What electronic keyboard player, composer or sound designer influenced you the most?

[HEADROOM]

I grew up a bit earlier: As a keyplayer: late 60ties bluesplayers, no one in particular.
After that Mike Ratlidge (soft machine) and of course (B3!)Keith Emerson (ELP)and Jon Lord.
Keith Jarret was a guy I listened to carerfully.....
In the 80ties I think every keyplayer into programming was aware of David Frank....

Composers/songwriters that really influenced me: above all Joni Mitchell (also as a gtr player, open tunings ....) Nick Drake...

Carole King, Andrew Gold, Kevin Ayers, and of course TODD RUNDGREN....

[massimo]

I am not a keyboard player
but I have been into synth programming for about thirty years as a CV/trig then Midi, then Ztar guitarist and Todd Rundgren, Roger Powell, Steve Porcaro, Kerry Minnear, Tommy Mars and Lyle Mays come to mind

best regards
Massimo

[dlmorley]

The guys from Tangerine Dream. All their albums from the early 70's to early 80's. Fabulous programming and sounds.
Steve Lipson on the Trevor Horn stuff like "Slave to the Rhythm"
Depeche Mode
Kraftwerk
Eno

any many more!

[analogbass]

**An obscure name outside of NYC, Boyd Jarvis. Underground Paradise Garage NYC vibe that was the origin of house music via dozens of independent 12" singles in the early-mid 80s including those by Colonel Abrams, Tony Cook, Visual, etc.

The best bass & drum programming & playing, just great, on tracks that in many cases never came out on record. An unknown named Madonna was his opening act early on.

He used a Yamaha CS-15 for bass, leads and drums, as well as a Prophet 600, Oberheim DX and Linndrum. Virtually all hand-played. Later an low-end Akai sampler and SP-12.



**David Frank I met at his studio on Broadway in the late 80s; he was selling a couple of synths I think he should've kept; a VS and a Matrix. In the summer of 1982 he and Vince Clark (Pro One, Arp) both used an arpeggiated raw euro sound to differentiate themselves from others to great effect. Sequencing wasn't common then; just started to take off around that time. Dave then went commercial and became less interesting shortly thereafter, some but not all of it understandible. For a minute I owned the OSCar he sold through a local store, in the mid-80s. Dave influenced the sounds of some others in the mid-80s, such as Jeff Lorber & Phil Collins.

Mainly used a Minimoog w/ analog sequencer, Oberheim for chords, DX drums. As far as making keyboards cool, credit has to go to many, many guys who were doing same at the time. The main difference with Dave's stuff was the arpeggiated sound.



**Hubert Eaves of D-Train. Virtually all hand-played Prophet-5 on seminal post-disco early 80s NY classic 12s.

[Caban]

Skinny Puppy was really a revelation for me first time I heard them, and still today when I listen to tracks like Dig It I totally in awe over how heavy the production sounds.
Front 242 and Tangerine Dream was other favourites in my youth.

[analogbass]

Originally Posted by Caban

Skinny Puppy was really a revelation for me first time I heard them, and still today when I listen to tracks like Dig It I totally in awe over how heavy the production sounds.

Another simple setup that sounded great, better than today; like a lot of industrial a sequenced Pro One as well as Sequential & Roland drums. The heavy sound was just better sounding instruments, nothing fancy about the productions.

[Caban]

For sure it's not about some magic tricks or processors, and IMO electronic music production is mostly about getting the right sounds to start with.

I owned much of what I understood was Skinny Puppys main equipment for many years, like the Pro-One and Mirage sampler....but what they manage to do with it is pure magic in my ears even if it's nothing fancy from a production perspective.

[analogbass]

Originally Posted by Caban

For sure it's not about some magic tricks or what they manage to do with it is pure magic in my ears even if it's nothing fancy from a production perspective.

Musically maybe, but as far as the sounds that era in general was much better than today. Vintage synths & drum machines!

[soultrane]

speaking of integration of keyboard skills w. electronic sound production?

joe zawinul for me... followed by herbie hancock...

then, later on, lyle mays... he sure had some great tones...

vangelis and the cs80!!!

oh yeah... wakeman with his cape, hammond c3, and 4 minimoogs....

haha good times. the nerdiness!!!

emerson i only liked because everyone told me he was great and i should like him.

[andrewsc]

Artists I've found influencial, hmm I'd have to say Future Sound of London "Lifeforms" changed the way I thought about electronic music. Soon after I was very into Mixmaster Morris aka Irresistable Force, especially "Global Chillage". Around the same time the Orb, "UForb" and "Orbvs Terrarvm".

Various ambient artists like Bioshpere and Fax Label artists, such as Testu Inoue.., also Atom Heart and his myriad quirky releases on the Rather Interesting Label.

Later I became more fixated on hard Techno rhythms and production, particularly Adam Beyer, Marco Carola, Glenn Wilson, Hertz, etc.

Also into 70s Dub reggae, and more chilled out electro/acoustic sounding stuff like Kruder Dorfmeister.

I really like learning how to make modern sounding techno, partially cause I'm a drummer, but I think ambient/meditation music can be very powerful so I hope to do some of that style later on.

[Tibbon]

Brian Eno
Trent Reznor
Peter Gabriel & friends
Daft Punk
Moby
Depeche Mode
Radiohead
Skinny Puppy
KMFDM

[Stevil]

Skinny Puppy was really a revelation for me first time I heard them, and still today when I listen to tracks like Dig It I totally in awe over how heavy the production sounds.

huge influence on me as well. they were totally off the wall when i heard them & i had no idea where they were coming from, til i heard Portion Control.

other sounds that hit me hard @ one time or another are Brian Eno, Alan Wilder, Underworld, 242, LeftField, Massive Attack, Tones on Tail, Xymox, NIN, Floyd, Pil, Killing Joke, Ozric Tentacles, Peter Gabriel

[thethrillfactor]

Originally Posted by analogbass

**Hubert Eaves of D-Train. Virtually all hand-played Prophet-5 on seminal post-disco early 80s NY classic 12s.

I know Hubert personally and have been to his house a ton of times.

We talk shop and keyboard playing all the time all the time.

[octatonic]

Eno, Zorn, Gabriel, Fripp, Frith, Reznor.

Yes folks, having a silly name seems to be a prerequisite.

[analogbass]

Originally Posted by thethrillfactor

I know Hubert personally and have been to his house a ton of times.

We talk shop and keyboard playing all the time all the time.

Hubert & Boyd never got the same publicity outside NY as David but were at least as significant.

[Meriphew]

Most influential keyboard players would be Vangelis and Richard Barbieri (Japan). Numan is right up there as well. I heard an old (70's) Vangelis song on some recent movie soundtrack. I recognised the song but couldn't immediately place who it was. I thought it was the band Air at first.

[ignatius]

Originally Posted by analogbass

Musically maybe, but as far as the sounds that era in general was much better than today. Vintage synths & drum machines!

i have to disagree there. i love analog sounds and drum machines in general but there's just a wealth of possibilities for processing/synthesis and sequencing that just didn't exist "back then". plus... the vintage synths and machines are still around to play with too so you still can get those solid sounds as building blocks. not knocking the past. i embrace it. i just think sound design in general has made massive leaps especially what's going on in electronic music. you may have to look a little harder for it but it's definitely there. there's still a long thread of Morton Subotnik running through lot's of stuff these days.

i'm curious what younger artists you are into and what you find interesting or inspiring that was made at a later date?

[dlmorley]

Originally Posted by ignatius

i have to disagree there. i love analog sounds and drum machines in general but there's just a wealth of possibilities for processing/synthesis and sequencing that just didn't exist "back then". plus... the vintage synths and machines are still around to play with too so you still can get those solid sounds as building blocks. not knocking the past. i embrace it. i just think sound design in general has made massive leaps especially what's going on in electronic music. you may have to look a little harder for it but it's definitely there. there's still a long thread of Morton Subotnik running through lot's of stuff these days.

i'm curious what younger artists you are into and what you find interesting or inspiring that was made at a later date?

I would agree that "sound design" has made large steps in the last decade or so, but if those sounds are being used musically is a different matter.
There seems to be a new generation of electronic "artist" that feel the sound is the main thing.
I like music where the sound was designed to support the music and THAT seems lacking to these ears.

[analogbass]

Originally Posted by ignatius

i have to disagree there. i love analog sounds and drum machines in general but there's just a wealth of possibilities for processing/synthesis and sequencing that just didn't exist "back then". plus... the vintage synths and machines are still around to play with too so you still can get those solid sounds as building blocks. not knocking the past. i embrace it. i just think sound design in general has made massive leaps especially what's going on in electronic music. you may have to look a little harder for it but it's definitely there. there's still a long thread of Morton Subotnik running through lot's of stuff these days.

i'm curious what younger artists you are into and what you find interesting or inspiring that was made at a later date?

The flexibility & options are much greater now, but it's been done at the cost of sound quality. The 70s and 80s equipment was largely made and afforded by a pro market that doesn't apply to most equipment used now. Those older sounds of the 60s-80s were the result of simple setups and source sounds that were superior to begin with. I'm not talking about sampling or recreating real sounds. Today's synths are almost entirely facsimilies of what was, to keep costs down, using different technologies. the good thing is that slowly the sounds are improving but it's taken two decades to see it.

I listen to various types of dance music, commercial jazz, new age, etc., am familiar with what they're using. Unfortunatlely, the vintage synths aren't used as much as you'd think because everyone follows the next guy and wants to use more or less the same current sounds vs. a vintage synth that's more expensive to acquire and use, for minimal benefit. Same thing with drum machines-the Roland sounds that have been in vogue for decades were never really great for the most part, were adopted long ago for reasons other than sound quality, and persist like bad breath. Back in the day before they were in vogue, those same Rolands were usually used when something better wasn't affordable.

[ignatius]

interesting. sorry if this derails this thread.

I'm into sound design and sound art and pretty much all forms of electronic music. i don't play keys or guitar or any instrument well. i can noodle a little to get a melody out of my head then run with it in a sequencer. i enjoy programing a lot. making sounds.

there are a handful of artists who manage to combine wicked musical chops with technical wizardry and there are some who are just really smart and have a great ear for sounds and composition.

people who come to mind currently are squarepusher, aphex twin, richard devine, autechre, phoencia (brownout is brilliant) , Deru, proem, chris clark (especially his latest), funckarma, jamie lidell, plaid, rena jones, luke vibert, richie hawtin...

there's a song for every moment ya know? sometimes a well composed groovy track w/lot's of smart programing and processing hits the spot and sometimes pretty melodic stuff will do it. there's room for it all in my head and i'm more or less one of those people who likes to not know where the "1" is sometimes and not be caught up in a melodic progression and verse chorus verse song structure and enjoy hearing a song that starts somewhere and goes somewhere i don't expect. maybe the whole structure of the song is a simple morphing/evolving/progression of noise and beats.

but i love a catchy hook too.

[Cojo]

These two guys: Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider!

[ValdiKaldi]

I guess...

Shpongle
Ott
FSOL
Mike Oldfield
Steve Vai
Pete Namlook

[jkamata]

Bernie Worrell...by far ..

[thecount_x]

Alan Wilder all the way. I still keep an eye on Emulator 2 prices on eBay just to have a Black Celebration in my basement. lol

[dcwave]

Nothing so esoteric - Thomas Dolby, Howard Jones, Vince Clarke, Herbie Hancock and Lyle Mays were all guys I dug when I was a teen.

[Jazzpunk]

King Tubby
Herbie Hancock
Squarepusher
Harold Budd
Amon Tobin
Chick Corea
Brian Eno
Bill Evans
Aphex Twin
Bob Moog

[Decept]

Trent Reznor. Everything that man touches becomes gold.

Thom Yorke. Amnesiac and Kid A were the sex.

Richard D. James. Only someone as twisted as James can reach into the darkest depths of the human brain to contrive such artistic, complex and masterful work.

[soultrane]

Originally Posted by Bryan Talbot

Deepest influence would be Zawinul.

The player I'd most like to emulate would be Rainer Brüninghaus.

haha continuum was the first cd i ever bought...

i believe i paid 17 bucks for it in 87 or so...

it was like holding science fiction from the bridge of the starship enterprise.

[MarkusColeman]

Liam Howlett of The Prodigy
Depeche Mode
Aphex Twin
Infected Mushroom
and Eric Persing