The Synths: A Quest For Specific Types of Synths Used On Songs

    Abacab


    Abacab - Quadra & Prophet 5


    No Reply At All - Prophet 5


    Me & Sarah Jane - Prophet 5, Quadra & GR-500


    Keep It Dark - Prophet 5


    Dodo / Lurker - Prophet 5, Quadra & CS-80


    Who Dunnit - Prophet 5


    Man On The Corner - Prophet 5 & GR-500


    Like It Or Not - GR-500, Prophet 5 & Quadra


    Another Record - Prophet 5 & Quadra


    Naminanu - Prophet 5 & Quadra


    Submarine - Quadra, Prophet 5 & CS-80


    Paperlate - CS-80 & Prophet 5


    You Might Recall - Prophet 5 & Quadra


    Me & Virgil - Prophet 5


    Lemme know if any of these are incorrect. For the first time I’m unsure about this.

    Mama - Synclavier II, Prophet 10, E-mu Emulator & ARP Quadra


    That’s All - Prophet 10 & Synclavier II


    Home By The Sea / Second Home By The Sea - Prophet 10, Synclavier II & E-mu Emulator


    Illegal Alien - Same as above


    Taking It All Too Hard - Same as above


    Just A Job To Do - Same as above


    Silver Rainbow - Same as above


    It’s Gonna Get Better - Prophet 10, Synclavier II, E-mu Emulator & ARP Avatar Guitar Synthesizer

    Here we go… the last album (that I can do without millions of self disagreements)


    Invisible Touch - DX7, E-mu Emulator II & Synclavier II


    Tonight Tonight Tonight - Emulator II, DX7, Quadra, Synclavier II & Prophet 10


    Land Of Confusion - Emulator II, Synclavier II, Prophet 10 & DX7


    In Too Deep - DX7, Prophet 10 & Synclavier II


    Anything She Does - Emulator II, Synclavier II, Prophet 10 & DX7


    Domino - Emulator II, Synclavier II & DX7


    Throwing It All Away - Synclavier II, Prophet 10 & Emulator II


    The Brazilian - DX7, Synclavier II, Prophet 10 & Emulator II


    Do The Neurotic - Same as above


    Feeding The Fire - Same as above


    I’d Rather Be You - Same as above


    If anyone is good at identifying this stuff could you check all of this to see if everything is correct? If not, then that’s it for this list. Of course new information will come along and I’ll have to do some of this all over again! Oh well. It’s all cool since all of this stuff is amazing in its own right without dissecting the synths on these albums.

    Thank you for all this information! Fascinating stuff. Where did you learn how to identify synths like this?


    For WCD and CAS it would be interesting what kind of keyboards Tony used in the first place.

    Also I never knew Mike used a guitar synth, it makes sense though. Of course he always his bass pedals too which would qualify as another synth.

    Information for this stuff came from various forums related to Genesis music and keyboard forums. As for the guitar synth there’s the footage recorded during the 1983 sessions that has the ARP Avatar in the background, implying that it was used on that record. Some of its sounds can be heard on Duke as well. The Roland GR-500 was used for the rest of the guitar synth appearances (with exceptions of course).

    Quote from nts1drums

    Information for this stuff came from various forums related to Genesis music and keyboard forums. As for the guitar synth there’s the footage recorded during the 1983 sessions that has the ARP Avatar in the background, implying that it was used on that record. Some of its sounds can be heard on Duke as well. The Roland GR-500 was used for the rest of the guitar synth appearances (with exceptions of course).

    As someone whose instrumental musical talent is limited to playing the air drums to classic fills in the instrumental sections of songs like Firth of Fifth and Cinema Show I must profess complete ignorance as to the guitar synth. Would you mind sharing its unique design and purpose?

    You should check a Tony Banks interview posted a few weeks ago A Conversation with Tony Banks. The interview was done by Dina Alcalay Pearlman, the daughter of the late A.R.P. It's a pretty long video. They talk lengthy about gear and the ARPs, but also mentions TB orchestral endeavors and the forthcoming Genesis tour. Anyway, the video contains major spoilers for this particular thread.

    Quote from nts1drums

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARP_Avatar


    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_GR-500


    Not much of an expert but from my understanding you plug this in and when you play the guitar it has a mix between a guitar and synth kinda-sound. Steve Hackett is infamous for his use of guitar synthesizers. An example is the title track of Please Don’t Touch.

    Hackett used the Roland GR-500 a lot on Please don't touch (those gritty swelling chords are from the GR 500). Rutherford did use the ARP Avatar but he also used the Roland guitar synth live and in the studio.

    I also assumed that the "Enossification" covered the vocal treatments you mentioned.


    Another sound mystery for me comes in The Waiting Room... there's a bit of computer-blippy kinds of sounds that fade in & out that are clearly *not* ProSoloist. I've wondered if Eno may have contributed that bit & whether it might be from the ARP 2600?

    Hello everyone. I'm new to the board. For most of you, this is probably an easy question, but what synth sound was used for the main line in Back in NYC? I'm aware it was more than likely the Pro Soloist, but if so, does anyone know the exact preset he used? Oboe, Bassoon, Steel Guitar?

    Ones I'm aware of from We Can't Dance (off the top of my head):

    • No Son Of Mine – Korg Wavestation ("Ooo's"), Ensoniq VFX (brass sounds, not sure which ones), Emu Emulator III ("Elephantus" guitar sample)
    • Jesus He Knows Me – Ensoniq VFX ("FLORIDA-KEY", "FAT-BRASS")
    • Driving The Last Spike – Korg Wavestation ("WHEEL Vox"), Roland JD-800 ("Hearts of Space"), Ensoniq VFX ("VERYBREATH", "AMEN-CHOIR")
    • I Can't Dance – Roland JD-800 (Special Setup), Rhodes MK-80
    • Hold On My Heart – Korg Wavestation ("Whisper Voices"), Roland JD-800 ("Hearts of Space"), Ensoniq VFX ("EL-PIANO")
    • Fading Lights – Korg Wavestation ("Mini Lead", "Warm Strings"), Ensoniq VFX ("SIZZLEBRASS" layered with another brass sound one octave higher, possibly "BRASS-STAB")