All that you need to know (!) about 80s Synths

[@0ne01]

A lot​ of other synth players arguing here over presets and whatever. Who cares. Use what you like. Use what instrument you like. Doesn't matter if its hardware or VSTi. Doesn't matter if it's FM or analog. It literally doesn't matter what you use as long as you like it and it works for you. It's your music. Do what you want.

[@theguinealabz]

I love this comment. Great message ♥️

[@drthunda]

It is all about the suspenders

[@wolflover789]

No Carson, you must use what I tell you to use. You understand? And I am telling you to use a Casio keyboard from Walmart.

[@donaldpriola1807]

Agreed. Watch the "Bad Gear" videos, and see what that guys does with instruments that are supposedly lousy. He makes great stuff.

[@OgamiItto70]

The First Commandment: _Never_ get involved in a land war in Asia. But after that, it's: If it sounds good it *_is_* good.

[@sageantone7291]

I want to enter this video and live here forever.

[@PcGameGold]

Which hairstyle would you choose?

[@bonurse7969]

No human could ever know how much I want to live in the 80s'. I was born in 1999 and I feel out of place here.

[@looneyburgmusic]

The 80's were a magical time if you were the right age... For adults it was all about the never ending quest for the almighty $$$, for the pre-teens it was Saturday Morning Cartoons and the drag of school. But for us lucky ones, who were in our teens/early 20's, the 80's was heaven. The best music, the best movies, the best drugs, the hottest gals with their tight leather pants, too much makeup and perfume, and the hair that reached to the sky. It was quite a time to be alive :-)

[@zombieman81]

Me too - just want to bury myself in that 1987 synth rig, but with the exception of replacing his "piano" keyboard with a modern digital piano - it would be hard to give up my Roland FP-4F for anything the 80s had...

[@1o1beauty]

Mescaline

[@carriersignal]

Herbie Hancock: "By the time you program this thing, you forgot what you were going to program it for." Maybe that's the reason I never get anything done.

[@scharlesworth93]

'eventually, you just have to press 'record'' - some dude in that analog synth doc I dream of electric wires

[@daveglassman4779]

Ha! How true.

[@SciFiArtman]

Yea, I've created 20k+ sounds and only finished about 30 songs in 5 years! It's a trap!!!

[@SciFiArtman]

Lamster66 Well, I may have been a little too liberal with the term "finished"! 15 finished, and 15 in near-finished limbo, may be more accurate. My point is, I've created WAY more sounds than I probably have years left to play! But by god when I do write I have a backlog of sounds to choose from! (So why do I find myself creating new sounds when writing, other than just selecting and moving on?) The problem is these killer (and mostly affordable) softsynths with their ability to create virtually any sound you can imagine, and many you can't! But would we have it any other way?! Nah!

[@coolaboola1046]

A lot of people have said the DX was notorious to program. Gary Numan said he never used it for the precise reason Herbie Hancock just explained :)

[@giuseppelentini9140]

I know this video is old, but it's actually refreshing: the people interviewed are all professional musicians, and they are adamantine in highlighting the cons of vintage analog instruments, especially the voltage controlled ones. Nowadays, commercial resellers in all disguises seldom even mention those inconvieniences, but the limits are still there, plus the unreliability that comes with age. Also, it's heartwarming to see all the enthusiasm about midi, computers, and digital synths: it was the dawn of the modern recording studio, without whom you would have to be Stevie Wonder to have access to synths and record electronic music. And, when people nowadays talk about dawless, they still talk 90% of the time about a computer with a digital software system, that interacts via midi. Some things do not change, only the attitude.

[@creedadamtate]

Absolutely fascinating. Vince and Herbs were so far ahead of the game even back then.

[@kjamison5951]

Herbie Hancock with a Macintosh in the background… Vince Clarke with a BBC Microcomputer! That takes me right back…!

[@dkbt1]

This excerpt is off a weekly programme called Rockschool, back in the late 80's, if I'm not mistaken. For a budding synth player like me it was a must watch. There was a drummer, guitarist (as seen) and bass player as well as the keyboard/ synth man. Oh, the memories! ❤️

[@jgrzinich]

Rockschool! I loved this show, one of the best imported programs on Public Broadcasting in the US in the 80s

[@avace917]

I loved that show

[@joelmpott]

I learned more about synth from watching this video than I ever did watching other modern youtube tutorials. To be alive in that age!

[@TransistorBased]

"The square wave is useful for string sounds" *Proceeds to play a string patch made with saws*

[@securityrobot]

I got that impression too that he was talking bollocks.

[@Cesarsound1]

No, he used square wave PWM.

[@celebutante]

Yeah, was gonna say... perhaps said square wave is moving to and fro... :P

[@TransistorBased]

@@Cesarsound1 that's not PWM. It's detuned saws.

[@Jlipnicki]

Using a synth to emulate strings is where it ceases to be playing a synth rather emulating strings. A keyboard is also not necessary.

[@mcblahflooper94]

4:09 interesting to hear people's perceptions on digital synths and how excited everyone was to use them in the 80s.

[@adisharr]

They really took some liberty with what the actual waveform displayed sounded like.

[@Pvaeerener]

And that liberty also can be a serious misguidance to the newbie.

[@ryanlucas2025]

Hep. The waveform pictures weren't even accurate. Then the sounds were more than just filtered, they had different attack and decay settings too.

[@XyenzFyxion]

@@ryanlucas2025 ​ @Abel Zevallos Montes @adisharr I was thinking all of this as I watched!

[@ericpircher]

Yeah! Wouldn't that string patch be based on a sawtooth waveform?

[@bigdyke69]

A square or pulse works way better for bras imo. And strings are typically saws...

[@nixnightbird138]

Rock School! I have this on VHS. I got it as a birthday present when I was a teenager in the 80s. It wasn't easy to acquire in the 1980s, in America, in my neck of the woods. I also got an accompanying book. I still have it somewhere. . .

[@NoName-bt3oy]

So I take it from that you gave up on music? :p It was such a car crash show.

[@arachnidiscs]

My mom was a school librarian and brought them home for me. It was so good.

[@2010georgian1]

They sound and look so much more advanced than we are now...

[@herkyacuff]

My gosh, I think I have seen this before. Great find!

[@zombieman81]

I liked how back in 1987 (the date of the series this compilation was sourced from) Herbie Hancock was talking about the "touch" of a piano and synthesizer and predicting how "that day will come" when electronic instruments would be able to reproduce the nuances of an acoustic piano. He knew...

[@mudsh4rk]

Still waiting.

[@bryanmack7463]

36 years later and acoustic pianos still sound and feel 1000x better than digital ones. Let's see in another 36 years what happens.

[@JohnnyCogs]

2:17 Modules may have gotten smaller but one thing that stood the test of time was the potted plant.

[@canturgan]

Vince Clark using a BBC Micro running sequencer software, pricey in the 80's, about £400, which was a lot. The BBC went on to become Acorn Computers which eventually became ARM which runs almost every mobile device on the planet.

[@BaddaBigBoom]

UMI 2B :-)

[@chloedevereaux1801]

actually clarke wrote his own sequencer software and still uses it today..

[@ekids.bassment]

It's was my second computer and I basically learned programming on the acorn electron and the bbc micro b. My father had the Acorn Master and everybody around us had commodore c64s. Video's like this instantly brings back memories. I love them

[@canturgan]

@@chloedevereaux1801 Is it available for sale?

[@BountyHunterBootcamp]

Note the potted plant

[@al35mm]

A potted plant is still better than planted pot!

[@markpointer2967]

al35mm Hmmm.. I think I'd opt for the planted pot any day, thanks 😌

[@g00gleminus96]

Not if the planted pot is planted pot that's planted in a pot.

[@hamfranky]

Especially!

[@Supaj00]

why the plant though?

[@lewispeel]

Day 54...still waiting for her to play a guitar

[@TheBircat]

Symbolic representation for how much guitar there was in '80s music.

[@NineHellHeaven]

@@thomaspick4123 you're a plank

[@funguy29]

its her emotional support guitar

[@joelonsdale]

I think she was called Deidre Cartwright....

[@5roundsrapid263]

j4wn Way more guitar than today! You can’t even hear it in most mixes now. Back then, everybody had a guitar solo, unless they were all synth.

[@r27501]

The first sound comes from the wonderfull Roland JX-10. I have and love this instrument. It is pure 80s magic.

[@FrancisMaxino]

"But that day will come"...so right Mr Hancock.

[@tachikomakusanagi3744]

But did it though? Has the MIDI standard changed since he made that statement? It hasn't - there are still only 128 different velocity levels. Same as it ever was.

[@jonglassmusic5813]

Oh my god, I can remember watching this first time round, they all seemed like gods to wannabe 14yo. Synths were so expensive back then.

[@vanheineken]

3:22 Tony Banks: "How do i get out of this square of keyboards?"

[@securityrobot]

Followed by “why Am I in such a square band?”

[@WidS1lson]

“This is what they meant by be there or be square”

[@underground_man]

I loved the segment with Vince Clarke. The sound combined with the backdrop of the room gives it this brooding basement vibe.

[@MrTamiya89]

Vince Clarke is a Legend

[@ArgumentShow]

I used to look forward to this every week

[@pfaprado]

"The way you hit the key... At this point synthesizers are still not quite as sensitive... you can't create all the nuances out of the synthesizers with your fingers that you can out of an acoustic piano... but that day will come". I imagine Herbie watching this and saying "I KNEW IT!".

[@jeshkam]

Which piano/keyoboard/synth is the best in your opinion when it comes to sensitivity?

[@hepphepps8356]

The guy around @2:30 is Mike Vickers, which around the same time helped out The Beatles with synth sounds for the Abbey Road album.

[@stereoroid]

Herbie Hancock's point about professional programmers should not be overlooked. Some guys like Vince Clarke and Thomas Dolby were techies themselves, but many other musicians weren't. One name you'll see on a lot of albums from the UK is Andy Richards, who played or programmed on songs that were at #1 in the UK for 19 weeks in 1984 e.g. he created the keyboard parts on FGTH's "Relax" and should have got a songwriter credit.

[@puppetsnob]

Rock School! I loved this show.

[@monkcat6235]

"Mother! I am growing a mullet and getting into rock guitar and there is nothing you can do about it!!"

[@acb9896]

Tech boi Herbie Hancock flossin his Casio calculator watch.

[@pastorthomaso]

Yes kids, this is how we used to do it. I started out with an Atari Stacey 4 Laptop running Notator by Emagic which many don't realize eventually evolved into Logic. Alesis HR-16 Drum machine, Yamaha DX-7, Proteus, Korg Poly 800, Roland U20, Roland S220 sampler. Fast forward to today and it's all on a Mac running Mainstage and a controller. Times have changed kids. This is an especially good thing as far as the Shumett goes. LOL

[@MrClarkio]

Brilliant, used to love rock school. Many classic moments, herbie Hancock with his Mac whilst Vince Clark plays blind man's drums with his BBC micro. Square waves for strings cos sawtooths for brass. Herbie's "i have a man to do my DX7 programming, but I do know how it works, honest". Mind you shows you how will designed MIDI was, still the standard new be it 5 pin or USB. Thank you for sharing.

[@NelsonStJames]

Noticed how much info they were able to give without talking down to their audience. Bravo!

[@maxedison8259]

I loved watching this program as a kid, growing up with ideas of owning a synth one day, and a guitar too. Clear simple information for fans of earlier synths, with a nod towards the use of a sequencer thrown in. Later synths were linked via MIDI, so you could buy a 'MIDI synth brain box' (a keyboardless synth) and just use the synth keyboard from a different unit fitted with MIDI capability. MIDI is probably old tech by today's standards, but it was a great leap forward at the time. My oldest (analogue) synth is the KORG Delta, and I also own a Roland RD-500 piano, and a MIDI connected Proteus FX unit. These are enough for me, but the temptation is, always there to buy a modern synth!

[@jamesiannelli1669]

I loved that show, why do thay not have shows like that today.

[@Sean-me4fv]

I kept waiting for her to play the guitar...and waiting

[@SPAZZOID100]

Sean French this video is about SYNTHS.

[@liverush24]

Sean French She's still standing there now and still hasn't played a note.

[@scharlesworth93]

And she kept swapping out the guitars too. That's some award winning 80s hair, tho.

[@daveglassman4779]

Yeah, that was disappointing wasn't it? And even Herbie Hancock didn't actually play - drat!

[@Sean-me4fv]

James Reeno I know! So why is she holding a guitar!?

[@angusbabb4913]

RockSchool! Loved this show in the early 80’s…a must watch for every budding musician 😊

[@dennisdillon1360]

Love this video. You can literally see the evolution to what we have today. I look at my array of "plugins" and "presets" in my DAW and wonder how to wrap my brain around it all. Look at the huge rooms, the rack and racks of keyboards and other gear. And all the cable routing (power, MIDI, audio, patches). It's always been this complex. Oh yeah, and at the end of the day, it's supposed to all sound like music!

[@AnthonyMonaghan]

Take me back to Rockschool!

[@Richard_P_James]

Rock School :-) I had this episode on VHS.

[@JuanDaMajikOne]

Richard James I used to watch it on PBS. 😀

[@Charlottesville798]

Richard James I used to watch it late at night on BBC when I was a budding Eddie Van Halen 😉

[@1171karl]

Looks like I missed out on this!

[@katmusic2006]

Richard James I also had the book called rockschool. Guitar, keys, drum lessons in 1 as i recall?

[@dougfa3515]

Same here... I used to love the show when it was on PBS.

[@carlosmc7304]

Vince Clarke, a sequencer and ANY keyboard and you have a masterpiece.

[@fabthefab75]

Vince Clarke with hair...

[@funkmike]

And he plays a Casio synthesizer while wearing short-shorts....

[@TheOneTrueSpLiT]

My God! I remember watching this back in the '80s. Now look at us... we've all been emulated and VSTi'd!!!

[@JC20XX]

Oh god you're right..

[@JimijaymesProductions]

Vince Clark the master of playing parts without hearing the end result!

[@Toilet_Sniper]

Like Beethoven, he looked like he was just using feel, rhythm and memory to bash in notes.

[@melissarainchild]

THIS...is the series that got me into synths...lovely, thanks for posting :)

[@DEADLINETV]

This was brilliant!

[@touka32able]

Joshua Perrett you can still buy keyboards online, plus you can do it all digitally in most major music programs

[@markpointer2967]

Joshua Perrett LOL!! Hehehe!

[@ottonormalverbrauch3794]

That was 'Rock School', Gary Moore also performed in this educational series. It was great but I wasn't too much into playing at the time.

[@KiteFlyingRobot]

Dude this is my new favorite video! Thanks so much for posting this!! Vince Clarke sighting too!

[@Petsublak]

Great video, took me down memory lane. Great days, really missed.

[@brennuvargr4638]

"One day that will come..."

[@davids736]

Vince Clarke - being a genius!! One of my musical heroes.. 😁

[@GroovingGeckoMusic]

You see, even Herbie Hancock used presets!

[@analogikahamburg]

Grooving Gecko Everybody uses presets. Jean Michel Jarre used an Elka Synthex preset for the laser-harp. The opening gong on MJ's "Beat It" is a Synclavier preset. Art of Noise is full of Emulator presets, and the infamous Shakuhachi sample found everywhere from Enigma to "Sledge Hammer" and Santana/Hooker's "The Healer" is an Emulator stock sound, as well. They're everywhere.

[@miketaylor6055]

Grooving Gecko the piano and Rhodes are preset instruments.

[@GroovingGeckoMusic]

Yes, I know. That was the point of my comment. It wasn't a negative comment. Underlying meaning of my comment: "To all you people complaining about modern producers using presets, everyone does, even the greatest musicians of all time".

[@jamiebales8394]

That's right, EDM kids these days. Too much knob twiddling, not enough composition.

[@pascalillustration3650]

Art of Noise used the Fairlight.

[@lcd4349]

I loved watching this program series. It aired on our pbs when I was a kid.

[@jondoglegs7124]

"the barrage of complicated technology facing musicians nowadays' :)

[@teddyl7006]

This was the 80s. I understood the technical manuals from the synths back then. The 2000s synth samplers were crazy complicated. Now you get this stuff on your puter in a collection of libraries.

[@dukeofpearl]

Teddy L Boulden I don’t use PCs..only for loading my music online. There’s nothing hard about learning a “newer” digital synth. It’s great to jump in and find out what they can do. I own 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000 onward synths. ALL synths (analog AND digital) are editable! ✌🏻🎶🕶

[@w0mblemania]

It was probably hard then, than it is now. We have more range of equipment, but it's much, much easier to get a sound out of the equipment we do have.

[@trebleboost7]

I STILL like using my standalone keyboards. Yes I am getting old. Great to see Tony, Jan, Herbie...

[@tacopizza2003]

1:55 His prediction came true.

[@tekvax01]

I remember watching this series on television in the 80s!

[@StephanSandiares]

holding on to that guitar for dear life.

[@10oclocktic]

I remember this show well it was on after school in the 80's loved it thanks for sharing!!

[@GNeuman]

@5:05 wow, a Memorymoog that is actually in tune and working.

[@СемёнСемёнов-ы1ь]

Such a nice and refined accent from lady is a pure melody for ears!

[@kjamison5951]

Jan Hammer - a prolific composer of his time. Miami Vice theme music was phenomenal.

[@hachiroku8677]

Yes, it was a hit. Actually, the first instrumental song to reach #1 in the US Billboard Top 100.

[@jacka55penguin]

Wow that old PRS guitar. Must have been one of the first made. :)

[@huntrrams]

These synths are like the Father of Synthwave, Vaporwave, and Lo-fi House

[@LORDSofCHAOS333]

for some reason i love those retro tutorials .

[@StefUllrichMusic]

I just produced a 7.1 surround album on an undocumented sub-menu of my washing machine remote access app website login

[@kevbarker8108]

Stef Ullrich stop stealing my moves

[@fab.silva1119]

I used to watch this show on PBS. It's where I learning reggae phrasing... God I miss the 80s!

[@sarahwaters4448]

how dare that girl have a guitar around her neck! . . she could have had a synth-midi-keyboard around her neck!

[@sonicaids]

technically she did in the end.

[@sandeeptech8]

KEK hey do you know what is the name of that guitar at the end?

[@sonicaids]

Roland g707

[@oyobass]

KEK The guitar itself was made for Roland by Ibanez (to be stuffed full of Roland electronics.)

[@MirlitronOne]

Commonly referred to at the time as "The Dalek's Handbag". :-)

[@notanfningain]

I loved this programme when it came out

[@Cortez77fr]

Thanks for sharing !

[@3ertin]

I'm 42 and I remember seeing this on television. I still can hum the tune.

[@darrenhirst9900]

I seem to remember the band playing and each week they talked about something different.

[@rg2027x]

i noticed the potted plant

[@010GBG]

I remember watching this back in the day in London

[@UberSynth]

7:10 master at work. What program was Vince using on that BBC micro computer? He makes it so easy.. You can hear erasure type melodies pop through.

[@arachnidiscs]

Rock School was absolutely the best show.

[@doctorcraptonicus7941]

Hi! and welcome to Jazz Club......grreeaaat.

[@nightbreed4219]

I can play stuff on this sampler and then teleport to facing the camera. Top notch VR edit.

[@Star_Sn1per]

Back when Vst's didn't exist and synth sounds sounded so much better.

[@KortKramer]

I want to dive back into the 80s and hang out with these musicians.

[@andrewvincent5472]

Sweet MemoryMoog!!!!

[@bexiexz]

heavy vibes

[@cuda426hemi]

This has to be one of the first times anyone saw a Paul Reed Smith guitar. His prototype was made in mid 80's - note the headstock where he hand signed the thing with gold sharpie and on back the serial no. was gold sharpie. Looks like a 10 top but with no birds on the neck maybe a CE 24?? Oh, were there synths in this video? I couldn't tell - the Adorn mousse was poisoning my eyes and ears.....

[@wernervanschie5857]

I actually watched this on tv and taped this on a videorecorder when this was aired in the eighties! This is what got me familiar with midi. Thanks for the vid!

[@slimanemerkouche9029]

Thank you

[@CJWarlock]

I've just found out that someone has made me a nice present with this video which I found 2 years later. Thanks! :)

[@Amir-ns3qq]

I need help to fix my time machine and get back to 80's :'(

[@RogerSartet007]

Reminds me of Tomorrow's world on BBC in the eighties.... . Same era if I remember well

[@placeboing]

9:03 nice beat

[@pwprochazka]

I like how the monitor shows how many bytes are used. too funny

[@jeremyebellonyoutube]

Aah Rockschool series 2...brings back memories! I had the play along tape cassette and the course book series 1😊. Learned myself to play bass that way ( being a keyboard player).

[@peterleeson1122]

Funny how the past becomes the future, their image of the past looks a lot like the current modular synthesis craze, without the potted plant.

[@BMRStudio]

I said this many times. Use the presets to find the vibe, then tweak if it's necessary. Nowadays preset monster is the Roland Integra 7. 6000 perfect preset in a fully organized way! Or Yamaha Montage. Beast! And almost all big name major plugin synths. If You focus on Your preset monster, then You can get quick and nice results in minutes.

[@wesmatron]

Wasn't this called RockSchool? I remember watching this

[@wildstrawberryline]

Yep, still got my VHS of this Rockschool series taped off the TV!

[@ChristianIce]

A pulse wave would be strings sound? Ok, that's a stretch :)

[@bojanarezina2352]

it's pmw. put that was weird to me as well when i first saw it

[@ChristianIce]

@@bojanarezina2352 "When I first *SAW* it". That's a good pun :D

[@bojanarezina2352]

@@ChristianIce haha

[@Peter_S_]

@@ChristianIce All top octave generator based architectures from the 1970s and 1980s used square waves and a little passive filtering to get the string sounds. I've got a Soviet TOM-1501 string machine and it's sound is delicious and inspiring, but it's all a couple overlaid square waves and some analog blending of edges.

[@mejsmith1]

@@bojanarezina2352 Don't be such a Square.

For those interested, this comes from the BBC documentary "Rockschool".

[@liverush24]

I still have the same computer as Vince.

[@BobischEBM]

liverush24 What Computer is that? I love the klicky sounds it’s keyboard makes! : D

[@dezzz007]

I love this show!!!! rock school......

[@superchili9057]

Here are the names of best synthesizer player's we listen on the radio or youtube you do not know about. 1. Alan Wilder 2. Vince Clarke 3. Flooded 4. Me ( lol )

[@i4zetec]

#4 You? Are you Martin Gore?

[@MarcioSilva-ssiillvvaa]

Vince Clarke is amazing

[@MarcioSilva-ssiillvvaa]

@@i4zetec Gary Numan, is that you?