Roland Inside : Jarre meets Art of Noise

Nothing serious at all here!

Just some silly fun with the Rolands D-550 and Juno...

And a music quizz : tell me which three instrumental tracks from the 80s are referenced here.

The correct answer wins a Moog Voyager (if I can get Moog Music interested in this fascinating challenge, otherwise you'll get all my consideration).

1889

Sounds from the not-so-distant Past

This is a remix of an oldie... probably recorded around 2003 when I first got the Electribe EMX.

On the first part of the tune, the ambient and FX sounds are mostly Roland SH-32, which is a fine, underrated synth module. I'll do a review eventually, but let's just state right here that it's a good virtual analog synthesizer, sporting great filters and effects.

From 3.05 on, the EMX's on its own, recorded in a single take without external processing.

The 2009 additions are some more analogue-sounding bits from the Prophet 08 on the first half.

Hang on in Gibraltar

Analogue Arpeggiators

A little experimental tune...
The basic part here is me playing the Prophet 08 arpeggiator with the left hand and the Moog Little Phatty arpeggiator with the right, both synths being recorded in the same take.
I then added a couple of Prophet pads and a little Moog solo.

The Way Things Were

300

I've been quiet around here these days, but I'll post some music this week...

Meanwhile, just a word about the "Broken Sails" EP, which has been downloaded more than 300 times so far.

If you haven't got it, it's 5 songs filled with analogue sounds and vintage drums, and it's all HERE

Funkotron - a compilation of retro synth music

I usually don't post external music on this blog, but here's a nice exception to the rule.

Last time I said I was a Bob Dylan fan, but I'm also a lover of all things vintage synth, and these last years I've been collecting quite a lot of obscure, 70's to early 80's cheezy, Moog-ish, funny stuff, and well, thought I might just compile some of my favorite music for you to enjoy...

I've deliberatly avoided the more well-known artists, like Moroder or Space. This is mostly not-so-well-known crazy retro funky-disco mumbojumbo, ending with more laidback ambient music.

Complete track list :

1. Harry Thumann - Sphinx (5:20)

2. Silicon Teens - State Of Shock (3:11)

3. Alex Cima - Eight Seven Seven (5:51)

4. Bernard Fèvre - Weekee Way (1:59)

5. Tony Carey - Radio Tokyo (3:21)

6. Doris Norton - Personal Computer (4:38)

7. James Saunders - Axial (2:17)

8. Piero Umiliani - Centrali Termiche (2:24)

9. Alex Cima - Rocket's Cat (4:16)

10. I Signori Della Galassia - Proxima Centauri (8:31)

11. Frédéric Mercier - Spirit (7:44)

12. Roger Roger & Nino Nardini - Eery Dream (2:14)

13. Automat - Ultraviolet (6:19)

14. Teddy Lasry - Quasar (7:09)

And the zip files, in two parts because Mediafire only allows 100Mb uploads at a time

My artwork and MP3 player icon included!

Funkotron part 1

Funkotron part 2

Bob Dylan goes Analogue

Well, not really, but I happen to be a huge Dylan fan, and among the many gems on his last Bootleg Series CD, this one particular song I really loved...

Moog bass, Prophet 08 pad and lead, guitar on the left channel, Roland Juno-1 on the right...

Huck's Tune

Attack of the Disco Zombies

Beware the Power of the Moog of the Disco Zombies!

A left-over track from the aforementioned dance video...
Did I said it's all Moog Little Phatty?
Well, it is.

Attack of the Disco Zombies

And in zip form Zombies

Rainbows in Motion

A dance and motion graphics video by Nicolas Plaire

I did the score, and while my memory is a bit fuzzy, here's my recollection of the music process :

On the intro, you can hear snippets of "Heart of Darkness", featured on the new free EP "Broken Sails" (scroll this page down), and an easy listening tune that was done with Gforce's M-Tron plugin...

The glitchier bit that follows was produced with the Prophet 08, pretty much by itself.

The pop part is all Moog Little Phatty.

Enjoy the video, and later on, I'll post the various bits of music in MP3 form.

UPDATE : short edit now, the final version

Rainbows in Motion from Nicolas Plaire on Vimeo.

Analogue Sounds

They're good.

A little demo : Moog bass, Juno-1, Prophet 08 and... Roland D550 strings...

Undertow