Synths of Sci-fi Episode 05: Vangelis, The Yamaha CS-80 Synthesizer & Bladerunner (1982)

[@Spacerboy]

awesome. i grew up with music from vangelis. while learning at school i often had it as a background, which in a way was given me the feeling of being in a sci-fi movie reading about chemistry, physics or biology. now, so many years later, i still love this music. so authentic and sophisticated. thanks for this video, never thought the cs-80 would be such a cool instruments - especially the unique aftertouch function is cool.

[@Koboto]

Definitely. Thanks for the comment and thanks for watching!! 🙏🏾

[@therealrodhull1]

That old-school Yamaha cs-80 is fascinating. I never knew it was used on the Blade Runner music, which sounds so haunting and eerie - I guess that whole eeriness that Vangelis created is mainly down to the Yamaha !

[@Amberclimbs]

I stumbled on your series researching the Arp2600. I'm glad I did, i really love these episodes!

[@Koboto]

Thanks for watching. :-)

[@LeventeZone]

The so-called Direct boxes, first premiered on the Direct album, are a combination of MIDI controllers, transposition units, patch selection, arpeggiators, MIDI mergers etc.. It has some DNA from the Zyklus system, some discussions about it are at www.gearslutz.com/board/electronic-music-instruments-and-electronic-music-production/926577-vangelis-his-weird-synthesizer.html On Direct, he stated that tracks were made as single takes on this system, and it is quite believable considering how the footage shown in your video, too (from the Journey to Ithaka documentary) shows off his truly insane performance abilities on that system. On a side-note, yes, irrespective of personal tastes, he is the only synth artist so far who composed across that many genres, sub-genres, styles, blending that many musical periods and ethnic traditions in electronic music. A condensed catalogue of just what this one person managed to compose in, in terms of musical genres and fusions of those, is notesfromanebula.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-vangelis-register.html

[@Koboto]

Wow!! Thanks so much for the awesome insights! I’ll definitely have a look at those links. Thanks for taking the time to check out the video. :)

[@LeventeZone]

@@Koboto You're very welcome. Unfortunately I couldn't find a more extensive article that detailed to some extent the Direct box, seen it some years ago and now Google refuses to find it :)

[@malcolmgregoire1019]

Well those links were a bust. The first video was not available and the second the site could not be found.

[@LeventeZone]

@@malcolmgregoire1019 Sorry they may be old forum posts and old links that they had them expire on that forum - I had this in my old bookmarks , so maybe google can help better.

[@macronencer]

It's extraordinary to watch him performing on this system. I actually didn't know he could do that... Oddly enough, when I was a kid I imagined this huge kind of organ that could make all the sounds of the orchestra, but was played entirely manually. I called it an "orcha" and drew some pictures of it back then. My idea was that you'd need a hundred tentacles to play it so it would have to be played by an alien. Never thought I'd see a human being actually doing it 😲

[@billkeithchannel]

When I was a teen I only knew of Vangelis from his song _Find My Way Home_ with Jon Anderson from YES. That is until Chariots Of Fire came out. Then I had two references.

[@Koboto]

Schweet! I actually just recently watched Chariots for the first time. Great film that! Thanks for checking out my content. :-)

[@billkeithchannel]

@@Koboto In a future episode in this series you should talk about the SID chips used in both the Commodore 64 and original NES. A huge catalog of wonderful synth music was created for their Sci-fi games. And new music is being made since the C64 has an active cult following.

[@joshtackett]

Love the series! Just watched all 5 of them! Other episode ideas: Annihilation Blade Runner 2049 Oblivion Tron Legacy (loved your other video about Joseph, but would also love to hear more about what synths you think got used in this) Then a spin-off series, the synths of horror! Halloween Stranger things It follows Other amazing synth horror scores…

[@Koboto]

Wow! Thanks so much for watching! Great suggestions, I’d like to do more for sure 👍. Oooo that’d definitely be interesting to dig into the sounds of horror films. Great idea!

[@joshtackett]

@@Koboto amazing! I’ll subscribe now so I don’t miss it when you make the next one!

[@williamfarnsworth8750]

Nice work Mike...you're getting more comfortable in front of the camera...way to go.

[@Koboto]

Thanks! Getting there. Haha. Long way to go.

[@jakesnake9553]

Dope! Thanks for putting this video together!

[@Koboto]

Thanks for taking the time to have a look!

[@MGMark6830]

Wow thanks for your channel

[@Koboto]

Thanks for watching!!!

[@kfsumo]

Cool episode! Synth Beast could totally be a t-shirt

[@Koboto]

I’d wear that shirt!

[@marcelodiana82]

Which song Vangelis is playing ar 4:24?

[@Koboto]

I think he’s just making some shit up in the moment. He’s famous for not really ever having “songs”. Even when he was scoring BladeRunner, he just watched the cut and played along and someone, thankfully, remembered to hit record. Haha. I think it really stressed Ridley Scott out.

[@marcelodiana82]

@@Koboto hahaha Genius!! At the end, it's music not a book to have a title ✌️😜

[@Koboto]

Well said! Thanks for watching.

[@malcolmgregoire1019]

Checking out his weird rig I notice he uses some sort of hieroglyphics an his own notation scheme to map out his performances. It's all "Greek" to me.

[@Koboto]

Yeah! I thought it was some sort of code language too... I agree, it's probably just Greek. haha

[@cubdukat]

@@KobotoActually, Vangelis never formally learned music. That's one of the most amazing things about him. No music education whatsoever, and he creates legendary music anyway. That is truly a gift.

[@Koboto]

@@cubdukat for sure. Amazing natural talent there. One of a kind. I heard that Ridley Scott didn’t really know how to work with him as he never writes any of his music down. That doesn’t gel well with the “normal “ film scoring process. Haha. I think, in the end, he just watched the cut and played what he was feeling and then went to dinner. Hahahaha. I wish I could have been in that room.

[@sayerseely3195]

Its driving me nuts that you don't pronounce his name correctly. The G in Vangelis is a hard G and should be pronounced as you would in the word Grin.

[@Koboto]

Oops. Thanks for pointing it out. Thanks for taking the time to watch the video! :-)

[@sketchur]

I grew up pronouncing it Vangelis with a soft 'G.' (As did my dad who introduced him to me.) Then again, my name is Gigi with a soft 'G.' I don't think we had a real frame of reference then. We didn't grow up with Greeks.