80s keyboard sounds

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Good Friend

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I am looking for information of 80s synths like the sound you hear on the Human League's "Keep Feeling Fascination" and so on. Im not sure exactly what kind of keyboard makes that sound. Is there a good 80s pop synth sample set i could check out to get most of these types of sounds? I know alot about 60s combo organs and that kind of stuff, but i am a total noob when it comes to 80s synths. Thanks for any help

heres a link to what looks like the synth i am looking for

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koGywVUJ9hE
 
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Good Friend said:
I am looking for information of 80s synths like the sound you hear on the Human League's "Keep Feeling Fascination" and so on.
Heres a link to what looks like the synth i am looking for

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koGywVUJ9hE
Click to expand...

I don't recognise that machine, but it's probably a prop anyway. The main riff sounds rather Oberheim-like, but the Human League appear to have had access to pretty much everything made by Roland and Oberheim.

Try searching for them on synthmuseum.com - you'll see a lot of gear.
 
Agree on the synthmuseum search.

HL also was known for using Sequential Circuit's Prophet5 at that time (as were a bunch of 80's pop bands). Used to listen to that cassette in my walkman a lot :D

I'd guess Prophet5, a Roland poly of some sort (maybe Juno60 or even a Jupiter), and perhaps an Oberheim were the primary boards on that album. Don't recall much, if any digital stuff ala DX7.

Should be some HL fan sites out there with more info if you do some searching.
 
What kind of equipment are you using?

I use a Korg Triton studio workstation and I know that Korg sells a PCM expansion board that has all of their vintage 80's synth sounds. Of course, you need one of the Korg Triton or Karma workstation series in order to run it.

However, a couple of years ago, I found a website where you could download synth patches for free. I'm really sorry man but, for the life of me, I can't remember the name of the website. On this website, I found some synth patches that other 80's synth pop groups like OMD and Soft Cell used. OMD was a big fan of the Prophet 5's and used them extensively. Try doing a web search of "synth patches," or "80's synth patches" or "80's synth samples" or words to that effect.

Another thing to remember is that you could manipulate the patches of those old analog 80's synths and the artists did that every once in a while instead of using the factory presets. The sound you're hearing in that Human League song could already be in your keyboard's library it's just been modulated, manipulated and processed so much that it sounds radically different than the preset.

Good luck
 
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sonicpsyops said:
I use a Korg Triton studio workstation and I know that Korg sells a PMS board that has all of their vintage 80's synth sounds. Of course, you need one of the Korg Triton or Karma workstation series in order to run it.

However, a couple of years ago, I found a website where you could download synth patches for free. I'm really sorry man but, for the life of me, I can't remember the name of the website. On this website, I found some synth patches that other 80's synth pop groups like OMD and Soft Cell used. OMD was a big fan of the Prophet 5's and used them extensively. Try doing a web search of "synth patches," or "80's synth patches" or "80's synth samples" or words to that effect.

Another thing to remember is that you could manipulate the patches of those old analog 80's synths and the artists did that every once in a while instead of using the factory presets. The sound you're hearing in that Human League song could already be in your keyboard's library it's just been modulated, manipulated and processed so much that it sounds radically different than the preset.

Good luck
Click to expand...

Here are those sites:

http://www.tritonhaven.com/forum/index.html

Or Here:

http://www.korgforums.com/?show=1
 
For 80's synth sounds use 80's synths.

Some popular ones-
Korg M1 - Great string and pad sounds
Yamaha DX7 - good for weird stuff and cheezy piano sounds
Roland D-50 and S-50 - good all around
 
I am playing for an 80"s band next week and trying to find out what that main percussive keyboard/sound was used for Janet Jackson's "What Have You Done For Me Lately". Anyone have any idea?

THANKS!!!!!
 
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