Also the tuning of the oscillators on the Prophets just drove me crazy. They always went out of tune. I remember using one in a studio session but gave up on it. I ended up using a Roland Juno 6 instead because it was so much more stable. Also on another song in that session I tried using a Fairlight ... though despite the huge cost of them back then the 8 bit sampling left a lot to be desired. I ended up abandoning it as well and used an Oberheim OBX which was much more toneful for a bassline. This is the song that Colin Haye from "Men At Work" helped supply vocals on. Thanks so much Colin. http://synthzone.com/songs/nigel/TooManyPeople.mp3

That would be fun. Actually Rich Formidoni of Korg does a good job of presenting. I'm not sure if he has done anything on the PA series though. There are some videos of him demoing the Kronos and also the PS60 that are very good IMHO. But I would gladly take on the PA3X if asked.

In my view, there are several reasons for the lack of proper demo videos of some of the brands of arrangers. I think there may be a lack of interest from the distributor side to spend much time/money producing quality demos of the arranger instruments. This is likely based on the potential of low return on investment. But then again, I feel that if there was a change of tone and focus of demo videos the return could be greater. Instead of wasting time having someone press a button and then sit there for 8-16 bars while the intro or ending plays, the focus should be more on what the instrument is capable of in a professional setting. Granted a lot of potential owners want to hear the on-board styles, but those can be created by hiring a button pusher to record each intro, variation, fill and ending for every style and then place those recordings on the website as mp3's. Video time need not be wasted for that. There should be more emphasis on the sequencing abilities, sound editing and realtime control, etc. You know, just like what is done on the so-called workstation instruments. Then top it off with the live style capabilities.

Yamaha does a good job of offering good quality video demos of the Tyros. On the other hand and in my personal opinion, I would rather not be dazzled by a great player demonstrating his abilities but rather the abilities the instrument offers to a potential owner. "I hope that makes sense".

Dave

No love for the Oberheim Xa? I had a serious love affair with that one for quite a while, then on to the XPander (a lot more routing possibilities).

I also used a Yamaha SC80 in the studio (and toured with the lighter, less capable CS60) and found that far more amazing than the Polymoog. Somehow, I never felt quite right on that one...

I rather wish that things like the Kronos, instead of working on budget synth models like the Polysix, had a crack at things like Xa's, JP8's, or even, if they are stuck to having to use Korg models, the Trident and 01/W, for instance. I can't remember the last time I was in a studio, and said 'I think we need a bit of Polysix on this one'!

Nigel, have you tried the Arturia softsynth models for the Jupiter, or Moog's etc.? Not QUITE as good as the real thing, but better than most hardware emulations I've heard. so far, IMO.

I was working for Yamaha when the CS-80 came out, and having spent considerable time on both, the CS-60 wasn't in the same league...yes, it was lighter, but the oscillator power was not there, and the presets were pretty dismal, and really needed a lot of tweaking...and there was only one user memory. Having said that, it did have the really long velvet ribbon controller which was pretty cool for doing wild pitch bends and trills.

But, I found the sound a bit on the thin side, although it was still analog.

My Polymoog was one of the very first polyphonic synths available, which is why I bought it (it was the price of a real nice car)...everything on the market up to then was monophonic...the strings and brass were incredible (the Vox Humana was pure Gary Numan)...the pianos and other sounds, not so much.

Hindsight being 20-20 vision, I would have waited for the Jupiter 8, but, again, the Polymoog opened a lot of doors for me back then, so it managed to do the job.

Mine was the Polymoog 203A (1975), not the largely pre-set Polymoog Keyboard (model 280A) released in 1978, which was a dud, in my opinion.

I used to run various keyboards through the Polymoog's filters...pretty slick, and the Polypedal allowed for hands free filtering, pitch, modulation etc.

The Polymoog was another tool, and it depended very much on how the player dug into it.

After some modifications, mine was very stable and reliable...actually much better than the Memorymoog that followed it...plus, it had FULL polyphony.

Oberheim were a bit scarce here...a friend has a Matrix 12, and I occasionally noodle around on another buddy's old Four Voice, but the synth explosion really didn't really happen until the Yamaha DX-7, the Roland Juno-106, and Korg Polysix and/or Monopoly...the big old analogs were just too expensive for the average player.

I must say, I am very impressed with Korg's Kronos...what a terrific "live" AND studio instrument.

Ian

I sure look forward to trying a Kronos. Might be a while before it gets anywhere near to me in keyboard hell down here in the Panhandle, though!

Not sure I have a burning NEED for it, though... The combination of gear I already have covers the bases pretty well. For all its age, I play my G70 out and get nothing but 'Jeez, that sounds great!' from pros and audience alike, and studio, well, what my G70, Triton and K2500 can't handle, the VSTi's can...

Thing about the CS60 was, yes, it was thinner, and a VERY different keyboard than the CS80, but live, fat isn't always what you need. You can present a lot of challenge to a soundman taking huge chunks out of the spectrum with just ONE keyboard sound. Often, you can get louder in the mix and not get buried behind the guitars, by NOT competing with them for that mid low 'chunk' area of sound.

Anyway, who in their right minds wanted to tour with the CS80?! It weighed a TON and was a tuning nightmare. I only had to recalibrate my CS60's soundcards (one per voice!) about once a month. Had to do that for the CS80 every time you moved it!

I played the earlier kind of Polymoog in a studio in NY, but never felt that it was a TRUE polysynth. Felt more like a cross between an organ and a synth, what with only having the linked filter but full polyphony. Sort of a super string machine type thing. I guess I didn't play one until after the Prophet's and Oberheim's were out, and by that time it was a bit underwhelming.

Wouldn't mind a great condition MemoryMoog, though! Loved that one...

Well, the CS-80 was heavy (100 Kg), but not as heavy as B-3, and many of us toured with those...the CS-80's big advantages were the polyphonic aftertouch, the 8 voice poly, and, of course, more user locations.

Being the flagship of their new CS-series synthesizer line, the CS-80 represented Yamaha's attempt to cram as much of the GX1 into a single-manual keyboard as possible. I played the GX-1...that was a dandy!

Despite only having 12DB filters and only one osc per voice, the CS-60 managed to sound warmer and more meaty than the flashiest Roland etc, it had both low and high pass filtering with their own resonance controls and they combined to make a superb bandpass filter...

The bigger and even more powerful brother, the CS80, was used heavily by Vangelis and most of his sounds can be copied on the CS60 too.

The CS-80 was mainly a studio machine, and at twice the oscillator power of the CS-60 was capable of both fat sounds, or the thinner CS-60 sound by only using half the oscillators...a choice, in other words.

In later years, they (the CS-80 and CS-60/50) received many upgrades that improved reliability a lot...some are still being used.

Quite a few made it on tours, but the CS-80 usually accompanied the high dollar high profile players like Stevie Wonder, who could afford roadies and techies.

The Polymoog was a blessing to me, as there were no other poly's on the market, and having the first one really helped in getting a foot in the door at studios...yes, it was a superb string and brass synth...being able to access it's filter was another benefit...I ran all kinds of instruments through it, including electric guitars and basses.

I felt it was more of studio tool, and after playing the CS-60 and others, the Polymoog's strings and brass still had the edge by a long way, and, at that time, strings and brass were the most important sounds to emulate.

In the long run, these instrument can really only be measured by the player's imagination and creativity.

I feel very lucky to have had the experiences I did with all the vintage synths and other keyboards, especially having access to many rare Yamaha vintage synths...some people haven't had the chance to actually play them in context (or in a band), and to actually "feel" the instrument's response...a big part of the charm, and not available on VST's.

The Memorymoog (and Memorymoog+) was notoriously unreliable - 1/4 of the first batch was sent back to the manufacturer. There were several revisions fixing a majority of the problems (which included everything from unstable tuning to power supply flaws), but Moog Music went bankrupt before the Memorymoog became a "finished" product.

Later on, companies like Lintronics and Bob Moog's Big Briar released third party upgrades which included simple MIDI implementation among other things, but nobody uses a Memorymoog on stage...at least not willingly, and even the studio units fail at an alarming rate. Talk with a competent technician before you consider buying one second-hand.

It is considered one of the most troublesome piece of gear to tour with...the Prophet 5 wasn't far behind...it took the Japanese to make a reliable synthesizer...companies like Kurzweil, and the older Ensoniq had incredibly creative ideas and features, but weren't nearly as reliable (the Ensoniq had a 50% failure rate) as the Japanese instruments by Korg, Roland and Yamaha.

I like vintage synths...but, I like vintage synths that work...not much fun having something I can't play and enjoy...especially if it cost me a bundle.

Anyway, it's nice to look back, but even nicer to have all the goodies available today, at a fraction of the cost, no less.

Ian

My biggest setup was in the early 80s. I had a high power duo playing a steady thing at an after hours bar (2-5am)
I had my Rhodes in front of me with a Juno 106 racked above. Under the Juno was Moog Source for bass, next to a Korg rack module to layer with the Juno.
To my right was a D6 clav on it's own legs with a Roland Juno D (or something like that)on top. That was organs, the 106 was synths and brass ( well, as brass as it COULD be) - no sequences, no auto anything but a drum pattern from a Yamaha RX120 ..... As a solo or a duo, we were working the same rooms as 5 piece bands in the area, at the same pay scale too. It was a crazy time, but the after hours thing gave me extra money to pay for my new house I worked a restaurant from 9-1, then scooted to the after-hours place till dawn .... 13 weeks of that and I WAS FRIED!
6 separate keyboards, and a drum machine ..... I can do so much more today with just 1 piece, and I get stellar vocal harmonies too! Progress.

I loved that JX8p too, but man - SIX notes of polyphony?????? I know it was never supposed to be a grand piano, but as soon as I put two hands on it .. it would run out of notes! lol. Fran and I moved up to the JX10 and doubled our noteability to 12 .... whooooooo!

Ah, the good old days.

Jeff Downes, of Buggles and Asia fame, has us all beat...17 keyboards in this photo, including a Fairlight...he was also a Polymoog user.

Way to go, Jeff.

Jeff's Polymoog is just to his left in the photo...it's atop the Mellotron...the Polypedal unit, for the Polymoog, is under the Mellotron.

Man, it must have been some job for the roadies who set up and tore down that rig.

Ian