The Secret Weapon

[Wildfire]

I'm 99% certain it's their Yamaha AN1X, an incredible sounding and flexible virtual analogue, used extensively on most of their earlier productions.

[747Music]

I'm 99% certain it's their Yamaha AN1X, an incredible sounding and flexible virtual analogue, used extensively on most of their earlier productions.

Possibly, ya.

[bendu]

Arturia has add-on preset packs available for their collection of vintage synth emulations. Recently they released a pack called "Canada Board Tribute." Seems like a good idea - they have a version of a Yamaha CS80, Roland Jupiter 8, Moog Minimoog etc. Oddly enough all the presets in the tribute are for their emulation of the Fairlight CMI. Seems completely wrong.

https://www.arturia.com/v-collection/v-collection-presets

Or is it? The CMI was super expensive when it was introduced but they reportedly had problems with reliability and other cheaper/smaller samplers took the market away from Fairlight. I bet at a certain point in time (specifically the early 90's) you could buy a CMI very cheaply. The difficult part of owning one would be to get it functioning again. The CMI has a sequencer and some fairly unique sample processing capabilities (and a low bit-rate) that define it's 'sound.'

phpBB [media]

I am aware that the brothers have mentioned that they used various Akai samplers. So I'm probably wrong, but I believe that the CMI could be their secret.

[747Music]

They got their secret weapon in the 80s, on a bus. I don't think someone had a CMI on the bus. Check out my post on the previous page, it's the last post.

[Evenflow]

The secret weapon is a synth. They said it was a synth. They also said Mike bought it from a friend on a bus for 100 bucks..

Do you have a source for this info ?
Very interesting

[Evenflow]

I'm 99% certain it's their Yamaha AN1X, an incredible sounding and flexible virtual analogue, used extensively on most of their earlier productions.

How do you know this and why do you think it's true ?
Do you have any sources for this info ?
Wow what a fascinating mystery this is .

[Evenflow]

well,what if it wasn't pitch that they was actually modulating,and it was rather a by-product of a process that just happens to affect the "pitch"of sounds when you manipulate them/it a certain way?
https://clyp.it/4505jd2s

Can you give detail to this process ?
Since you mentioned FM synthisis I assume you mean manipulating the operators , not sure, Wildfire also mentioned Yamaha AN1X
which I believe is a FM synth but not sure how many operators .

[747Music]

The secret weapon is a synth. They said it was a synth. They also said Mike bought it from a friend on a bus for 100 bucks..

Do you have a source for this info ?
Very interesting

http://bocpages.org/wiki/Official_Biographies#imusic.com

1988: michael bought what he now describes as the band's "secret weapon" synth from a friend for £100 whilst travelling on a bus.

[bendu]

They got their secret weapon in the 80s, on a bus. I don't think someone had a CMI on the bus. Check out my post on the previous page, it's the last post.

To be fair, your post doesn't mention a date. But if you're accurate with the date then I'm wrong.

It still doesn't make sense why Arturia, given all the analog/subtractive style choices in their soft synth collection would make the 'Canada Boards Tribute' for their CMI plugin. Do you have a guess?

[747Music]

They got their secret weapon in the 80s, on a bus. I don't think someone had a CMI on the bus. Check out my post on the previous page, it's the last post.

To be fair, your post doesn't mention a date. But if you're accurate with the date then I'm wrong.

It still doesn't make sense why Arturia, given all the analog/subtractive style choices in their soft synth collection would make the 'Canada Boards Tribute' for their CMI plugin. Do you have a guess?

My best guess would be that BoC are awesome, use vintage synths including Arturia synths and have fans in the company.

The date is listed as 1988 that Mike bought it.

[Torn n Frayed]

well,what if it wasn't pitch that they was actually modulating,and it was rather a by-product of a process that just happens to affect the "pitch"of sounds when you manipulate them/it a certain way?
https://clyp.it/4505jd2s

Can you give detail to this process ?
Since you mentioned FM synthisis I assume you mean manipulating the operators , not sure, Wildfire also mentioned Yamaha AN1X
which I believe is a FM synth but not sure how many operators .

If it was purchased in 1988 it can't be the AN1X since that came out in the later 90's during the Virtual Analog craze.

[Casiotone]

Given that they bought it in 1988, for only 100 dollars, on a bus, I imagine it would be a cheaper monosynth from the early 80s. I think its most likely the SH-101, given all that, even though its not that secret of an instrument. They've used it on every record extensively.

[Zentai]

Ok assuming the story about the bus in 1988 is true and that it is a synth and it was $100.

We know that in 1988 was the heyday of digital synths and there prices were up above $100 by several multiples.
We know that in 1988 the an1x, whilst being a wonderful synth did not exist.

So we are looking at analogues, so the sh 101 is a good candidate, but it is hardly a secret weapon.

The truth is the secret weapon has already been mentioned here in this thread on page 8 or earlier. It is the Yamaha cs 70m . When tomorrows harvest was released the bleep website (which was started by the boc record label warp) clearly mentioned the cs 70m in their blurb promoting the album as the "trademark". You can see the original quote below which is also earlier in this thread. These are the people who would know what boc uses, they would have been with them at early live sets and have probably been invited to there studio at least once.

This information was probably released naively without permission from the band hence why the blurb for the album was revised fairly early on to hide this information.

"Boards Of Canada return with their highly anticipated new album on Warp. Falling somewhere between the enigmatic sprawl of 'Music Has The Right To Children' and the otherworldly 'Geogaddi', "Sick Times" layers their trademark Yamaha CS-70s over an intricate beat, while the swirling hi-hats of "Collapse" are made dark and eerie. First single "Reach For The Dead" is transcendent, a song of rich and stirring emotion. 'Tomorrow's Harvest' is an accomplished album, worth every minute of its seven year wait."


Mystery over.

[Casiotone]

I don't think a 5 octave polyphonic analog synthesizer with full sized keys and would be carried by most people on the bus, much less traded on one. Maybe their secret weapon isn't even a full keyboard. It could be one of their samplers or even effect pedals, a midiverb 1 perhaps?

[ParticleGhost]

a midiverb 1 perhaps?

i doubt it, those things arent really that special lol. I'm going with the sh-101.

[Mexicola]

Bontempi organ. I'll have to delete this post in a bit, before MDG sees it.

[Wildfire]

I'm 99% certain it's their Yamaha AN1X, an incredible sounding and flexible virtual analogue, used extensively on most of their earlier productions.

How do you know this and why do you think it's true ?
Do you have any sources for this info ?
Wow what a fascinating mystery this is .

Well we know they definitely have one because it featured in the live set photos as their master controller keyboard. I actually have one and I have to say it's pretty easy to get some very BOCish sounds out of it, this guy however takes it to a new level....

phpBB [media]

I wouldn't be surprised if they bought one for £100 (although it's a very good deal, maybe some things not working on it that would be restored). The SH101 just seems to obvious to be their secret weapon, but yeah maybe I'm wrong!

[Wildfire]

Mystery over.

Ah, I didn't know it was 1988 they bought it, in that case definitely not the An1X I guess! There goes my theory.

[747Music]

Ok assuming the story about the bus in 1988 is true and that it is a synth and it was $100.

We know that in 1988 was the heyday of digital synths and there prices were up above $100 by several multiples.
We know that in 1988 the an1x, whilst being a wonderful synth did not exist.

So we are looking at analogues, so the sh 101 is a good candidate, but it is hardly a secret weapon.

The truth is the secret weapon has already been mentioned here in this thread on page 8 or earlier. It is the Yamaha cs 70m . When tomorrows harvest was released the bleep website (which was started by the boc record label warp) clearly mentioned the cs 70m in their blurb promoting the album as the "trademark". You can see the original quote below which is also earlier in this thread. These are the people who would know what boc uses, they would have been with them at early live sets and have probably been invited to there studio at least once.

This information was probably released naively without permission from the band hence why the blurb for the album was revised fairly early on to hide this information.

"Boards Of Canada return with their highly anticipated new album on Warp. Falling somewhere between the enigmatic sprawl of 'Music Has The Right To Children' and the otherworldly 'Geogaddi', "Sick Times" layers their trademark Yamaha CS-70s over an intricate beat, while the swirling hi-hats of "Collapse" are made dark and eerie. First single "Reach For The Dead" is transcendent, a song of rich and stirring emotion. 'Tomorrow's Harvest' is an accomplished album, worth every minute of its seven year wait."


Mystery over.

I wouldn't say "Mystery over." But I'd say that's probably our best bet.

I still wouldn't entirely rule out the SH101, though.
We say the SH101 is not a secret now, but it wasn't given the title of "secret weapon" recently. It may still be that it's a secret weapon in that it's how they utilize it. As I'd mentioned on the last page, the SH101's filter could be it. It can do some astonishingly beautiful things to sounds. Receiving audio from a sampler and processing the sound with it's filter could be the trick that makes the filter itself the real secret weapon.

[747Music]

I don't think a 5 octave polyphonic analog synthesizer with full sized keys and would be carried by most people on the bus, much less traded on one. Maybe their secret weapon isn't even a full keyboard. It could be one of their samplers or even effect pedals, a midiverb 1 perhaps?

The quote says "...the band's "secret weapon" synth..."