Iconic Synth Riffs -- Can you think of any?
 

Here it is, the potentially longest running thread in the history of Internet forums, emerging as newborn before your eyes yet totally dependent on you for it's survival :) Post now if you got one, post later if you think of one. There are no correct answers or notion of right or wrong, there is no prize money to be had. If doesn't even need to be a riff by definition, the keyword here is really iconic. Some synth part of a song that you always notice when you hear it, and it reminds you why you involved yourself with synths in the first place. Identifying the actual instrument used is not required but highly encouraged with the research tools we have in front of us today. Even if it doesn't sound as good on a modern ipod or youtube or whatever as it did back in the day on vinyl (let's face it, it's sometimes hard to bring the true sound back over sound media that it wasn't originally optimized for), throw it out there and see what happens. Links to the song containing riff in question also not required but encouraged?

Many examples come to my mind, but I don't want to bogart the thread, so I'll throw one out just to get us started, and will circle back to post more later:

"Let Me Go" - Heaven 17... their use of that TB-303 was an early example of "wubawub" bass that a lot of folks now think is something new:

As far as I can tell, this is the version most of us are familiar with (the song not the video playing here):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2FmWZSQoG0

Original 12" (not the radio version most remember but highlights the TB303):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj8GBas6AJs

Quickly turned into modern trance track (like with UmpteePhooPhee BeePeeEms! wooooooo):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SetP4hyzdA

Old geezers coming back at it, with a JP-8000 on stage no less. Makes me feel good that I don't look my age yet ... My dad has held up better than this :)
:) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH8kN5g_2ec

Well thanks a lot for reminding me about awkward high school disco moments...You bastard! Had my tops & almost fingers to this tune ;)

Hehe.. Its amazing how warm that TB line sounds on a decent setup.. most of the times when I hear that tune (like in those vids, on SiriusXM in my car, or Pandora on the phone etc.) so much of the original fidelity is lost. Heaven 17 wasn't even a particularly great band but that track is definitely memorable.

Van Halen
 

Jimp-1984

I think this qualifies as a synth riff-

-dj

Yep, and a very iconic one at that, the good old Oberheim OB-Xa

Well the whole album is brilliant but this part does it for me every time...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DDEl...1F37861E622D6A

Steve Winwood
 

I love this one as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j6g_uUhH2c

-dj

Love this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lza2H-fj5Es

This track really takes me back, and if the lead isn't an iconic riff I don't know what is. I just wish I could find out what Geoff Downs used. I'm sure its accurately identified out there on the interwebs somewhere, but I have not been able to find it.

To me it sounds like a DX7, which I think would be about right for the day, although a brass lead like that could have come out of many synths from that era without revealing what it's made on.

Here's a live performance of the song but I can't make out what board he is using, definitely doesn't look like a DX7.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mqfSkeSarw

Ahh yes, played there first self titled album over & over. One of the supergroup's that worked for a time ;)

And how about that video, how fucking epically historic is it to have so many watt consuming CRTs stacked atop each other? With LCDs, that's something that the average play station gamer has in their bedroom these days, yet back then was financially unapproachable.. not just from the fact that most folks didn't have a neighborhood store that had enough of the exact same TV in inventory to even pull that off -- or the fact that the TV's themselves would have been something like six grand in todays money, or the fact that the power consumption would have shut down a Detroit auto-making plant :) Also gymnast cameltoe was pushing the limits of sexy back then. haha

But I digress, the 80's culture nostalgia is one thing and great synth riffs are another. There was some stuff out of the 80's that clearly sucked, but every time I hear this one play I turn it up.

Not going for the 80's but several come instantly to mind I am afraid :

VH Jimp already mentioned.

And who remembers always (attempting to play) and to be honest had a serious influence in synth love:



The bassline (actually this is more sampling but bass on the Emulator I believe)

Takes me back to my old school days, I get emotional - i miss it!

Not a synth riff but I had to include it just to butch things up somewhat



Jeez this got nostalgic all those late nights up on the commodore 64 listen to the C90's on the ghetto blaster lol.

Incidentally most I still own on vinyl, my son WILL grow to appreciate :)

Almost forgot one of my fav's, who remembers doingthe 'robotics' dance to this! :)

Lol robotics - takes me back Hands up who remembers Tik and Tok :)

A couple of legendary intros never to be forgotten:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1Hs2AQwDgA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2KRpRMSu4g

These are almost teetering on obscurity, but MAN!...that phasey lead on "A Wish Come True"!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVGlrDaFJfo

and a bonus tune

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71w0dwiclvI

Hobbit mentioned the first ones that came into my head (Final Countdown, Axel F, Tubular Bells, Take On Me).

A few other ground breaking ones:


Telstar (1962) - The Tornados (aka Joe Meek) - Not my favourite, but one of the early popular synth lines, used a Clavioline.


Popcorn (1969) - Gershon Kingsley, the original, before Hot Butter got hold of it (using a MiniMoog amongst others, great production and use of technology for its era, can grab you by the bollocks even now - with its filter envelopes, delay + verb, and the offbeat hi-hat and kick, it's effectively trance some 30 odd years before it became mainstream [and the fucking crazy frog covered it])


I Feel Love (1977) - Donna Summers (iconic Moog modular arpeggiating, effectively kicking off the start of club music)


BladeRunner (1982) - Vangelis

Guess I'm a sucker for arps/gate/step-seqs, inc. AirWolf theme tune, Crockett's Theme (Jan Hammer), Blue Monday (New Order), Living on Video (Trans-X), Kids in America (Kim Wilde), Radio Ga Ga (Queen), et al.

Loads of New Romantic tunes of the 80's used synths, with Human League, Spandau Ballet et al, but Fade to Grey by Visage stuck out for me...


Fade to Grey - Visage


Are Friends Electric - Tubeway Army (Gary Numan)

Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams


Not specifically a synth, but a keyboard (organ) riff, the opening to the Phantom of the Opera:-


Bit of a 90's melodic dance kid so almost every synth riff seems iconic...
Anything from Hardfloor Acperience 303, although preferred Josh Wink's later Higher State of Consciousness

Prodigy - Voodoo People (2:42)

Underworld - Rez

...through to Energy 52 - Cafe del Mar

Faithless pizzi (JD990) Insomnia & Salva Mea

Zombie Nation - Kernkraft 400 (C64 SID chip)
.. and beyond. Far too many to mention!

I'd be interested to know a track that did the Blue Monday rolling bass line synth first.

Any Contenders???

A full decade of European dance music was based around that style.

Do you mean the same actual notes that Blue Monday used or just the style of playing the bass disco style (arping between higher and lower octaves in the same key)?

I think some of Abba's tracks are probably some of the earliest examples I can think of that popularized that, but it was all over 70's disco.

Insomnia... Did they do that first? I remember they tried to sue others who copied them but failed as the sound was a generic Yamaha preset. Obviously the riff is iconic but it can be interesting to see where it's first ideas stemmed.

Like the lately bass. Which i was told was named after Janet Jacksons Song. Which ties me into my earlier post. This preset and similar combined into a rolling bass line spawned thousands of euro dance tracks.

Rofos theme being an example! for the roller!

Ok, just realised actually quite different. Blue Monday simple up down. Rofos has the double note, what later become the generic for a trance roller.

Yeah, well both really. The first to use the style, riff type (i'm pretty sure they were first to use it in that note formation) and the first to use the sound, preset. Quite an interesting topic to discover the roots.

The style of playing the synth bass like that goes back to a lot of early 70's dance (something like Gimme Gimme Gimme from Abba was the first one that came to my mind). Maybe someone else can think of an earlier reference?

The lately bass patch was used in a lot of tracks. I had this on my TX81Z rack module back in the day. I've got a sample of it somewhere. I think it was a carry over from the DX7? After some brief searching it looks like consensus might be that Blue Monday used a Moog Source for the sound, maybe sampled.

Yeah, Faithless (Salva Mea [1995] and Insomnia [1996]) vs. Sash (Encore une Fois [1996]). Sash used it a year later than Faithless. Pizzicato placed aside, the melodies are similar in some ways. Along with the pizzi, I think this may have been Faithless' beef. Of course it was a ridiculous argument.

The actual sound is from the Roland JD800/990, a sound called Pizza Hutt. The later JV-1080 and MC505 also had similar waveforms, again both from Roland.

Energy52 used it in Cafe del Mar, as did DJ Quicksilver in Bellisima and Natural Born Grooves in Groovebird. Thousands of other cheesy tunes ended up flogging it. All ~1995-1997.

I still got my 1080. Not that i switch it on much.

The moment I heard James Garner died, that lead from the the Rockford Files Theme Song popped into my head.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d41cAOmcuxk

This has just reminded me of an old college friend who I haven't seen in and by coincidence was only reflecting on recently and meant to YouTube. So the peeerect opportunity (slightly OP so apologies but seems appropriate).



..and yes he's a Blackburn Rovers Fan!!!

I heard this one the other day, and I'm surprised it hasn't been posted yet. Those with a keen synth ear will notice there is more than one version of this out there, the original 1983 version and the 1989 version. The original had a slow attack on the synth lead, which to me is one of the features that memorializes the riff. Perhaps not enough people had access to the 1983 version because it made a resurgence with the 1989 version (which was actually a lot more popular). The '89 version of the song has noticeably more prominent attack on the intro lead, with what sounds like a bit of distortion on the open of the envelope. I haven't researched the actual synths each were made with or the rationale behind the change -- but maybe it would be an interesting discussion for this thread. Intuitively and from an un-researched standpoint, it seems to me the punch on the intro lead was designed to add a percussive feel to the lead, making people want to "move to it" more (i.e. a club mix). It could be that the latter version was made with a different synth (definitely sounds more digital to me).

The original (slow attack) version of the song is the one I remember best and consider iconic, though I think younger ears that heard them out of chronological order might prefer the newer, more digital (IMHO) sounding version.

The 1983 version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28Minfq_L2k

The 1989 version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCHE0Tjw6MA

Has it really been almost a year since an addition to this thread? Okay, here goes.

You probably have to be at least 40, and to have had your share of random naughty encounters in the clubs of south Florida in the 80s to even remember this tune. It could probably use some re-mastering, at least based on this video to have the same effect it used to have, but that sparsely processed stabby synth lead is iconic, just because of the rawness and specific EQing, and the way it used to cut through the mix in the clubs back then really gave it a signature feel. Sound system setups, and even reference monitor specs were different back then (which is one reason some older tracks don't seem to have the same punch on modern iphones etc).

Looking back I don't even think I heard it played outside of the Miami/Ft Lauderdale area. I'm not even sure why that would be. Regional sound preferences maybe -- we didn't have the Interwebs to push things quite as far and wide.

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

It was typical of the day in that it sounded digital as hell. Roland D50s and Yamaha DX7s were all over the place.

Looking back I don't even think I heard it played outside of the Miami/Ft Lauderdale area. I'm not even sure why that would be. Regional sound preferences maybe -- we didn't have the Interwebs to push things quite as far and wide.

Or could be the production on this is godawful & the song is pretty weak :p

That would be an indication that weak music was only played in south Florida? lol

Yeah it's not a great song but the thread is not about great songs, its about iconic ones. "Freestyle" was kind of a niche genre that originated in the Miami area, and that track was one of the defining ones, so that particular synth stab will be iconic to the folks who remember it, maybe not so much to those that don't (understandable).

As I covered with reasonable thoroughness in the earlier message, it sounds like absolute hell when crunched down into a youtube clusterfuck or played over an ipod, because tracks back then were mastered to reference toward club sound systems of the era. So they sounded very different than what you hear today. The same is true with a lot of older tunes -- don't judge their production value of the era they targeted with how they sound over the gear of today. The shyte produced today is going to sound like turd a couple of decades into the future anyway.