The Motels (80's Keyboard Unique Sound) - Help

[SynthzGuy]

I am a Nord Newbie, and hope I am posting this in the correct place. If not, please let me know where I should post this. (Soon to a proud owner of a Nord Stage 2, this week). I have read similar posts in the very same section.

I have been trying for a long time to get an exact replication of this awesome, very unique keyboard sound in the song "Only the Lonely" - the Motels:


I have come close with Korg, Roland, Yamaha, Alesis, & several VSTs but never could match that unique sound & tonal quality it has. I spent hours & hours trying. Also, I have never heard a single live, cover band that emulated it correctly either. I too have been in many cover bands over the years but could never nail that sound down. If you listen very closely to the original, it has some percussion, organ, synth, piano, & some other hollow sound that makes so unique.

I went as far as contacting Marty Jourard who was the keyboard player for the Motels in the 80's: http://www.martymethod.com/martybio.shtml
We emailed back and forth for awhile. He says he used a Prophet 5, but has long lost all his notes for the settings he used (bummer). So I went and bought a VST of the Prophet 5 and never could even come close. He may have used a Prophet 5, but I think it was layered with some other synth.

My Question: Has anyone ever tried to emulate this unique sound (with success) in a sound patch created from the Nord Stage 2 ?
When I get my NS2, this is one of the things I will look forwarding in "trying" to program.

Thanks,
SynthzGuy

[DJKeys]

Funny, I just worked on this last night. I used an electric piano (Mark V) with FM 1.1 synth, effects and eq to taste. I don't know if it is up to the perfect emulation you are looking for but a good place to start. Single slot.

[SynthzGuy]

DJKeys-

Thanks... Look forward to giving that a try when I get my NS2 later this week. And yes, I am looking for an emulation as close as possible. I am hoping someone has nailed it.
There is definely a percussion attack and organ tonal quality and some other unique sound that can be heard more distintive in the upper register.

I hope this post generates alot of interest and response... as I think it is a much harder programming challenge than it seems upon first hearing it.

Thanks for the reply.
SynthzGuy

[yamahagrand]

Hello All,
not that this will be much help.
I recognize the sound as a sequential circuits prophet 5:
bank 1 program 8 "Percussive Organ" (File 1 factory presets)
But with the following tweaks:
Cutoff frequency reduced very slightly.
Filter envelope amount reduced.
VCA release amount increased slightly.

The filter resonance is turned up to the point of self oscillation, and is used as an upper harmonic in the sound.
This is why it's such a difficult sound to reproduce with VA (VA doesn't have a real resonant filter, it only simulates one)

I heard a group playing this cover in a Brown Derby restaurant/ lounge back in the '80s and it sounded perfect.
The keyboardist was using a Roland JX3P (my point is that the sound is easy to reproduce on analog gear)

Cheers, Hanon

[DJKeys]

I will continue to look into this over the next week or so and let you know what I find out-

-dj

[SynthzGuy]

I recognize the sound as a sequential circuits prophet 5:

Cheers, Hanon

Hanon-

Exactly what Marty Jourard (keyboard player for the Motels) told me via email that it was a Prophet 5.
The fact that you recognized it as a Prophet 5 sound... that confirms that.

So if I understand this correctly... it sounds like it may not possible with the NS2.
If that sound were sampled from a Prophet 5 and imported as a wav file, it might work. Here is one on Ebay for $6,000. Ouch ! Will pass on that:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Prophet-5-Revis ... 2a194bbc75

Anyway, it is nice to get feedback on this and who knows someone may come up or already has developed a good emulation on the NS2 to share.
If not, I will tweak the NS2 and may live with something that is "just close, but no cigar".

-SynthzGuy

[SynthzGuy]

I recognize the sound as a sequential circuits prophet 5:

Cheers, Hanon

Hanon-

Exactly what Marty Jourard (keyboard player for the Motels) told me via email that it was a Prophet 5.
The fact that you recognized it as a Prophet 5 sound... that confirms that.

So if I understand this correctly... it sounds like it may not possible with the NS2.
If that sound were sampled from a Prophet 5 and imported as a wav file, it might work. Here is one on Ebay for $6,000. Ouch ! Will pass on that:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Prophet-5-Revis ... 2a194bbc75

Anyway, it is nice to get feedback on this and who knows someone may come up or already has developed a good emulation on the NS2 to share.
If not, I will tweak the NS2 and may live with something that is "just close, but no cigar".

-SynthzGuy

So no brownie points for knowing which Prophet patch, or which parameters had been changed from original...

Even with a Prophet 5, it would be difficult to precisely match the magic combination of feel, sound, and studio treatments.
Close enough will have to suffice.
I believe that you can get very, very close with the VA synth of the NS2.

Frantzkb could do it with his eyes closed

Cheers, Hanon

[SynthzGuy]

I want to edit you post and add "if i give hime all the settings" It would be more acurate !

[SynthzGuy]

I want to edit you post and add "if i give hime all the settings" It would be more acurate !

You've always done quite admirably all on your own.

Here's the patch sheet of the original sound from Sequential Circuits:

P5_Percussive_Organ.pdf

Patch Sheet for Percussive Organ

(128.57 KiB) Downloaded 587 times

The performance notes say:
1-8: Percussive Organ

OSC A: up 3 octaves + a perfect 5th "Square wave, 40% audio out"
OSC B: up 1 octave (basic pitch) "Triangle wave 70% audio out"

MOD WHEEL selection is set for a vibrato effect.
Move wheel up slightly (1/8th to 1/4) to engage vibrato "but not used in the song"

PULSE-WIDTH on OSC B is set at 5, this allows for switching of waveforms. "I assume this allows the patch to be shifted to being a farfisa-ish square wave organ. Once again, not used in the song"

For proper effect, OSC A must be a square wave (set at approximately 5 "50% duty cycle, or square" and listen for dropout of the octave --the 2nd harmonic).

NOTES:
Adjust the filter ENVELOPE AMOUNT to change amount of percussion effect and brightness of tone. "much reduced in the song"
Adjust filter CUTOFF to change overall brightness of tone. "perhaps increased slightly in the song to counteract the reduction in ENVELOPE AMOUNT"

I was wrong in my earlier post about the resonance being turned up to self oscillate.
I know that this technique is used extensively in other synth organ patches like that of the Oberheim OB-X and Xa "Feels Good, Van Halen" .
It would appear that it's not used at all in this patch.

Cheers, Hanon

[SynthzGuy]

Thanks for this great information. I will see if I can find my Arturia Prophet 5 VST (that I purchased years ago and re-install it), and try those settings. May not be accurate sounding coming from a VST, but will be fun to try.
Prophet 5 VST: http://www.arturia.com/evolution/en/pro ... phet5.html

However, it will be interesting to see if the NS2 can reproduce a close emulation, that is what I really need. Being that I just got my NS2, I am still figuring out all the awesome things it can do.

SynthzGuy