’s not a ‘rompler’ (all samples) you can use some if you want but you can switch them off completely (which most do) and run the D-50 in a kind of ‘virtual analog’ way.. it’s a deep synth that can do stuff and sound better than many modern so called ‘synthesizers’ that are just boxes of sounds and a sequencer… this is a real synth not a glorfied ‘electronic keyboard’ ;)

Here’s a pic of the Roland D-50
(not my pic but a good pic)

yeah the D-50 was a massively popular synth around 87/88 and used on.. almost everything.. kinda taking over from the Yamaha DX7 (which I also have now) and preceeding the even more popular (But certainly far inferior as synthesis goes) Korg M1 (which, again, I also have). These were all cheap 2nd hand buys, the DX7 (II-D) in particular was a synth I’d been after since I was a young kid… mainly because it was always on TOTP ;)

I found there is a lot more to it than ‘cheesy’ Electric Piano presets, it’s got some amazing abilites if you dig in… more accurately FM synthesis has. It’s strange and unique and gives and edge to a mix. A real marmite synth here as a LOT of people detest the DX7 as they saw it as a preset machine that ‘killed off’ analog machines but really it’s still a very clever synth underneath and takes a certain type to appreciate it (i.e a giant nerd like me).

Yamaha DX7 II-D

My latest purchase was a ‘virtual analog’ from 1997 ish, the Yamaha AN1x. This synth looks a lot less ‘pro’ next to my other gear but it’s the sound that counts, and it’s very overlooked but very powerful.. it can do passable emulations of Prophet 5, Jupiter 8, minimoog etc.. it’s not a real analog but then it didn’t cost £5k (latest price I saw for a 1982 Jupiter 8 – which is my all time favourite synth btw).

Yamaha AN1x

So inbetween fitting my synths in to the room, moving them around, trying to decide which was best on which tier of my (two) triple tear stands (btw I’m going to need ANOTHER stand now which will make 9 available spaces; but I really think I’m done with hardware synths for now), and refurbing my two Roland JX’s (3P and 8P), I’ve also been working on actual music (again).

Currently I’m mixing 3 songs, they are coming along ok… also I’m recording the 12 track album (and have been for some time). Next up will be shooting plenty of footage for my strictly no budget promo videos for some of the songs… at least the sun is pretty much here now so outside filming is once again a possibility! :)

Hope to soon start blogging in more detail about the songs that will be coming out soon…and next time I’ll try not to talk so much about old synthesizers :)

thanks for reading
Paul

http://www.spacehotelmusic.com