Members Learning67 Posted August 4, 2005 Members Share Posted August 4, 2005 Anyone know what synths Pete Towshend used for the Who are You Album? I was riding with my buddy the other day and he was playing the Who Are You Album on his IPod thingy. I hadnt listned to the whole record and years...and doubt I will for several more years as its really not all that great IMHO. But the synth seems to have a distinctive sound. New SongGuitar and PenSister Disco905 etc It doesnt sound Prophet 5ish to me nor does it sound oberheim. Pete was big into ARP for a while. Is it a Quadra? Maybe a Polymoog? I dont think its a CS80. I saw the Who live in 83 (and some other times) and Im pretty sure they did the classic line on a minimoog or memorymoog, but the memorymoog wasnt around in 1978 when the record was made and much of the rest of the album is done polyphoncially Just curious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Postman Posted August 4, 2005 Members Share Posted August 4, 2005 He still has it. It's a modular. I can't remember if it's an ARP or not. I think so. He talks about and plays it on the "Classic Albums: Who's Next" DVD (in particular he sets up the Baba O'Riley sound which is kind of cool). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Meatball Fulton Posted August 4, 2005 Members Share Posted August 4, 2005 Originally posted by Postman He still has it. It's a modular. I can't remember if it's an ARP or not. I think so. He talks about and plays it on the "Classic Albums: Who's Next" DVD (in particular he sets up the Baba O'Riley sound which is kind of cool). The Who's Next tracks were done with an ARP 2600. Pete was featured heavily in ARP advertising during the 70s, he even did an endorsement of the (awful) Avatar guitar synth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Learning67 Posted August 5, 2005 Author Members Share Posted August 5, 2005 On Who Are You, he must use a polyphonic synth. He uses a VCS-3 to process an organ of some kind for baba o'riely and wont get fooled again, but I do think its a 2600 for going mobile and such. Whos Next is kinda early, pre-2600? Quadraphenia was done very creatively on a 2600. Its very impressive what he does, considering the time period and all. Im pretty sure the 2600 gets on Who by Numbers--havnt listen to the record in years as its rather weak--and maybe some of the singles that came out that weren't on specific albums at first. Who Are You came out 1978. It could easily be his 2600 doing some things, but other things seem very unlikely to have been done on a mono (or duo) phonic instrument. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Postman Posted August 5, 2005 Members Share Posted August 5, 2005 Originally posted by Learning67 He uses a VCS-3 to process an organ of some kind for baba o'riely and wont get fooled again, but I do think its a 2600 for going mobile and such. Whos Next is kinda early, pre-2600? I was wrong. It wasn't "Baba O'Riley" he was talking about on the DVD but "Won't Get Fooled Again". He plays some sort of console organ (not, I think, a B-3) through the modular. That patch is pretty simple. It's just a Amp modulated by a square wave LFO and a low pass filter. It doesn't use any of the modulator's oscillators. He didn't mention ever having a Putney. Doesn't mean he didn't have one at some point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SynFull Music Posted August 6, 2005 Members Share Posted August 6, 2005 The May 2005 issue of Sound on Sound has an article on the making of "Who Are You." At the end of the piece, there's a box-feature titled "Write, Demo & Edit" that has the following passage about the song's middle section (from the point of view of producer Jon Astley): "...The whole thing was driven by Pete's angular rhythm guitar part, played through an ARP 2600 suitcase synth which had an auto-pan and a filter that was opening in time with the auto-pan. This created a kind of wah-wah synth sound, and since it was played in four-bar sections it was easy to edit together..." Hope that you all find this of use. Cheers,Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fulcrum Posted August 6, 2005 Members Share Posted August 6, 2005 Originally posted by Postman I was wrong. It wasn't "Baba O'Riley" he was talking about on the DVD but "Won't Get Fooled Again". He plays some sort of console organ (not, I think, a B-3) through the modular. That patch is pretty simple. It's just a Amp modulated by a square wave LFO and a low pass filter. It doesn't use any of the modulator's oscillators. He didn't mention ever having a Putney. Doesn't mean he didn't have one at some point. Actually, he did. It was the envelope follower on that or on the 2600 that he sent the guitar through on Who Are You. I think he used the VCS3 for the Lowrey TBO-1 organ on Won't Get Fooled Again-- slow sine wave modulating filter cutoff, and moderately fast square wave modulating the VCA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Learning67 Posted August 6, 2005 Author Members Share Posted August 6, 2005 I was wondering if he was prcessing the guitar on Who Are You. There are some parts in the middle of the song where the synth line sounds polyphonic, but then it almost sounds like a guitar through an envelope filter. Now I see that that is what it is, cool. But what is the distinctive sounding polysynth on the rest of the album? is it distinctive due to the production and not the instrument? heck...is it an Omni or Omni II? this has been driving me crazy for years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members greaseenvelope Posted August 6, 2005 Members Share Posted August 6, 2005 Are you sure he's not just double tracking the Arp? With no live recreation on file this is my closest guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Postman Posted August 7, 2005 Members Share Posted August 7, 2005 Originally posted by fulcrum Actually, he did. It was the envelope follower on that or on the 2600 that he sent the guitar through on Who Are You. I think he used the VCS3 for the Lowrey TBO-1 organ on Won't Get Fooled Again-- slow sine wave modulating filter cutoff, and moderately fast square wave modulating the VCA. Yes, when one gets to my age, one ought to check facts before posting. I watched the aforementioned DVD again this morning, and the Putney was right there, prominently featured. I just didn't notice it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Learning67 Posted August 7, 2005 Author Members Share Posted August 7, 2005 Originally posted by greaseenvelope Are you sure he's not just double tracking the Arp? With no live recreation on file this is my closest guess. well thats what he does on Quadraphenia and its really interesting and creative. By "New Song" and some others are plunking down chords in such a way that makes me really doubt that he used that approach. Plus the record was made in 1978, it really doesnt make sense that he would go through the time consuming effort to play each line monophonically. He was pretty high in that period, so who knows what he may have decided to do. he sequenced the line from "Sister Disco" and I think they used an ob-8 or Xa to do it on the 83 tour. I think prior to that, Rabbit Brundrick used one of the pre jupiter roland polyphonics...like on the Face Dances tour. TO play it live, one must do cross hand arpegios. its odd that they dont sequence that, as they have always played along with recordings of the bab oriely and wont get fooled again parts. Live is the same recording on the studio. Pete was an interesting synthesist for a short bit there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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