New sound in the worship mix

Hey people,

I’d like to talk about something which may appear trivial at first. Hopefully I can turn it into a thought-provoking argument, include a product review, and somehow relate it all to worship!

I play three instruments; the Piano, Digital Piano and the Synthesiser. All instruments so alike, yet so different.  Just recently, I purchased an unbelievable late 80’s synthesiser… but that isn’t focus of this topic!

Now you may ask “what is a synthesiser?”. The answer in general terms: a chunky piece of analog hardware that was born in the late 70’s, thrived during the 80’s and went completely digital in the 90’s. With the introduction of digital technology, the synth began to move away from manipulating analog frequencies. Instead, more emphasis was placed on the emulation of ‘real’ sounds such as the piano, trumpet, saxophone, organ etc. (as well as using digital technology to reproduce analog sounds).

However, the analog synth is far from a dead instrument. They are still hugely popular with professionals and amateurs who believe analog frequency manipulation is far superior to digital manipulation. Analog synths are said to have a “phatter”, punchier sound quality than the majority of digital synths (especially those made during the 90’s).

Now, how do I plan to relate this to worship? Well, I believe the synths of the 1980’s  still have a place in contemporary worship music today. I’m not suggesting Sunday morning Van Halen “Jump” saw-pads or A-ha “Take On Me” synth leads! Synths DID and STILL CAN operate effectively in-the-mix with beautiful warm pads, strings and brass emulations. So on that “bomb shell” of a proposition, it’s time to demonstrate some sounds!

Product Review: TAL-U-No-62

TAL-U-No-62 is a VSTi plugin instrument for sequencing software. VST (Virtual Studio Technology) instruments are basically software versions of popular hardware or acoustic instruments. They are designed so that musicians can have top quality sounds available for sequencing without having to purchase  the actual instruments, thus saving money, space etc. The only real downsides to VSTi’s is that they take up a large amount of CPU. You need to buy more RAM for your computer if you want to operate VSTi seamlessly. In the tracks below, you may hear some “popping sounds” due to my computer not having enough RAM. Another arguable downside is due to the VSTi interface not being as engaging or easy to use as a ‘physical’ synth interface.

TAL-U-No-62 is regarded as the best software representation of the popular Juno 60 synthesiser. The Juno 60 was a monster synth, extremely punchy with one of the best user interfaces of the time. This software version is impressive in terms of its sound replication of the original instrument, and it’s FREE! The generous people at TAL develop lots of software and only ask for donations in return.

The track below is a demonstration of the preset “Synth Heaven”, with just a few adjustments to the attack and decay parameters. The piano is from my Roland RD-700GX.

This second track contains a TAL-U-No-62 sound that I engineered myself. I just call it “Funk Bass”. This track is a sample from one of my songs which is currently in progress.

Well, that’s about all. I hope that you enjoyed the reading and listening.  I think it would be interesting, fun at least, to experiment with analog synths to create some new sounds in the worship mix.

Charlie Young