The Secret Weapon

Everything related to our favorite Scottish duo.

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Happy Cycler
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Okay, now someone on here asked what BoC's secret weapon was a bit ago. Now, forgive me if this is a repost! Really! I can't remember who posted this. I couldn't find it on here! If someone could? Awesome, but whatever. Here is what I found. Again if this is a repost, sorry.

YAMAHA CS-70M

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Sound Sample:

http://www.vintagesynth.com/audio/cs70m_mix.mp3

I mean it sounds dead on.

The CS70M is a great big powerful polyphonic analog synthesizer which belongs to Yamaha's excellent line of CS series synthesizers. Fat sounds, cutting leads and bubbly basses, the CS70M has 6 voices of polyphony each supported by 2 oscillators for a total of 12 analog VCO's! It's got very flexible LFO, envelope and filter controls all of which sound really nice and smooth. The VCF filter has its own independent envelope control as well.

Truly a lush sounding instrument that would please anyone looking for that J.M Jarre or Tangerine Dream sound. Other features include a 4 track polyphonic sequencer, a 5 octave keyboard with aftertouch sensitivity and external magnetic data card memory storage. With only a slim 30 preset sounds that are mediocre, this is the kind of synthesizer that begs you to grab its knobs and start editing (that could possibly explain its big flashy knobs and buttons).

All in all an excellent and large synthesizer that will make any synthesist happy! It has been used by Kajagoogoo. The next step up from this synth is Yamaha's CS-80 which is an eight voice monstrous beast quite similar to the CS70M. The CS70M is likely to be too large for anything more than studio use but if you can find one it is definitely worth a listen!

*EDIT* As I look back on this post I made I now realize that their statement about their "Secret Weapon" would be a way of recording and not a specific synth.
Last edited by polar sky on Tue Jun 10, 2014 8:07 pm, edited 5 times in total.

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Dayvan Cowboy
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hehehehe :twisted:

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Dayvan Cowboy
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that could be in their arsenal...i just think that is to obivious for this "secret weapon." however this the best guess i have seen anyone come up thus far...

Sherbet Head
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their "secret weapon" is fruityloops installed on an old amstrad 286

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Dayvan Cowboy
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i think it is the homemade ice cream machine they use to get their rotary sound...

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Happy Cycler
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Yeah, I want it.

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Sherbet Head
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here is the real secret weapon.........They are extremely talented musicians, with experimental leanings. I think folks forget that no matter what synths, ice cream machines, coffee makers, gongs, bongs, thongs, headphones, samplers, butter cherner, mousetrap, ninendo, chopstix, phonebooths they use, Boards of Canada first and formost are amazing musicians.

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Location: Canada..OMG!!!.. I like boc and live in canada, thats insane?!?
Yeah, we know that.. now, what's their secret weapon?
"And they shall plant vineyards, and drink the hwine of them" - teh orb

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Dayvan Cowboy
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hot coffee didn't they say? :wink:

and prob life outside of computers :lol: :wink:
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Friendly Stranger
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I believe their secret weapon that they refer too, is the old 70s shitty tape recorder that they bounce samples through...

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Dayvan Cowboy
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steve-o wrote:here is the real secret weapon.........They are extremely talented musicians, with experimental leanings. I think folks forget that no matter what synths, ice cream machines, coffee makers, gongs, bongs, thongs, headphones, samplers, butter cherner, mousetrap, ninendo, chopstix, phonebooths they use, Boards of Canada first and formost are amazing musicians.


This is the only good explanation. :D

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Happy Cycler
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steve-o wrote:here is the real secret weapon.........They are extremely talented musicians, with experimental leanings. I think folks forget that no matter what synths, ice cream machines, coffee makers, gongs, bongs, thongs, headphones, samplers, butter cherner, mousetrap, ninendo, chopstix, phonebooths they use, Boards of Canada first and formost are amazing musicians.


Oh shut the hell up :wink: I just posted this because they said they had a secret weapon, I thought this sounded like something they would use. It's a really nice synth. Of course they were most likely kidding around. Of course they're good musicians. I love the music I listen to cause it is good, it has a lot to with me and I'll make up my own mind what it is about. You don't have to get all, "I am a real musician who doesn't dig too deep to find the truth about the music, cause I am that damn good". Pfffff. You don't need to tell me they are good musicians. I know.

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Dayvan Cowboy
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They're also very good mathematicians.

I have the formulas for all their songs around here somewhere..

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Dayvan Cowboy
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I think the secret weapon is some old fucked up piece of equipment thats personal to them.

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Dayvan Cowboy
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red moon wrote:I believe their secret weapon that they refer too, is the old 70s shitty tape recorder that they bounce samples through...


Yeah, something like that.

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Location: Canada..OMG!!!.. I like boc and live in canada, thats insane?!?
or maybe they nuke music..stores..and.. steal the remains.. fuck..
"And they shall plant vineyards, and drink the hwine of them" - teh orb

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Awhile back, in one of their interviews, they mentioned a Grundig tape machine that they use. They said it has a sort of "magic eye" on it, and when you hit that magic eye at just the right level, it's at that exact spot that it is saturating the tape, and once they accomplish that they believe it's like "adding a thousand years grain to the audio."

Two examples of an old Grundig - The Grundig Technicolor:

Front
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Back or Side?
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Another Front
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Friendly Stranger
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Found the article.

From "Emotional Abuse" in December 2005 REMIX:

"Whether they're working separately or together, getting ideas down is generally a result of recording extended jams to tape on anything from a Tascam MSR-16 reel-to-reel to an old Revox recorder to a Grundig machine to an ordinary cassette.


“We love these low-quality tape machines,” Eoin says. “The great thing with machines such as the Grundig is that it's tragically bad. Whatever you record into it just doesn't come out unscathed. There's a ‘magic eye’ valve display on it, and when you hit the tape deck with the right volume, enough to fill out the magic eye, it's at that exact sweet spot that it is saturating the tape. So if you then sample back the playback, it's got a thousand years' grain on it.”

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Sherbet Head
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Hexagon_Son wrote:Awhile back, in one of their interviews, they mentioned a Grundig tape machine that they use. They said it has a sort of "magic eye" on it, and when you hit that magic eye at just the right level, it's at that exact spot that it is saturating the tape, and once they accomplish that they believe it's like "adding a thousand years grain to the audio."

Two examples of an old Grundig - The Grundig Technicolor:

Front
Image
Back or Side?
Image
Another Front
Image



Oooh no, I don't think so. I think they're refering to a reel-to-reel from the TK series of machines.

Something like this TK5 http://www.rolaa.de/sehensw/radio/tonband/tape1/tape1/tk5_e.htm

I couldn't find one with a good picture or description of the magic eye just now but there's loads of bumf on the web.

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Happy Cycler
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Yeah. This one is pretty cool too.

Image

It's on ebay.

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