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Synths used by ELO other than the Polymoog and Minimoog?


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Fire on High is from Face the Music (1975) Most likely it was just a Mininmoog. Other keyboards they used in the 70's were Arp Odessey, Mellotron, Hammond C3, Wurlitzer 200, SLM Concert Spectrum, and Arp 2600. Also, Lots and lots of effects. Particularly, echo-plex, Roland Space Echo, flangers, phasers, and chorus.

 

Oh, and Eventide Harmonizers up the wazoo...

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Thanks. The "bubbly" arpeggios on Fire On High sound polyphonic to my ears. tspit74, with regards specifically to the arpeggios that come in after that spooky intro with the Orchestral hits, you really think that is likely a Minimoog? It has this "silvery", bubling quality that doesn't strike me as Moogish but perhaps they really flooded it with effects to thicken it up? It would cool to be $100% certain on that.

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I'd still say minimoog. Don't underestimate the effects and multitracking. Jeff Lynne wrote the book on excess in the recording studio.

 

This was back in the days of people taking 3 weeks to "invent" a bass drum sound out of something that wasn't a bass drum just to be different. Making a minimoog sound different wasn't a tall order.

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I remember seeing a pic (or video?) of ELO live, years ago. The keyboard player was surrounded by keyboards, stacked five high on all four sides of him. Does anyone have that pic? I've been searching for it for years. Maybe I imagined it.

 

"Time" is a killer album.

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I remember seeing a pic (or video?) of ELO live, years ago. The keyboard player was surrounded by keyboards, stacked five high on all four sides of him. Does anyone have that pic? I've been searching for it for years. Maybe I imagined it.


"Time" is a killer album.

 

 

I've got a tour program from '77 that might have that picture in it. I think it's an arial shot. I'll try to bring it back to work with me after lunch and scan it.

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tandy1.jpg
tandy2.jpg

Richard Tandy (1977). Wurlitzer, Mellotron, SLM Concert Spectrum, Clavinet, Minimoog, Grand Piano, Polymoog, and mixer.

 

that was for the North American "New world record" tour.

 

For the "Out of the blue" (spaceship) tour, he moved the mixer on top of the piano, put a CS80 on top of the Mellotron, facing the band had the Wurly, SLM, Polymoog and clavinet, with nothing facing the audience. The Minimoog was replaced by CS80/Polymoog.

 

Not bad for a former guitarist who played electric piano 80% of the time

 

No idea what his rig was after that, DISCOvery was the last straw for me. But they were a good "first alltime favorite band" as a preteen :)

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...or the EMS Vocoder 2000W MkI (white)
:wave:

 

Fwiw; Both Jeff Lynne and Richard Tandy have gone on record saying that the vocoder on "Out Of The Blue" was a Moog vocoder. I rather believe it was the similar Bode vocoder because afaik Moog's version wasn't available by the time said album was recorded in May/June 1977.

 

here's a couple of quotes that back up this:

 

Richard Tandy:

"Yes, the vocoder I used was indeed a moog vocoder, I think it was one of the first. It was delivered to the studio in Munich."

 

Jeff Lynne:

"As luck would have it right at the same time somebody in Stuttgart had just built a Vocoder (Micke: suggesting the Bode version) the very machine that could make the piano talk. It was brilliant timing, because I

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Fwiw; Both Jeff Lynne and Richard Tandy have gone on record saying that the vocoder on "Out Of The Blue" was a Moog vocoder. I rather believe it was the similar Bode vocoder because afaik Moog's version wasn't available by the time said album was recorded in May/June 1977.

 

here's a couple of quotes that back up this:

 

Richard Tandy:

"Yes, the vocoder I used was indeed a moog vocoder, I think it was one of the first. It was delivered to the studio in Munich."

 

Jeff Lynne:

"As luck would have it right at the same time somebody in Stuttgart had just built a Vocoder (Micke: suggesting the Bode version) the very machine that could make the piano talk. It was brilliant timing, because I

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When I saw ELO in 1974(with Deep Purple),I remember seeing a Mellotron,which was used a lot in the album they were touring on,El Dorado.Also I noticed a Minimoog,clavinet,some kind of electric piano,and a B-3. There was also something with a lot of patch cords in it,but my synth knowledge was pretty limited back then,so who knows what it may have been.

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