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D3 – DX7 Electric Piano 3
Flutey "tine piano" sound.
D4 – GS2 Tines
Similar to the GS1 Tines sound (which I also programmed) on the
original Motif factory set. This one has more metallic ring and
overtones to it.
You might ask why this particular sound and instrument. And I'll tell
you even if you don't want to know. I saw my first GS1 and GS2 (yes,
both) in a little music store in Apple Valley, California in the late
summer of 1982. I hadn't heard FM before - and the sound coming
from these keyboards was nothing short of a spiritual experience.
Judging from their price tags, I imagined the store wouldn't be selling
them anytime soon, and since the cover band I was in had a month
long stint at the nearby bar, I knew where I was going to be spending
my free afternoons. I probably wrote twenty songs on both of those
keyboards, and it was a sad day when we had to head back to L.A.
D5 – DX-1
It was actually the first commercially available "DX" synthesizer. It
was big. It had a weighted keyboard, and a beautiful wooden case. It
was the equivalent of two DX7's, and you could split and layer
sounds. And it was only about ten thousand dollars. Why, who
wouldn't want one? A bargain at twice the price. Well, okay, not many
people bought it. Still, it was the kind of legendary behemoth that you
might wish to have in your collection, simply to gaze at.
Legend has it that the opening keyboard riff on Chicago's song "Hard
Habit to Break" was played on a DX1. I can't confirm that, but it is the
sound I emulated for this voice.
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