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 just look at the fashion industry: what is considered awful, outdated and ridiculous can instantly become the very best thing the very next day....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.
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.
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!
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!
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
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.
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
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!
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...
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 : ).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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'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!
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.
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!!!!!
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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 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 :)
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.
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.
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!
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.
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!
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!
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
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.
Midi layering is my favorite way of creating huge sounds. Thanks for sharing!!
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
The sounds and the tunes you are playing are utterly beautiful....
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
And this is why I need lots of synths! Bravo Paolo!
haha - thank you, Sunil!
Classy FM synths always bring back fond memories of games like King's Quest for me. Thanks for this!
Paolo , thank you for being the best. always showing us great examples of how these instruments can sound. love it.
Thanks for the cool video...the tones brought back some good memories, especially the
M-1....I enjoyed the demo very much.
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!
I do this pretty extensively all the time,nice video a big up to you,my layers-Roland MSE1 , Yamaha YS200 and Kurzweil K2500r
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...
these are lovely examples, very inspiring. Thanks a lot for taking the time to example this work.
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 : ).
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!
Fantastico Maestro. I like The Passion and Deep Knowledge in this and other Video. Keep Up the great work.
Thanks for this video, Paolo. La magia del suono!
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.
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.
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.
Paolo, as always, your choice of sounds is miraculous! Thank you!
Really well done. I've been doing the same since 1984. Such an important concept when composing using the synthesizer.
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!
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?!
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!
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!
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.
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.
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!
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?
nice playing.....sounds brill....
lovin the old sound🎹🎹🎹🎶🎵♩
Paul, thank you! ♬♬ ♪ ♩
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.
Very good expierence share for younger explorers. Thank you very much, sir =)
Superb! Thanks for these fun videos!
Thank *you for watching
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.
Jeez! All of a sudden I'm a Final Fantasy character watching this video.
Great video by the way.
Thank you, Christian!
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.
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!
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
So Lovely...What a simply beautiful blending!
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
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.
Best Piano/Pad sound I heard so far!
I kind of got lost in the beautiful melody and forgot all about the layering. it took me somewhere. thanks!
NotMarkKnopfler, thanks so much!
I didn't recognize how TX-81z sounds lovely when I owed TX-81z. Layer sound of the three machines is also lovely.
Its so beautiful!
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.
4:44 I feel like I've already heard this melody but I don't know where :( Anyone know ?
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!
Layering aside....beautiful melodies. Thank you.
Jason, thank you
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.
Lots of my synths are midi chain connected for layering, I use the mixing desk for bringing in the different layers
Just reminded me how amazingly powerful simple layering can sound! TX-802 & OB M1000 in full effect :D
that's a great Roland W30 board! love it!
THAT IS SOME WONDERFUL SOUNDS AND FITTING FOR A VERY NICE AND POIGNANT SONG...GREAT LAYERING CHOICES...
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!
I have just bought a KORG Karma and it sounds great. It's 15 yrs old but amazing sounds. :)
very good advice and demo ... layer , layer , layer ...rather than always looking for plugins to buy
Che meraviglia. Sono i suoni della mia infanzia. Video bellissimo, grazie
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.
great content brother
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
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.
Amazing sounds and the melodies fit very well. Great video!!!
Thanks so much
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.
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.
Excellent choice of gear.
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
Chills from those last layers. Now I really miss my synths :-)
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
First one sounds like a slow piece of classical guitar with a small string and choir section, lovely stuff.
That MKS50 Ominous patch though!!
Really adds a lot of emotion to the sound. Very well done.
Very interesting layers sound combinations!
This is stunning!!! Thank you.
Very convincing demo ! Congratulations !!! Such sounds could be used to create... atmosphere music.
This is THE right way to make music!
Ha- thank you, Juuso! I don't exactly know if this is right or wrong, but I enjoy making music every day of my life - thank you for watching
I just tested the layering technique with M1 software version and some other soft synths. The sound is amazing (even without hardware).
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 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 :)
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.
Just wonderfull! I Love it!
Sound magical! I think Ima try something similar today!
Love the D-50 for this, then went to the Kronos and recently to the Kurzweil PC4-7. ❤
absolutely beautiful!
Sounds brilliant.
I love watching the master.
Wow, awesome videos!! learning a TON. I'm trying to use ableton and vsts in an analogue type workflow.
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.
Great stuff! Will try it myself but then on VST instruments...thank you!
Really dig those instructional videos. Concise and fun to watch.
BTW the FM piano sounds more like an acoustic guitar.
This is everything I love about Vangelis.
WOW..... That's some frick'n beautiful sound there.
Thank you - three instruments combined to create one sound with "movement"
Old tricks are the best tricks, eh? Great vid, very thought provoking, if you'll excuse me I have some layering experimentation to perform, hahaha :)
Nice stuff once again from you!