What Instruments ?

[Lascaux]

I played a gig with a cigar box ukulele player a while back. He also had one eye and a fantastic limp. What a guy!

I'll pass details of the mandolin to singer! Thx

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[senor_robusto]

Senior Robusto, You have a Moog Theremin, I am in awe!

I have been obsessed with the theremin since I watched the 1951 version of The Day The Earth Stood Still, as a kid it blew me away. I was introduced to the Bernard Herrman score.

I meant to try and make a home made theremin from internet plan years ago but it never happened. There was a fascinating documentary with Clara Rockmore and Leon Theremin reunited, I must find a copy of that as that instrument has such an interesting history.

I gained an interest in Robert Moog a few years ago and the fact that "he" made theremins is too perfect.

hey trev,
yeah, i do have a moog theremin!!! lol!!! the one i have is a 'big briar' etherwave from around the 1990's!!! this was during the time bob moog didn't own the rights to his own name, due to the fact a welsh (!!!???) company had trademarked the moog name and were making 'cheapish', rack mounted, midi-fied, keyboardless minimoogs!!! bob moog had to start again from scratch, and he did so buy going back to his roots, and selling diy theremin kits!!! if my memory serves me right, after some success with the big briar theremin kits and 'moogerfooger' pedals, he was able to go to court and get the rights back to his name!!! mental!!!

anyway, it sounds f**king awesome!!! it's 100% analogue, ballsy and nearly covers the entire audio frequency spectrum!!! plus it looks cool!!! best of all? i paid ?80 for it 7-8 years ago, one of my first ebay purchases!!! some guy in yorkshire, if i'm right!!!

i also have one of these!!! it snaps together (with the exception of a couple of screws), works off 2 AA batteries and sounds fantastic!!! it has a built in speaker and no audio out, which is a bummer (adding one is simple enough, if your handy enough with a soldering iron, or know someone who is)!!! if this was amplified, it would sound incredible!!! if you search hard enough, you can get the kit without the (japanese language) magazine for around ?15!!! it is good fun to mess about with!!! rolling off the top end on an amp or mixer gets that 'classic' theremin sound......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D4hMPkMzVE&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hsm_6pPY0oY&feature=related

also, check out this site: http://www.thereminworld.com/default.asp

all the best, ol' boy,

alex

[Sludgie]

I play keyboards in an 80s tribute band (mostly electronica). I have a few synths - old and new:

Yamaha DX7
Roland Juno-G
Korg R3
Korg M3
Various rack modules (Roland U110, R8M, JD990).

Would love an original Roland Jupiter 8 for that big fat analog sound - pipe dream at the moment!

I also have an Ibanez electric guitar which I am attempting to learn to play - albeit very slowly!

[senor_robusto]

I play keyboards in an 80s tribute band (mostly electronica). I have a few synths - old and new:

Would love an original Roland Jupiter 8 for that big fat analog sound - pipe dream at the moment!

hey sludgie,
if you have a laptop, then look no further!!! i use it occasionally in the studio:

http://www.arturia.com/evolution/en/products/jupiter-8v/intro.html

it beats the hell outta paying at least ?2-3K for a secondhand one that'll need serviced one every couple of years (at least ?200 to ?300 a time), as well as being easy to transport!!! also, you can call up whatever 80's sound you want at any time thanks to the presets!!!!

by the way, bob moog himself endorsed arturia's minimoog and moog modular software, and all the major synth players and producers use arturia's products as standrd nowadays!!!! they also have a great emulation of the sequential circuits prophet 5, that would be great in your 80's tribute band!!!

the only thing else you'd be needing is an oberheim ob8 and that's the holy trinity for classic 80's analogue synths!!! those and an emu emulator sampler for those nasty brass hits and crappy depeche mode/ erasure samples!!! lol!!!

alex

[Sludgie]

I do have emu proteus and extreme lead modules that I dig out from time to time. As for the Oberheim, the OB8 would be great - the xpander would be even better! Crappy Depeche Mode samples - hahaha - you're talikng about my entire set!! (only kidding, there's some New Order, OMD, Duran Duran, Gary Numan etc in there too!!) - Nice to meet some fellow musicians on the forum, particularly those who I can have a good chat about all things keyboard related with! I am but a Newbie, but if you should choose to add me to your friends list then I should be honoured. Many thanks. Nick

[senor_robusto]

I do have emu proteus and extreme lead modules that I dig out from time to time. As for the Oberheim, the OB8 would be great - the xpander would be even better! Crappy Depeche Mode samples - hahaha - you're talikng about my entire set!! (only kidding, there's some New Order, OMD, Duran Duran, Gary Numan etc in there too!!) - Nice to meet some fellow musicians on the forum, particularly those who I can have a good chat about all things keyboard related with! I am but a Newbie, but if you should choose to add me to your friends list then I should be honoured. Many thanks. Nick

hey nick,
i love most of those 80's sounds used by the likes of DM, OMD, gary numan etc, except those nasty 'brass' hits!!! lol!!! believe it or not, all these groups nowadays tour with a computer system loaded up with arturia and native instruments software for those classic sounds!!! tbh, for the price of one classic keyboard you could get a laptop, midi keyboard controller and a couple of bits of software that would cover all your needs!!! it would not only give you all the classic sounds for your 80's tribute group, but enough to inspire you to experiment and keep you busy for years to come!!!

also, ableton live has a great set of sound banks that would suite you, especially old drum machines, such as the roland cr78, tr606, 707, 808, 909, oberheim dmx, linn drums!!!

btw, i've added you to my contacts & sent you a friend request,

all the best mate, look forward to chatting to you,

alex

[Sludgie]

Alex,

I know what you mean about the soft synths. I have the Ableton as you mention and it is a great way of getting those 80s drum sounds - I have the 'Electronic' expansion card for the Roland R8M, which also provides a good cross-section of drums (808 kick drum and snare - classic...). Do you have any experience of the hardware version of the classic synths that Arturia produced? Think it retails at approx ?1800 - which is steep when, as you say, you can get the soft versions for a fraction of that. With regards to the prophet 5, another classic yet fragile synth - I have a sample CD that I bought from e-bay some time ago, and I load them up into an old Yamaha A3000 sampler that I have - I do have a Midi controller - use an M-Audio Axiom 61 - I think what I would like in the future is a proper 88 key controller, as I sold the only 88 key synth I had (Fantom X8). Thankfully, most of the stuff in my set doesn't involve going up and down the octaves too much - maybe apart from the intro riff of 'I don't like Mondays' by the Boomtown Rats - always a favourite live.....

Are you an Apple or Microsoft man for driving your software - I always seemed to have latency snags with Microsoft, although I was told this was due to my having an AMD processor - I have a MacBook Pro with Logic and Garage Band and that works well enough to play it live without any fear of latency issues.

Nick.

[senor_robusto]

hey nick,
first off, i'm a mac user (always have been, from day one in secondary school)!!! i have a macbook, ibook g4 and 2 imac g4's (still running os9)!!! out of all the software i have (pro tools, logic, garage band and ableton live), ableton is by far the best and easiest to use!!!!

i've never used arturia's hardware, no desire to either!!! a macbook with all the software loaded up does me fine!!! i've gigged with my laptops and they've been rock solid, so i definitely recommend it!!! i use an emu xboard 49 midi controller, got it cheap from a friend who used to manage dawsons here (ex display model, got it for ?70 after some negotiating, lol)!!!

i've gigged my analogue stuff as well, there's nothing like a real moog, arp, ems or vintage roland to rip a PA system apart (the ems synthi i borrowed nearly caused real damage once, it's severe)!!!

i've been looking into investing in some of the MOTU interfaces to make life a little bit more easier when recording a live set or studio session!!!!

all the best,

alex

[Drewmidorn]

i've been looking into investing in some of the MOTU interfaces to make life a little bit more easier when recording a live set or studio session!!!!

I've been using a MOTU 828 mk II for years. I've been very happy with it.

[larrysputnik]

I've been using a MOTU 828 mk II for years. I've been very happy with it.

Wow! I've been using a MOTU 828 too! I think it's been about 7 or 8 years.

[Sludgie]

MOTU

I could do with a better MIDI interface - I have an M-Audio MidiSport 4x4 that I've had for years - it's ok, but I need to chain my kit via MIDI through if I am using a lot of racked modules. I think an 8 port interface or a firewire one now I have a Mac would be a good step in the right direction - would appreciate any advice on possible upgrade routes. Nick.