What the f*ck do you call synthwave to begin with?
It's music that sounds nothing like what we, or anyone did in the 80s, written by kids who never lived in the 80s, who sit around and tell each other how 80s this music sounds.
When I had a Peak I found it didn't fit the synthwave vibe very well.
This https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeHq1XPC9ZQ is by far my favorite synthwave track made exclusively with the Peak, excellent writing and track overall but there's just something off about the Peak sound for snythwave.
I'd say the OB-6 was made for synthwave.
Note : I use the term "synthwave" loosely here, as was described above.
It's music that sounds nothing like what we, or anyone did in the 80s, written by kids who never lived in the 80s, who sit around and tell each other how 80s this music sounds.
Since everybody posting, I think I can post my own track from 2011.
Done using Tal U-No and Leto VSTi's. I've since got some hardware Junos, but still TAL's version has something special and nostalgic in it. Nostalgic for the early 2010's... already... oh my...
It's music that sounds nothing like what we, or anyone did in the 80s, written by kids who never lived in the 80s, who sit around and tell each other how 80s this music sounds.
I think it's just '80s-inspired, right? More like "retro-style music with 21st-century production" in the same way Phil Collins' "You Can't Hurry Love" cover wasn't trying to sound like Motown. Whereas Tracy Ullman's version of "They Don't Know" was intentionally '60s-sounding.
It's music that sounds nothing like what we, or anyone did in the 80s, written by kids who never lived in the 80s, who sit around and tell each other how 80s this music sounds.
It's almost as if the kids themselves are replicants. . . They're nostalgic for a past that never even happened.
Or maybe more accurately, considering the 80s dystopian sci-fi influence on the music videos, they're feeling nostalgia for a vision for what the future would be -- from the past.
WTF!
Someone smarter than me has to have a decent theory for this. Cultural analysis isn't something I know much about.
Its more about the production and the effects used than the synth really.. Your best bet would be some old Roland synth though.. or even Roland rompler.
The Integra7 for exemple have all the nice recognizable, cheesy, dated or classic, usable sounds that sit in the mix right away. It would be my first choice for synthwave, with maybe a analog mono like the SH2 to add a touch of dirt that miss in the digital/vst part.
Ive listened to Com Truise for a while now...never knew this was the genre he was pigeonholed with
He's branched out from his early stuff, it's still has some of that sound, but I wouldn't pigeonhole him or Perturbator for that matter. They just make really really good electronic music.
It's hard for me to keep up with the youngster's music genres This seems like 2010 pop (stuff way more dancey and memorable than today's) retro-fitted and coated with analog sounding synths.
This is where Roland Boutiques would make all the sense. But not the SE02 that would sound too aggressive for this
Last edited by Delmarva; 2nd August 2019 at 09:07 PM..
He's branched out from his early stuff, it's still has some of that sound, but I wouldn't pigeonhole him or Perturbator for that matter. They just make really really good electronic music.
I could do with checking out more synthwave stuff. I'll work through those above- cheers guys. Here's my favourite Gunship track-
I absolutely love Gunship (Dark All Day isn't quite up to the debut in my opinion) and that is the sound I go for most. I got Kavinsky's Outrun- it's a good album (apart from the AWFUL rap track) but the Daft Punk inspired
sidechain compression thing with the mix pumping with the kick just doesn't really do it for me. And a fair bit of Synthwave I've looked up tends to follow more of this.
And there's darkwave/dreamwave too which don't sound too different for me (seriously- electronic music has more subgenres than metal, if that's possible!!).
I keep meaning to start a few projects with this style but always waylay myself with something else.
I guess the basic tropes would be- retro drum kit- Linn or DMX (maybe 808 if you want to er towards early 80s electro). A 16th note bassline- normally detuned saws with a downward sweep (sometimes resonant), big Oberheim/Sequential style pads and tinkly bits on the top. A few hooks.
A lot of it to me sounds like all the distributer jingles from the start of old VHS tapes- and the ads at the start of the movies. So no- it doesn't really sound like 80s pop music as such but more a nod to the VHS and videogame generation from the 80s. Which is fine with me!
It's almost as if the kids themselves are replicants. . . They're nostalgic for a past that never even happened.
Wait... what? Never happened? I was a teenager in the 80s. I’m pretty sure it happened. I don’t think Synthwave is based on any band or style of songs, but from movie soundtracks.
I personally never liked the soundtrack stuff from Blade Runner, Chariots of Fire, Risky Business, Escape From New York, etc. Seemed super cheezey compared to the stuff that John Williams was doing in the same time period. I love it in Stranger Things, because it’s perfectly evoking that era. I tried listening to S.U.R.V.I.V.E’s music on its own, and I couldn’t do it. In the context of a purposely retro TV show, it makes sense to me.
in 80's, i was a kid / teenager too.
i did not like all that synthpop and stuff like that, and used to listen punk & heavy metal.
(and that was uneasy in the Soviet Union, as some of you may know.)
and that 80s synth-based stuff stilll too cheesy for my ears.
for me, 80s are associated with gothic rock, heavy metal … and glam/hair metal
It's quite simple really: If we keep demanding more cloned 80s synths (homages really), then we should also expect more cloned 80s songs (homages really). It's one of those "that's... what you wanted... wasn't it?" "No... I mean, kinda... I didn't really think it all the way thru, okay?!" moments.