synths in Imagination - "Just an Illusion"

Well...

I think a TB 303 may be an anachronism. I didn't see one till '83. Not conclusive but the SH 101 was definitely available at the time. While out last night my old (keyboard playing) friend Chris played me Just an Illusion from iTunes and he diagnosed the SH 101. He also told me that I was wrong, in that the SH 101 had presets. As he put it, "lovely bass presets" and that was one of them.

And of course it's a Rhodes. Jolley & Swain filled the middle up with pianos and rhodeses. Chris also nominated Jupiter 6 for the stringy sounds. So a fuller picture is perhaps emerging. Bear in mind that in 1982 MIDI had not arrived and the only mechanisation available was through hardware sequencers working on control voltages or the various Roland MicroComposers, as featured on Human League records. The usual way to play synths was with hands, and any piano sounds could not have been sampled and would therefore be the real deal. Having said that the bass does sound very programmed and that was really the only way to play TB 303's because as I recall the keys were tiny. So either way there's probably a sequencer involved and either SH 101 or TB 303 could have been triggered thus. Someone needs to look at the release date of the TB 303.

I have spoken.

But not very conclusively.

My friend then adds:

http://www.vintagesynth.com/roland/303.shtml

1982 indeed. Could it bee-ee that...?

I still don't think they would have used this though. I remember it being thought of as a toy and suitable for more repetitious material - Just an Illusion has a good few changes in it and all these pattern based units tended to push people into more cyclical groovy structures - much like drumming after the Linns 1 and 2 and the rest of music once Atari-based software sequencer packages became widely available, say 1987 onwards.

Music history. Phew!

minimmog and prophet 5

I have a Roland Jupiter 6 and that didn't come out until 1983. Prophet is a good guess.