Top 20 Greatest Synths - Episode 2

Top 20 Greatest Synths (Episode Two)

"Slick", "gripping", "excellent" and "awesome" were just a few of the words used by viewers to describe the first episode of Sonic's Top 20 Greatest Synths (the rest we can’t print!).
With a growing number of sites running the series after just one episode the response so far has been brilliant.

So here we go with the second instalment. All 8 episodes are neatly bundled into 10 minute chunks so you can watch 'em in the time it takes to drink a coffee or roll a dooby or whatever the hell it is that folks do when they're watching stuff on the interweb. Episode 2 features chart positions 17 to 15.

Some of the voters who voted for at least one of the synths in this episode include... Forlat, Palle, Paulcourville, sdumor, puricelli, divall7, eddy, leoleox, orbithesun, jonashton, djillogick, jup2600, basharspam, pewo, gravel330, loufashioni, whatever, winstanley_glenn, ifovco, hirezolution, murasaki, cmcmaster, wcondesso and many many more.

Episode 3 will be posted in 2 weeks time and has the only non-synth synth on the chart as well as yet another Roland.

Episode 1 can be viewed here

Each of the 8 episodes broadcasted once a fortnight, will be around 10 minutes long and feature 3 chart positions with full length episodes for the number 2 and number 1 slots later in the series. The entire programme will then be posted in the Spring as one contiguous show. There’s also talk of a DVD and some TV interest, too. (we’ll keep you posted on that)
It's the Top 20 Greatest Synths of all time ... EVER!

<15. Roland Jupiter 8
The second and by no means the last Roland on the countdown is the Jupiter 8. A lot of folks may have given the JP8 a higher chart position, which illustrates just how fierce the competition for places on the Top 20 Greatest Synths has been.
Anyways, The JP8 arpeggiator became the sound that was synonymous with the early 80's, pebble-dashing HI NRG dance tracks, library compositions and hits by Thomas Dolby, Simple Minds, OMD, Jan Hammer and of course Duran Duran.
Chart topping Synth prefect Howard Jones sings the praises of everybody's favourite non-MIDIed, 8 voice, polyphonic, easy-to-programme, be-slidered, dream synth of the early 1980's.

<16. E-MU Proteus 1
I know. Rack mounted modules just ain't that sexy. And as for the Proteus? Surely it's just a butt-ugly passion killer? Well, if you were trying to get some pop chart action in the early 90's, this 32 voice, 16 part multitimbral 1U rack mount gave you beer goggles and a hard on every time you went to use one of its 16 bit ROM samples.
Pianos, strings, guitars, horns, organs, drums all at your fingertips as well as 6 individual polyphonic outputs... Well hell-o, Proteus!

<17. Clavia Nord Lead
The Nord Lead is redder than most synths. In fact, the redness of the entire Nord range cannot be understated. Nord synths are extremely, in fact, terminally RED. But let this redness not detract in the slightest from their importance and place in the history of modern synthesis. This polyphonic, multitimbral range with its Virtual Sound Modelling, analogue simulation and knob-rich control panel has spawned a deluge of imitators since its mid 90’s launch when it started its lineage that lives on today through the Nord Stage 88 and 79 and Clavia’s virtual software. Synth collector and journalist Steve Huthwaite shows off his impressive synth collection and talks about all things Clavia. Oh, and we included some nice shots of Sweden to add some atmosphere to the piece!

The Chartgrazers in this episode are Dave Smith's Evolver range and Moog’s Memorymoog.

Thanks for watching, and don't forget, if you wanna tell the World something that's burning a hole in your soul click on the post a comment link below to add your words of wisdom. You can email and Skype, too...This is a democracy, Goddamit! See ya next time.

Links

• Clavia
• E-MU
• arturia
• Howard Jones
• Dave Smith Instruments
• Roger O’Donnell
• Goldfrapp’s official site
• Portishead
• composer Elliot Simons
• GMedia Music
• More about the SH101
• The VCS3 and EMS range
• Vintage Synths Explorer
• Simon Power’s own site
• Matrixsynth
• More Vintage Synths from RLMusic

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• Comments
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7 Comments...  Post a comment    original story

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Eric Thoolen    Said...

Guys I LOVE THIS! It is so cool to see the 'old stuff' and from where it all started. Ughhh, again I really really enjoy this!

28-Feb-07 04:40 AM

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Jackson    Said...

I'm surprised in the production quality that goes into these episodes. Not that I think SonicState would do something half-ass, but yeah, really nice stuff!

01-Mar-07 05:10 AM

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Brett    Said...

Does anybody know what Howard Jones song is played in the background at 07:10-07:22?

02-Mar-07 06:31 AM

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Simon Power (producer, Top 20 Synths)    Said...

Hi there Brett. The piece is called "(Like to) Get to Know You Well" recorded by mr. Jones in 1984. Thanks for watching The Top 20 Greatest Synths...I hope you're enjoying it!

02-Mar-07 08:14 AM

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Hellsynth    Said...

Utterly brilliant! I wish these shows were longer. I can't get enough.

06-Mar-07 12:08 PM

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Brett    Said...

The show is brilliant=) Thanks for your reply Simon.

06-Mar-07 05:40 PM

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Steven    Said...

Does anyone know the downtempo track played at 2:03 at the end of the piece on the nordlead?

30-May-07 09:56 PM

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