anyone care to speculate on BoC's gear, software, etc?

Fri Apr 21, 2006 7:13 am

it's always been quite a mystery as far as i've seen, anyone know (or even care) what the guys use to make their tunes?

i've heard they used Akai s1000 samplers, is this confirmed? i've heard maybe a Roland SH-101 mono synth among other things, but who knows. any ideas? live pics (if there's any out there) might give some insight.

one thing i've been thinking about is that it sounds like they've made more of a jump to using software on the newer material, any ideas on which apps? any chance they're using Ableton Live lately? listening to some newer stuff and remixes this evening it sounds a bit like they're maybe using the 'sample offset' feature in Live, but there's plenty of ways to go about this.

not that i'm looking to go out and buy the gear that they've used (i've had a ton of synths, etc over the years and am quite happy with my Nord G2), but we all obsess over everything else as it is, maybe we can talk about their gear a bit...

Fri Apr 21, 2006 8:38 am

They've never mentioned a specific synth in interviews but the SH-101 is a definite as far as I'm concerned. I've got an mc-202 which has the same cicuitry as the 101 and I can get a whole host of BOC sounds out of it. Most satisfyingly the Roygbiv bassline.

As for other synths my guess is some sort of analogue polysynth, probably a Yamaha CS-60. I read somewhere that they used a Prophet VS but only in that one place.

I don't know much about electric pianos but they seem to have one.

They are listed on the Native Instruments site as using their stuff. I seem to remeber people saying it was Absynth they were using.

This interview has quite a bit of detail http://fredd-e.narfum.org/boc/interviews/#remixmag

And there was another one more recently where they talk about recording more and mention a Tascam reel-to-reel and a Grundg tape machine. I can't find that anymore though.

Fri Apr 21, 2006 9:06 am

They also use Logic Audio "more or less like a cassette-recorder" (german Groove Magazin interview,winter 2005).

Fri Apr 21, 2006 3:12 pm

I remember one of them saying that they use hardware samplers quite a bit rather than computers. There's some interesting info in this more recent Remix interview :-

http://remixmag.com/mag/remix_emotional ... index.html

Sat Apr 22, 2006 5:56 pm

Great interview Deadfly, good find!

Sun Apr 23, 2006 4:18 pm

ive read a few years ago that their 'secret weapon' was actually a yamaha cs-70m synthesizer that has a reputation of being huge and rare.

listen to some samples here:
http://www.vintagesynth.com/yamaha/cs70m.shtml

as a producer myself, i have a vst plugin which emulates the cs-80 model and even though not being analog, it sure does have a lot of boc familiar sounds.

Sun Apr 23, 2006 7:17 pm

Uncanny - that demo contains some familiar sounds from OSTRE...most of the sounds have a real BOC vibe to them.

Sun Apr 23, 2006 8:00 pm

a tascam reel-to-reel, arent they like HUGE big things?

my first recording equipment was a tascam porta one, it strapped on to you if you wanted and had four tracks but you could easliy bounce a few up, was great that, wonder if its still in the loft? might get one for Kitty.

Sun Apr 23, 2006 9:07 pm

nny wrote:ive read a few years ago that their 'secret weapon' was actually a yamaha cs-70m synthesizer that has a reputation of being huge and rare.

listen to some samples here:
http://www.vintagesynth.com/yamaha/cs70m.shtml

as a producer myself, i have a vst plugin which emulates the cs-80 model and even though not being analog, it sure does have a lot of boc familiar sounds.

Oh, yes, CS70, not CS60, sorry. I've got the CS80V as well and I agree there's and definite ring to it...

Mon Apr 24, 2006 7:55 am

a tascam reel-to-reel, arent they like HUGE big things?

No,a Tascam MSR16 is a 1/2 inch semiprofessional tapemachine from the mid/end-eighties, with a strange noise reduction system called dbx.It's size is like a normal home-tapemachine,not compareble to a profi studio reel-to-reel machine like the studer's or otari's...

Tue Apr 25, 2006 8:55 pm

...and they use a Korg M1 Workstation Synthesizer,released in 1988. For example listen to Amo Bishop Roden (Strings) and The Beach at Redpoint (Choir and Chord Patches) .

Fri Apr 28, 2006 12:26 pm

The Korg MS-20 and/or MS-10 seem a distinct possibility as Boards' so-called 'secret weapon'. Even before the doppler-esque tape post-production, it has a stunning, analogue cadence to it.

Sat Apr 29, 2006 9:10 am

BunnyRabbit wrote:Oh, yes, CS70, not CS60, sorry. I've got the CS80V as well and I agree there's and definite ring to it...

Had a play with the demo of this last night. I see what you mean. Lovely sounds. I'm trying to justify getting the full version when I can't really use it alongside Reason.