It was exactly this that made the D-50 so immensely popular. 4 layered synth parts with a touch of reverb on it, right out of the box it sounded bloody amazing, light-years ahead of anything else available at the time. The beauty of using hardware is that a) every instrument has its own character, its own personality, and you get an emotional feedback that you just don´t get with plugins, which will affect your way of creating music, and b) these older modules may sound very simple by themselvs but once you stack them, the result is absolutely amazing. It seems that, the simpler and clearer each individual part is, the better will the overall composite sound be.
Trends are like waves... just look at the fashion industry: what is considered awful, outdated and ridiculous can instantly become the very best thing the very next day.... People used to try anything to sound clearer and clearer and now we're looking for ways to dirty up and give grit and 'imperfections' to sound... Simply put, human nature demands novelty and reassurance at the same time, if there is nothing new on the horizon then something old becomes the "new new" ;) It happened in pretty much every artform.
"human nature demands novelty and reassurance at the same time" Like that one : ) And then there is taste, perception and so on. Thanks for clearly and well performed illustration of the usefulness of layering in real time.
Naturally, you're right that this sort of thing can be done with software synths, but those old synth modules are still as valid and useful today as they ever were. Thanks for showing us what the old gear can do.
Each unit seems to have character that software can never achieve. I have a few old romplers that do weird things, and sound interesting, they cannot be emulated.
@@Metalwrath2 because analog sounds cannot be replicated because of how digital sounds are dots on a graph bieng created and analog is a pure wave and infinitly varable, digital is 1 or 0 analog is infinite in terms of accuracy.
Absolutely right. In the 80s and 90s this layering were commonly used to blend strings sounds to create orchestral atmosphere, or blended horns sounds to create the super power brass section. MIDI rules the game back then. I still like this technique. And some musicians still like to do this.
Nothing like a fresh cup of coffee on a dark, cold morning with the fire going, my faithful lab curled up next to me and a video like this to make me smile. Thank you Paolo!
Nothing revolutionary, but very articulate and well-demonstrated. It is also demonstrates a good reason not to throw out or eBay your old gear from the 80's and 90's, as each has that little something that could come in useful, they now cost you nothing and they don't jam up your DAW computer! I recently fired up my 30 year old Roland D110 after 20 years of redundancy and it was like visiting an old friend.
Layering back in the late 80ies was my trick to create a huge and complacent live sounds. U110 for the piano, dx7 for the tines and an esq for the warm pad. It sounded killer
I watch this video periodically. I watch lots of videos to gain understanding and knowledge. I wind up watching some more than once so it sticks. Plus i like the sound of the racks you have. Thanks SynthMania!
What a simple but CLEVER way of creating synth pads! I've never thought about this myself!! THANKS! I'm telling ya, ur the king of synthesizers! "Rex Synth"! ;-D
Haha, too kind, way too kind :D But yeah, this was a very common techniques in the MIDI days, today not so much, so I wanted to just bring it out so the new generations can check it out
SynthMania I had the same thing with multi track recording. When I bought my tascam 244 I only overdubbed, I never thought of recording multiple instruments at the same time (beyond multiple singers on a single mic). It was only after I bought the Levinson book on the Beatles sessions that I learnt a technique that was the common approach when 4 track recording first came about but wasn't talked about because it was the basic way of working i.e. nothing special ...in those days.
Well, remember that the performer usually had two hands to stack two synths. And you can play with variations. It's all over Classical orchestration - stacking/layering. The Pet sounds LP made new sounds. One OSC synth ? Add another one. Dig around in those old patch collections that are available online. That one thing that sounds like crap is just what you need for the layered Numan sound, maybe : ).
Roland W-30!! Haven't seen one of those in years! Used to love the quiet whine from the display, beautiful keyboard. It was always a little underpowered for my taste sampling wise, probably goes to show my lack of age... Sold it to buy an Ensoniq ASR-10, my favourite sampler/keyboard of all time. Still own a few of them, stripped down into a personal spare parts bank for my working one!
honestly layering can already make the insane amount of possibilities of sounds you can make with these synths/romplers double or triple in size lmaooo
I'm really digging the sound of the Korg M1. I know it's considered a classic synth but I was under the impression that it was only good for thin tiny sounding rompler-type patches. I'm glad to see that I was mistaken.
A lot of people have used it (or heard it) so many times they're just bored of it. But, for those that haven't (like me), it's got plenty to offer. And I think it'll become new again sooner or later. :-) PS., there's a good fully-stocked soft-synth version by Korg available as well.
I've been messing about with layering sounds for months. I've yet to hear ANYTHING comparable to this. It was simply sublime. Thank you for sharing I think it could help a lot!
Grazie, Stefano, yes, what you wrote is what I forgot to mention in the video :-D if/when there's no time to design a patch from scratch or tweak / customize an existing one, layering is one method to get interesting sounds quickly
SynthMania ma figurati... Not only that, I always found layering a goos solution even when you do want to dive in and make your own patches. It is a bit like cooking, mixing up things your own way.
I feel compelled to say that I was skeptical about your choice of patches at first. After hearing them together I was blown away. I use DAW software to perform live because it allows VSTs to take over for hardware. Since I can link one controller to multiple VSTs I can achieve much the same effect. I'm impressed. So much so that I subscribed because of this video. I've been an avid watcher of SonicState's channel for a while now. This video came up in the recommendations and I'm glad it did.
How far we of SynthLand have all come in such a short time... I can remember back in the 80s-early 00's layering multiple synths like this all day and night... then I got my first "monster" multitimbral synth - the Korg Triton - and the days of layering synths were done and over... for a little bit... Now I use my four workstations, (Korg Triton, Korg Krome, Yamaha SY-77, Yamaha Motif ES), to create "Mega-layers", of a dozen or more synth parts, and have come full circle to where I started...
You know you've done your job right when I try to pay attention to what you're saying in order to learn about synthesizers more, but I just get lost in the awesome sound.
Amazing video. Thank you for sharing your techniques with the music community. Your channel is an invaluable resource for all of us musicians that helps create better music for everyone.
Utterly gorgeous! This is the epitome of how synthesis can be so emotive! 🤍 Lost my M1 to opioid addiction, alas, rave hedonism ran its full course through me. Currently rebuilding my studio, with maturity and sobriety. Thank you for sharing your skill and talent, Sir. Cornwall, UK.
Seeing the W30 takes me back: First keyboard was a S50! Thought I would set the world on fire sampling every other keyboard to build a library, and I never even sampled with it, just used a nice set of expanded disks with enough sounds for what I was doing! Memories! Dumped it for $50 years ago, in mint condition!
Very helpful video! I've been getting more into using synths in my music, and often wondered how anyone could actually use some of the sounds - especially when it comes to built-in patches on PCM and FM synths. Your examples make it all make so much more sense to me, and give me some fun ideas to try out.
Truth be told it's one of the techniques producer's use to create a wall of sound. And the other trick is they take out different parts at different verses, and chorus for arrangement s. The beats sound complex but really are simple melodies layered with synth. Great video.
Now we can have a 4 layer patch with just one VST plugin like Xpand 2, to achieve vertually the same desired end result, including independent FX assignments for each part. Things change so much and so quickly in this digital domain. Thank you for this recap of what we all once aspired to do, in the end, the technology is not the message, (hardware or software) but the universal language of music, is supreme always. And that's why I enjoyed your sensitive rendition very much, thank you kindly.
What you are talking about here is basically called "registration". For instance, for a church organ you have all of the different stops (or voices) and you select the best stops to make the overall sound you require. You are doing exactly the same thing, but just with different sounds from various electronic effects (or voices) boxes, played from a keyboard.
Always creative and fun layering synths. That was the great thing about MIDI when it came out in 1983 🙂. Many times created a sound using the DX7 and Memorymoog, or DX, D50 and 50. Try bringing the W30 into the mix if you haven't already. There are a bunch of great samples for it. Roland had a complete "free" library you could go to your local music store and copy. The W30 uses the s50/550/330 samples... Of course you could sample your midi layer and use it as a individual sound.
Yes, Layering is true great way! Even for the simple noodling/jamming. Thank you for this nice video with excellent classic synths and this really beautifull melodies. Cheers, Dailabsynth1
Those piano sounds are some of the best synth programmed ever. The roots of those go back to the old MKS-20, which was the de facto piano module. Even Billy Joel triggered one for the front-of-house piano sound before switching to gigasampler. Some people still swear by the MKS-20. The JV-880, with the 18 bit DACS and radically good sound for the time maintained that cluster of about 10 piano sounds which continuted right on through the JV-XX80 series, the RD series, the XV series, the JD series, and so on. Major revisions to those in the form of more sampled data in the actual sounds started happening around the fantom era. Piano sounds on modern synths are a combination of programmed sounds and sampled data added in. The degree of which is endlessly variable. The main determinate on final sound quality is the playback engine of the synth and finally the digital to analog conversion rate and quality for final tally of realism. Roland was "it" for a long time, and may recapture the crown with the virtual/natural stuff, which is really good. However, the latest Yamaha hybrid, and the Korg stuff are competing very well. I am of the opinion that Roland may not have always had the best synth gear, but they have paved the way when other makers were afraid to cross the street, they have always focused on music gear that does the job in a specific setting. They think about the musician, the amp, the band, the take all features of music-making into consideration. I have more Roland gear than any other, have owned more Roland gear than other brand, and will continue. Vive le Roland.
Wonderfull playing and great tipps - Thank You to have posted this video here! Top-Sounds made by Roland and Korg... As a owner from Korg and Roland Instruments (I have buyed a Krome for 6 months ago)... The Krome have allways very good sounds from M1...
I'm over a year late to this one, but these techniques never age. What I gleaned from this video, besides being reminded of the great technique, is some excellent combinations. Very enjoyable channel only recently discovered by me. New subscriber. Thank you!
Ciao, Paolo! I love layering too. I wish I had your ear and chops though, Maestro! This is a beautiful setup. Thank you for making, sharing, inspiring!
The three instruments, Roland, Yamaha and Korg result a great sound, i love much the pecious music. In the minute 3:20 the sound is very interesting, but in minute 4:43 is fantastic, romantic, impressive... Congratulations for the pianist.
I tried to do almost the same thing, I had two timbre modules which I connected with Midi thru output and the results were awesome! But I abandoned that idea due to a lack of mixer, I didn't have one at that time. I think I will try this trick again sometime. Thank you for the video.
Fantastic, I used to do this a lot with modules and synths in the 90s, it is the ultimate in creating the hugest most super fat sounds achievable live with synthesizors chained via MIDI IMO. Surely you could have stacked a few more layers within the PCM module by adjusting the patches to trigger from the same MIDI channel and even added the controller keyboards own sounds.
I remember reading an article with Dr. Fink from The Revolution and I think he may have said something about "layering the Oberheim back into itself to beef up the sound" or something like that. Any chance you could show how that's done?
MKS-50/the Alpha Junos are pretty nice, imo! Pretty cheap (when I got my AJ2 a few years ago, at least), cool waveform options (PWM on a saw made out of pulses is cool), and a nice sounding filter. May use DCOs, but they're still analog (and, of course, the classic Junos did, as well). Layering different synthesis methods can lead to great, unique results. Cool video idea.
lovely gear :) You have pretty much what i dreamed to buy while watching at some SamAsh magazines back in the 90s Love the Roland keyboard. Such a slick design.
Love this. Ive been doing this since the 80s. I have on my channel now a quick tune with my Behringer Deepmind12 and my Korg Wavestation A/D Something else i have done for years ia use a guitar synth like a roland GR1 or 30/33 20 or especially my Gr50 to the D59 to the ESQ to the ESI 4000, whatever. Guitar to an amp tge synth to some boards/ modules. Then its wall of sound time. I love this kind of stuff. Great video.
Thank You for the Great video!!...im an Ambeint Freak...I love this!! im new to keyboard but been playing guitar since 1981..if buget was 1k to 2k max?.. is a Used full size Nord or Roland the way to go....or just get something good enough and 'affordable' and then stack other effects for days?? .. i apologize for the long question. im a newbie..an loving your channel 😀
I have purchase a Roland Jupiter 80 the best Layer Synth you have over 1.000.000 options I like this video because you can see that you can make with old stuff a great sound with layering
I still get a bit baffled by some people reaction and amazement, especially keyboard players, about layering and midi-ing synths together. I mean... this has always been synth playing/programming 101 for me since i started playing in bands with professional gear fir the last 30 years (since 1990)... Apparently this was lost by a lot of people. Glad to see it rediscovered :)
The TX81Z is great for layering, especially the FM bells. Back in those days, digital was all the rave, late 80's early 90's and analog was considered obsolete. Everyone wanted the new digital synths that had decent piano sounds and character LCD screens. Analog was rediscovered fairly quickly.. within a decade.
A great technique which we tend to forget, I think. I suppose the only issue with layering is that you can end up with sounds which sound great for a demo, but are not that useful in a mix. One thing that I like is when you get slightly unexpected responses on each sound, which almost suggest an arrangement. Best example in your demo is at 5:36. You could easily start that piece without one of the layers and bring in, for instance the pad at that point to create a very effective crescendo.
Thank you, the piano keyboard doesn't make any of the sounds, it's just acting as a controller - all three sound patches in each demo come only from the modules
Thanks for the info so what actually sync's the sounds together and what cables do you connect it to your piano with, could i use that Rhythm Unit with my Yamaha CP4 Stage Piano.
Thanks Paolo that was very helpful for me as i've just got my first synth - Korg Wavestate - and i'm slowly learning the ropes and unpacking the answers to so many questions and i loved your demo tunes ! They reminded of some of the soundtrack themes from Blade Runner and were beatiful to hear,thank you.I'm still working out how to get it out of the box ! ( it sounds fantastic ). 4.42 - 6.18 would love to be able to play that one day so i have something to aim for.
Hey, SynthMania..(Paolo...?).....great video......I used to have several digi-synths years ago....around yr 2002(?)....including a TX81Z, FBO1,...also a Mid-upper Casio, and a Yamaha..last two full boards....and I layered these thru a Rolls line mixer, and Yamaha MJ8 junction box.......and MAN it sounded glorious......just presets, but .......hey........The problem was I'm a guitar player, I'm very weak on keys......this viddy brought that back to me....Thanks!!!!!
Michael Jackson's band did the same thing for the synth brass sounds on the Bad Tour, but the synths were TX816 for FM, D-50 for PCM, and MKS-80 for analog
How beautifu! How powerfull! Something twists inside you when you hear this sound. It takes you on a journay through the universe. And that moment shares some little secret of the universe with you. Just beautiful.
It was exactly this that made the D-50 so immensely popular. 4 layered synth parts with a touch of reverb on it, right out of the box it sounded bloody amazing, light-years ahead of anything else available at the time.
The beauty of using hardware is that a) every instrument has its own character, its own personality, and you get an emotional feedback that you just don´t get with plugins, which will affect your way of creating music, and b) these older modules may sound very simple by themselvs but once you stack them, the result is absolutely amazing. It seems that, the simpler and clearer each individual part is, the better will the overall composite sound be.
One day people will wake up to the fact that the old digital stuff from Roland and Korg just sounds gorgeous.
I agree, I love the old 80s, 90's workstations.
I only have the digital vintage stuff, never had the feeling I missed something :-))
Trends are like waves... just look at the fashion industry: what is considered awful, outdated and ridiculous can instantly become the very best thing the very next day.... People used to try anything to sound clearer and clearer and now we're looking for ways to dirty up and give grit and 'imperfections' to sound... Simply put, human nature demands novelty and reassurance at the same time, if there is nothing new on the horizon then something old becomes the "new new" ;) It happened in pretty much every artform.
"human nature demands novelty and reassurance at the same time"
Like that one : )
And then there is taste, perception and so on.
Thanks for clearly and well performed illustration of the usefulness of layering in real time.
Stefano Papaleo there is a nice book called Retromania by Simon Reynolds, I would highly recommend it!
Naturally, you're right that this sort of thing can be done with software synths, but those old synth modules are still as valid and useful today as they ever were. Thanks for showing us what the old gear can do.
Each unit seems to have character that software can never achieve. I have a few old romplers that do weird things, and sound interesting, they cannot be emulated.
They sound better too. Has character and usually sits in the mix better, which makes my job easier, which is good, cause I don’t like work.
@@dustinsedlacek6765 why
@@Metalwrath2 because analog sounds cannot be replicated because of how digital sounds are dots on a graph bieng created and analog is a pure wave and infinitly varable, digital is 1 or 0 analog is infinite in terms of accuracy.
@@the_modfied_car4903 is that perceivable tho? i don’t think it’s possible to tell the difference between softsynths and hardware ones
Absolutely right. In the 80s and 90s this layering were commonly used to blend strings sounds to create orchestral atmosphere, or blended horns sounds to create the super power brass section. MIDI rules the game back then. I still like this technique. And some musicians still like to do this.
Yep, Michael, the good 'ol days of MIDI :-)
SynthMania I like MKS series especially 80 (JP6), 70 (JX10), 50 (JU2). They are analogs.
Nothing like a fresh cup of coffee on a dark, cold morning with the fire going, my faithful lab curled up next to me and a video like this to make me smile. Thank you Paolo!
Thank *you for watching!
Nothing revolutionary, but very articulate and well-demonstrated. It is also demonstrates a good reason not to throw out or eBay your old gear from the 80's and 90's, as each has that little something that could come in useful, they now cost you nothing and they don't jam up your DAW computer! I recently fired up my 30 year old Roland D110 after 20 years of redundancy and it was like visiting an old friend.
Just tried this with a microkorg, JV-1080, and a DX21. It's pretty neat!
NIce
I've been doing ut with my roland S10, behringer model D, and roland Xv-3080. Its incredible what you can do
Layering back in the late 80ies was my trick to create a huge and complacent live sounds. U110 for the piano, dx7 for the tines and an esq for the warm pad. It sounded killer
I watch this video periodically. I watch lots of videos to gain understanding and knowledge. I wind up watching some more than once so it sticks. Plus i like the sound of the racks you have. Thanks SynthMania!
Midi layering is my favorite way of creating huge sounds. Thanks for sharing!!
And this is why I need lots of synths! Bravo Paolo!
haha - thank you, Sunil!
What a simple but CLEVER way of creating synth pads! I've never thought about this myself!! THANKS! I'm telling ya, ur the king of synthesizers! "Rex Synth"! ;-D
Haha, too kind, way too kind :D But yeah, this was a very common techniques in the MIDI days, today not so much, so I wanted to just bring it out so the new generations can check it out
Well, it was all over the place back then. I use it, but it surprises me that even synth kids back then don't really use it today
SynthMania I had the same thing with multi track recording. When I bought my tascam 244 I only overdubbed, I never thought of recording multiple instruments at the same time (beyond multiple singers on a single mic). It was only after I bought the Levinson book on the Beatles sessions that I learnt a technique that was the common approach when 4 track recording first came about but wasn't talked about because it was the basic way of working i.e. nothing special ...in those days.
Well, remember that the performer usually had two hands to stack two synths. And you can play with variations. It's all over Classical orchestration - stacking/layering. The Pet sounds LP made new sounds. One OSC synth ? Add another one. Dig around in those old patch collections that are available online. That one thing that sounds like crap is just what you need for the layered Numan sound, maybe : ).
Roland W-30!! Haven't seen one of those in years! Used to love the quiet whine from the display, beautiful keyboard. It was always a little underpowered for my taste sampling wise, probably goes to show my lack of age... Sold it to buy an Ensoniq ASR-10, my favourite sampler/keyboard of all time. Still own a few of them, stripped down into a personal spare parts bank for my working one!
honestly layering can already make the insane amount of possibilities of sounds you can make with these synths/romplers double or triple in size lmaooo
I'm really digging the sound of the Korg M1. I know it's considered a classic synth but I was under the impression that it was only good for thin tiny sounding rompler-type patches. I'm glad to see that I was mistaken.
A lot of people have used it (or heard it) so many times they're just bored of it. But, for those that haven't (like me), it's got plenty to offer. And I think it'll become new again sooner or later. :-)
PS., there's a good fully-stocked soft-synth version by Korg available as well.
I've been messing about with layering sounds for months. I've yet to hear ANYTHING comparable to this. It was simply sublime. Thank you for sharing I think it could help a lot!
just good default patches..... why didn't you succeed?
The sounds and the tunes you are playing are utterly beautiful....
Classy FM synths always bring back fond memories of games like King's Quest for me. Thanks for this!
Layering is such a great and simple 'sound design' tool. I just wished my new modules had already arrived :(( Have a great w.e.!
Grazie, Stefano, yes, what you wrote is what I forgot to mention in the video :-D if/when there's no time to design a patch from scratch or tweak / customize an existing one, layering is one method to get interesting sounds quickly
SynthMania ma figurati...
Not only that, I always found layering a goos solution even when you do want to dive in and make your own patches. It is a bit like cooking, mixing up things your own way.
I feel compelled to say that I was skeptical about your choice of patches at first. After hearing them together I was blown away. I use DAW software to perform live because it allows VSTs to take over for hardware. Since I can link one controller to multiple VSTs I can achieve much the same effect. I'm impressed. So much so that I subscribed because of this video. I've been an avid watcher of SonicState's channel for a while now. This video came up in the recommendations and I'm glad it did.
Awesome! Glad to have you here!
Paolo , thank you for being the best. always showing us great examples of how these instruments can sound. love it.
Jeez! All of a sudden I'm a Final Fantasy character watching this video.
Great video by the way.
Thank you, Christian!
old synths are SO GREAT ... I have a few vintage modules...jd990 a 550, m3, m1,a wavestation...I love them! are "new age" music machines..
Ya, but it doesn't have to be vintage. I got the Korg FM for layering in mind
After so many years, I keep coming back to this video. Thanks heaps😊
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks for the cool video...the tones brought back some good memories, especially the
M-1....I enjoyed the demo very much.
How far we of SynthLand have all come in such a short time... I can remember back in the 80s-early 00's layering multiple synths like this all day and night... then I got my first "monster" multitimbral synth - the Korg Triton - and the days of layering synths were done and over... for a little bit... Now I use my four workstations, (Korg Triton, Korg Krome, Yamaha SY-77, Yamaha Motif ES), to create "Mega-layers", of a dozen or more synth parts, and have come full circle to where I started...
I'd really love to hear that, where can I listen to these songs?!
You know you've done your job right when I try to pay attention to what you're saying in order to learn about synthesizers more, but I just get lost in the awesome sound.
Amazing video. Thank you for sharing your techniques with the music community. Your channel is an invaluable resource for all of us musicians that helps create better music for everyone.
Really well done. I've been doing the same since 1984. Such an important concept when composing using the synthesizer.
Utterly gorgeous!
This is the epitome of how synthesis can be so emotive! 🤍
Lost my M1 to opioid addiction, alas, rave hedonism ran its full course through me.
Currently rebuilding my studio, with maturity and sobriety. Thank you for sharing your skill and talent, Sir.
Cornwall, UK.
Seeing the W30 takes me back: First keyboard was a S50! Thought I would set the world on fire sampling every other keyboard to build a library, and I never even sampled with it, just used a nice set of expanded disks with enough sounds for what I was doing! Memories! Dumped it for $50 years ago, in mint condition!
Very helpful video! I've been getting more into using synths in my music, and often wondered how anyone could actually use some of the sounds - especially when it comes to built-in patches on PCM and FM synths. Your examples make it all make so much more sense to me, and give me some fun ideas to try out.
Thank you very much, rjhelms!
these are lovely examples, very inspiring. Thanks a lot for taking the time to example this work.
Truth be told it's one of the techniques producer's use to create a wall of sound. And the other trick is they take out different parts at different verses, and chorus for arrangement s. The beats sound complex but really are simple melodies layered with synth. Great video.
Now we can have a 4 layer patch with just one VST plugin like Xpand 2, to achieve vertually the same desired end result, including independent FX assignments for each part.
Things change so much and so quickly in this digital domain. Thank you for this recap of what we all once aspired to do, in the end, the technology is not the message, (hardware or software) but the universal language of music, is supreme always. And that's why I enjoyed your sensitive rendition very much, thank you kindly.
Sergei, thanks so much!
What you are talking about here is basically called "registration". For instance, for a church organ you have all of the different stops (or voices) and you select the best stops to make the overall sound you require. You are doing exactly the same thing, but just with different sounds from various electronic effects (or voices) boxes, played from a keyboard.
Always creative and fun layering synths. That was the great thing about MIDI when it came out in 1983 🙂.
Many times created a sound using the DX7 and Memorymoog, or DX, D50 and 50.
Try bringing the W30 into the mix if you haven't already. There are a bunch of great samples for it. Roland had a complete "free" library you could go to your local music store and copy. The W30 uses the s50/550/330 samples...
Of course you could sample your midi layer and use it as a individual sound.
Yes, Layering is true great way! Even for the simple noodling/jamming.
Thank you for this nice video with excellent classic synths and this really beautifull melodies.
Cheers, Dailabsynth1
Those piano sounds are some of the best synth programmed ever. The roots of those go back to the old MKS-20, which was the de facto piano module. Even Billy Joel triggered one for the front-of-house piano sound before switching to gigasampler. Some people still swear by the MKS-20. The JV-880, with the 18 bit DACS and radically good sound for the time maintained that cluster of about 10 piano sounds which continuted right on through the JV-XX80 series, the RD series, the XV series, the JD series, and so on. Major revisions to those in the form of more sampled data in the actual sounds started happening around the fantom era. Piano sounds on modern synths are a combination of programmed sounds and sampled data added in. The degree of which is endlessly variable. The main determinate on final sound quality is the playback engine of the synth and finally the digital to analog conversion rate and quality for final tally of realism. Roland was "it" for a long time, and may recapture the crown with the virtual/natural stuff, which is really good. However, the latest Yamaha hybrid, and the Korg stuff are competing very well. I am of the opinion that Roland may not have always had the best synth gear, but they have paved the way when other makers were afraid to cross the street, they have always focused on music gear that does the job in a specific setting. They think about the musician, the amp, the band, the take all features of music-making into consideration. I have more Roland gear than any other, have owned more Roland gear than other brand, and will continue. Vive le Roland.
Wonderfull playing and great tipps - Thank You to have posted this video here! Top-Sounds made by Roland and Korg... As a owner from Korg and Roland Instruments (I have buyed a Krome for 6 months ago)... The Krome have allways very good sounds from M1...
I'm over a year late to this one, but these techniques never age. What I gleaned from this video, besides being reminded of the great technique, is some excellent combinations. Very enjoyable channel only recently discovered by me. New subscriber. Thank you!
Thank you for watching!
Crazy, I think I can do this exact thing with my Korg M1, DX7 (or tx7) and Nord lead. Thanks for the demo.
Thank *you for watching
Just reminded me how amazingly powerful simple layering can sound! TX-802 & OB M1000 in full effect :D
Ciao, Paolo! I love layering too. I wish I had your ear and chops though, Maestro! This is a beautiful setup. Thank you for making, sharing, inspiring!
Thanks for the video. I have a Roland JU-1, a TX81z, and a Korg M3r. This has given me inspiration to try this!
Thank you, Superhawk!
Best Piano/Pad sound I heard so far!
The three instruments, Roland, Yamaha and Korg result a great sound, i love much the pecious music. In the minute 3:20 the sound is very interesting, but in minute 4:43 is fantastic, romantic, impressive... Congratulations for the pianist.
First one sounds like a slow piece of classical guitar with a small string and choir section, lovely stuff.
That MKS50 Ominous patch though!!
WOW..... That's some frick'n beautiful sound there.
Thank you - three instruments combined to create one sound with "movement"
Paolo, as always, your choice of sounds is miraculous! Thank you!
I tried to do almost the same thing, I had two timbre modules which I connected with Midi thru output and the results were awesome! But I abandoned that idea due to a lack of mixer, I didn't have one at that time. I think I will try this trick again sometime. Thank you for the video.
very good advice and demo ... layer , layer , layer ...rather than always looking for plugins to buy
Very cool! I do similar things with my Korg Kronos when I make combis. More players need to know things like this! Keep up the good work.
Thanks for this video, Paolo. La magia del suono!
I kind of got lost in the beautiful melody and forgot all about the layering. it took me somewhere. thanks!
NotMarkKnopfler, thanks so much!
Fantastic but how and with which gear the three rack and his keyboard are conected to make this possible
Fantastic, I used to do this a lot with modules and synths in the 90s, it is the ultimate in creating the hugest most super fat sounds achievable live with synthesizors chained via MIDI IMO. Surely you could have stacked a few more layers within the PCM module by adjusting the patches to trigger from the same MIDI channel and even added the controller keyboards own sounds.
So Lovely...What a simply beautiful blending!
I remember reading an article with Dr. Fink from The Revolution and I think he may have said something about "layering the Oberheim back into itself to beef up the sound" or something like that. Any chance you could show how that's done?
MKS-50/the Alpha Junos are pretty nice, imo! Pretty cheap (when I got my AJ2 a few years ago, at least), cool waveform options (PWM on a saw made out of pulses is cool), and a nice sounding filter. May use DCOs, but they're still analog (and, of course, the classic Junos did, as well). Layering different synthesis methods can lead to great, unique results. Cool video idea.
lovely gear :)
You have pretty much what i dreamed to buy while watching at some SamAsh magazines back in the 90s
Love the Roland keyboard. Such a slick design.
Love this. Ive been doing this since the 80s.
I have on my channel now a quick tune with my Behringer Deepmind12 and my Korg Wavestation A/D
Something else i have done for years ia use a guitar synth like a roland GR1 or 30/33 20 or especially my Gr50 to the D59 to the ESQ to the ESI 4000, whatever.
Guitar to an amp tge synth to some boards/ modules.
Then its wall of sound time.
I love this kind of stuff.
Great video.
Thank You for the Great video!!...im an Ambeint Freak...I love this!! im new to keyboard but been playing guitar since 1981..if buget was 1k to 2k max?.. is a Used full size Nord or Roland the way to go....or just get something good enough and 'affordable' and then stack other effects for days?? .. i apologize for the long question. im a newbie..an loving your channel 😀
Fantastico Maestro. I like The Passion and Deep Knowledge in this and other Video. Keep Up the great work.
Superb! Thanks for these fun videos!
Thank *you for watching
I have purchase a Roland Jupiter 80 the best Layer Synth you have over 1.000.000 options
I like this video because you can see that you can make with old stuff a great sound with layering
THAT IS SOME WONDERFUL SOUNDS AND FITTING FOR A VERY NICE AND POIGNANT SONG...GREAT LAYERING CHOICES...
Very nice, I get the MIDI set up but what about the audio set up? Are you running cables from all 3 units to a mixer/interface?
Thank you, here you go: ruclips.net/user/SynthManiaDotComabout
I still get a bit baffled by some people reaction and amazement, especially keyboard players, about layering and midi-ing synths together.
I mean... this has always been synth playing/programming 101 for me since i started playing in bands with professional gear fir the last 30 years (since 1990)...
Apparently this was lost by a lot of people. Glad to see it rediscovered :)
The TX81Z is great for layering, especially the FM bells. Back in those days, digital was all the rave, late 80's early 90's and analog was considered obsolete. Everyone wanted the new digital synths that had decent piano sounds and character LCD screens. Analog was rediscovered fairly quickly.. within a decade.
I have just bought a KORG Karma and it sounds great. It's 15 yrs old but amazing sounds. :)
if i may ask, what is your signal path?
preamp/interface and any plugins you might be using.
sounds so warm and amazingggg
A great technique which we tend to forget, I think. I suppose the only issue with layering is that you can end up with sounds which sound great for a demo, but are not that useful in a mix. One thing that I like is when you get slightly unexpected responses on each sound, which almost suggest an arrangement. Best example in your demo is at 5:36. You could easily start that piece without one of the layers and bring in, for instance the pad at that point to create a very effective crescendo.
nice playing.....sounds brill....
lovin the old sound🎹🎹🎹🎶🎵♩
Paul, thank you! ♬♬ ♪ ♩
I think I heard that The Final Countdown is synth layering of a Roland JX-8P + Yamaha DX7 (or the modules equivalent) if I'm right.
I do this pretty extensively all the time,nice video a big up to you,my layers-Roland MSE1 , Yamaha YS200 and Kurzweil K2500r
Sounds really nice it sounds sad to me the music you played, is it those Modules that records the sounds together or the Piano Keyboard.
Thank you, the piano keyboard doesn't make any of the sounds, it's just acting as a controller - all three sound patches in each demo come only from the modules
Thanks for the info so what actually sync's the sounds together and what cables do you connect it to your piano with, could i use that Rhythm Unit with my Yamaha CP4 Stage Piano.
Thanks for your help in this matter,i actually have a Yamaha CP5 Stage Piano will that be ok.
Really dig those instructional videos. Concise and fun to watch.
BTW the FM piano sounds more like an acoustic guitar.
Sound magical! I think Ima try something similar today!
did you write these riffs yourself or are they from something? The one sounds very familiar..
in any case; they are beautiful!
I didn't recognize how TX-81z sounds lovely when I owed TX-81z. Layer sound of the three machines is also lovely.
Thanks Paolo that was very helpful for me as i've just got my first synth - Korg Wavestate - and i'm slowly learning the ropes and unpacking the answers to so many questions and i loved your demo tunes ! They reminded of some of the soundtrack themes from Blade Runner and were beatiful to hear,thank you.I'm still working out how to get it out of the box ! ( it sounds fantastic ). 4.42 - 6.18 would love to be able to play that one day so i have something to aim for.
Hey, SynthMania..(Paolo...?).....great video......I used to have several digi-synths years ago....around yr 2002(?)....including a TX81Z, FBO1,...also a Mid-upper Casio, and a Yamaha..last two full boards....and I layered these thru a Rolls line mixer, and Yamaha MJ8 junction box.......and MAN it sounded glorious......just presets, but .......hey........The problem was I'm a guitar player, I'm very weak on keys......this viddy brought that back to me....Thanks!!!!!
George, thank you!
Michael Jackson's band did the same thing for the synth brass sounds on the Bad Tour, but the synths were TX816 for FM, D-50 for PCM, and MKS-80 for analog
Very nice .Just to know:what is the title of the first performance song? Thx
Just improvising
Lots of my synths are midi chain connected for layering, I use the mixing desk for bringing in the different layers
Love the D-50 for this, then went to the Kronos and recently to the Kurzweil PC4-7. ❤
So cool, and I love how I can do all of this in software these days as well. Thanks for the video.
What comes after PCM? Is it Roland's "Super Natural" or "ACB" or any of their other technologies. Or are those just another name for PCM?
that's a great Roland W30 board! love it!
Amazing sounds and the melodies fit very well. Great video!!!
Thanks so much
How beautifu! How powerfull! Something twists inside you when you hear this sound. It takes you on a journay through the universe. And that moment shares some little secret of the universe with you. Just beautiful.
Wow, Andrew. Nice choice of words. Thanks
Very convincing demo ! Congratulations !!! Such sounds could be used to create... atmosphere music.
how could u do this in , lets say 1980, u had to have CV gate to connect those huge Modular beasts or those Synclavier, etc to a keyboard right?
Layering aside....beautiful melodies. Thank you.
Jason, thank you
Wow, awesome videos!! learning a TON. I'm trying to use ableton and vsts in an analogue type workflow.
stunning, nice job. Add Eventide Harmonizer for full throttle effect?
Che meraviglia. Sono i suoni della mia infanzia. Video bellissimo, grazie
This is everything I love about Vangelis.
This just helped me tremendously!!!!!!! I'm so tired of using Logic , time to bust out my old boards and simply use logic as a workstation!!!!