Thanks again Paulo for your time and generosity of spirit. You have a way of explaining things so that even a confirmed simpleton like myself can understand. Perhaps you can teach me how to program a Roland D50, Korg Wavestation and Yamaha DX7 next, if you have a spare 20 years?!
And, of course, the gated synth sounds almost defined the early Trance of the 90:s when it was first appearing. That 1-2-3 rhythm that was happening at the same time as the closed hi hat-closed hi hat- open hi hat...
Thank you. Excellent tip. I hear bleeding in the background from the Juno 60 during the (closed) gate parts. Is this due to background noise from the TR-707?
Yeah, I left the range off the DS201 open just a bit, because the Juno-60 was the only harmonic instrument in this demo, and I wanted to leave a bit of the pad sound in there to make it still sound like a full arrangement. In a full song, I'd have a separate pad sound, and the gated synth line on top as it was common back in the day. If you want to gate it completely, all you need to do is to set the range at the minimum / set the decay to 2ms.
I'm hearing some nasty distortion breakup with the Drawmer gate on. It doesn't sound as clean with the gate on. I also own the DS201 and this is something I don't like about it. It's pretty much the same as the DBX 266XL. They both have a tendency to create some type of muddiness with slight distortion in the signal. I notice this especially with electric guitar. Are you noticing this?
Can you elaborate on this? I’m definitely hearing some added distortion but I’m not sure if it’s the input clipping on drawmer or if the trigger is too hot?
@@thesucculentcity - My post was 6 years old, but I'll still try to answer, since I sold both of those units years ago.. and this post was the reason for it. My conclusion was the Drawmer was very bad at gating and was worse than the DBX. The DBX had a subtle and squishy fuzz to it, regardless of what I used it on. The best thing it sound good on was bass guitar, but was still muddled. As for the Drawmer, I've owned several different Drawmer rack types over the years and came to the conclusion that all of them simply sucked. To my ear, everything Drawmer devices did was far too subtle, especially their Mercenary 1968 and 1969 compressors (obvious marketing names), which were really nothing more than $1000 gain knobs. Basically, the compression was so transparent, it didn't even exist. I thought the components also seemed to be very low quality and did next to nothing. They gate you're asking about was pure doo doo. As a matter of fact, a Boss NS2 pedal did a better job. Not only did the DS201 add noise, every gating method on it was flawed. It was choppy and just the opposite of their compressors. No subtlety, at all. It would simply 'chop' off noise and then add distortion. Pure crap. I'll likely never purchase ANY Drawmer gear again.
Thanks for sharing the classic tricks. I love the videos you have. Roland's MX-1 mixer has a step sequencer to do this type of thing. It has some really good sequencer controls. I have a love/hate relationship with mine. The inputs and aux outs leave a lot to be desired, but it serves AMAZINGLY well for stuff like this on the fly.
So that's how that works... It sounds great when you get it going, and those later chords you bring in are super! thank you Paolo for the "gating your poly synth" video. Your Juno sounds huge, di you add effects? or is it dry?
Woah, I was just doing something similar to this with Korg Polysix, Roland S-330, Volca Beats and Minibrute just to see if my crappy Tapco Compressor/Gate would.
This so cool! I grew up composing on software only and I always wondered how you guys created this amazing sound with gear. This is awesome work! Thanks!
This is a great tip! I also have a Juno-60 and TR-707 and I have a question: I understand that you programmed the rhythmic Hi Tom part and feed that output to the Key input of the DS201, but are you connecting the Juno to the DS201 or the Rim Shot trigger out on the TR-707? Cheers!
I just want to thank you for inspiring me to explore this very cool technique. I purchased a similar gate (USAudio GATEX) and it works wonderfully! I can't wait to use it in a composition. I owe you one! - Cheers, Mark (ROTM)
I’ve been obsessed with this technique lately and I just picked up a DS 501 to play with. Anyone have advice on getting a true square wave output for keying the gate? Any normal drum output is going to have a shape which I guess makes it behave a bit like a soft knee on a comp, but I’ve seen people using LFOTool or CableGuys ShaperBox to shape the actual envelope of the trigger. I’ve got plenty of envelope generators for euro rack, but what do people use to do this outboard?
So if I'm understanding you correctly, the gate is side-chained to the high-tom pattern on the drum machine. Then the threshold on the gate is set to the just below the volume of that tom, with a quick attack and release time so that the gate only opens to allow the sound of the synth to pass through when the tom hits happen.
after the gate, a delay followed by the reverb could be nice :) There was a zoom 1024 (1U rack) which I used for this gating purpose. (It was written as "vocoder" in the manual, interestingly)
According to an interview in Music Technology magazine way back in 1988, it was Casio FZ10M, Sequential Prophet 2000, Roland MKS50 Yamaha TX81Z and Roland JX3P. Mostly presets on the synths, and the drums were sampled: www.muzines.co.uk/articles/information-technology/2302
I too discovered the gate effect in the early 90s, but used it on vocals via an Alesis compressor. Same concept and effect. Funny how a rather elaborate and underground secret is now but a mouse clicked effect in any DAW today.
I always wondered too how did they do that. I never thought it was always he Drumcomputer. Therefore Stock Aitken Waterman worked with the Linn 9000, not because of the sounds but because of the pattern programming. A wonderful example is "You spin me around" with the programmed pattern sound in the background. Perhaps you can demonstrate it with this song. Thx for your wonderful videos.
You definitely rock with those synths! Congratulations. May I ask you an advice if I want to buy a good (versatile) analog synth without ask the bank for a mortgage? I currently own a Korg M1 and a Roland D5, but they are old, the user interface is frustrating on both, and M1 it's only a rompler though it is a very goor one. I would like pure analog sound ... for virtual ones I already have tons of VSTs.
I've just tried it in a shop two hours ago, on the sides there were a Minimoog, a Moog Phatty Sub37 Bob Moog Tribute Edition, an ARP Odyseey module (the one made by Korg) and an Arturia microbrute. The only one that bears the comparison with the big sacred monster Moogs it's just the Novation bass station II. But I'm looking for a poly, I think that I'm going to buy the Prophet as Paolo suggested. You know: you can cry the first time (by spending a lot of moneys) and enjoy the rest of the times, or you can enjoy the first time by sparing a lot of moneys and cry the rest of the times. The new prophet rev2 is not exactly like vintage ones but it's an amazing analog.
bom dia, tudo isso é importante para os músicos, mas eu não tenho condicçoes de comprar um teclado usado meia boca, que dirá uma gama desses sintetizadores. obrigado pelo video.
Excellent tip, man ! Thanks so much for helping my answers, sir ! Your awesome and your tip are so cool and friendly ! I am a big fan of 80's and love Electronic, SynthPop-music ! My best regards to you, *Synthmania* Greetings from: Los Angeles, CA
Very nice video Paolo. How else would you send a signal to the drawmer if you don't have a TR707? And wouldn't you be able to accomplish the same effect with a sequencer, like the MSQ700?
You can use any "spikey" sound to trigger. A sequencer will give you a different effect - sequenced rather than gated / MIDI vs Audio. In theory they could sound similar / same, in reality, not so much. Different feel
Fun Fun, the exact name I wanted to hear you mention. Very helpful, since I'm gonna have a go at Spanga's sound and music! You're a treasure. Happy Italo new year!
This video makes me think of the gate arp that is on a lot of Korg products. A lot of people don't seem to like the gate arp, but it seems to do what you have shown here.
I have a general question for you. Have you ever heard of a disco song called Eletric Avenue? It would have came out in the middle 80's. Some of the disco beats called for at that time or that you use, reminds me of that song
Wow, another great classic trick from the sintetizzatore Maestro!! Grazie mile. :) Always wondered how they did those classic arpeggios back in the 80s, now, I know!! LOL
Woooooow!!! Such much to learn but so beautiful sounds... italo disco at its best. Great programming of this micro brute. Only one thing in this video more beautiful than the sound ;) Happy Easter!
Steve Allen - "Letter From My Heart" (or if you prefer the Italian version, "Lei Balla Sola" by Fabio Vanni) is another classic example of this trick being used throughout the song 😊
i just checked this track out - or both of them - and can see the resemblance straight away, and in the process discovered two great Italo tracks, thanks!
They use exactly the same instrumental track, produced by famous Italo producer Mauro Malavasi. The Italian version was one of the runners up for the 1984 Sanremo Song Festival, without excessive success, then they anglicized it to try and crack the international market, and it became a reasonable hit in some countries.
PS another great example of this technique is also the intro to "Union of the Snake" by Duran Duran (Jupiter 8 gated with a Linn Drum if memory serves me right)
Very helpful videos. You did one that demonstrated a Blue Monday bouncy bass, using a TR707 (I think) to trigger an arppegiator on the synth. I've got an Ultranova and want to do similar stuff to this and other 80s stuff. Which drum machine would you recommend for it that is available today (not too expensive because it's only for home hobby use).
The 707 is triggering the DS201's gate. The gate opens and closes quickly, and makes the audio from the Juno go out, or be blocked. There's no trigger sent to the Juno.
Thanks again Paulo for your time and generosity of spirit. You have a way of explaining things so that even a confirmed simpleton like myself can understand. Perhaps you can teach me how to program a Roland D50, Korg Wavestation and Yamaha DX7 next, if you have a spare 20 years?!
It's like any synthesizor with hundreds of menu screens, read the 3000 page manual.
And, of course, the gated synth sounds almost defined the early Trance of the 90:s when it was first appearing. That 1-2-3 rhythm that was happening at the same time as the closed hi hat-closed hi hat- open hi hat...
Another mystery of the 80s synth music is solved. Well done. Many thanks. I learn so much with your good videos.
Thank you. Excellent tip.
I hear bleeding in the background from the Juno 60 during the (closed) gate parts. Is this due to background noise from the TR-707?
That is a possibility. I was curious about it.
Yeah, I left the range off the DS201 open just a bit, because the Juno-60 was the only harmonic instrument in this demo, and I wanted to leave a bit of the pad sound in there to make it still sound like a full arrangement. In a full song, I'd have a separate pad sound, and the gated synth line on top as it was common back in the day. If you want to gate it completely, all you need to do is to set the range at the minimum / set the decay to 2ms.
Excellent. (It was hard to read \ see the potentiometer knobs in the DS201 shot which was a little blurry.) Your explanation cleared it. Thank you.
Man, You are the treasure :)
I'm hearing some nasty distortion breakup with the Drawmer gate on. It doesn't sound as clean with the gate on. I also own the DS201 and this is something I don't like about it. It's pretty much the same as the DBX 266XL. They both have a tendency to create some type of muddiness with slight distortion in the signal. I notice this especially with electric guitar. Are you noticing this?
Can you elaborate on this? I’m definitely hearing some added distortion but I’m not sure if it’s the input clipping on drawmer or if the trigger is too hot?
@@thesucculentcity - My post was 6 years old, but I'll still try to answer, since I sold both of those units years ago.. and this post was the reason for it. My conclusion was the Drawmer was very bad at gating and was worse than the DBX. The DBX had a subtle and squishy fuzz to it, regardless of what I used it on. The best thing it sound good on was bass guitar, but was still muddled. As for the Drawmer, I've owned several different Drawmer rack types over the years and came to the conclusion that all of them simply sucked. To my ear, everything Drawmer devices did was far too subtle, especially their Mercenary 1968 and 1969 compressors (obvious marketing names), which were really nothing more than $1000 gain knobs. Basically, the compression was so transparent, it didn't even exist. I thought the components also seemed to be very low quality and did next to nothing. They gate you're asking about was pure doo doo. As a matter of fact, a Boss NS2 pedal did a better job. Not only did the DS201 add noise, every gating method on it was flawed. It was choppy and just the opposite of their compressors. No subtlety, at all. It would simply 'chop' off noise and then add distortion. Pure crap. I'll likely never purchase ANY Drawmer gear again.
Just noticed the opening narration is gated to the background music. 8)
This Is amazing, as always
Thanks so much!
Thanks for sharing the classic tricks. I love the videos you have. Roland's MX-1 mixer has a step sequencer to do this type of thing. It has some really good sequencer controls. I have a love/hate relationship with mine. The inputs and aux outs leave a lot to be desired, but it serves AMAZINGLY well for stuff like this on the fly.
I wish it had more inputs too, but the MX-1 is amazing. I guess we'll have to wait for the MX-8! :) LOL :) Just a thought. :) 面白いですね。
your videos are very interesting,good job :-)
Hi, love your videos! Thank you!
Do you have any plans to buy the Linnstrument? I would love to see what you could do with one of those!
So that's how that works...
It sounds great when you get it going, and those later chords you bring in are super!
thank you Paolo for the "gating your poly synth" video.
Your Juno sounds huge, di you add effects?
or is it dry?
Jill, thank you, this is just the dry Juno - no effects - yes, the PWM on the Juno combined with the chorus effect sounds very big
Any Intergalactic FM listeners here?
Are your kids into the music? It's so nice to see how supportive they are.
I never knew this, we live & learn (still) thank you :-)
Woah, I was just doing something similar to this with Korg Polysix, Roland S-330, Volca Beats and Minibrute just to see if my crappy Tapco Compressor/Gate would.
This so cool! I grew up composing on software only and I always wondered how you guys created this amazing sound with gear. This is awesome work! Thanks!
I'll be damned.. learned something new.Thanks for sharing!
Very welcome!
Awesome you're getting your kids involved! Must be great to grow up in a musical family.
This is a great tip! I also have a Juno-60 and TR-707 and I have a question: I understand that you programmed the rhythmic Hi Tom part and feed that output to the Key input of the DS201, but are you connecting the Juno to the DS201 or the Rim Shot trigger out on the TR-707? Cheers!
Thank you, the Juno's output goes through the DS201 - in line - through it. The 707's rim shot trigger is not used in this video
I just want to thank you for inspiring me to explore this very cool technique. I purchased a similar gate (USAudio GATEX) and it works wonderfully! I can't wait to use it in a composition. I owe you one! - Cheers, Mark (ROTM)
Another excellent video! Surprised by how good the Microbrute sounded in the mix. And now I envision that Drawmer gate shooting up in price on eBay!
I’ve been obsessed with this technique lately and I just picked up a DS 501 to play with. Anyone have advice on getting a true square wave output for keying the gate? Any normal drum output is going to have a shape which I guess makes it behave a bit like a soft knee on a comp, but I’ve seen people using LFOTool or CableGuys ShaperBox to shape the actual envelope of the trigger. I’ve got plenty of envelope generators for euro rack, but what do people use to do this outboard?
So if I'm understanding you correctly, the gate is side-chained to the high-tom pattern on the drum machine. Then the threshold on the gate is set to the just below the volume of that tom, with a quick attack and release time so that the gate only opens to allow the sound of the synth to pass through when the tom hits happen.
It starts at 00:00, you're welcome.
after the gate, a delay followed by the reverb could be nice :) There was a zoom 1024 (1U rack) which I used for this gating purpose. (It was written as "vocoder" in the manual, interestingly)
Thank u thank u thank u! Now I get how 3 classic tracks by Duran Duran were gated, Is there something I should know, New Moon on Monday and The Reflex
SynthMania: do you have any idea of what synths/sampler/drum machine Information Society used on What's on your mind?. Thanks for sharing!!.
According to an interview in Music Technology magazine way back in 1988, it was Casio FZ10M, Sequential Prophet 2000, Roland MKS50 Yamaha TX81Z and Roland JX3P. Mostly presets on the synths, and the drums were sampled: www.muzines.co.uk/articles/information-technology/2302
Thank you Chris, I can not ask for more, very nice article with a lot of useful information. Best for you!.
I miss the 80's😕
I too discovered the gate effect in the early 90s, but used it on vocals via an Alesis compressor. Same concept and effect. Funny how a rather elaborate and underground secret is now but a mouse clicked effect in any DAW today.
can i do same with casio cz 101 ? with arpeggio's and trigger's bass ? connected trough roland TR 707 ?
Wish my dad was as cool as you ;3
I always wondered too how did they do that. I never thought it was always he Drumcomputer. Therefore Stock Aitken Waterman worked with the Linn 9000, not because of the sounds but because of the pattern programming. A wonderful example is "You spin me around" with the programmed pattern sound in the background. Perhaps you can demonstrate it with this song. Thx for your wonderful videos.
This is great! Such an informative video on this technique and great execution of showing how to do it.
It's so cool that u got your kids to know all this gear. 👍
u are a wizard, i love you
I love you too, Elaine
Thanx for sharing this. Do I need a dual gate for this technique?
You're welcome. If you have a mono source, you don't need a stereo gate, but it's nice to have
You definitely rock with those synths! Congratulations.
May I ask you an advice if I want to buy a good (versatile) analog synth without ask the bank for a mortgage? I currently own a Korg M1 and a Roland D5, but they are old, the user interface is frustrating on both, and M1 it's only a rompler though it is a very goor one. I would like pure analog sound ... for virtual ones I already have tons of VSTs.
Thank you - you could consider waiting a couple of months for the Prophet Rev2
I was thinking the same, now I'm pretty more convinced :)
Hope will deliver in time there in Italy too.
grazie per il consiglio ;)
I've just tried it in a shop two hours ago, on the sides there were a Minimoog, a Moog Phatty Sub37 Bob Moog Tribute Edition, an ARP Odyseey module (the one made by Korg) and an Arturia microbrute. The only one that bears the comparison with the big sacred monster Moogs it's just the Novation bass station II.
But I'm looking for a poly, I think that I'm going to buy the Prophet as Paolo suggested. You know: you can cry the first time (by spending a lot of moneys) and enjoy the rest of the times, or you can enjoy the first time by sparing a lot of moneys and cry the rest of the times.
The new prophet rev2 is not exactly like vintage ones but it's an amazing analog.
Enjoyed a lot, this breakdown. Sadly I don't have such a hardware set up but this is replicable on my software synthetic/sequencer.
Excellent! We want more italo-disco !!!
Hi Paolo.... how can i do with a synth without gate ports ? Thank you in advance and than you for share your tutorials
Maybe is this possible to do this straight from rimshot triggering? thanks
I use my drawer for injecting the virus into the background of my transients.
bom dia, tudo isso é importante para os músicos, mas eu não tenho condicçoes de comprar um teclado usado meia boca, que dirá uma gama desses sintetizadores. obrigado pelo video.
Hoping for another music session featuring you and your children!
And I'm sure it's easier now with a computer right?
She's very like you, you're daughter.
Your girlfriend is pretty.
which inputs/outputs do i connect to what? how do i configure it?
Drum pattern sounds like "Beat It"
can you be my dad too?
very cool!!!
sounds cool
I want more!
Didn't even touch the ams delay!
Dobule videos. And special guest!!
Hi, great tutorial again. Thanks. But what’s the patch setting for the MicroBrute?
is there any other gate effect I can buy that can do the same, but is a bit cheaper then the Drawmer DS201? Would it also work with this
DBX 166XS ?
Peter Rogge Alesis 3630 compressor. Goes for like $40 on Ebay. Put your tom (or whatever) into the sidechain input.
Love seeing your kids in your videos! :-)
Are you as well on Facebook ?
Just tried this out using my dbx "OverEasy" noise gate. Works really well!
Excellent tip, man ! Thanks so much for helping my answers, sir ! Your awesome and your tip are so cool and friendly ! I am a big fan of 80's and love Electronic, SynthPop-music !
My best regards to you, *Synthmania*
Greetings from: Los Angeles, CA
Thank you!
love your video's and she is cute
That a famous Juno patch or just some random string setting? It's incredible. I'm trying to replicate it with the tal-u-no-lx
can do this easier with a korg ea1
You have such great demos/tutorials.
Awesome .....80'
Trigger out, of course!
another great video
still wanting some videos on hardware hook ups and connecting and syncing thanks
Will a dbx 266xs do this job?
thnx again for the knowledge
Very nice video Paolo. How else would you send a signal to the drawmer if you don't have a TR707? And wouldn't you be able to accomplish the same effect with a sequencer, like the MSQ700?
You can use any "spikey" sound to trigger. A sequencer will give you a different effect - sequenced rather than gated / MIDI vs Audio. In theory they could sound similar / same, in reality, not so much. Different feel
Thank you. I was desperately looking for this technique
Perfect Vidéo as usual @SynthMania ! Thank you, Grace Rock !
Cool tip! 👽👍
Fun Fun, the exact name I wanted to hear you mention.
Very helpful, since I'm gonna have a go at Spanga's sound and music!
You're a treasure.
Happy Italo new year!
without gate better
Nice daughter 🙂
This is AWESOME! Thanks for your incredible videos!
This video makes me think of the gate arp that is on a lot of Korg products. A lot of people don't seem to like the gate arp, but it seems to do what you have shown here.
epic gears man
I have a general question for you. Have you ever heard of a disco song called Eletric Avenue? It would have came out in the middle 80's. Some of the disco beats called for at that time or that you use, reminds me of that song
Clifford Geiger but SynthMania took it higher.... Rawwwwwr....
Eddy Grant
I have been trying to find a stereo guitar pedal that does gating w/ key in. Only a few pedals offer this functionality, and they are in mono
Wow, another great classic trick from the sintetizzatore Maestro!!
Grazie mile. :) Always wondered how they did those classic arpeggios back in the 80s, now, I know!! LOL
Grace is reaaaaaally beautiful
Why do you think he used her to introduce the video lol.
That’s his kid you creeps
03:44 wow, i feel like in Front 242 - No shuffle... did they use the 707?
Great
Hi Tom!
That Juno60 sounds so good.
which newer alternative hardware would be comparable to the Drawmer Gate DS201?
The DS201 is still being manufactured and available brand new
The DS-501 with Peak Punch and frequency conscious gating was fun
woo
Paolo you're the best !!!
Hi Very interesting videos. I would like to know what were your setups on the Drawmer DS201.
Thank you
Woooooow!!! Such much to learn but so beautiful sounds... italo disco at its best. Great programming of this micro brute. Only one thing in this video more beautiful than the sound ;) Happy Easter!
Killer info and presentation, appreciate your references and knowledge
Suegroo
Steve Allen - "Letter From My Heart" (or if you prefer the Italian version, "Lei Balla Sola" by Fabio Vanni) is another classic example of this trick being used throughout the song 😊
Hehe, now we enter total vintage nostalgia territory, Celestino :🙃
i just checked this track out - or both of them - and can see the resemblance straight away, and in the process discovered two great Italo tracks, thanks!
They use exactly the same instrumental track, produced by famous Italo producer Mauro Malavasi. The Italian version was one of the runners up for the 1984 Sanremo Song Festival, without excessive success, then they anglicized it to try and crack the international market, and it became a reasonable hit in some countries.
PS another great example of this technique is also the intro to "Union of the Snake" by Duran Duran (Jupiter 8 gated with a Linn Drum if memory serves me right)
Very helpful videos. You did one that demonstrated a Blue Monday bouncy bass, using a TR707 (I think) to trigger an arppegiator on the synth. I've got an Ultranova and want to do similar stuff to this and other 80s stuff. Which drum machine would you recommend for it that is available today (not too expensive because it's only for home hobby use).
che bella!
More secrets of the trade! Thanks Paolo!
Are you using any other external hardware on the Juno? Or a VST plugin maybe? I hear something like a slight phaser on it.
So the DS201 takes in the juno audio outputs and the 707 trigger and directly modifies the audio output? Its not sending a trigger to the Juno, right?
The 707 is triggering the DS201's gate. The gate opens and closes quickly, and makes the audio from the Juno go out, or be blocked. There's no trigger sent to the Juno.
@@SynthManiaDotCom ahh, so the DS201 will work with any keyboard. Thanks for that clarification!!
@@RadFox1320 Yeah. It will gate the audio from any source - any keyboard, any drums, any guitar etc.