The sound generation was characterised by preset buttons (found on early Korg and Roland synths too) controlling a single VCO. The Pro-Soloist is probably considered quite rudimentary by today’s standards, and it certainly didn’t have anywhere near the flexibility of later ARP productions. It is of course the sound of the Moog that has really made ripples in music though, and while there are numerous records we could pick on, a good place to start is Fred Wesley & The JB’s Blow Your Head from 1974, produced by none other than T he Godfather of Soul himself, James Brown. Each click of the oscillator is satisfying. It’s partly the American over-engineering that people love about Moog, every dial turn feels like you’re really making a difference.
![korg fm8 korg fm8](http://www.adsrsounds.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/make-the-biggest-growl-bass-in-f.jpg)
Image © Hal Ritson, Replay Heaven/ The Young Punx.
KORG FM8 PORTABLE
Released in 1970, the Minimoog was one of the first portable synthesisers and has changed music for ever.Ī monophonic subtractive synth comprising of three VCOs (voltage controlled oscillators) producing just simple geometric waveforms and it’s famed 4-pole 24dB/oct low pass ladder filer, the Minimoog could be considered an unassuming unit. It’s hard to look past the importance of the Minimoog not just on Hip Hop but only contemporary music as a whole. We all know about James Brown and The Winstons, we know about the MPCs and drum machines, but what the synths that most shaped Hip Hop? 01. The genesis of Hip Hop is about sampling, and in this article I want to look at some of the perhaps overlooked contributors to the genre. Here’s a neat visual timeline of synthesiser manufacture dates by the excellent Vintage Synths. Moog are widely regarded as one of the Godfathers of modern subtractive synthesis but during the 70s ARP, EMS, Korg and Oberheim contributed fantastically, and their synths are plastered all over every genre of music from Krautrock to Space Disco, P-Funk to Italo, Prog-Rock to New Wave and everything in between.
![korg fm8 korg fm8](https://cdn.korg.com/us/products/upload/b1583c6bbce7cb49563dac56c450fcc7.png)
In the early 70s synthesisers went from being a piece of furniture only afforded to eccentric laboratory dwellers to a portable, sonically innovative and funky hit-maker that changed how we think about sound more than any acoustic instrument has done since. Today I want to talk about Hip Hop’s love affair with the synthesiser.has There already exists a a plethora of homages to the most popular Hip Hop samples or the the most influential drum machines, which I wont add to. The likes of the Oberheim DMX, Linn Drum and of course Roland TR-808 are as much of the sound of early Hip Hop records as the plundered breakbeats and samples are. Similarly to the early advents of Chicago House and Detroit Techno, drum machines allowed producers to orchestrate beats themselves, with no need for a drum kit or someone to play it. Without Kool Herc’s beat juggling of “breaks” from Soul, Disco, Jazz and Funk records there would be no Hip Hop and none of the countless breakbeat inspired genres that spawned off the back off its legacy.ĭrum machines play huge role too. Nothing is more synonymous with Hip Hop than the sampler – a cornerstone on which Hip Hop is built.