Emax

On 15 Jul 2009, at 00:54, jammie wrote:

>
> a lot of people dont remember most of the best stuff was created on  
> analog 8 track tape and played live dubbed then overdubbed

Exactly.  Like the Beatles on the Teac 4 & 8 track machines.  The  
Beatles have never sounded anything but brilliant.  Ageless.

>
> janet jacksons first album was produced using analog synths and a  
> mirage and sounded dirty and great

Right!  And Jimmy-Jam brought-in the NED Synclavier as I remember at  
one point, but that was later in the game...
I remember how "Control" just ripped through the music scene.  She  
picked the best people.

Dirty and great is best!  "SexyBack" by Timberlake is really dirty  
sounding (no pun intended here!) and it's very effective.
That production value was a choice and was created, too.

>
> dep mode there best stuff of the 80,s-90,s was using emaxes

I think they were doing more design on Emaxes than anybody is saying.   
"Violator" really has that Emax sound all
the way through it, sans Gore's guitar overpowering everything else.

>
> pink floyd they used kurzweil k2000,s

I thought their best use ever was the EMS Synthi on "Dark Side of the  
Moon"  It's extremely simple
but the power is in the EMS Synthi.  Being in the USA I only had  
access to the ARPs and Moogs and
among the Americans to use the EMS were Todd Rundgren who squeezed  
every drop out of it one could get
on "Something Anything" and "Wizard a True Star".  The best effects  
were always the EMS synthi combined
with variable tape speed.  Then there was the classic use of Pete  
Townsend running the Hammond organ chords
through the filter and gate of the EMS Synthi on the opening of "Won't  
get fooled again!"
You know, I sat in front of an ARP 2600 for hours thinking:  "How did  
Townsend get that sound out of the 2600's
sample & hold!  It's horrific!"  He didn't!!  That's the answer!  It  
sounds like a synth, but it's the Hammond! Great trick!
I could never get my hands on the EMS Snythis here in the States!  It  
drove me mad!  Lucky we had the Oberheim's though!

>
> computers are unreliable especialy for live work

A very, very good point.  And difficult to control, too.  Any  
performer, a DJ, has to have a backup laptop
if they're going to be using Live for a gig for example.  MacBookPros  
can take a hell of a beating, but on
the road is too much to ask.

>
> i have 30 samplers that i can load up and play at the same time you  
> cant do that with a software sampler you run out of processor speeds  
> and to have the same equivelant you would need 30 comps with  
> emulatorx hardware and software to even sound remotely as good as  
> the hardware

Really fine point.  And I remember all of the "Pros" telling me to  
dump all of my keyboards on the used marked and replace with a laptop  
as they
did, and now they are really eating their words.  They are using field  
recording gear for source material and trying to craft and shape new  
waves
from that material, and they're jealous and mad as hell at people who  
didn't dump their gear because they were so stupid to do it!

I've never really been able to "scrub" with a computer with the feel  
and speed of using my hands on tape or 35mm mag film and locate
a slice point so easily...

As we all know, Kontakt doesn't replace an Emax.  They're two  
different animals entirely -- any comparison is pointless.

Jammie -- any Synthi or EMS gear there in your house in all that gear  
some place???  :-)

>
> and im picking up hardware cheaper than a piece of software just  
> picked up a yamaha s3000 with zip100 drive and library for £51 +  
> postage of £16.99
>
> the zip100 sell for £15-25
>
> an emax1 se hd keyboard just sold for £120 on ebay in excelant  
> condition and EII are going for £100-300

If anybody ever sees one of the few EIV keyboards appear for sale I  
hope you'll post it to the list!  They only made a few from what I
understand and demand was dismal to non-existent.  Nice to hear that  
some of this gear is still available out there some place...

>
> i think its good to have both soft and hardware as you have best of  
> both worlds and you can use comp for speed and the hardware for  
> musicality as they are designed as musical instruments

Exactly.  This was the point I made on the FL Studio BBS years ago.   
They have no concept of a "musical instrument" and that something
was designed to be "played" and not mimicked -- the VSTi's do drop  
many times to the point of self-ridicule and FL STUDIO can be just
another video game.  Or, in the hands of somebody who knows how to  
grasp the power of the tool, it can really roar with intense and
unique sound.

Time and again, though, I've met kids who've become professionals who  
started-out initially with "Fruity-Loops" and an old broken-down PC and
then added-on one PlugIn at a time and built-up this whole arsenal of  
tricks but ended-up jumping-into Cubase (still using FL Studio via  
ReWire)
but Cubase became their main environment and then they started  
collecting old gear and new synths.

One of the problems with the energy surrounding that whole Image-line  
crowd is that there are a lot of sharks there that are making a lot of  
cash
selling PlugIns to a lot of inexperienced kids -- and that's their  
game.  And it really is like a game -- one big Video Game.  It's too  
bad.  FL Studio
has a lot of power and people don't exploit that part of the tool.

Thanks for the fine comments and wise points, Jammie!

Since were on this point of hardware vs software what do you think of  
the Virus software synth with the hardware board that powers it?
I own the last revision of the Virus C rack/desktop, and one ProTools  
user I know was just shaking his head and saying I was foolish to
not go the PlugIn soft-hard combo Virus synth.  But I had reasons for  
not going the route and getting the C rack.  But I recently saw the
sofware PlugIn and it's really a different animal from what I could  
see:  it's really streamlined-down to be a Trance/Dance synth, I think.
Now that would have the power to perform with the hardware board to  
back it up!  Had any experience with that one by chance...?

The TI's just sound like severe aliasing and low resolution sound!   
Horrible!  Not worth the price at all.


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