Tue Feb 13, 2007 6:23 am
i guess that would be it, i really don't keep up with the track names unfortunately.
ehh, listening again i think there's four voices going. other than that i would almost swear that it was sequenced on a C64. if it's not, they're going a hell of a distance to make it seem like it is.
either way, i think this is the most interesting thing that's come up around here since last summer.
ehh, listening again i think there's four voices going. other than that i would almost swear that it was sequenced on a C64. if it's not, they're going a hell of a distance to make it seem like it is.
either way, i think this is the most interesting thing that's come up around here since last summer.
Tue Feb 13, 2007 7:12 am
I dunno. I think if they were using a C64 to sequence it, they'd be the kind of guys who would go a hell of a distance to make it not seem that way.
Sac sounds incredibly analog to me though. Plus, the way the first few notes are played, it's obvious it was done live because the timing isn't perfect.
Sac sounds incredibly analog to me though. Plus, the way the first few notes are played, it's obvious it was done live because the timing isn't perfect.
Tue Feb 13, 2007 9:23 am
yeah, that's the thing. most of the time it doesn't sound like typical stuff, but this is one that i thought sounded like a tip-off. it's not like you need to make it sound like everyone else.
'Sac' sounds analog? mmm, the SID is just about as anaolg as any Juno, ESQ, or other DCO synth. and i'll eat a spoonful of dirt if that's a real bass. (that's actually pretty fun of you to say...) that's one of the most obvious sequenced synth bass examples i've ever heard. a real bass?
'Sac' sounds analog? mmm, the SID is just about as anaolg as any Juno, ESQ, or other DCO synth. and i'll eat a spoonful of dirt if that's a real bass. (that's actually pretty fun of you to say...) that's one of the most obvious sequenced synth bass examples i've ever heard. a real bass?
Tue Feb 13, 2007 7:29 pm
No no. I didn't mean a real bass... a real analog synth bass, sure.
I dunno. I guess I'm just not hearing it the way you are. That's alright though. To each his own.
I dunno. I guess I'm just not hearing it the way you are. That's alright though. To each his own.
Tue Feb 13, 2007 7:39 pm
jbuonacc wrote:there's more examples for sure, but what are your thoughts on track number 16 off 'a few old tunes'? seriously. this is a pretty obvious example, but there's a lot of tracks that 'meet the criteria'to have been done on a C64. there's also a lot which utilize only two or three voices, which is a limitation of the C64 having only three oscillators to work with.
another thing is something i noticed in the Remix Magazine interview. it says:
"...Eoin and Sandison learned to play various musical instruments when they were children. Sandison formed a band and began making experimental tracks with old synths, drums and tape decks in 1980, when he was only nine years old. Influenced by television documentaries and soundtracks, particularly those by the National Film Board of Canada, Sandison named his band Boards of Canada. When Eoin became the band's bassist in 1986, Boards of Canada were mixing real instruments with computer effects and found sounds from radio and television broadcasts. Sandison dabbled with Super 8 home-movie visuals for the band early on, and by the late '80s, BoC were making full-length films accompanied by their own soundtracks."
first, how many 'old synths' do you think were available to a nine year old in 1980? there weren't even that many 'new synths' at the time, and this stuff wasn't cheap by any means. six years later they're working with computers. (please correct me if i'm way off here)
i would think that around this time the C64 was probably the most advanced and accessible computers for music at the time. not sure what other options there were at the time, but the C64 seems the most likely. an Atari 1040ST was about $1000 at the time, which could be pretty steep for a fifteen year old and his little brother. they may have been big into the C64 music scene around this time, seems it was even more popular in europe than over here.
again, could be a long shot but who knows... and really, what's more 'BoC' than this?
Have you ever thought of their parents. My mom bought me my first synth, my first guitar and my drums when I was around 15 (not all at the same time). You could have found old synths back then for sure! It could have been their parent's, you never know. As far as old synths, maybe he meant old to us now, but not then.
Tue Feb 13, 2007 9:22 pm
ahh, a played synth bass. makes sense now. could explain the fourth voice in the recording, but that's a bit of a stretch. the rest just sounds to me like it could easily be a SID composition. just the way it's structured, doesn't seem like something you'd come up with in a normal sequencing environment. ehh, i don't know. is 'Sac' an original song, or is the theme lifted from somewhere else?
hmm, synths from their parents... it's definitely a thought, i've imagined that they grew up in a 'musical' household/family as well. the thing is though, that there just weren't that many synths around in 1980 and even fewer that could be considered 'old'. i see what you're saying though, it's hard to see what was meant. could have been old organs or other keyboard instruments as well. around 1980 maybe a new SH or something could be had for maybe ~$500, but then again he was nine years old. i would imagine that by 1986 some of the more basic anaologs were a bit cheaper and easier to come by.
but for the computer, it would make sense to me for them to have been using a Commodore. maybe not? anyone here that was around at the time in their part of the world? any other computers that were popular for music in europe around 1986? the better Ataris and Amigas were just coming out and were probably pretty expensive. by this time the C64 was pretty well established in the music scene, and could even be used as a sampler. it's hard to say...
hmm, synths from their parents... it's definitely a thought, i've imagined that they grew up in a 'musical' household/family as well. the thing is though, that there just weren't that many synths around in 1980 and even fewer that could be considered 'old'. i see what you're saying though, it's hard to see what was meant. could have been old organs or other keyboard instruments as well. around 1980 maybe a new SH or something could be had for maybe ~$500, but then again he was nine years old.
i would imagine that by 1986 some of the more basic anaologs were a bit cheaper and easier to come by.
but for the computer, it would make sense to me for them to have been using a Commodore. maybe not? anyone here that was around at the time in their part of the world? any other computers that were popular for music in europe around 1986? the better Ataris and Amigas were just coming out and were probably pretty expensive. by this time the C64 was pretty well established in the music scene, and could even be used as a sampler. it's hard to say...
Tue Feb 13, 2007 10:03 pm
Hang on : the C64 certainly wasn't around in 1980. I was 3 at the time and seem to just remember the ZX80 being around maybe; think the C64 came a couple of years later, say 1984?
Tue Feb 13, 2007 10:27 pm
domco77 wrote:Hang on : the C64 certainly wasn't around in 1980. I was 3 at the time and seem to just remember the ZX80 being around maybe; think the C64 came a couple of years later, say 1984?
It came out in 82. Still pretty damned early though. Also, I don't think anything from the old tunes tapes dates back that far. I know A few Old Tunes says everything was taken from 1991-95. Not that they couldn't break the C64 back out for later recordings...
Tue Feb 13, 2007 11:15 pm
jbuonacc wrote:the thing is though, that there just weren't that many synths around in 1980 and even fewer that could be considered 'old'.
When the author of that article says "old synths" I really think they mean 'old' as compared to the synths of today, as opposed to being old for their time.
Tue Feb 13, 2007 11:28 pm
yeah, i wasn't thinking that they were using quite it that early. by 1986 though, i'm guessing the C64 was a huge sucess through europe. and nobody was doing too much music-wise with a z80, Apple, or even Atari compared to the C64 at this point. if they used it then and it became a valuable tool to them there's no reason why it couldn't be used still today (if this is the case). with a midi interface, the SID could be used just as any other synth controlled with a midi keyboard.
another thing that came to mind was the Sequential Six-Trak or something like it. playing around with the SID reminds me a lot of that synth, which i heard was based off the CEM3394 sound chip used in a lot of coin-op arcade games. not sure what other synths it was used in besides the SCI Max, MultiTrak, or Split-8 synths.
not questioning the 'band at age nine using old instruments' idea either, just that synthesizers in particular weren't so easy to come by at the time.
right on, i tried to imply that i understood what you were saying. even still, synths weren't exactly in abundance back then unless you were loaded. there were budget models though, so it's hard to say. maybe in 1990 i could see a kid finding a bunch of secondhand synths to use, but not in 1980. who knows...
another thing that came to mind was the Sequential Six-Trak or something like it. playing around with the SID reminds me a lot of that synth, which i heard was based off the CEM3394 sound chip used in a lot of coin-op arcade games. not sure what other synths it was used in besides the SCI Max, MultiTrak, or Split-8 synths.
not questioning the 'band at age nine using old instruments' idea either, just that synthesizers in particular weren't so easy to come by at the time.
Lawrence wrote:When the author of that article says "old synths" I really think they mean 'old' as compared to the synths of today, as opposed to being old for their time.
right on, i tried to imply that i understood what you were saying. even still, synths weren't exactly in abundance back then unless you were loaded. there were budget models though, so it's hard to say. maybe in 1990 i could see a kid finding a bunch of secondhand synths to use, but not in 1980. who knows...
Wed Feb 14, 2007 1:57 am
and on a possibly(??) related side-note, i see that 'Xentrix' was a UK-based Commodore 64 demo group. not sure if this means anything, but i don't think i've seen that brought up before.
Wed Feb 14, 2007 7:24 pm
whipped this up this morning, it's sort of in three parts in one track. the first two are the same sequence, i just used different voice settings for each. the third i just sort of tacked on, sounds pretty nice.
C64 running 'Instant Music' recorded as three clips in Live, then run through a filter, chorus, flanger, and reverb.
http://www.soundclick.com/util/downloadSong.cfm?ID=5003634&key=3AB04AAB-4
doesn't prove anything of course, but it's a bit interesting...
C64 running 'Instant Music' recorded as three clips in Live, then run through a filter, chorus, flanger, and reverb.
http://www.soundclick.com/util/downloadSong.cfm?ID=5003634&key=3AB04AAB-4
doesn't prove anything of course, but it's a bit interesting...
Wed Feb 14, 2007 7:58 pm
Pretty cool.
Mon Feb 19, 2007 4:47 am
another interesting thing i found is that 'Zoetrope' was a video software program for the Amiga computer, released around 1988...
here's some more info on what a Zoetrope actually is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoetrope
neat, i didn't know what that thing was called before. (sorry if this is common knowledge to everyone...)
here's some more info on what a Zoetrope actually is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoetrope
neat, i didn't know what that thing was called before. (sorry if this is common knowledge to everyone...)
Mon Apr 09, 2007 10:42 pm
Mon Apr 09, 2007 10:54 pm
reminiscent of skyliner almost
Tue Apr 10, 2007 7:46 pm
YELLOW wrote:reminiscent of skyliner almost
deffo.
Tue Apr 10, 2007 11:35 pm
Cynth3 kind of sounds like the melody at the end of Chromakey Dreamcoat, sort of...
Sun Mar 28, 2010 3:48 am
Just found this very old thread and all I can say is that people on this board are so stubborn sometimes.
It's obvious that the Cynthcart is part of BoC sound. It really could be their secret weapon. We all know that they don't stick to analog sound as they play with 12 bits samplers. And you can't get that Brian Eno type of sound without a digital synth.
Mr Jbuonacc must have been right about it.
Anyway...
It's obvious that the Cynthcart is part of BoC sound. It really could be their secret weapon. We all know that they don't stick to analog sound as they play with 12 bits samplers. And you can't get that Brian Eno type of sound without a digital synth.
Mr Jbuonacc must have been right about it.
Anyway...
Mon Mar 29, 2010 12:39 pm
jbuonacc wrote:ehh, listening again i think there's four voices going. other than that i would almost swear that it was sequenced on a C64. if it's not, they're going a hell of a distance to make it seem like it is...
They rec/arrange with Logic Pro, and their main sequencer is a MPC-1000.