The Ensoniq VFX/VFX-SD: THE Old-Tunes-And-Beyond Era Sound

Everything related to our favorite Scottish duo.

Moderators: mdg, Mexicola, 2020k, Fredd-E, Aesthetics

User avatar
Boqurant
Status: Offline
Posts: 82
Joined: 29 Jun 2020
Location: San Francisco Bay Area, California
This synth, or at least one from the lineup (VFX, VFX-SD, SD-1) is for sure what they used in a handful of Old Tunes tracks (199X to 1996?). A completely digital synth. Nothing pops out to me enough that I can say it has been used in any of the studio album tracks beyond EYDIAB.

Everything You Do Is A Balloon (Saw-O-Life preset, "-x" patch selection):
phpBB [media]


Xander 2 (Saw-O-Life preset, "--" and "xx" patch selection):
phpBB [media]


Mukinabaht (Saw-O-Life preset, "-x" patch selection:
phpBB [media]


Mansel/Skimming Stones (Either Lush-Strngs or Swellstrngs presets):
phpBB [media]


A14 (custom patch using the "Ocarina" wave sample):

https://soundcloud.com/user-173148214/a ... al_sharing
Image ImageImage

User avatar
Sherbet Head
Status: Offline
Posts: 672
Joined: 15 Feb 2015
Location: ØØ Confusion ØØ
We did it!! Well ... you did it. You did it!!
i'M aLSo SerViNG tHEsTATpOW a wARnINg

User avatar
Posts Quantity
Status: Offline
Posts: 115
Joined: 7 Oct 2020
Holy smokes oliveoil... this is great. What a nice synth.

User avatar
Posts Quantity
Status: Offline
Posts: 134
Joined: 30 Jul 2021
Location: Europa
Great uploads! Thank you.
1986 Summer Fire

User avatar
Posts Quantity
Status: Offline
Posts: 132
Joined: 2 Aug 2024
Location: South America
EYDIAB live remake when?
You’re always on a war with yourself, you’re just used to it.

User avatar
Friendly Stranger
Status: Offline
Posts: 44
Joined: 13 Apr 2013
Location: Canada
Very cool. 3:11 in this video sounds just like 5d.

phpBB [media]

User avatar
Dayvan Cowboy
Status: Offline
Posts: 1402
Joined: 23 Aug 2017
Location: planet daz
Now this is the stuff I like to see :)
Image
In here is a tragedy, art thou player or audience?
Be as it may, the end doth remain:
all go on only toward death.
...
There is nothing which cannot become a puppet of fate
or an onlooker, peering into the cage.

Rodox Head

User avatar
Eagle Minded
Status: Offline
Posts: 399
Joined: 26 Apr 2013
Cool to hear the EYDIAB sound! It blew me away when i discovered the mansel patch while messing around with the VFX i had for a little while.

User avatar
Eagle Minded
Status: Offline
Posts: 466
Joined: 21 Oct 2017
Location: Cold Earth
Love this. Thanks for sharing!

User avatar
Eagle Minded
Status: Offline
Posts: 424
Joined: 9 Dec 2019
Woah! Great find!!

User avatar
Boqurant
Status: Offline
Posts: 87
Joined: 28 Aug 2013
Everything You Do Is A Balloon synth is half-square, half-saw with a low-pass filter if you want to recreate it in modern synths

User avatar
Sherbet Head
Status: Offline
Posts: 508
Joined: 21 Mar 2006
Location: Scotland
I know nothing about synths or creating music, but this is very cool. Well done.

User avatar
Boqurant
Status: Offline
Posts: 87
Joined: 28 Aug 2013
Just wondering if you found the skimming stones synth sound on this synth?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3xuqbm52fg

User avatar
Boqurant
Status: Offline
Posts: 82
Joined: 29 Jun 2020
Location: San Francisco Bay Area, California
dana wrote:Just wondering if you found the skimming stones synth sound on this synth?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3xuqbm52fg


If you're talking about the lead, that one is probably an SH-101 being passed through flanger, delay etc.
Image ImageImage

User avatar
Eagle Minded
Status: Offline
Posts: 390
Joined: 28 Apr 2013
Holy god damn fuckin shit, I've been wanting to know what synth they used for the EYDIAB strings since the day Hi Scores was released in 1996. Thanks so much for posting this. :)

Could this be the 'secret weapon' I wonder.

User avatar
Eagle Minded
Status: Offline
Posts: 399
Joined: 26 Apr 2013
Wildfire wrote:Holy god damn fuckin shit, I've been wanting to know what synth they used for the EYDIAB strings since the day Hi Scores was released in 1996. Thanks so much for posting this. :)

Could this be the 'secret weapon' I wonder.


Nah, the VFX wasnt released until 1989, a year after they supposedly bought the secret weapon for 100 quid on a bus. (sh-101? :D )

User avatar
Boqurant
Status: Offline
Posts: 82
Joined: 29 Jun 2020
Location: San Francisco Bay Area, California
ParticleGhost wrote:
Wildfire wrote:Holy god damn fuckin shit, I've been wanting to know what synth they used for the EYDIAB strings since the day Hi Scores was released in 1996. Thanks so much for posting this. :)

Could this be the 'secret weapon' I wonder.


Nah, the VFX wasnt released until 1989, a year after they supposedly bought the secret weapon for 100 quid on a bus. (sh-101? :D )


I think it is in fact the CZ-101. By that time I think it would have been at the value that it could've bought off of someone on a bus to be honest, lol. Will make a post about that synth down the line, I own it as well and it has the flute preset used in a lot of places:
phpBB [media]
Image ImageImage

User avatar
Boqurant
Status: Offline
Posts: 83
Joined: 3 May 2020
oliveoil22 wrote:
ParticleGhost wrote:
Wildfire wrote:Holy god damn fuckin shit, I've been wanting to know what synth they used for the EYDIAB strings since the day Hi Scores was released in 1996. Thanks so much for posting this. :)

Could this be the 'secret weapon' I wonder.


Nah, the VFX wasnt released until 1989, a year after they supposedly bought the secret weapon for 100 quid on a bus. (sh-101? :D )


I think it is in fact the CZ-101. By that time I think it would have been at the value that it could've bought off of someone on a bus to be honest, lol. Will make a post about that synth down the line, I own it as well and it has the flute preset used in a lot of places:
phpBB [media]


Chiming in to say that I've always had a suspicion that the Casio phase distortion synths are the true secret weapon. They confirmedly own a CZ-101, as it's been seen at live gigs being used as a controller. In my own findings, the CZ-101 produces some of the saddest sounds of all time...like a cheap broken toy that wants so desperately to be a real synth. Not to mention, the flute sounds it's capable of producing are legendary, and through a couple iterations of resampling, I've previously achieved some very Geogaddi-esque tones with ease.

User avatar
Sherbet Head
Status: Offline
Posts: 532
Joined: 18 Mar 2011
Location: north woods
Chiming in to say that I've always had a suspicion that the Casio phase distortion synths are the true secret weapon. They confirmedly own a CZ-101, as it's been seen at live gigs being used as a controller. In my own findings, the CZ-101 produces some of the saddest sounds of all time...like a cheap broken toy that wants so desperately to be a real synth. Not to mention, the flute sounds it's capable of producing are legendary, and through a couple iterations of resampling, I've previously achieved some very Geogaddi-esque tones with ease.


the CZ-5000 on the other hand...

phpBB [media]

Return to Boards of Canada

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests