Hi all, I really like the choirs, pads, and strings in this Hawkwind instrumental from early 1992. I was wondering just how many synths were around at that time for these kind of sounds.
That's pretty damn good Audioconsult..... I'd also say E2. the voices and the wind chimes. Iused, or should I say "over used" those sounds on lots of stuff.
its more the noise and aliasing that pointed me to the EII.. that the sounds are samples is easy to hear.. the choir is looped and to do chimes with a synth is a rather hard goal.
so we all say emulator.. the sounds seem to be from the emultor lib.. But them got quiete often transfered to other samplers. A prophet 2000 or ensoniq could sound quiete similar.. or the oberheim sample player.. Akai would sound cleaner and a roland more smosshed in the midrange, but who knows what has happend to youtube clib.. could be a roland too.
But i bet E2
can somebody ask the artists?
but just realized that its the real hawkwind, just 100% electronic.. ..
I would doubt that they hazzled with oberheim sample players or newish EIII´s.
The Hamond B3 of samplers, the E II fits the profile way better...
I haven't used my \E2 for a very long tim. i have a huge library and a lot of original preset disks with original samples that I created. So......I loaded up "pompous choir" that wasn't it....but "voices" I knew it was that disk. The E3 was a huge forward move by EMU, and I always wanted one, but huge bucks at that time. There are sounds that I have on the E2 that are epic gems that can't be replicated ... We get hung up on 8 bit 12 bit 16 bit....etc. Sometimes it's more about the product. Yes...aliasing all over the place with an E2....It comes free of charge with that instrument.
It's samplers, that is absolutely clear. EMU was wildly used. But even more popular during that time was Akai S1000. The Roland S750 was released around that time and was very popular, but not as widely used as the EMU and Akai.
It was also a time when the dinosaurs walked among us: Fairligt series III and Synclavier II were very popular at the top end studios that had unlimited budget (still want to have a Fairlight, even if modern samplers as Kontakt are much more powerful today... but not as cool and 80s).
There were also some other popular brands i the early 90s of course like Ensonic, Yamaha, Kurzweil, SCI (Prophet 3000) and Casio (actually made a great sampler FZ1 that was absolutly not a toy, the first lower budget "poor man Fairligt") and some other popular brands. But they were not so common used for commercial recordings as EMU and Akai (and Fairlight and Synclavier, depending on budget).
There were also some synths based on sampling such Korg M1 etc that used these kind of sounds such choir in the video clip, but it does not sound like that.
One thing that can talk for Synclavier II is the bells among the samples when it had onboard FM synthesis as well. But it could be anyone of them, so EMU is not a bad guess (I had different EMU samplers, but also SCI, Akai and Roland samplers).
Here's a list of synths and keyboards used by Hawkwind throughout the '90's:
Korg MS-20 and SQ-10 sequencer. Dave Brock 1980 – 2008.
Roland Jupiter 8. Dave and Harvey both used JP8’s big time, 1982 onwards.
Korg Polysix. Dave, 1982 to present.
Roland JX-3P with PG-200 programmer. Dave, late 1980's to present.
Casio CZ-1000 and CZ-101. Dave and Harvey, mid 1980's to about 1992.
Casio FZ-10M rack mount samplers. Dave and Harvey, mid 1980's to about 1998.
Korg M1, M1R and M1REX. Dave and Harvey, 1989 onwards.
Roland GR-50 Guitar Synth. Dave, 1990 onwards, using GK-2A pickups fitted to his guitars (especially on Electric Teepee)
Roland Juno 60. Alan Davey mid 1980's to about 1992. Swapped for:
Roland Jupiter 6. Alan, 1992 to 1997.
Korg Wavestation EX, Wavestation AD and Wavestation SR. Alan, 1992 onwards.
Kawai K4. Alan, 1991 – 1997 (Blue Shift etc).
Korg 01R/W. Dave, early 1990’s onwards.
EMU Proteus series. Dave, mid 1990’s onwards.
Roland SH-101. Richard Chadwick.
Roland JD-800. Richard Chadwick.
That's a lot of synths!
Not sure where I found this list but thanks goes out to the OP.
in case we are wrong with the emu and this list is accurate beside the proteus ..the kawai k4 might be actually a possebilty as the korg wavestatiom might be involved too..
the second track wasnt so emuish..anyway.. im certain it wasnt the juno 60
Well i cant couldnt imagine Dave and co firing up samplers to be honest, they were probably "transported out into space man -wow" using the pads from Korg work and Wavestations - as everyone else was at the time...
I dont know what the Proteus series sounds like TBH, but I'm sure they had plenty of similar sounds on board, some derived from other EMU kit possibly.
Well i cant couldnt imagine Dave and co firing up samplers to be honest, they were probably "transported out into space man -wow" using the pads from Korg work and Wavestations - as everyone else was at the time...
I dont know what the Proteus series sounds like TBH, but I'm sure they had plenty of similar sounds on board, some derived from other EMU kit possibly.
BTW, both songs are on Spotify, in much higher fidelity. I don't think any Wavestation sounds are in either song.
I doubt that Blue Shift (the first song) has any Wavestation parts in it at all. The choir sound is probably coming from a Roland instrument, as my JV-1080 had a very similar waveform onboard, so in looking at the gear list, the most likely candidate is the JD-800.
As for the second song, I am pretty sure that the big glassy choir-y chords are also from a Roland JD-800, though I am 100% positive it's not a Wavestation. Note the distinctive resonant filter sweep around the 6:20 mark.
In fact, I'm fairly sure it's a Roland JD-800, but not positive.
Thanks for the replies! I scored a JD-990 and found the preset "Tangerine" to be pretty much the exact sound in the second song Going to Hawaii (if the envelopes are adjusted). Awesome rack! Got a Kawai K4 and Wavestation coming too.
Here's a list of synths and keyboards used by Hawkwind throughout the '90's:
Korg MS-20 and SQ-10 sequencer. Dave Brock 1980 – 2008.
Roland Jupiter 8. Dave and Harvey both used JP8’s big time, 1982 onwards.
Korg Polysix. Dave, 1982 to present.
Roland JX-3P with PG-200 programmer. Dave, late 1980's to present.
Casio CZ-1000 and CZ-101. Dave and Harvey, mid 1980's to about 1992.
Casio FZ-10M rack mount samplers. Dave and Harvey, mid 1980's to about 1998.
Korg M1, M1R and M1REX. Dave and Harvey, 1989 onwards.
Roland GR-50 Guitar Synth. Dave, 1990 onwards, using GK-2A pickups fitted to his guitars (especially on Electric Teepee)
Roland Juno 60. Alan Davey mid 1980's to about 1992. Swapped for:
Roland Jupiter 6. Alan, 1992 to 1997.
Korg Wavestation EX, Wavestation AD and Wavestation SR. Alan, 1992 onwards.
Kawai K4. Alan, 1991 – 1997 (Blue Shift etc).
Korg 01R/W. Dave, early 1990’s onwards.
EMU Proteus series. Dave, mid 1990’s onwards.
Roland SH-101. Richard Chadwick.
Roland JD-800. Richard Chadwick.
That's a lot of synths!
Not sure where I found this list but thanks goes out to the OP.
Good thing I picked up pretty much everything off this list except the MS 20/Polysix/jupiters while they've been dumped on the market for peanuts or at least sub $1000 level. They've been seen on Gearslutz as being used in old skool tracks now. Kawai K4 is awesome for darkwave style stuff.
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so we all say emulator.. the sounds seem to be from the emultor lib.. But them got quiete often transfered to other samplers. A prophet 2000 or ensoniq could sound quiete similar.. or the oberheim sample player.. Akai would sound cleaner and a roland more smosshed in the midrange, but who knows what has happend to youtube clib.. could be a roland too. 
Kawai K4 is awesome for darkwave style stuff.
