Wow. And it takes a lot these days for me to be impressed. I love that you are doing *new* pieces in that style. One of the things I love about WC-SOB style is that I can actually follow the voices unlike a crowded choir or orchestra. Create and I shall purchase! Aside: when I was a kid, my parents bought this album at Christmas - THIS is my Xmas music.
Sebastien Bach would have loved the synth. He messed around with all sorts of instruments, including something called a Lautencembalo, which was a normal harpsichord with the dampers removed. He loved experimentation, especially registration ideas on the pipe organ. (playing with overtones, harmonics, etc.) Fascinating man, old Bach, just fascinating.
By the way, I love this, you really nailed the classic Carlos sound, and proved that you don't need a monstrous vintage modular synth to get those tones. You just need a monstrous modern analog polysynth. :-)
I would also like to add that your A6 sounds beautiful. Amazingly precise in comparison to Carlos patches. I own a Virus TI, but the Andromeda is a superb machine. Keep the good music comming!
+immrnoidall Switched on Bach, or W. Carlos' later Moog albums do not sound childish and cheap. The choice of timbres, synthesis skills, orchestration, and performances are top notch, still unmatched to this day. What sounds childish and cheap are all the horrid modern day classical synth pieces people post on youtube using sterile and rigid sounding digital synthesizers, annoying, boring and inappropriate synth timbres, and the use of mechanical lifeless robotic Midi files to play their synths for them. Don't confuse those with what Carlos did back in the day.
+Elhardt could agree more with you there are so many" switched on bach' style video/ covers and non come a close as yours! and if you have heard any of the other moog type albums of the era they all sound very basic and dated synthesised sounds can be boring unless you really work on them which carlos did! - I've trie myself to copy the sound with things like aurora modular v and failed ,thats not because its" digital" or " crap" i compared the oscillators and filters to a genuine 1970 model d and it was pretty spot on! i find it mind boggling what results he/she got back then only with 8 tracks- if you've ever listen to the cd she did - secrets of synthesis its kind of explained- i really wish you would do a cd of more bach/ carlos style stuff:)
+Elektroboots In my comment above, when I mentioned digital synthesizers, I was referring to what are mostly called Romplers these days. Usually the waveforms they put out are just wavetables that are cycled through. So when the pitch changes you get this annoying chipmunk affect, and the pitch is too precise, and those synths sound sterile and not good for trying to sound like an analog synth. The Artuira Moog V is quite good though as it's a virtual analog synth. I've done mostly simulations of acoustic instruments on the Arturia though, to the point where a lot of people (including those at Arturia) didn't think a synth was capable of such realistic sounds... I was originally shocked when I found out that Carlos' first couple of albums were done on 8 tracks, however, Carlos probably did a lot of track bouncing to get the track count up. Carlos said that "What's New Pussycat" on his/her By Request Album was actually up to 40 tracks... My plan ultimately would be to do a Bach or Baroque album in W. Carlos' style, but I currently have more pressing things I need to do first.
+Elhardt Funny how I was exactly thinking that while listening to some renditions and my wife and I were were discussing the disppointing mechnaical nature of digital synthesisers and the output that comes out of them... There is only one Switched On Bach, there is only one Carlos and like all masterpieces, it will never be repeated.
Bravo! It sounds really beautiful; very good ear for adjusting your impression of the sounds, and excellent playing! Thanks! Will check your other videos too :)
good to know that there is a 4 CD set out now. when i was searching for a replacement for the LP which was giving up the ghost, i was forced to look on ebay at that time.
Congratulations. You've really captured Wendy's voicing styles very nicely. Expertly played and arranged. I'd love to hear more. BTW, Wendy and I are friends.
Since the 70 I bought Music bij Walter carlos (later on he changed his name in Wendy Carlos)Later on I bought the same music on CD's. I preffered the classic ones as "Swichted on bach I and II, The well tempered synthesizer and Switched on Branderburger (both) and all the time I love to here Bach's music on the Big Fat Moogs. Best records in my enormous collection
Well, you sure nailed that Switched-On Bach sound...I mean, spot on nailed it! I keep waiting for Wendy to break in and explain how she and Rachel [Elkind] left these off the finished master for whatever reason, a'la the bonus tracks on the Switched-On boxed set.
This is actually not bad for such a humble synth, operating alone. At first I thought, "meh" but was impressed later. Wendy did tons of tricks with multiple moogs and a crazy studio setup. Best not to be discouraged, compared to her.
Great to finally see an analog synth(or analog emulator) put to use making music, as opposed to noise accompanied by a 4/4 bass drum that drowns out the aforementioned noise.
AH yes, I use "high voltage" as an expression of course. The system used to listen to W.C. was played on a Marantz and being 11 at the time, it made a huge impression on me. Respectively. I agree with you. Bach would have loved the synth.
I loved this, and it reminded me of one of my favourite bands The Enid, who play a kind of orchestral/rock music with synthesisers, so I'm going to have to go on a youtube trek for them now!
Superb! You've captured the sound of the original late 60's recordings. As far as which to go for first: my favorite is "Switched on Bach II" .. Wendy used much more reverb and it added more depth to the sound. The Brandenburg Concertos are absolutely fine on that album!
Thanks for the W Carlos like Bach,.. You have done an excellent Job. It seems to me, like there is a lot of Room for a whole genre of music (good sounding Synthesizers as instruments). To my mind W Carlos came out with rich evocative sounds that are rarely equaled today. I have also made quite a few electronic Bach recordings but I'm constrained by lack of Equipment to put them up. (Almost all my old stuff is broken....)
Very nice, a complete reminiscence of my early days listening to my dad's Walter(or Wendy I suppose) Carlos albums - 'Switched on Bach' and 'The Well Tempered Synthesizer' Wonderful.
Yes, SOB II is great and more complex in its synth use than SOB I, but it seems like many people forget about that one. I might put my favorite as "Well Tempered Synth" at just a tiny bit above SOB II, because it seems even more colorful timbre-wise. Many have called WTS the best sounding synth album ever.
Thinking of all the different pianists playing Bach in the common way over and over, I find it refreshing listen to Bach played on a synthesizer.I,m quite shure Bach would be using synth if he could.
Thanks for the compliment Vihor189 (and guziti). I noticed you also left a post in my main blog page. I didn't even realize I had some comments on that page as I never even scrolled down until a couple of days ago. Now I see a couple of people made posts there over 6 months ago.
Thanks for the comments cloudhop. I used the T.C. Electronics M-One for reverb. Somewhere I wrote down the specifics, but I believe I used one of the Hall settings. I recorded all the tracks dry, and then during mixdown added the reverb. Different tracks sometimes have different amounts of reverb depending on the sound. As for other Bach, I don't have any other that's worth putting on YT. But in the future I may create more Bach to put up.
Thanks msuber. Well the purpose of doing these was to see how much work it would be to put out a W. Carlos style CD. And it is a lot of work and makes me exhausted just thinking about it. But I haven't completely ruled it out since I know there's still a good market for such a thing. I have a few other renaissance and baroque synth recordings no on YT, but they're not really fully in the W. Carlos style.
Bravo! I would have sworn this was Carlos. It takes a great deal of fussiness to get that level of orchestration. We want more. WAAAH. WAHHH! But I do appreciate how difficult this is. I'll console myself with that Scarlatti piece at least.
HI! delightful! I wish I could get the Walter Carlos renditions(I recall 3 recordings but not sure) on CD (I have taped them at the time). Any suggestion ? and what about other synt renditions of baroque music? Thx.
Judging by a couple of the comments, it appears some people might not be aware that W. Carlos CDs are available at most online stores that sell music. I usually shop at Buy dot com or Amazon. They usually have all of her stuff. And thanks for the compliments on my Carlos-style performances. Don't forget that I also have a Scarlatti synth video done in Carlos-style at: watch?v=z9lse0JvKr0
To tooooootall69, yes Carlos is still unmatched today at getting thousands of unheard of, colorful and beautiful sounds out of an analog synthesizer. As for getting sounds to work for only a short time, that had to do with the old Moog synths going out of tune easily. It required re-tuning before laying down almost every track.
If you're referring to youtube's sound quality, you're correct. My videos used to have high quality stereo audio, then several months ago when youtube re-converted all videos to a new formant, the bumped the audio quality down to lo-fi monophonic audio. Stupid, since youtube is supposed to be supporting higher quality stereo now. They're a bunch of idiots, and now I have to figure out what to do about it. But I just put links to the original audio files in the video info box for now.
Wow, absolutely spot on. Have you by any chance dabbled in any other Carlos-style pieces of music? Would really love to hear a rendition of some of the clockwork orange soundtrack in particular :)
Wow, that is a lot of work , almost a study to play the sounds like Wendy, Walter Carlos, choosing a sound for each instrument. Keep up the good work ! .... the andromeda is incredible !
To secoff: Thanks for your comments. I'm glad to find somebody that knows Carlos' style, as I'm getting a lot of comments from people who don't seem familiar with WC's work beyond the first S.O.B. or they confuse Carlos with somebody else. There shouldn't be any timing flux, as I've played these pieces quite accurately (some have said better than Carlos, but that's not true) yet not in a rigid robotic manner either. There's only one part in my Scarlatti video that I didn't get quite right.
These were tests to see if I should do a S.O.B. #3, since W. Carlos stopped at #2. I still haven't decided. It's a lot of work. As for patches, I have a couple of other people who want them, but right now they're an unorganized mess in my A6. I need to get SoundDiver working, name and group all my W.C. style patches into one set. If/when I can do that, I can send them to you.
Thanks for the compliment. And yes, as per the message at the beginning of the video, it was all done using the Andromeda synth and so was my Scarlatti video. I'll answer the stereo question in the following post.
![J.S. Bach: Sinfonia to Cantata No. 29 [2017 Revisit] (Synthesized)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/gz9hUPTjnI0/mqdefault.jpg)
![J.S. Bach: Sinfonia to Cantata No. 29 [2017 Revisit] (Synthesized)](/img/tr.png)
I have the original "Switch on Bach" with Carlos but all scratched.
Now, I found you. Yesssss real pleasure.
This is stunningly beautiful rendition. I pray you have made more, many more!
I haven't heard anything that beautiful since I first heard Switched on Bach as a kid. Magnificent !!!
I've listened to Carlos for what must be close to 40 years, You have him/her down.
Thanks for the tunes.
My Dad was a musician when I was growing up... I don't ever remember him getting excited, like he did when 'Switched On Bach' was released...
Wow. And it takes a lot these days for me to be impressed. I love that you are doing *new* pieces in that style. One of the things I love about WC-SOB style is that I can actually follow the voices unlike a crowded choir or orchestra. Create and I shall purchase! Aside: when I was a kid, my parents bought this album at Christmas - THIS is my Xmas music.
A complete privilege listening to your
synthesized renditions .
Sebastien Bach would have loved the synth. He messed around with all sorts of instruments, including something called a Lautencembalo, which was a normal harpsichord with the dampers removed. He loved experimentation, especially registration ideas on the pipe organ. (playing with overtones, harmonics, etc.) Fascinating man, old Bach, just fascinating.
great job!!!!... its the joy of this man's desiring, and nourishment upon which sheep may safely graze!
Warm and lush! Very satisfying synth sounds. Thank you!
By the way, I love this, you really nailed the classic Carlos sound, and proved that you don't need a monstrous vintage modular synth to get those tones. You just need a monstrous modern analog polysynth. :-)
absolutely beautiful. I love Bach. I love electronic Bach as well. there is not enough of it around. thanks for the upload:)
Astounding programming and execution, also a strong testament on the A6 capabilities as a modern day classic. Bravo !
Thank you so very much for your work in producing a delightful lisenint experience, a la W Carolos.
Very nice -- enjoyed it and takes me back to the days when I wore out the vinyl of Carlos' early albums.
I would also like to add that your A6 sounds beautiful. Amazingly precise in comparison to Carlos patches. I own a Virus TI, but the Andromeda is a superb machine. Keep the good music comming!
Brilliant! A worthy successor to W Carlos! If you ever put out an album, I'd surely buy it.
Thank You!
best in the style of Carols I've heard yet!
back in the early 70'sI was turned on to Synthesized Back what am wonderful way to discover the great masters of music
+immrnoidall
Switched on Bach, or W. Carlos' later Moog albums do not sound childish and cheap. The choice of timbres, synthesis skills, orchestration, and performances are top notch, still unmatched to this day. What sounds childish and cheap are all the horrid modern day classical synth pieces people post on youtube using sterile and rigid sounding digital synthesizers, annoying, boring and inappropriate synth timbres, and the use of mechanical lifeless robotic Midi files to play their synths for them. Don't confuse those with what Carlos did back in the day.
+Elhardt could agree more with you there are so many" switched on bach' style video/ covers and non come a close as yours! and if you have heard any of the other moog type albums of the era they all sound very basic and dated synthesised sounds can be boring unless you really work on them which carlos did! - I've trie myself to copy the sound with things like aurora modular v and failed ,thats not because its" digital" or " crap" i compared the oscillators and filters to a genuine 1970 model d and it was pretty spot on! i find it mind boggling what results he/she got back then only with 8 tracks- if you've ever listen to the cd she did - secrets of synthesis its kind of explained- i really wish you would do a cd of more bach/ carlos style stuff:)
+Elektroboots In my comment above, when I mentioned digital synthesizers, I was referring to what are mostly called Romplers these days. Usually the waveforms they put out are just wavetables that are cycled through. So when the pitch changes you get this annoying chipmunk affect, and the pitch is too precise, and those synths sound sterile and not good for trying to sound like an analog synth. The Artuira Moog V is quite good though as it's a virtual analog synth. I've done mostly simulations of acoustic instruments on the Arturia though, to the point where a lot of people (including those at Arturia) didn't think a synth was capable of such realistic sounds... I was originally shocked when I found out that Carlos' first couple of albums were done on 8 tracks, however, Carlos probably did a lot of track bouncing to get the track count up. Carlos said that "What's New Pussycat" on his/her By Request Album was actually up to 40 tracks... My plan ultimately would be to do a Bach or Baroque album in W. Carlos' style, but I currently have more pressing things I need to do first.
+Elhardt Funny how I was exactly thinking that while listening to some renditions and my wife and I were were discussing the disppointing mechnaical nature of digital synthesisers and the output that comes out of them... There is only one Switched On Bach, there is only one Carlos and like all masterpieces, it will never be repeated.
I agree 100%.
actually there is a switched on bach II.. i own it :)
Still coming back to this. So Good!
Amazing... sounds like the real synth sounds of Mrs. Carlos's Moog. Perfect in every way!
Superb!Thank you for these heavenly sounds. An oasis in the middle of all the rubbish you find elsewhere.
Incredible sound and what programming! The tympanis are just...wow.
Bravo!
It sounds really beautiful; very good ear for adjusting your impression of the sounds, and excellent playing!
Thanks!
Will check your other videos too :)
I just want to cry. It's beautiful. Thanks for sharing your work ;-)
WONDERFUL! :) Those timbres again - so very "Wendy!" :)
Beautifully observed and realized - and I'm sure Carlos would approve!
If I didn't know otherwise I would have said that these were synthesized by Wendy Carlos herself - well done!
The Best Music from Bach and W Carlos, thanks for share friend!!
Really great job, you did capture thy escence of Walter, congratulatios
good to know that there is a 4 CD set out now. when i was searching for a replacement for the LP which was giving up the ghost, i was forced to look on ebay at that time.
Bach genius music will be listened for all time! I really liked the video!
Congratulations. You've really captured Wendy's voicing styles very nicely. Expertly played and arranged. I'd love to hear more. BTW, Wendy and I are friends.
please have wendy get in touch with me .. Im "on the air" on WUSB 90.1fm NY . pm via facebook pls
Doug Slocum Regards to Wendy
No more Hokum! Vote for Slocum!
I love all of Wendy Carlos' Work!
"Tron", and "A Clockwork Orange", especially.
thanks and my deepest respect for your art work, just wonderful
That it the NUTS!!!!!!! superb i want to hear more of it plzzzzzzzzzz
Ken, wonderful stuff. Keep it coming!
Magnificent rendition.
Since the 70 I bought Music bij Walter carlos (later on he changed his name in Wendy Carlos)Later on I bought the same music on CD's. I preffered the classic ones as "Swichted on bach I and II, The well tempered synthesizer and Switched on Branderburger (both) and all the time I love to here Bach's music on the Big Fat Moogs. Best records in my enormous collection
Well, you sure nailed that Switched-On Bach sound...I mean, spot on nailed it! I keep waiting for Wendy to break in and explain how she and Rachel [Elkind] left these off the finished master for whatever reason, a'la the bonus tracks on the Switched-On boxed set.
This sounds almost exactly like Carlos' style! I listened to the record tons of times and here I couldn't even tell the difference...
This is actually not bad for such a humble synth, operating alone. At first I thought, "meh" but was impressed later. Wendy did tons of tricks with multiple moogs and a crazy studio setup. Best not to be discouraged, compared to her.
Wow ! For a moment, there, I thought it was Walter, himself ( herself) - an album I didn't even
know about.
NICE WORK!!!
Great to finally see an analog synth(or analog emulator) put to use making music, as opposed to noise accompanied by a 4/4 bass drum that drowns out the aforementioned noise.
To Elhart -
Abs.brilliant rendition - best compliments from a J.S.Bach lover =
P.S. the orch.suite is outstanding =
Very nice work. Im shure that if Bach where here this is the kind of music he like.
AH yes, I use "high voltage" as an expression of course. The system used to listen to W.C. was played on a Marantz and being 11 at the time, it made a huge impression on me. Respectively. I agree with you. Bach would have loved the synth.
This is magnificent!
Thankyou Elhardt! Thankyou for replying and for your patience.
I loved this, and it reminded me of one of my favourite bands The Enid, who play a kind of orchestral/rock music with synthesisers, so I'm going to have to go on a youtube trek for them now!
Superb! You've captured the sound of the original late 60's recordings.
As far as which to go for first: my favorite is "Switched on Bach II" .. Wendy used much more reverb and it added more depth to the sound. The Brandenburg Concertos are absolutely fine on that album!
Wow, I love Bach........ we used to play Bach chorales in band.....it's great to teach intonation between chord transitions.
This is fantastic. Better than some of Carlos' stuff.
your rendition of the BWV 1043 is epic !
Thanks for the W Carlos like Bach,.. You have done an excellent Job. It seems to me, like there is a lot of Room for a whole genre of music (good sounding Synthesizers as instruments). To my mind W Carlos came out with rich evocative sounds that are rarely equaled today. I have also made quite a few electronic Bach recordings but I'm constrained by lack of Equipment to put them up. (Almost all my old stuff is broken....)
Very nice, a complete reminiscence of my early days listening to my dad's Walter(or Wendy I suppose) Carlos albums - 'Switched on Bach' and 'The Well Tempered Synthesizer'
Wonderful.
most analoguously absolutely astronomically fine
Awesome as always, sir!
Another excellent video! Awesome
Well done. Excellent work. A fine tribute.
Yes, SOB II is great and more complex in its synth use than SOB I, but it seems like many people forget about that one. I might put my favorite as "Well Tempered Synth" at just a tiny bit above SOB II, because it seems even more colorful timbre-wise. Many have called WTS the best sounding synth album ever.
That timpani patch is awesome!
Thinking of all the different pianists playing
Bach in the common way over and over, I find it refreshing listen to Bach played on a synthesizer.I,m quite shure Bach would be using synth if he could.
HI Elhart !Thx.for your kind reply.
Please do more of these!! You are fantastic!!
@Elhardt Thank you, thank you very much. Your interpretation is delicious
Thanks for the compliment Vihor189 (and guziti). I noticed you also left a post in my main blog page. I didn't even realize I had some comments on that page as I never even scrolled down until a couple of days ago. Now I see a couple of people made posts there over 6 months ago.
This really sounds like it could have been a track on S-OB. Great work!
if ever u put this to cd id be most interested in buying a copy luv this work
Thanks for the comments cloudhop. I used the T.C. Electronics M-One for reverb. Somewhere I wrote down the specifics, but I believe I used one of the Hall settings. I recorded all the tracks dry, and then during mixdown added the reverb. Different tracks sometimes have different amounts of reverb depending on the sound. As for other Bach, I don't have any other that's worth putting on YT. But in the future I may create more Bach to put up.
This is great. Well done.
Genius piece done geniusly!!
Fantastic, brilliant, inspiring! -Thanks
Your original audio files sound fabulous! Bravo! Hopefully you will find a remedy for your videos on youtube. Keep up the great work!
Nice work!
WoW! Congrats!
Thanks msuber. Well the purpose of doing these was to see how much work it would be to put out a W. Carlos style CD. And it is a lot of work and makes me exhausted just thinking about it. But I haven't completely ruled it out since I know there's still a good market for such a thing. I have a few other renaissance and baroque synth recordings no on YT, but they're not really fully in the W. Carlos style.
I am amazed at how much the same this sounds as Carlos' music.
This could be right from the Switched on Back album.
Alesis Andromeda sound is gooooooddddddd !!!!!!!!!
That was very, very good!!
Brilliant Work:) Warm Wishes - Denise
Bravo! I would have sworn this was Carlos. It takes a great deal of fussiness to get that level of orchestration. We want more. WAAAH. WAHHH!
But I do appreciate how difficult this is. I'll console myself with that Scarlatti piece at least.
Bravo!Well done!
HI! delightful!
I wish I could get the Walter Carlos renditions(I recall 3 recordings but not sure)
on CD (I have taped them at the time).
Any suggestion ? and what about other synt renditions of baroque music? Thx.
Judging by a couple of the comments, it appears some people might not be aware that W. Carlos CDs are available at most online stores that sell music. I usually shop at Buy dot com or Amazon. They usually have all of her stuff.
And thanks for the compliments on my Carlos-style performances. Don't forget that I also have a Scarlatti synth video done in Carlos-style at: watch?v=z9lse0JvKr0
When are YOU going to produce a CD of your recordings? I would jump on that and buy one.
If Bach had such an instrument he would be running wild.
The same if Newton have had my Skywatcher Dobson 200 mm.
To tooooootall69, yes Carlos is still unmatched today at getting thousands of unheard of, colorful and beautiful sounds out of an analog synthesizer. As for getting sounds to work for only a short time, that had to do with the old Moog synths going out of tune easily. It required re-tuning before laying down almost every track.
If you're referring to youtube's sound quality, you're correct. My videos used to have high quality stereo audio, then several months ago when youtube re-converted all videos to a new formant, the bumped the audio quality down to lo-fi monophonic audio. Stupid, since youtube is supposed to be supporting higher quality stereo now. They're a bunch of idiots, and now I have to figure out what to do about it. But I just put links to the original audio files in the video info box for now.
fantastic almost like a lost s.o.b album-please do some more or do a cd(also can i get the patched you used for my andromeda?!)
I assume Glenn Gould himself would be pleasently listening to you Elhard.
Good job indeed,thx.for sharing.
Wow, absolutely spot on. Have you by any chance dabbled in any other Carlos-style pieces of music? Would really love to hear a rendition of some of the clockwork orange soundtrack in particular :)
心が躍ります。爽やかな朝です。
very great !!! strange and ireal sound... what' s the name of the first piece of the videio ?
amazing stuff
Wow, that is a lot of work , almost a study to play the sounds like Wendy, Walter Carlos, choosing a sound for each instrument.
Keep up the good work ! .... the andromeda is incredible !
Elhardt, your sound and playing are perfect! Would you please also post "Zion Hoert die Wachter singen"? Thank you very much.
To secoff: Thanks for your comments. I'm glad to find somebody that knows Carlos' style, as I'm getting a lot of comments from people who don't seem familiar with WC's work beyond the first S.O.B. or they confuse Carlos with somebody else. There shouldn't be any timing flux, as I've played these pieces quite accurately (some have said better than Carlos, but that's not true) yet not in a rigid robotic manner either. There's only one part in my Scarlatti video that I didn't get quite right.
These were tests to see if I should do a S.O.B. #3, since W. Carlos stopped at #2. I still haven't decided. It's a lot of work.
As for patches, I have a couple of other people who want them, but right now they're an unorganized mess in my A6. I need to get SoundDiver working, name and group all my W.C. style patches into one set. If/when I can do that, I can send them to you.
Thank you Elhart for your delightful music and kind help - indigoblue555 =
Thanks for the compliment. And yes, as per the message at the beginning of the video, it was all done using the Andromeda synth and so was my Scarlatti video. I'll answer the stereo question in the following post.