Which synth did John Carpenter use for Escape From New York?

[Peekaboo Fuzzy]

 

 

I heard that he used a Prophet 5 for alot of his films, but recently when researching an ARP Quadra, there was mention that he used the ARP Quadra for Escape From New York. Does anyone know for certain what he used for Escape From New York? Thanks!

[MuzikB]

Prophet 5 and ARP Quadra.

[flat earth]

I always thought it was the Prophet 5

[jjdugan3]

I suppose his site could be the definitive answer...

http://www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com/pages/themovies/ny/nystrk.html

[The Real MC]

Lots of vintage analog on that soundtrack

[greaseenvelope]

Why on earth would you have two ARP Avatars? I realize he probably just sequenced them all simultaneously, so it was a matter of voices. But the image of two guitarists dual-soloing through ARP Avatars had me .

 

Time to watch "They Live" again.

[Peekaboo Fuzzy]

Thanks for your replies. Just wondering if the arpeggiated sequences in the film were Quadra or Prophet 5 sequenced? I will check the site too, for more info.

[The Real MC]

Arpeggiators was probably the ARP sequencer driving the Avatar, John Howarth had two of them. He stripped the useless guitar interface and used them as Odyssey modules.

[Mike Conway]

According to the soundtrack album:

 

Prophet 5, ARP Qaudra, ARP Avatar (2), ARP Sequencer, Roland CSQ-600 Sequencer, Sequential Circuits 700 Programmer, Roland SVC-350 Vocoder, Linn LM-1 Drum Computer, Fender Jazz Bass, Fender Stratocaster

 

 

 

John Carpenter and Alan Howarth

[Peekaboo Fuzzy]

Great photo. Ah the old days of analog synths and tape. Those analog recordings just have so much "air" and headroom, digital just sounds so much more hard and edgy. I always do the test when driving in my car. You can crank an analog recording and it sounds full and rich. Modern recordings loud are so much less pleasing to the ear IMO even with all this computer "analog sim" plug in stuff.

[Strenge]

Man the coffee cup sitting on that keyboard is making me nervous Or it would have had I been there

[mikael488]

Here are a few excerpts from an email conversation I had a while ago with Alan Howarth on this subject. I thought some of you synth afficionados may find it of interest.

 

"Quadra wan in several cues. In the opening titles of EFNY as part of the

chord pattern and also in the arpeggiated riff after the body of the cue.

Quadra is also in the Duke Arrives and the President at the train. The

final cue, across the 69th street bridge is also a stack of quadra and

avatars and prophet on the main melody."

 

"The Arp Avatars were used as CV slaves with the Quadra keyboard or the prophet keyboard as CV controllers. the ARP sequencer was in the patch also, so the keyboard drove the CV in of the ARP seq and than the ARP seq out to the Avatars."

 

"Prophet 5 used on EFNY was a Rev 2"

 

"The SCI 700 was used on one of the Avatars as a programmer and

sub-sequence. The Linn drum was driven from a tape track and used as a

master clock for all sequencing. This worked well, but you had to alwawy

go back to the start of the cue to get the proper clock lock. You could

not start in mid cue like today with smpte and midi."

[Yoozer]

 

Great photo. Ah the old days of analog synths and tape. Those analog recordings just have so much "air" and headroom, digital just sounds so much more hard and edgy.

 

Uh...

 

...right.

 

 

I always do the test when driving in my car.

 

Why ruin the music with the noise of the tires, wind and engine?

[The Real MC]

Man the coffee cup sitting on that keyboard is making me nervous

 

That's an ARP Coffee Cup Holder. It was partly responsible for the downfall of ARP. Or were you referring to the Quadra?

[synthman1]

Bravo to John carpenter for providing detailed information about not just the production of the various soundtracks he composed, but also the equipment used! I always liked his work.

 

Thanks for providing the link. There is a lot of enjoyable info on his site to sift through!

[pianomanuk]

I once saw an old picture of JC in the studio and he had A Prophet 10

[mrcpro]

That's an ARP Coffee Cup Holder. It was partly responsible for the downfall of ARP. Or were you referring to the Quadra?

Maybe the downfall had more to do with the way the Quadra keys stuck out unprotected. That pic really doesn't do it justice. For those of us who've ever played or *gasp* moved one it's a heartpounding situation.

[Mike Conway]

I once saw an old picture of JC in the studio and he had A Prophet 10

 

 

Definitely:

 

[Peekaboo Fuzzy]

mikael488, thanks for passing that on to us. I will have to go through each track and listen again.

 

Yoozer, Uh right? and....so. an imitation of an actual sound reproduced through a converter, translated to 1's and 0's and then transfered back again is superior? Digital is just conveniently better for editing, splicing, looping, truncating, whatever. In reality everything your ears actually hear is analog when it physically comes out of the speaker, its all about how you've gotten there...and yeah I roll my windows down all the way so I hear every detail of the music. No but seriously to each his own, if you like Nine Inch Nails or industrial music digital is probably better than analog. But honesty, will analog tape be viable in a computer centric world? No, but the camembert still tastes better than the brie. It's rich, buttery and smelly and usleless to refrigerate! Nontheless, rock on brothe. Obviously, you have good taste if your into John Carpenter's music.

[Awake77]

 

Great photo. Ah the old days of analog synths and tape. Those analog recordings just have so much "air" and headroom, digital just sounds so much more hard and edgy. I always do the test when driving in my car. You can crank an analog recording and it sounds full and rich. Modern recordings loud are so much less pleasing to the ear IMO even with all this computer "analog sim" plug in stuff.

 

 

A lot of that is the modern methodology of compressing everything to death too.

[ElectricPuppy]

Truth. I think it's less about the recording medium and more about changes in recording techniques.

[mikael488]

You're welcome, Peekaboo

 

Btw, the second picture above is from the Halloween III sessions back in the summer of '82. By that time Alan Howarth had gotten rid of the Quadra and replaced the Rev 2 Prophet with the then-new Rev 3.3 w/poly-sequencer.

 

Alan recently sold the Rev 3, P10, SCI 700, Arp sequencer, Oberheim 4-voice, Moog vocoder and Prophet VS on ebay.

[OPEN OCEAN]

also i have read that old ensoniq keys were used in many soundtracks of him...

[mikael488]

They Live and Halloween IV--both from 1988-- are afaik the only scores by Carpenter & Howarth to feature Ensoniq synths (the EPS and SQ-80).

 

On the aforementioned scores the Ensoniqs are joined by other synths such as Synclavier, Prophet VS, Prophet 10, DX-7, Emulator II, Prophet 2002 and Oberheim Four voice.

[Yoozer]

 

Yoozer, Uh right? and....so. an imitation of an actual sound reproduced through a converter, translated to 1's and 0's and then transfered back again is superior?

 

You attribute properties ("hard, edgy") to digital that aren't necessarily part of digital. Ever listened to Fagen's album? And yes, it's superior in the sense that it doesn't degrade every time you play it.

 

Your explanation also ignores, as Awake77 already mentions, the changes in the way songs are mixed and mastered, and the push for more loudness. That alone accounts for far more of the edginess than switching mediums.