Neil Young: "Sample And Hold" / Sennheiser Vocoder VSM201

[sthodson]

Hair: Blond

Eyes: Blue

Weight: 110

Disposition: Even

Mood: Rotary Adjustable!!!

[sthodson]

Great version of this song. Is it the original album version? I've been listening to the version on Grooveshark and it didn't sound this good! ....my understanding of the term Sample and Hold is that its a technical term used for a certain electronic circuit configuration...obviously, from the song title, Neil appropriated the term and used it to his own clever effect to sing and describe emotions normally associated with human relationships and human attributes...a dual meaning of sorts!

[VoiceEncoder]

@sthodson This version is from the CD 'Lucky Thirteen'. I have both the CD and the vinyl album 'Trans' but am out-of-town so I don't know if they're the same, or not. The lengths are similar, but I don't think they're the same version. I think there are some minor differences between the two.

[VoiceEncoder]

@sthodson I suppose I, you, or someone could check Discogs to see if they're the same, or not.

[sthodson]

Hi

[VoiceEncoder]

@sthodson Hi

[sthodson]

This a great version of this song! ....also, I think its hilarious and subtle clever that there are only three continually rotating images....great job on the minimalist front!

[VoiceEncoder]

@sthodson Thanks!!

[VoiceEncoder]

@sthodson I blew-it on the vocoder (I thought for sure it was the Moog since it has a switch labelled "Sample/Hold" and the song is called "Sample and Hold". Turns-out that it's actually the Sennheiser Vocoder.

[KeeganAlexander88]

Anyone able to fill me in on what is meant by the Mk1/Mk2 in the title of this vid? I've seen it elsewhere and tried to figure out what it meant, to no avail.

[VoiceEncoder]

@KeeganAlexander88 As with some other of the classic vintage analog vocoders most-notably the Roland VP-330 Vocoder Plus and the EMS Vocoder 2000 this the Sennheiser Vocoder VSM201 also had two versions called the Mk1 or MkI and the Mk2 or MkII. The difference is the Mk2 has a switch that the Mk1 doesn't.

[KeeganAlexander88]

@VoiceEncoder Awesome, thank you kindly! :)

[VoiceEncoder]

@KeeganAlexander88 You're welcome!

[KURTIS19801]

i think neil young sings ever genre of music possible watch out soon he will coming out with a rap album!

he is very talented for making such a ricky move in a time when this music wasnt very popular and in my opinion he did it .........great!

[Sarc37]

This is the only Neil Young album I like.

[woodhd]

pretty sure it was definitely the moog

[VoiceEncoder]

@woodhd NO! It IS the Sennheiser!!! After 'response007' told me I went to my copy of 'How to Wreck a Nice Beach' by Dave Tompkins and it clearly stated that it was the Sennheiser. A guy named Kai Kruse drove-up from LA to Half-Moon Bay and sold his VSM201 to Mr. Neil Young. Then I put on some headphones and gave a real good listen to all the vocoder songs and realized that it wasn't the Moog...but in fact the Sennheiser after-all!!!!

People only thought (myself included) that it was the Moog...

[VoiceEncoder]

@woodhd...because it has a switch labelled "Sample/Hold" and the song here "Sample and Hold". Still others might think it has to do with the ARP synths. It really has to do with this en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Sample_and_hold ! This just goes to show that just because an instrument has something on it that is similar to a song title...it doesn't mean the song has anything to do with the instrument!!

[VoiceEncoder]

Sennheiser Vocoder VSM201!!!

[VoiceEncoder]

WHAT THE FUCK...the Sennheiser Vocoder and NOT the Moog Vocoder?!?!

[response007]

Sennheiser Vocoder VSM201, NOT the Moog 16-Channel Vocoder that I and others erroneously believed!!!

[response007]

I also thought for sure that it was the Moog Vocoder...but I read in Dave Tompkin's book 'How to Wreck a Nice Beach' that it is the Sennheiser Vocoder VSM201!!!

[Bacopa68]

This album horrified Neil Young's fanbase, but as a young teen I thought it was the most cool thing ever that an old guy could beat the synth poppers at their own game.

[Teddyb1939]

Neil Young doesn`t need this trickery sound to enhance his music but as with everything he does it turns out great. Good to see on the Berlin album, Nils Lofgren a good collaboration.

[computron808]

@Teddyb1939 What are u talkin about trickery? A vocoder is trickery?? So u think there is sumthing wrong with running vocals thru sum type of a fx processor or a filter??

[Jarren202]

Really good track. Somewhat reminds me of Giorgio Moroder.

[VoiceEncoder]

@Jarren202 They both used the same brand/model of vocoder...the Moog 16-Channel MBVO 327A Vocoder as seen here: E817rpX-PoU

[Jarren202]

@VoiceEncoder Ah cool! Thanks for the information. It reminds me of Giorgio's "From Here To Eternity" album.

[VoiceEncoder]

@Jarren202 You're welcome! The Moog Vocoder is the vocoder featured on the "E=Mc2" album. The vocoder featured on the "From Here to Eternity" album is the EMS Vocoder 1000 or 2000.

[Jarren202]

@VoiceEncoder Wow, so Giorgio used different ones! Do you know what Bruce Haack used for his track "Electric To Me Turn"?

[VoiceEncoder]

@Jarren202 I haven't heard that track...but I'm guessing he used the one he built himself. BIdkfs.

[computron808]

@VoiceEncoder  Bldkfs ???

[VoiceEncoder]

@computron808 But I don't know for sure!!

[response007]

@VoiceEncoder Actually Neil used the Sennheiser Vocoder!!!!

[bjunt4prez]

oh my this just so does it for me

[VoiceEncoder]

@bjunt4prez Me too!!

[johnnyfever2]

there is only ONE Neil Young!!!!!!!!!!!! what a gift to the planet!!

[HurtStrings]

Funny... I came across this song because I was doing a colllege proyect about Analod to Digital converters... and I was searching for information about Sample and Hold's . Its actually pretty cool!

[paulajenkins1]

I was around when it came out so obviously i am very old or odd but it is one of the best tracks i have ever heard

[paulajenkins1]

I was around when it came out so obviously i am very od but it is one of the best tracks i have ever heard

[poutypufferfish]

I need a unit to sample and hold. <3

I love Trans, I can't believe so many people hate it.

[VoiceEncoder]

@poutypufferfish Neither can I.

[Jupitersgoose]

If the fu***** wank american government have nothing better to do than spy on people posting on music videos, s*** my c**k ya tossers

[Jupitersgoose]

gonna have to bypass my last comment...which wasnt bad.... I just sid I loved this album in post c o l d w a r Britian and it got censored...sh** man, thats scary.

[Jupitersgoose]

I read so much sci-fi at the time (and still do ) this just fu***** blew me off the planet, thank god for that as well as life in the post cold war was geting boring as hell.

[HipTJ]

Thanks! I have looking for this longer "Lucky 13" version for a while.

I dig nearly everything Neil. My favorate is the spookyness of 'On The Beach' but this is also great. I remember when 'Trans' came out and the massive backlash. I don't understand fully why other than people were, of course, thinking he was going to stay in his box and do 'Harvest' or 'Zuma' forever. Yet, 'Trans' in many ways, has dated better. I love artists that take chances, and Neil is a king of that!

[89naturegirl]

Trans was brilliant

[Landotter1]

No one puts as much distortion on a guitar as Neil Young!!!! GREAAAAAAT!!!! Rock-on Neil!!! Saw the Trans concert on HBO in the 80's... Wish they'd put it on DVD... Oh well, memory will have to serve me but it is fading.....

[lupgaru65]

The whole album is great...

[cbmccarthy]

Disposition: Even

Mood Code: Rotary Adjustable

Just brilliant! Maybe one of the top 5 Neil Young songs...

[Stallion0157]

This isn't the same version that's on my copy of trans, extended mix?

[VoiceEncoder]

@Stallion0157 This is from the CD (album) "Lucky Thirteen".

[californiacamera]

Thanks for putting this up. A shocking but entrancing song when I heard it back in the 80s, but ahead of its time. Now, we have synthetic life invented and robots that play the violin.

Neil Young has put out an amazing variety and quantity of music. Hard to believe there was a time I only thought he was the Y in CSNY.

[anejako]

i dont know why this album gets so much disrespect, this is a really nice song and it is very prescient

[whalerofthestars]

@anejako the whole album is great. :)

i was a big synth fan AND a big NY fan for a long time before I found out about this album. It was a dream come true.

[xnonsuchx]

Even though the Moog Vocoder (which is somewhat of a dupe of one by Bode) is pictured, I think Neil used the Roland SVC-350 on the album.

[VoiceEncoder]

@xnonsuchx No he used this. Others have said so too. Plus it doesn't sound like the SVC-350, it sounds like the Moog because it is the Moog (of course so does the Bode). Also the title for the song "Sample and Hold" is a clue to the fact that it's the Moog (that's why we know it's the Moog and not the Bode). I have an SVC-350 and it doesn't sound anything like this.

[xnonsuchx]

@VoiceEncoder - Hmmm...it was a long time ago, so I guess I mis-remembered. Come to think of it, the SVC-350 is a bit 'thinner'-sounding if I remember THAT right. ;-)

[VoiceEncoder]

@xnonsuchx NO the SVC-350 is VERY-PHAT!!! You can listen to it here: youtube. com/user/VoiceEncoder#grid/use­r/2D5BF5D2860E268F

All the classic analog vocoders are fat-sounding, it's the new digital ones that are thin. The thinnest is the Sennheiser, imho.

[response007]

@VoiceEncoder This actually IS the Sennheiser Vocoder VSM201!!! Like you I was also in error in believing it to be the Moog 16-Channel Vocoder!! But I read in Dave Tompkins book 'How to Wreck a Nice Beach' that it is INDEED the Sennheiser Vocoder.

[VoiceEncoder]

@response007 Thanks for correcting me!!

[response007]

@VoiceEncoder You're welcome!

[VoiceEncoder]

@VoiceEncoder I guess the Sennheiser isn't as thin-sounding (in-fact it too is quite phat) as I had thought. It's thinness comes from using its own tinny internal-oscillator.

[response007]

@VoiceEncoder This is the Sennheiser, NOT the Moog!!!

[response007]

@xnonsuchx He actually used the Sennheiser.

[Sirveaux]

I need a unit to sample and hold.

[bsodfc]

@Sirveaux But not the lonely one; a new design, new design.....