Advice for 80's & 90's Synth Reproduction

[y84media]

Hello all,

I used to be into MIDI sequencing back in the M1, D50 & Mac SE30 & Opcode Vision days. I still have my SE30 & my little Passport MIDI interface... Ah the olden days.

I'm curious, does anyone out there play 80's & 90's pop music? If so, what are you using to reproduce those old sounds?

I recall the overused sounds of the M1 & D50, but I'm really talking about recreating the OB, Fairlight, etc sounds of Duran Duran, Flock Of Seagulls, Van Halen, etc etc etc....

Is it possible to recreate those sounds with modern equipment? I sat down and played with the new Korg M3 & M50, and I have to admit I was not impressed. They seemed to be overloaded with gimmick sounds especially in the Combi section of patches.

Would I be better off buying an old M1 or 01W (heck I just saw a Wavestation go for $200 on ebay) as my controller and use all VST instruments on my MacBook Pro in Garageband?

Thanks everyone for your input, I think that if there was a sounds of the 80's and 90's library on a keyboard that could do all of those sounds, I would just buy that keyboard and the library and be done.

[Yoozer]

Since you aren't shying away from plugins - check out the Korg Legacy Digital collection. Also look into FM8, Zero-G Nostalgia and a Waldorf Microwave.

I'd say its entirely possible - the 80s didn't have that weird obsession with fatness

[Popbott]

Most of the sounds coming from the bands you mentioned can be easily re-created on any new synth on the market. If the presets on a synth sounds like it has "gimmick" sounds, that is because it's probably meant to show off what that synth is capable of producing.

I play in an 80's synth band, we mainly cover what was playing at the clubs during the late 80's early 90's. http://www.myspace.com/electricbluemusic
Live we use a Clavia Nordlead2, Korg MS2000, Roland Juno-1, Juno-106, Yamaha CS-1X and an AN-1X.

In the studio, to re-create some of the backing sequenced tracks (because some 80s elements ARE impossible to play live) I used a Korg 01W-FD, Roland JD-800, Yamaha TX-81Z, EX-5r, Sequential Prophet 600, ASR-10 sampler and a Kawai K1-II as well as the synths mentioned above. Any of these synths can get you loads of 80's sounds at your finger tips and are available and relatively low prices these days.
If I were to pick any two for re-creating 80's sounds, I would go for a Nordlead2 and Korg O1W-FD combo.

I have noticed that REASON is capable of many of the sounds used in most of my 80's songs. The Subtractor module sports many Nord and Oberheim like sounds and the NN19 and NN-TX digital samplers also sport many similar sounds to the Korg O1W-FD. They are not exact duplicates, but with some intuitive programming they can get close enought to get the job done. I would recommend this program to anyone wanting those 80's sounds again. The Korg Legacy collection mentioned above is also a great choice.

[GeorgesMaraudeur]

I'd say an easy/not so expensive way would be to get a Matrix1000 and a Juno-60 for the synth sounds, an Akai S1000 for drums sounds (for samples of LinnDrum/Simmons/DMX etc.) and other "at the time top notch samplers" library sounds (like from Synclavier or Fairlight), on top of that an Emax loaded with floppies would be cool too (Emax libraries are awesome).
It's all midi (well need a DCB>midi for the Juno), easily controlled from a DAW.

[gregwar]

+1 legacy collection and using the original modules if possible

Many midi modules are deeply discounted these days there were 2 d550s at l&m for under $300 each, m1, O1ws, etc the cheapes imo has to be fm synths my tx7 was $50 or something.

As for recreating jupiter, ob, etc unfortunately those are more desirable than ever! A super jupiter w/out programmer would be about $1000, matrix 6/1000 would be cheaper and get you most of the way there with eq, reverb, etc

Synclavier, fairlight, etc STILL sound amazing, haven't seen those under 4gs but if you chech out a motif rack imo it's 'truer' to the source than the roland or korg workstations.

[backindauk]

I've got the complete Fairlight sample library in EXS24 format if you want it.

Painstakingly converted from a Series III CMI.

It's a full DVD of stuff.

Shoot me an email and i'll mail you the disc.