Exploring The Synclavier II - Episode 1: A New Form of Art?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ค. 2024
- Watch as I create a visual art design using a legendary machine originally invented for the purpose of revolutionizing the art of sound design.
Details:
I'll will create "pixel art" letters on a Fast Fourier Transform display using additive synthesis frames. Then, I'll play the resulting timbre (sound) along with retimed video to match the tempo and length of the sound so you can see and hear the timbre as it develops.
Scroll down for Chapters, background info, history of this Synclavier, and soundtrack details.
Chapters:
00:00 Intro - About this Synclavier II
00:30 Title Sequence & Theme Song
01:05 New Art Form?
01:56 Creating a reference map
02:00 Track - "Extasy"
02:18 Setting up the "Canvas"
02:38 Frame time for 1/8th notes at 120bmp
03:15 Setting Frame Parameters
03:34 Duplicating frames
05:00 First view of 3D "S"
06:05 Reference Map on VPK
06:30 Track - "Descent of the Dragons"
07:00 Bad Frame Parameters and Fix
08:03 First look at Line 1
09:54 The Sound of STUDIO:G
10:20 Pixel fixing
11:28 Track - "Wood & Tubes"
11:56 Line 1 complete render
12:09 Enter Line 2 harmonic values
12:58 2nd line disaster, time to rework
13:33 Restart 2nd Line
15:00 Complete timbre sound and FFT display
15:17 Closing Sequence
15:22 Track - "Cool Ambience"
BACKGROUND
In fall of 2023, I purchased the Synclavier II once owned by Greg Hawkes of The Cars. With the help of former NED Technician, Mitch Marcoulier, I’ve restored this incredible machine to playing condition and begun exploring its capabilities.
HISTORY
Following the release of Heartbeat City by The Cars In 1984, the band puchased this Synclavier II from New England Digital for use on the tour supporting the album. In July 1985, The Cars performed with this machine again at LiveAID in Philidelphia.
Following these live shows, the band began working on their final album with the full original lineup, Door to Door. With Ric Okasic and Greg Hawkes working closely together to develop songs for the album, the Synclavier was used extensively for many of the album's synth sounds and a portion of the sequencing.
Next, Greg worked with Ric on his solo album, This Side of Paradise which featured the hit, Emotion in Motion. While working on this solo album, the band got together to produce the hit single Tonight She Comes with all members contributing parts including Greg's use of this Synclavier II.
TRACKS
"Exploring The Synclavier Theme"
by Michael Glanton
Composed on NED Synclavier II using the Studio:G Dallas timbre.
"Extasy"
by Michael Glanton
Recorded in Ableton Live
Instruments:
Ableton Percussion Rack
Arturia Synclavier V
- Bass
- Resynthisized sample of the spoken word "extasy"
- Evolving pads
Various V Collection instruments (sorry... it's been a minute since I composed that one!)
"Descent of the Dragons"
by Michael Glanton
Recorded in Logic Pro
Instruments:
Behringer 2600, Model D
Intellijel Plonk - Percussion/Drums
1010 BitBox Micro
- Fairlight synthesized sounds
- Izotope Iris2 processed samples of cicadas
NED Synclavier II - FM "Fretless" Bass
OpSix - Floating Phase Pad (very nice factory preset)
Beat Root Tongue Drum
"Wood & Tubes"
by Michael Glanton
Recorded in Logic Pro
Instruments:
Fairlight CMI Series III
- DAW/Sequencing (CAPS)
- Sampled hammer striking a suspended 2x4
- Sampled banjo + Ebow
- Sample percussive plastic tube
SynclavierGO! (iPad) - Additive synthesis
NED Synclavier II - More additive synthesis
Korg OpSix - FM Bass
Superior Drummer - Drum track
Breedlove Stage Dreadnaught - Acoustic guitar + Ebow
"Cool Ambience" (Closing Title Sequence)
by Michael Glanton
Recorded in Ableton Live
Instruments:
Ableton Percussion Rack
Arturia Synclavier V, CMI V
Various V Collection instruments (again... it's been a minute... ;)
NOTE: 95% of the samples, synth programs, timbres or any other sounds you hear in this video are original and created from scratch right here in Studio G. There are a handful of super tasty patches from the Synclavier V, CMI V, and OpSix libraries that I just absolutely loved, so they made it into a couple of tracks. - เพลง
Awesome video! I don't think I'll ever stop feeling fascination over these old mega synth/sampler systems, early digital stuff had this wonderful balance of being both on the absolute cutting edge and still extremely experimental.
Michael this is absolutely insane. Thanks so much 👍🏻
Thank you Torsten! :)
Awesome!
Thank you! Cheers!
This is so awesome! The Synclavier is my dream synth, there is just something so mysterious and haunting about the sound. I'm Gen Z, but I hear the Synclavier in so many of my favorite songs, movies, and media from the 80s and 90s. Cant wait to see more!
Thank you, I'm glad you like it.
Have you played with the iPad app, SynclavierGO? It's really good, as it should be. It was written by Cameron Jones, co-inventor and primary software developer of the Synclavier, both original and Regen. It's as close as you can get to the real thing and it sounds great. :)
@@studio-g-dallas Interesting, I will totally check that out! Thank you so much! :)
Excellent work there, Michael!!
This is great !! good stuff man !!
Appreciate it my friend! Now it's time to make another (proper) Fairlight episode. ;)
A Synclavier put over a Fairlight, what coud be wrong in this World where Joseph Fourier meets with ASCI art! 😉
Great demo, your patch sounds like the Wavestation. I'm interested in what the Synclavier can do with sampling. I'm creating a new sample library for the Emulator III. The samples could be formatted for the Synclavier.
Thanks! I’ll be diving into the sampling soon. I’d love to see some Emu vids!
You have done a good job with your first video congratulations. So well in fact have another subscriber and keep going you're doing fine! I do see my favourite Synth of all time behind you the Fairlight CMI please please do a video on this machine with maybe some examples from Trevor Horn's Studio ZTT that for me got the best out of that machine.
Thanks so much! I did a Fairlight video a while back... before I had the slightest clue how to do videos! ;)
I'm definitely going to do a new (proper) CMI video. Though I don't have the Trevor Horn samples, I could certainly take a shot at recreating one of the classics... perhaps Close to the Edit or something like that. It'd make a great episode for sure!
Thanks for the suggestion and support!
I’m not even sure what I can say? Lol over the years I owned four fairly big systems and in a gazillion sessions I would never have thought to do this! Lol very creative.
I was watching this when it was on Reverb. As it is very close to my house, I debated pulling the trigger, but without the right resources to get it up and running, I feared it would be wasted on me. I'm glad to see it got into good hands!
Thanks! I was fortunate that the #1 NED expert on the planet is within driving distance (4 hours from my house). :)
Was expecting another demo video but this is far more interesting. Subbed! ❤
LOL, thanks. I figured, why not start at the waaaay deep end and work towards the more basic stuff in Episode 2, eh? ;)
Thanks for watching.
It would be awesome to see some waveform art on the Fairlight as well. And a Fairlight vs. Synclavier video as well. Showing what's similar, and what's different comparison.
Great suggestions. I’ll see what I can put together. 😎
The only synth i regret selling (to "The Who")
Do you have any of the sounds Greg Hawkes used with The Cars in your Synclavier?
I've been in rehearsal for a year as keyboardist for an up coming Cars tribute band. I've learned most of the song list, but still have a lot of work to do figuring out the sounds for the song Heartbeat City and a few others from the era the Synclavier was used in the band, and still learning some of the later Cars material and a song or two from Rick & Ben solo that may have used the synth.
Were any of the sounds factory presets? I have the Arturia Synclavier II & the Synclavier Pro for iOS. I'd love to see his sound patches identified. If I can't get them in one of those two programs, perhaps samples for Kontakt or some other soft synths or the Montage.
None of the Heartbeat City stuff is present on the hard drives. It’s all stuff from Door to Door and This Side of Paradise. The drives are only 30 MB total, so they likely backed up the system to Kennedy tape drive and cleared it to make space for the new albums.
BTW, I’m also in a Cars tribute here in Dallas called Grandtheft Auto. Good luck with your project ! 😎
@@studio-g-dallas Thanks.
That's kind of a shame it's missing the Heartbeat City stuff. Did you have much luck recreating it? Great your in a Cars tribute too. We're in the New England area. The idea was proposed by someone from my old band a good 7 or 8 years ago. We finally went through with the idea in the fall of 2022 and found musicians Jan 2023. When we put it together, we knew of no Cars tributes from our area or that even played around here, but have since discovered one or two.
Heartbeat City still needs a lot of work. I have the other songs on the album down well enough, but still working on the middle solo for "Hello Again". We learned the earlier stuff like the first album. I'm running all VST's and the Yamaha Montage sounds. I have the Synclavier VST, but haven't spent a lot of time with it yet. I did get the sounds for "Home by the sea / Second home by the sea" from Genesis, probably the song that most inspired me to play synths in the first place.
@@n8goulet we use a Korg Kronos for both The Cars tribute and my 80s band, eMpTyVs. Its an incredible multitimbral beast!
@@studio-g-dallas And that alone?
The synths I cover the most in my bands are the OB-X, Prophet 5, Mini Moog, ARP 2600/Pro Soloist, etc. I found having the exact engines to be important. I also use Montage sounds too, but the leads are mostly VST's. I've heard countless Kronos libraries, but always seemed to be hit or miss. No different than using just the Montage. Still, the Kronos & Montage are very powerful overall in what they do.
Korg makes a Mini Korg VST which was one of Greg's main ones. I need to learn it better.
I've mostly played in 80s bands. This is my first band that is a tribute to one band. I saw Journey & Toto play last night. I mostly cover bands similar to them like Styx, Kansas, Foreigner, etc.
I rarely use a factory preset. I've built most of the sounds myself though I did start with a factory patch and heavily modified it for about 1/3 of the songs. They are not perfect, but they are so close that only a purist with deep knowledge of synths would have any nits to pick. There is also a fairly decent prebuild library of Cars patches for the Kronos. I forget where that was available. The Arturia V-Collection is an awesome choice if you're willing to take the risk running off of a laptop. They tend to overheat during the summers. I've had some crashes, and also saw it happen to Dan Clark on the Howard Jones / Midge Ure tour. They had to switch to an "accoustic" show. :/
I'd strongly recommend going with a workstaion style keyboard that has 16 Voice multitimbral capabilities. That way you can do as many layers and splits as you need for the Cars stuff. :)
@@n8goulet
Surly there must be a way of loading that canvas data rather than having to manually enter it into the synth itself!