In the beginning I believe that the sounds are synthesized...but at 1:02 when the whistling starts it sounds way to natural...why dont you upload some sound where you do some knob moves...youll get your 5 stars if you show that it is no fake...
Ken is an absolute master at not only creating sounds, but also at using the needed performance and orchestration techniques to create synthesized music that can often perfectly mimic traditional 'acoustic' music!
You can add &fmt=18 to the end of most tracks to get a higher quality file. Some of them you can add &fmt=22 to get an even higher quality file, but that apparently doesn't work all the time. The 18 one worked on this one. Sounds pretty dang nice.
If I didn't know this was done by a synth, I might think this sounded a little weird, but I would think filter, not synth. Very nice audio.
I've come across lot's of other videos on youtube that say to use &fmt=18 to get the stereo version, and sometimes they provide a direct link with that already added, and I have never gotten stereo from it, and that includes this video. I don't know why youtube is excluding only me from using that feature. I've had it with youtube B.S. and am going to use a different site for my stereo videos and then put little intro videos on youtube to direct people elsewhere. Ridiculous it's come to this.
This video used to be in HI-FI STEREO, now apparently damn Youtube has gone back and is converting stereo videos to lo-fi mono. For high quality stereo you can listen to the MP3 at this link provided in the video info section to the right --->
I program synthesizers for the last 20 years and I'm not so easily impressed. If many can criticize you for doing "what already has been done" (Bach on W.S. style), I must say that this was a remarkable job. I already heard good comments on the Andromeda, but I had no idea that it could sound that warm - and most of all, that was a fine work of sound design and programming, and wonderful performance. We know that even a Jupiter-8 can sound crap in the wrong hands. Score 10 out of 10.
To ermineviolin. Yes those instruments already exist, but I don't own or know how to play them all. Probably nobody in the world does either. Thus I use a synth which can do whatever I want as the only practical alternative. Other's cheat by using samples, but that doesn't demonstrate any kind of sound creation or programming skill, nor distinguish them from the millions of others doing the same thing.
To OHEARL. Thanks for the comment. How did I do it? I bought an Ion, spent about 3 weeks playing around with it and programming sounds on it with my usual attention to detail, patience and synth programming experience. Then I pulled up CoolEdit Pro's multitrack recorder and recorded myself playing the sounds to improvised and altered Ennio Morricone tunes to demo some of those sounds. That's about it.
Excellent! Amazing demonstration of the power of (virtual) analog synthesis. I own an Ion and love it for its user interface and sound. You've managed to open my mind even more as to the potential of this instrument. That Mellotron Choir is incredible, how did you do it? Did you use the Vocoder effect?
Ah, I recognize you from a comment on one of my Andromeda synth videos.
There is a tiny bit of vocoder used in my Mellotron Choir, but not in a conventional way as it's no good for this sound. IIRC, I ran my Choir patch into both the carrier and modulator of the vocoder and tuned the vocoder filter freqs up high along with some noise. That just adds a bit of high freq complexity and roughness to the sound. I just put some MP3 links in the video info section if you want to hear more examples.
Amazing, may I bother you for a sound pack? You can never have too many sounds. :3 I am stuck with fruity loops defaults and stuff i can find on the web. It can be in any note or any key ((I forget technical names)) I just need sounds to work with.
LawietStandard "may I bother you for a sound pack? I am stuck with fruity loops"
I don't know what you mean. Sound pack in any note or key? What I have is an Alesis Ion synth with patches in it that are only for that specific synth and then there are the audio demos I recorded using those sounds. I don't have anything more than that, nor can I fully understand what you are looking for.
Thanks for the comments. As for the sounds, many come quite close to their acoustic/sampled equivalents as far as realism. I've got some audio demos where I do side-by-side comparisons of my recorders and mellotron choirs to the real things, and they could replace them in a recording and few would notice. Some of my brass and acoustic guitars also come close. So the sounds are sophisticated, complex and satisfying by themselves, mix or not. I need to get my Ion Acoustic Drum Set video done soon.
This is simply awsome! I never thought the ION could do all that. I loved my ION already... I love it even more now. What amazes me most is the 60's electric guitar! Sounds as realistic as a real one! Congratulations? Would you, by chance, share some patches?
Thanks for the compliments. I don't have most of my sounds on the computer to send, and most need an external EQ set up a certain way for each patch, and most I don't like giving out as I want to be the one to use them first and don't want them showing up in other's music. But there are a couple (the Whistling and Jews Harp) on the Yahoo Alesis site as somebody asked for those and they don't need external EQ for added tonal shaping.
Where did you learned to obtain those "inartificial" sounds? Because it's ok to put a big effort on the synth, but messing with EQ needs some deep knowledge.. did you learn all that by yourself?!?
Hey Ken, I came across your stuff online while researching the Alesis Ion. I ended up buying one recently for $400 like new. I've loved the Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns since I was a kid, Morricone is amazing. I'm just learing the depth of the Ion but I must say, what you have done here really inspires me as to the possibilities. Thank you.
It's the strummed guitar that amazes me. That's one of the things conventional wisdom said could never be achieved with a synth, or even a sampler.
I'll never understand why some people still think synths are cheesy or less expressive than acoustic instruments. Like Wayne Shorter said, "Your nervous system is electronic - ain't nothing wrong with electronics."
Thanks for noticing strummed guitar. I came up with a playing technique that is only very slightly strummed a percentage of the time, the rest is kind of rhythmic guitar-like phrasing, so the overall impression fools the ear into thinking it's strummed.
Most people think synths are cheesy and not expressive because that's how they're almost always heard, and few can program them to sound anything but that. I like to do these demos to show otherwise.
what the.....
Amazing!!!
Makes my dream about ion ;)
xizorPL 2 months ago
brilliant! the whistling is a remarkable sample. thanks for creating and sharing!
ArlieWinter 7 months ago
Absolutely stellar work, i must commend you for the way you play the patches as well. Very much pulling the expression out of them.
tekkentool 1 year ago
awsome, especially the voice pads which are really good sounding
is it possible to get a list of the different soundtracks in here? I recognized theGBU and For a few dollars more but not the other ones
DeanMcLean 2 years ago
A+ that was enjoyable ! you really got some killer sounds out of the Ion.
ANALOGPIG 2 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
My IQ is 98 how much is yours ? click on my Username for the Iq Test
kellskilleen 2 years ago
In the beginning I believe that the sounds are synthesized...but at 1:02 when the whistling starts it sounds way to natural...why dont you upload some sound where you do some knob moves...youll get your 5 stars if you show that it is no fake...
MrUriM 2 years ago
Ken is an absolute master at not only creating sounds, but also at using the needed performance and orchestration techniques to create synthesized music that can often perfectly mimic traditional 'acoustic' music!
JohnLRice 2 years ago 2
You can add &fmt=18 to the end of most tracks to get a higher quality file. Some of them you can add &fmt=22 to get an even higher quality file, but that apparently doesn't work all the time. The 18 one worked on this one. Sounds pretty dang nice.
If I didn't know this was done by a synth, I might think this sounded a little weird, but I would think filter, not synth. Very nice audio.
v8media 3 years ago
I've come across lot's of other videos on youtube that say to use &fmt=18 to get the stereo version, and sometimes they provide a direct link with that already added, and I have never gotten stereo from it, and that includes this video. I don't know why youtube is excluding only me from using that feature. I've had it with youtube B.S. and am going to use a different site for my stereo videos and then put little intro videos on youtube to direct people elsewhere. Ridiculous it's come to this.
Elhardt 3 years ago
READ READ READ READ
This video used to be in HI-FI STEREO, now apparently damn Youtube has gone back and is converting stereo videos to lo-fi mono. For high quality stereo you can listen to the MP3 at this link provided in the video info section to the right --->
Elhardt 3 years ago
The trumpet is absolutely beautiful. I would rather hear that timbre than that of a real trumpet.
theyreout77 3 years ago
Elhardt,
I program synthesizers for the last 20 years and I'm not so easily impressed. If many can criticize you for doing "what already has been done" (Bach on W.S. style), I must say that this was a remarkable job. I already heard good comments on the Andromeda, but I had no idea that it could sound that warm - and most of all, that was a fine work of sound design and programming, and wonderful performance. We know that even a Jupiter-8 can sound crap in the wrong hands. Score 10 out of 10.
GSICURO 3 years ago
Your work is good. I would like to see you make money from it as an inspiration of hope to others who would like some income from synth work.
robotsingers 3 years ago
Awesome work, but...
Don't those instruments already exist?
ermineviolin 3 years ago
To ermineviolin. Yes those instruments already exist, but I don't own or know how to play them all. Probably nobody in the world does either. Thus I use a synth which can do whatever I want as the only practical alternative. Other's cheat by using samples, but that doesn't demonstrate any kind of sound creation or programming skill, nor distinguish them from the millions of others doing the same thing.
Elhardt 3 years ago 3
How did you do all of this? It's amazing!
OHEARL 3 years ago
To OHEARL. Thanks for the comment. How did I do it? I bought an Ion, spent about 3 weeks playing around with it and programming sounds on it with my usual attention to detail, patience and synth programming experience. Then I pulled up CoolEdit Pro's multitrack recorder and recorded myself playing the sounds to improvised and altered Ennio Morricone tunes to demo some of those sounds. That's about it.
Elhardt 3 years ago
Awersome work, excellent revival! A trully masterpiece!
data9k 3 years ago
AMAZING!! Never heard such sounds produced with analog-subrtractive ever before!!!! I own an ION as well... Love it to death... Congratulations!!!
flator 3 years ago
Frickin amazing. I can only dream that some day I might be so proficient at synth patching.
djcondra 3 years ago
Excellent! Amazing demonstration of the power of (virtual) analog synthesis. I own an Ion and love it for its user interface and sound. You've managed to open my mind even more as to the potential of this instrument. That Mellotron Choir is incredible, how did you do it? Did you use the Vocoder effect?
thealien666 3 years ago
Ah, I recognize you from a comment on one of my Andromeda synth videos.
There is a tiny bit of vocoder used in my Mellotron Choir, but not in a conventional way as it's no good for this sound. IIRC, I ran my Choir patch into both the carrier and modulator of the vocoder and tuned the vocoder filter freqs up high along with some noise. That just adds a bit of high freq complexity and roughness to the sound. I just put some MP3 links in the video info section if you want to hear more examples.
Elhardt 3 years ago
Very well done my friend
Cayo255 3 years ago
I love the timpanis the acoutis guitar is the best i've heard from any keyboard and the whistle blows my mind (haha pun)
Great work.
fuzzydeer 3 years ago 2
Amazing, may I bother you for a sound pack? You can never have too many sounds. :3 I am stuck with fruity loops defaults and stuff i can find on the web. It can be in any note or any key ((I forget technical names)) I just need sounds to work with.
LawietStandard 4 years ago
LawietStandard "may I bother you for a sound pack? I am stuck with fruity loops"
I don't know what you mean. Sound pack in any note or key? What I have is an Alesis Ion synth with patches in it that are only for that specific synth and then there are the audio demos I recorded using those sounds. I don't have anything more than that, nor can I fully understand what you are looking for.
Elhardt 3 years ago
Don't worry, you just gave me all the info i needed.
LawietStandard 3 years ago
That trumpet sound at 2:15 . . amazing !!
pianist007 4 years ago
The whistling patch during the Fistful of Dollars title theme is amazing! Very realistic
I have an Alesis Micron which is compatible with Ion patches, is there any possibility of making any of these patches available for download?
thedvs01 4 years ago 2
Oh -- just noticed that it's available on the Yahoo group. Awesome
thedvs01 4 years ago
Great!
What makes this track sound so good are more the arrangements and mix than the sounds, imo.
People wanting patches used in this video should be aware of this.
But the sounds are very well programmed anyway. I'm selling some synths at the moment, I'm happy I've kept the Ion for future projects!
trevor001 4 years ago
Thanks for the comments. As for the sounds, many come quite close to their acoustic/sampled equivalents as far as realism. I've got some audio demos where I do side-by-side comparisons of my recorders and mellotron choirs to the real things, and they could replace them in a recording and few would notice. Some of my brass and acoustic guitars also come close. So the sounds are sophisticated, complex and satisfying by themselves, mix or not. I need to get my Ion Acoustic Drum Set video done soon.
Elhardt 4 years ago
This is simply awsome! I never thought the ION could do all that. I loved my ION already... I love it even more now. What amazes me most is the 60's electric guitar! Sounds as realistic as a real one! Congratulations? Would you, by chance, share some patches?
mocheez13 4 years ago
Thanks for the compliments. I don't have most of my sounds on the computer to send, and most need an external EQ set up a certain way for each patch, and most I don't like giving out as I want to be the one to use them first and don't want them showing up in other's music. But there are a couple (the Whistling and Jews Harp) on the Yahoo Alesis site as somebody asked for those and they don't need external EQ for added tonal shaping.
Elhardt 4 years ago
Where did you learned to obtain those "inartificial" sounds? Because it's ok to put a big effort on the synth, but messing with EQ needs some deep knowledge.. did you learn all that by yourself?!?
Moccij 3 years ago
Hey Ken, I came across your stuff online while researching the Alesis Ion. I ended up buying one recently for $400 like new. I've loved the Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns since I was a kid, Morricone is amazing. I'm just learing the depth of the Ion but I must say, what you have done here really inspires me as to the possibilities. Thank you.
bscmich 4 years ago
It's the strummed guitar that amazes me. That's one of the things conventional wisdom said could never be achieved with a synth, or even a sampler.
I'll never understand why some people still think synths are cheesy or less expressive than acoustic instruments. Like Wayne Shorter said, "Your nervous system is electronic - ain't nothing wrong with electronics."
wardka 4 years ago
Thanks for noticing strummed guitar. I came up with a playing technique that is only very slightly strummed a percentage of the time, the rest is kind of rhythmic guitar-like phrasing, so the overall impression fools the ear into thinking it's strummed.
Most people think synths are cheesy and not expressive because that's how they're almost always heard, and few can program them to sound anything but that. I like to do these demos to show otherwise.
Elhardt 4 years ago
AWESOME
cyborg4r 4 years ago
Amazing. Jaw dropping brass patches.
Forgot about Two Mules For Sister Sarah, excellent soundtrack.
Luis Enríquez Bacalov is also very good if you're into spagetti western soundtracks.
cthulufunk 4 years ago
Thanks for the compliments and suggestion. I'll definitely check out Bacalov.
Two Mules For Sister Sarah is a soundtrack I'd like to get on CD (I have most of the others). I've only found it on some expensive import.
Elhardt 4 years ago
nice sounds!!!
Patrickillian 4 years ago
very nice work, Elhardt!
123synthland 4 years ago
wow ye!!
petersedin 4 years ago