Members TowJam Posted December 11, 2006 Members Share Posted December 11, 2006 What synths did Steve Winwood use on Arc of A Diver? Specifically, what did he use for the psuedo-sax lead on While You See A Chance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members The Real MC Posted December 11, 2006 Members Share Posted December 11, 2006 Pseudo-sax is Multimoog, polysynth is CS-80. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JustinThyme Posted December 11, 2006 Members Share Posted December 11, 2006 According to a "Vintage Sounds" article in Keyboard mag, the solo was a Prophet 5 or Prophet 10. You can also see these if you look up the video on YouTube. Great album! And while some people probably say it sounds dated, I really like the tones on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members G-bus v2.0 Posted December 11, 2006 Members Share Posted December 11, 2006 It was a Nord Lead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Pawnz Posted December 12, 2006 Members Share Posted December 12, 2006 Look up the original article in Keyboard magazine (or was it Contemporary Keyboard?). Winwood himself reports using a Multimoog with a "fairly square waveform." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members The Real MC Posted December 12, 2006 Members Share Posted December 12, 2006 Arc of a Diver was also recorded before the Prophet-10 went into production. And my recollection comes from the Keyboard mag interview, which I have at home. I do not recall mention of Prophet-5 in that interview. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pink floyd cramer Posted December 12, 2006 Members Share Posted December 12, 2006 IMO one of the best Winwood records, before he whored himself out to cheesy Michelob jingles. I remember a defunkt (Keyboard Player?) mag that was trying to compete with "Keyboard" by being more "low-brow" and accessible. This mag had a an article and transcription on that song and to the best of my senile memory, it said something other than a Moog synth was used. So I guess THAT settles that. A far more relative point I would like to make is that other anaolg synths could approximate a growly sax pretty well. I was in a band (circa '86) with a guy that had a Sequential Circuits 6-Trak and he did a pretty damn good sax for the intro to a Glen Frye ballad of that era. (Don't remember the title , as I said, senility aggravated by 100-proof vodka). Damn, if that ridiculous post doesn't kill this thread nothing will.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JustinThyme Posted December 12, 2006 Members Share Posted December 12, 2006 Originally posted by The Real MC Arc of a Diver was also recorded before the Prophet-10 went into production. And my recollection comes from the Keyboard mag interview, which I have at home. I do not recall mention of Prophet-5 in that interview. Well, shoot me! All I can say is that on page 82 of the June 2006 issue of Keyboard magazine, in their "Vintage Sounds" article, it mentions a Prophet 5 or 10. If the Prophet 10 wasn't out yet, that rules that out. edit: According to All Music, AoaD came out in 1981, and the Prophet 10 also came out that year (http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar99/articles/retroprophet.htm). end edit: Not sure where the author, Mitchell Sigman, got the info. If you check the video to "While You See a Chance" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I27hqe3d6gM) it looks like a Prophet-10 (I can't tell for sure, but some more knowledgable forumites might be able to tell)....but that doesn't mean that's what it was recorded with. Hey, I could be wrong. Just passing along the info I have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TowJam Posted December 12, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 12, 2006 A far more relative point I would like to make is that other anaolg synths could approximate a growly sax pretty well. Agreed - but what really jumped out at me at the time this album came out ("album" - showing my age) is that Winwood wasn't trying to emulate the sound of the sax but rather the phrasing of a sax - and he pretty much nails it. I'm guessing this is a product of his R&B background. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TowJam Posted December 12, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 12, 2006 Ok, I just checked out the vid for "Valerie" where he's done the same "sax" lead. I can't tell for sure but I'm thinking that's a Prophet 5. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eric Posted December 12, 2006 Members Share Posted December 12, 2006 Ok, here's the word on this. I am right now looking at the June 1981 issue of Keyboard Mag with Winwood on the cover. The whole article from pp 48-60 is all about Arc Of A Diver. I'll quote a couple of comments here: Q: "What instruments did you use for the bass?"A: " I used a Multimoog and I think I used a Minimoog on a couple of the cuts..." Q: "Did you use a Multimoog for that solo with the hard-edged tone in 'While You See A Chance?'"A: "Right. I can't remember the wave shape. It was fairly square. But I did use a filter pedal to give it kind of a phased texture..." Q: "Did you use the CS-80 for many of the violin sounds on Arc?"A: "Yes, quite a few of them. I used the Prophet as well." Q: "Do you devise many of the programs on your Prophet?"A: "No. I used a Prophet on Arc Of A Diver, but it was rented because I was waiting to buy one with perfect temperament...I read somewhere that the new model Prophet-5 can be tuned to unequal temperaments and that intrigued me so much that I hope to be working on things using those kinds of scales...I'm not sure whether I'll get the Prophet-5 or -10 or wait for a new one to come along..." I'm getting tired of typing verbatim quotes, but there is also some info about Winwood's use of Hammond C-3 and how he did have a Polymoog, but had to sell it to finance the CS-80. Hope that helps de-mystify things. Regards,Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TowJam Posted December 12, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 12, 2006 Thanks Eric. So The Real MC was spot on - Multimoog and CS80. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members G-bus v2.0 Posted December 12, 2006 Members Share Posted December 12, 2006 Originally posted by TowJam Ok, I just checked out the vid for "Valerie" where he's done the same "sax" lead. I can't tell for sure but I'm thinking that's a Prophet 5. No way, watch this vid: It was a Trinity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eric Posted December 12, 2006 Members Share Posted December 12, 2006 Originally posted by TowJam Thanks Eric. So The Real MC was spot on - Multimoog and CS80. Yep, and Prophet too. I watched that video on YouTube and it does look like a P-10 in the video, but that was obviously just for looks (not plugged in or anything). Regards, Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TowJam Posted December 12, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 12, 2006 What's he's playing in this live performance of Valerie? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members flattop Posted December 12, 2006 Members Share Posted December 12, 2006 It's a DX7. I didn't know Hulk Hogan played drums for Steve. Wes TaggartAnalogicshttp://www.analogics.org/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TowJam Posted December 12, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 12, 2006 Originally posted by flattop It's a DX7. That's what I thought at first. But, at the 3:00 mark in the vid, you can see some type of display on top of the keyboard. I can't tell if it's built into the keyboard or if it's an accessory. I didn't know Hulk Hogan played drums for Steve. No {censored}. I did a doubletake the first time the camera showed him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fisnotigut Posted December 12, 2006 Members Share Posted December 12, 2006 There is NO way, NO WAY, that he might have used a different keyboard on the video than he did in the studio! Who would EVER do that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members The Real MC Posted December 12, 2006 Members Share Posted December 12, 2006 He plays a DX7 but is he using it as a MIDI controller for modules offstage...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pink floyd cramer Posted December 12, 2006 Members Share Posted December 12, 2006 Hey, we got guys who can quote chapter and verse from the Holy Writ (Keyboard mag). That's not fair! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eric Posted December 12, 2006 Members Share Posted December 12, 2006 Originally posted by The Real MC He plays a DX7 but is he using it as a MIDI controller for modules offstage...? I'll have to dig up a subsequent Keyboard Mag to look for clues on that. I did check out the video and it looks like a DX7II with the ribs on the side and the way the white logo is inscribed on top. I have a foggy memory of reading a short interview with Winwood or perhaps a tech who said that when he played "The Finer Things" live he used a DX7 as a controller MIDI'd up to not one, but TWO Minimoogs. If he has Minis offstage, that seems like a real logistical nightmare with no flexibility for on-the-fly tweaking, unless he is just using the one sound all night (or has an offstage keyboard guy). Which is quite likely if you consider the lead synth for Arc, Valerie and Finer is basically the same sound. Regards,Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members flattop Posted December 12, 2006 Members Share Posted December 12, 2006 If you are talking about the white colored thing on the keyboard, it is not a display, IMO. It appears to be more of a sound chart/setlist. If you look close, it appears to extend a bit past the chassis of the keyboard. You can see the edge from the frontup shots of Steve. Hulk's the man. Wes TaggartAnalogicshttp://www.analogics.org/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ChipCurtis Posted December 12, 2006 Members Share Posted December 12, 2006 Funny, I never thought of the "While You See A Chance" lead sound as a "saxophone" sound, I think of it as just a synth lead sound, but I do like the horn-like phrasing he does with it. I probably mentioned this to death already on this forum, but there's a patch on the DSS-1 that has this sound absolutely nailed. And Steve used the DSS-1 for a while in the mid/late 80s, and he also endorsed it in Keyboard magazine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ElectricPuppy Posted December 12, 2006 Members Share Posted December 12, 2006 I demo'd a DSS-1 for a day when they were released. The things I remember most are that the UI was obtuse, loaded SLOWLY from diskettes, and was fairly hefty in size and weight. I don't remember what it sounded like at all. I haven't seen one since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Outkaster Posted December 13, 2006 Members Share Posted December 13, 2006 He played all of the instruments on that album from what I understand? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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