Please help me!

[Jobiebass]

drunk in a pub over a year ago I said to a guitarist friend of mine "sounds like a stringray on this track" which was Kim Wilde's Kids in America.

after he took the mess, I sent a message to "god" on those text numbers who stated it wasnt a bass it was a synth.

Ok I could be wrong, but I still get the mess taken out of me for saying that over a year ago. someone prove me right please I cant find any info on it.

If indeed it is a synth, would I be right in saying it would be based on a bass's sound, like a Rik, jazz, 'ray etc?



PLEASE HELP. for my sanity please help.

[MacDaddy]

not any help, but that was the first single I ever bought

[stevebasshead]

If it helps I always thought it was a synth bassline, and I could get pretty close to it with a Boss SYB-3 and my Ric. I can't say whether the (or any) synth bass tone is based around any particular bass though, I kind of doubt it...but then again I've never thought about it before. Good Q actually!

[Cat Burrito]

I remember the Top of the Pops appearance which had no bass player miming along!

[YouMa]

id say its definately an analog synth i can tell by the way the arpeggiator is set.

[witterth]

Really not trying to be smart@ss, honest.
but I cant hear any other bass,other than sequenced/arpeggiated analogue synth. probably a pro88(?) if that what they were called...cant properly recall.....,
Mike Lindup had one

[YouMa]

[quote name='witterth' post='667763' date='Nov 27 2009, 08:54 PM']Really not trying to be smart@ss, honest.
but I cant hear any other bass,other than sequenced/arpeggiated analogue synth. probably a pro88(?) if that what they were called...cant properly recall.....,
Mike Lindup had one[/quote]

Sequential circuits prophet1 or prophet5. Awesome synths worth a lot now prophet 5s were one of the first to have MIDI.

[BigRedX]

Quite how anyone could think the bassline is produced by anything other than a synth is beyond me...

Something with two oscillators.

The keyboard player on the TotP clip is 'playing' a Yamaha CS80. Could be that or a Prophet 5 or an OB4.

Doesn't even need to be sequenced. Just provide a triggered gate signal and hold down the correct notes. Easy!

[Bass_In_Yer_Face]

I'd forgotten how fit she was back then, how the hell did that twat Chris Evans slip her a length?...not so sure now she's turned into a middle aged frumpy gardener.

There's no bass player in the official video either

[Kirky]

Could be a Pro-One.

[witterth]

AH HA!! prophet5 Thats it! thank you, youma!

[Buzz]

Sounds like a synth. Not a Stingray at any rate.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='Kirky' post='669222' date='Nov 29 2009, 04:42 PM']Could be a Pro-One.[/quote]

Almost defintely not. The SCI Pro One wasn't introduced until the Winter NAMM show of 1981. Kids in America was recorded in 1980 and released in January 1981.

[witterth]

I know but released, and studios have their greasy mitts on......?

[BigRedX]

Back in the late 70s and early 80s there wasn't quite the same obsession with having pre-release kit. Besides the Pro-One was essentially a cheap single-voice version of the Prophet 5 there would be no point in choosing it over a synth that did more and was already available.

[Kirky]

It was monophonic but dual oscillator, big sounds for bass and synth lead. I had one at the time, along with an Oberheim "System" - OB8, DMX and the sequencer whose name I can't remember. Good gear. Don't remember the Pro-One being all that cheap.

[witterth]

I remember a band I was in,
shunning a kit player instead of an oberhiem (sampled kit sound drum machine, it was very expensive at the time) OBX.. whatever it was called... drum machine,
which was great, when recording ,but at the time we,surely looked cun#ts when using it at (1 only) gig...
before getting a real drummer
but then it was 82/83.....
and we all looked cun#ts anyway!!!

'cept me of course

[Rich]

[quote name='BigRedX' post='667838' date='Nov 27 2009, 10:52 PM']Doesn't even need to be sequenced. Just provide a triggered gate signal and hold down the correct notes. Easy![/quote]
Back in the day, I had a Roland SH09 mono synth that I used in just such a fashion. Made some fabulous big Moogy noises! Wish I still had it.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='Kirky' post='669521' date='Nov 29 2009, 09:47 PM']It was monophonic but dual oscillator, big sounds for bass and synth lead. I had one at the time, along with an Oberheim "System" - OB8, DMX and the sequencer whose name I can't remember. Good gear. Don't remember the Pro-One being all that cheap.[/quote]

I meant cheap, relative to the cost of a Prophet 5. I can remember looking forward to the release of the of the Pro-One only to be disappointed due to the cost (I don't think the £-$ exchange rate was very favourable to us at the time) and the fact that it had no program memories. The problem was that programmability was available because it was a cheap and easy addition once you had the chips and logic for polyphony, so it simply wasn't cost effective on a mono-synth at that time.