MusicRadar

Everyone knows the synth riff from Jump, but what was it played on?

View in gallery

Just as there are classic guitar tones, certain synth sounds have passed into the public consciousness. MusicRadar celebrates some of the best-known synth moments in music history and reveals the tools and methods that were used to create them. You may not like some of these sounds, but you’ll almost certainly recognise them…

Pink Floyd - On the Run
All sequencing burbles and musique concrète, this synth workout is credited to the EMS VCS 3 on the liner notes for The Dark Side of the Moon, but it was actually made with the nearly identical Synthi AKS. The VCS 3 has no sequencer, y’see.

Aphex Twin - Windowlicker
It’s the worst kept secret in underground music. By now you probably know that a spectrographic analysis of the second of Windowlicker’s three tracks will reveal a portrait of Richard James himself! Indeed, the terrifically unmusical sound in question was created using U&I’s marvellous Metasynth.

Van Halen - Jump
It may have shocked and dismayed metal fans, but Eddie Van Halen’s instantly recognisable brassy, ballsy synth intro sent the band straight into the mainstream pop charts. It’s well known that it was played on Oberheim’s pricey OBXa.

R2-D2
How can a series of indecipherable electronic bleeps and belches say so much? Sound effects man Ben Burtt initially used a combination of ARP 2600 and his own voice to generate the lovable droid’s squeaks and squawks. In the later movies, a Kyma was brought in to recreate the classic sound for the modern age.