He really got the theory of synthesizing and used all of the elements presented to create what he wanted to hear. It is revolutionary for the time because it was still the analog age. Definitely a smart cookie.
This guy really knows what he is talking about. I can't count the records I have with his brillant sounds. One of the original members of Toto, I'm lucky he is going on. RIP Jeff Porcaro and Mike Porcaro.
Steve has always been a synth wizard geek ...he really knows his stuff & programmed /plays them so well...The last genius of the Porcaros..may his other brothers rest in peace.
Trust me, in 40 years people will laugh at what we consider cool or hip right now. I shudder to think what they would say about our top 40 the last few years, or fashion.
This is really true. It stands out so much from people noodling, anyone who watches this can actually learn skills that are applicable in one way or another with almost any synth
I remember watching this video back in 2014 or 2015 and thinking "How the hell did i miss this for 2 years?" It's still one of the best synth videos on TH-cam, definitely in the top 30. Porcaro makes it so simple
Steve keyboard solo on Rosanna IS iconic for me , I 've never listen a solo with that kind of dynamic and movement, it's extraordinary, the notes seem to fly round and round . thank you for sharing this vidéo explaining the process.👌
Not only a superb player, but the guy knew the ins and outs of his instruments and synths as well. It's my understanding that he now does film scoring for TV shows and tours on occasion with Toto.
this famous brass sound aka the 'blip' was used in several toto songs. rosanna was the best example of it. steve p is a great songwriter in his own right. i love takin it back its a feeling and his demo of human nature.
There's something so amazing about synth strings and synth brass. Then again, Toto hired orchestras for their songs a lot, and that also sounds amazing
Steve Porcaro the God of Keyboard & SynthOrgan. The man behind "Human Nature" Just love & Respect this Greatest Musician. He and Brother Jeff and Mike are the Greatest Musicians of the world.love and Respect & God Bless.
God bless this guy just for being able to understand the Oberheim Xpander. I had one and could not figure it out. So I sold it. Dumb move considering how much they go for now. Thanks for the video.
@@sm26801 how would you know? Did you sell that shit? He worked on numerous sessions. Wrote Human Nature for MJ. Is still on top of his game. What excuses do you have for trolling on internet?
actually of the analog polysynths the yamaha cs80 is widely considered the best analog brass since it was the most expressive and allready had velocity , of the oberheims the 8 voice model as used by zawinul on birdland was best for this
@AlainRaes67, i know your comment was 5 years ago but it's 100% true. Awesome response, even though the comment you're replying to was pretty much my exact thought after watching this video.
Listen to the #Clannad "Legend" album, it's the soundtrack to that show #RobinofSherwood. The following album #Macalla has tracks with Bruce Hornsby and Bono and morr
I’m glad these concepts can be used with any synth. If you don’t own an Xpander you can just use your Jupiter. 😅 Great vid! Transported me back to my early years in the world of synths.
complicated it might be , but the oscillators were so cheap (synth on a chip curtiss) and the rest is all software , compared to the old oberheims this thing has no depth of soundfield and sounded quite flat , the ob8 started this 'cheaper component ' thing on oberheim synths
you had two expanders (one named expander and featured an addon for the Obx-a and the xpander as seen in this video) so ex and x:) and yes the last obie that had the real sound was the obxa , from the ob8 onwards they used software lfo's and lower grade components but MORE modulators since they didnt need hardware anymore to do the routings , but older (sem and obx versions) definatly better timbre
AlainRaes67 Ta mate and thanks very much indeed for posting. I would really love to see the demo video SP made on the DX7 synth if you have it anywhere please.
it wasn't by porcaro , it was an early video 85 ish on a mark 1 dx on the concepts of algorithms and operators and how to achieve simulation of acoustic instruments , at the time i had this nifty atari program bu c-lab , x-alayser for the dx , you could dump a sample from my s900 into it and it would re-synthesize that sample into dx7 parameters , so you could play the sample in the dx using fm , and the sample length across the keyboard was the same (no repitching) without multisampling!
Every time I look up a video of an older synth genius I am struck by the fact that they are usually ADHD as heck which does make me feel like I belong in this industry 😅 Love this guy's energy.
Teaching myself to program brass sounds with pitch envelopes on my Roland JX-8p and its PG-800 programmer was fun enough, but Steve's demonstration of the Oberheim XP1 has only made me more hungry for one 33 years later. He delves ever so slightly into its virtual modular functionality. What's keeping Tom Oberheim and Dave Smith for revisiting the Matrix architecture, pray tell?
I'm wondering if he teaches at all? I ask because he explains things so well, very understandable and very musical with real world application. Why the heck does he hit those keys so hard?
Im guessing this was filmed in the mid 80's around the time when the digital era exploded and people didn't use analog synths as much. Im glad that Steve P was still using analog in some form. He must have spent hours at a time achieving different sounds.
I'm not trying to downplay anything he did in his career, but he was open himself about having a cocaine addiction. Where did he mention that he had never done drugs?
Tyler Frey Interesting. In the 1982 to '83 timeframe, he was clean. Not sure if he developed a habit after that. I have never heard him speak about it.
In an interview (may have been with melodicrock.com) Lukather alluded to Steve being pretty messed up at some point (i.e. things getting to the point where he would not sleep for a week), but not sure what exact time period he was referring to. In any event these guys all cleaned up their acts at one point or another, which is what matters. Look at Joe Williams, who was pretty rough by the time he was ejected from the band and as late as in December 1990 was only barely cleared of a very serious felony charge for drug trafficking - now he's in great shape.
Steve P was using an Xpander in the mid80's and it can seen on the Without Your Love music video. What Toto songs did he use it on? Angel Don't Cry, Home Of The Brave?
God, shut up. Broke people like me can only afford plugins on computers. We still have to learn synthesis and how to work EG's, filters, know what the differences between VCO's and DCO's are etc.
It is freaking sad to see that... I mean... I've made a brass sound the other day on my own but I wished to understand it more so I was looking for tutorials. And most of what I found was recent. And even though it is cool to share, I feel lost when I watch these because all the guys do is tell you a specific and sometimes precise to the exact value recipe. And so they speak but you have no reference on how it impacts the sound, therefore disabling you to build your understanding. Here the "recipe" is more general and you have regular sound reference and that's great. I wasn't probably born back when that video was released but it helps a ton more than what they do today. :/ Hey tweak that to 9 o'clock then this all they way up... for long minutes... Hey do this because of that. It is how it sounds, cool heh ? I prefer the second approach.
He really got the theory of synthesizing and used all of the elements presented to create what he wanted to hear. It is revolutionary for the time because it was still the analog age. Definitely a smart cookie.
Kinda. He is using a DX7II as a controller for the OB, so he was still applying analog theory/techniques well into the digital FM age.
we were all doing this. lol revolutionary was decades earlier.
RIP, Michael and Jeff Porcaro.....Steve's the man in keeping the Porcaro dynasty alive.
He truly is. And what a sweet old man he has become! Makes his fans feel like hugging him as if he was their grandad!
I love this man, he is a great musician and I hope he lives a very long time. He is a genius. Many greetings from Germany from Cologne
As a musician born in 94 this is history class for me, love every minute of it
Modulated himself with cocaine.
This guy really knows what he is talking about. I can't count the records I have with his brillant sounds. One of the original members of Toto, I'm lucky he is going on. RIP Jeff Porcaro and Mike Porcaro.
FYI these videos informed factory patches that I made for the Moog One and now translating them to the Waldorf Iridium. Thank you for posting!
I love how he's so passionate about this stuff
That passion had to do with cocaine in there.
C'mon. A little white is ok.
deetgeluid Not for your nose?
Priorities:
Coke
Synths
Shirts
Cocaine is a helluva drug.
Porcaro brothers are a gem for all who truly love music regardless the genre you play or like
Steve has always been a synth wizard geek ...he really knows his stuff & programmed /plays them so well...The last genius of the Porcaros..may his other brothers rest in peace.
13 minutes of watching a guy lose a fight to a short-sleeve shirt. Ah, the '80s.
at least they put up a fight in 80s , nowadays 13 minutes would be to much time to sum up all talented acts , more like 13 microseconds :)
@@mikehydropneumatic2583 - uh, no. You should check out Sun Ra's Arkestra. They prove that Snarky Puppy are actually clowns.
Ki-monophonic synthesis
lol!
Trust me, in 40 years people will laugh at what we consider cool or hip right now. I shudder to think what they would say about our top 40 the last few years, or fashion.
Still goes into sound deisgn better than most people today do..
This is really true. It stands out so much from people noodling, anyone who watches this can actually learn skills that are applicable in one way or another with almost any synth
With Supersynths like Fanthom or soft synths unlimited people are getting lazy...
Keyboardists today are far lazy.
@@simbaking6338 like Joe Zawinul said,,He erase all factory preset and start from scratch. No body today are willing to do that.
@@dhampex3631 Most people aren't willing to do that today, not all.
I remember watching this video back in 2014 or 2015 and thinking "How the hell did i miss this for 2 years?"
It's still one of the best synth videos on TH-cam, definitely in the top 30.
Porcaro makes it so simple
Steve keyboard solo on Rosanna IS iconic for me , I 've never listen a solo with that kind of dynamic and movement, it's extraordinary, the notes seem to fly round and round . thank you for sharing this vidéo explaining the process.👌
Not only a superb player, but the guy knew the ins and outs of his instruments and synths as well. It's my understanding that he now does film scoring for TV shows and tours on occasion with Toto.
this famous brass sound aka the 'blip' was used in several toto songs. rosanna was the best example of it. steve p is a great songwriter in his own right. i love takin it back its a feeling and his demo of human nature.
In a recent video he explains where he got it from
@@fritsvanzanten3573 Yes his Polyfusion Modular.
@@jaggass oh, it was more from the E-mu modular settings he heard on a Frank Zappa record.😉
There's something so amazing about synth strings and synth brass. Then again, Toto hired orchestras for their songs a lot, and that also sounds amazing
Simply amazing, he really does know his shit and is very articulate with it. Great vid, the 80s man....
Steve is a brilliant guy. :)
Steve Porcaro the God of Keyboard & SynthOrgan. The man behind "Human Nature" Just love & Respect this Greatest Musician. He and Brother Jeff and Mike are the Greatest Musicians of the world.love and Respect & God Bless.
God bless this guy just for being able to understand the Oberheim Xpander. I had one and could not figure it out. So I sold it. Dumb move considering how much they go for now. Thanks for the video.
The last person i've seen this coked up was al pacino in scarface
"I'm exaggerating now..."
Love Steve Porcaro. He's so cool.
They must have cut out the part where he snorted massive lines. Dude was Wired!
lol
You are full of BS. I have met Steve Porcaro. He's one of the most friendly ppl I had the honor to meet. A genius.
Yeah but he was snorting huge quantities at the time!
@@sm26801 how would you know? Did you sell that shit? He worked on numerous sessions. Wrote Human Nature for MJ. Is still on top of his game. What excuses do you have for trolling on internet?
Nice, friendly people enjoy cocaine too. Everyone enjoys cocaine. That's kind of its thing.
Oberheim was always the best for brass sounds.
actually of the analog polysynths the yamaha cs80 is widely considered the best analog brass since it was the most expressive and allready had velocity , of the oberheims the 8 voice model as used by zawinul on birdland was best for this
The CS-80 does stand out on Africa.
its no mistake he reached for the OB Xpander to demonstrate
@@AlainRaes67 CS-80 had polyphonic aftertouch as well, which was amazing, and is still rare.
@AlainRaes67, i know your comment was 5 years ago but it's 100% true.
Awesome response, even though the comment you're replying to was pretty much my exact thought after watching this video.
I love getting high and watching old shit, its like hopping in a time machine.
Blip: Achieved
The string sound reminded me so much of the old UK Robin Hood TV show from the 80s!
Listen to the #Clannad "Legend" album, it's the soundtrack to that show #RobinofSherwood. The following album #Macalla has tracks with Bruce Hornsby and Bono and morr
I'm just gratefu today, we have plugins. He's really genius. Love Toto so much.
Perhaps it's not cocaine, maybe it's just pure excitement. I'd be shivering myself if I had an Oberheim Expander or a Matrix-12.
The way he hits those keys, you know he's a freak in the bed
I'm no doctor but this looks like cocaine to me.
Dear god... This guy is a genius. We are now putting numbers to get the sound that this master created with intelligence.
Co-co-co-co-co-cocaine!
+KILLAGORILLA7000 A little cottonmouth, but still a keyboard freak! Ran in the family and the band.
It hard to imagine Toto ever became famous wearing a shirt like that
Coked to the gills man hahaha
Wow. This is pure gold! Total sound design..
I’m glad these concepts can be used with any synth. If you don’t own an Xpander you can just use your Jupiter. 😅 Great vid! Transported me back to my early years in the world of synths.
Great Strings sound he achieves !!
That Oberheim looks a massive complicated machine !! I think its midi up to a DX7 (Mk 2).
complicated it might be , but the oscillators were so cheap (synth on a chip curtiss) and the rest is all software , compared to the old oberheims this thing has no depth of soundfield and sounded quite flat , the ob8 started this 'cheaper component ' thing on oberheim synths
AlainRaes67 So the EARLIER Oberheim's were richer and offered more complexity in timbre, compared to the 'Expander' version (as in this video) ??
you had two expanders (one named expander
and featured an addon for the Obx-a and the
xpander as seen in this video) so ex and x:)
and yes the last obie that had the real sound
was the obxa , from the ob8 onwards they used software lfo's and lower grade components but MORE modulators since they didnt need hardware anymore to do the routings , but older (sem and obx versions) definatly better timbre
AlainRaes67 Ta mate and thanks very much indeed for posting.
I would really love to see the demo video SP made on the DX7 synth if you have it anywhere please.
it wasn't by porcaro , it was an early video 85 ish on a mark 1 dx on the concepts of algorithms and operators and how to achieve simulation of acoustic instruments , at the time i had this nifty atari program bu c-lab , x-alayser for the dx , you could dump a sample from my s900 into it and it would re-synthesize that sample into dx7 parameters , so you could play the sample in the dx using fm , and the sample length across the keyboard was the same (no repitching) without multisampling!
koke is strong in this one!!
That synth sound creation was like to discover the fire in some way comparing to possibilities of nowadays keybs when we talk about final studio sound
+Alexander Logutov its was like a new invention that was made in minutes.
Every time I look up a video of an older synth genius I am struck by the fact that they are usually ADHD as heck which does make me feel like I belong in this industry 😅
Love this guy's energy.
Okay it's probably a bit of coke too but it was the early 80s guys
I do love Steve Porcaro but YES somebody get him out of his big brothers pajama tops and give him a SHIRT! lol
Teaching myself to program brass sounds with pitch envelopes on my Roland JX-8p and its PG-800 programmer was fun enough, but Steve's demonstration of the Oberheim XP1 has only made me more hungry for one 33 years later. He delves ever so slightly into its virtual modular functionality.
What's keeping Tom Oberheim and Dave Smith for revisiting the Matrix architecture, pray tell?
The matrix was a cool movie
My god, man! How much blow DID you do?
Reminds me of Mark Wahlberg in Boogie Nights.
To quote Rick James ... 'Cocaine is a hell of a drug.'
He taps the buttons that hard to scare away the bugs crawling all over the Oberheim
I'm wondering if he teaches at all? I ask because he explains things so well, very understandable and very musical with real world application. Why the heck does he hit those keys so hard?
+fmbighair i was thinking that too...maybe it's because he learned on a piano
+fmbighair Steve P would make music classes interesting. Science and Music in one lesson.
Because cocaine.
TheHouseOfGeek is the cocaine think a fact?
Hitting keys hard on synthezisers make a different sound effect
I have no idea what u are talking about but I love watching you
that's not him, that's Steve Porcaro
...and that's why I play drums.
Best comment ever!
lol!...ikr??
Then you really should talk to Steve's brother Jeff... ;O)
So much meat and potatoes it maybe old but there is so much here
Did Pablo Escobar get a credit on the album
Liner notes says "Catering by P. Escobar".
Were you there? No.
Steve was a bit geeky and not into that at all. Just his quirky style.
aewsome comment
James Rudd dude Steve is a genius. But he’s coked off his gord on these Star Licks videos. He himself admitted it.
@Michael Shipman
I was there, bro. Were you?
The Porcaro’s,music institution and warm personalities,could sit and listen to them all day.
He talks exactly like his brother Jeff but with a higher voice pitch!
It's the booger sugar.
Cocaine!? Well, it was the 80’s after all
He is totally high, that is for sure! But he has a lot of good information!
@@doomprogger6345 agreed! I just found it a bit funny, his mannerisms gave it away
Good to know I don’t need and Oberheim, I can just use one of the Jupiters I have lying around.
I need my pillow , I 'm goin to bed.
Im guessing this was filmed in the mid 80's around the time when the digital era exploded and people didn't use analog synths as much. Im glad that Steve P was still using analog in some form. He must have spent hours at a time achieving different sounds.
Back then it cost quite alot of money to achieve an analog brass sound now its cheap because of VST's. Miss the good old days when hardware ruled.
Superb Master Class! What's the name of the full video? Thank you for posting!
Don’t watch this video before taking a drug test.
Im addicted to this video. Its better than cocaine for sure.
Michael David 🤣🤣🤣🤣
*cough cough* JEFF
he is obviously on some white powder
Thomas Solberg Raestad
Nope. It's just how he always is. Ever see live footage of him? Same thing. Funny, as he was always clean.
And that's what makes him great.
I'm not trying to downplay anything he did in his career, but he was open himself about having a cocaine addiction. Where did he mention that he had never done drugs?
Tyler Frey
Interesting. In the 1982 to '83 timeframe, he was clean. Not sure if he developed a habit after that. I have never heard him speak about it.
In an interview (may have been with melodicrock.com) Lukather alluded to Steve being pretty messed up at some point (i.e. things getting to the point where he would not sleep for a week), but not sure what exact time period he was referring to. In any event these guys all cleaned up their acts at one point or another, which is what matters. Look at Joe Williams, who was pretty rough by the time he was ejected from the band and as late as in December 1990 was only barely cleared of a very serious felony charge for drug trafficking - now he's in great shape.
just starting out and sound design but this is amazing to watch
Steve P was using an Xpander in the mid80's and it can seen on the Without Your Love music video. What Toto songs did he use it on? Angel Don't Cry, Home Of The Brave?
Synthesizer Bob Ross
Damn he sounds just like Jeff sounded back then.
casper van helvoirt he still does
michael jagger That's kinda true yeah lol
***** mike porcaro never did an instructional video.
I wish he had, god rest his soul
Primitive old school auto signals make very good brass by the way.
look kids , no computer !
And no presets to start with, and only slightly alter.
This is true synthesis! Every keyboardplayer should have a base course in synthesis.
I dabble in "computer music", and this is pretty much exactly my process.
God, shut up. Broke people like me can only afford plugins on computers. We still have to learn synthesis and how to work EG's, filters, know what the differences between VCO's and DCO's are etc.
Look everyone, pretentious elitist!
still processors in it lmao, this is compute synth
What is this Fellow Doing With his hands
He really knows how to screw the most out of an oberheim xpander
Steveは良い声をしているね！
2:48 the whole trip of the blip
It was a lot of work back then ! I remember !!! And those heavy ass organs ! Agggghhjh
3:34 a little Rosanna mix
He is HIGHER than a Mutha!!!! LOL
than mount everest lol. i love all the members in toto. its amazing how much steve porcaro sounds like jeff.
+michael jagger Both loved their tootski.
a Georgia Pine.
Doubt it. Just looked like a nervous dude in front of a camera.
LOL
Thats a really baggy shirt
..that's just part of his Jedi uniform !
With a lot of "little baggies" in its pockets . . .
How does he get the second oscillator to go down to the first?
It's amazing how much he sounds like his older brother Jeff.
Who was the first to build this brass sound, Steve Porcaro or Tommy Mars?
Sheik Yerbouti... 🥰
All the synth stuff on this amazing record is jaw dropping...
I don't know if any of this was useful to synth-players but, Damn, fascinating...
Capisco un cazzo ma ha una bella voce!
It is freaking sad to see that... I mean... I've made a brass sound the other day on my own but I wished to understand it more so I was looking for tutorials. And most of what I found was recent. And even though it is cool to share, I feel lost when I watch these because all the guys do is tell you a specific and sometimes precise to the exact value recipe. And so they speak but you have no reference on how it impacts the sound, therefore disabling you to build your understanding. Here the "recipe" is more general and you have regular sound reference and that's great. I wasn't probably born back when that video was released but it helps a ton more than what they do today. :/
Hey tweak that to 9 o'clock then this all they way up... for long minutes...
Hey do this because of that. It is how it sounds, cool heh ?
I prefer the second approach.
スティーブの出すホーンの音が好きだった。アフリカの100万円のキーボードとか、TOTOの出すキーボードの機材は、何でも欲しかった！🍒🌸
4: 34, blip! lol.
Voice like Jeff Porcaro
Grande Steve
what year is this? 84? 85? 86?
I think this video is an extract from the "Star Licks" video series.
Have I got that title right?
RIP to Jeff💔
Se sentía como un científico 😅
Approximate year????
Bateman is that you?
3:15 MLG
what does everyone think he's high on cocaine? famous musicians didn't use cocaine in the 1980s.
True that. Only the average ones did.
Remember Jeff?
Sarcasm?
11:22
subtle
how each of porcaro brothers is the best of what they do?
Yes
How high?
Master Class!!!
Where did he get that shirt? Lol...
Steveカッコイイ！🍒
Sounds like a stylophone.
no
Oooh! Those are great. Singer in my old band used one.