According to a interview with Kakehasi MC8 despite costing a fortune and not many sold was for Roland very important as it enabled Roland to take significant steps in technology advancement Kakehasi said. Some more MC8 background and rare late 1970 photos etc web search for: "Exclusive Interview with RALPH DYCK, Godfather of the MC-8!" YMO approved Alex song as a genuine YMO style song just minutes ago.
@althejazzman
6 ай бұрын
You're a genius in creating accurate parodies of musical genres.
@anthonybird546
6 ай бұрын
Man, RIP to Yukihiro Takahashi and Ryuichi Sakamoto, thank you for this episode! That song was great
@HomerNarr
6 ай бұрын
Nah not falling for it, this is clearly a cash register
@nobodynoone2500
6 ай бұрын
Worked for pink floyd lol.
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
The very groovy cash register. I think that was the sequel to the Hungry Caterpillar.
@HomerNarr
6 ай бұрын
@@nobodynoone2500Thank you that would have been my next question where was this amazing thing being used.
@HomerNarr
6 ай бұрын
@@AlexBallMusicGroovy Indeed! 😃
@graemedavidson499
6 ай бұрын
These are not the notes you are looking for…
@henninghoefer
6 ай бұрын
"And that, kids, is why MIDI was a big deal." Thank you Alex, amazing video as always!
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
Cheers!
@nigelrhodes4330
6 ай бұрын
I was thinking exactly the same thing watching this.
@Elluvis72
6 ай бұрын
this should still be educated to music students today.
@Psychlist1972
6 ай бұрын
@@Elluvis72 In Japan, they have curriculum and even certification *just* on MIDI. I was stunned when I saw it.
@jlindborg1105
6 ай бұрын
Yes, the development in microprocessors and cheeper memory made all that possible. It's really fantastic really, what we have been experiencing during our lifetime! Home computers (VIC 64, Sinclair 81....), mobile phones, portable music (tape players, CD.-players and MP3-players), Internet, the whole digitization era really. And now we are entering the development and testing of AI.
@philipbarrett3151
6 ай бұрын
I was fortunate enough to work with the YMO in the early 80's. In addition to the musicians in the studio there were 3 or 4 engineers from Roland present who continually built, patched and tinkered with all kinds of wild & wonderful prototypes. They spoke no English, we spoke no Japanese so much hilarity ensued on a daily basis over decoding sign language!
@Kaons
6 ай бұрын
Hideki Matsutake was far too underappreciated, handling the two MC-8s during the live performances was crazy
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
AND modular synths. What a beast.
@EddieG1888
6 ай бұрын
End track is an absolute banger!
@baward
6 ай бұрын
I like what Tomita wrote about the MC-8 in 1978, on the sleeve notes for 'The Bermuda Triangle': "For the past year I have struggled with a computer - a micro computer. I say "struggled" because a computer is beautifully precise, but I wanted it to produce musical results - in other words, as a musical instrument. How could this keyboard of only ten keys compare with that of a grand piano? But I came to realize that those ten keys could produce an almost limitless number of combinations, each of which is a signal that could determine a characteristic of sound: pitch, texture, attack time, duration, loudness. And the computer can be programmed to change any or all of these features with incredible speed. The computer thus produces a sequence of signals that control the sound production of a synthesizer. It is something like millions of little hands rapidly changing all the synthesizer connections to produce a vast variety of sounds. My musical images must be coded by numbers to direct those hands to manipulate the synthesizer. I build layers of sound by programming the computer. These are recorded one by one on separate tracks of a tape machine and finally all mixed together for the end result. I consider myself a sound animator, much the same as an animator of film cartoons. I have used my computer in creating practically all the pieces contained in this album. It is made in Japan by Roland - model MC-8 - and is perhaps the best in the world with regard to memory capacity and accuracy. Although I cannot walk onto a stage and have the joy of struggling to perform my music before an audience, I struggle to select the right numbers on my computer to build a creative entity that displays my musical personality."
@mraduanemc
6 ай бұрын
EVERYBODY, save this video! Any time you get frustrated with your DAW's limitations just open up the Tubes and play this back. Reset. Doesn't that make you feel better? I'm still marveling that you only fucked up once inputting that bass line, Alex. You're the man; and one helluva mimic. Long live Yellow Magic Orchestra!
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
Just say "time base, CV, step time, gate time", shudder and return to your computer.
@inthefade
6 ай бұрын
I've used DAWs to make music a lot, but I really learned to make music on my MC-303 and, despite it being 1000x more powerful than this machine, I learned that those limitations make me write better music almost every time. DAWless is really just about cutting out the chaff and just focusing on the music. That is what is so wonderful about these old machines. Edit: Not entirely true, I started with Mario Paint and then a cracked version of Fruity Loops someone gave me on a burned CD.
@MakotoIchinose
6 ай бұрын
Tracker users: "First time?"
@retrosound72
6 ай бұрын
The YMO style track is great!
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
Cheers Marko!
@tubeutubeuful
6 ай бұрын
Very YMoreish!
@ShiningHourPop
6 ай бұрын
I once played a gig in 1988 where I had to load in drum samples to a Casio RZ1 (4 x 0.2 seconds) from a cassette. The gap was covered by a 2 minute “link” tune on tape. It took 2 minutes and had never failed in rehearsal… but on the gig night, I got a screen message “Load failed”. Panic. Sweat. I had to play all the tracks from the pre-recorded links tape to the end and try a reload. Fortunately the samples loaded a couple of seconds before there would have been total silence. Panic over and rewind the links tape back to its intended place. Primitive days indeed!
@LactatingFly
6 ай бұрын
I’m never complaining about guitar pedals again hahah
@SynGirl32
6 ай бұрын
YMO live at the Greek Theater is legit my favorite live performance ever. I love that they've been getting more attention lately and I love seeing this insight into their groundbreaking composition!
@johnny.storm-wolf
6 ай бұрын
Agreed, their version of Cosmic Surfing at the Greek was the best version by far!
@SynGirl32
6 ай бұрын
@@johnny.storm-wolf Oh absolutely, and that version of Thousand Knives is absolutely mind-melting!
@silentmodemz
6 ай бұрын
I strongly suggest listening to their Faker Holic live album, banger versions!
@nicennice
6 ай бұрын
I first discovered YMO when I was 16 and I'm now 61. Went to see them live in London in 1980. It was amazing. You could have made a video of how they folded their underpants and I would watch it. Thanks Alex for the tribute to such a fantastic band. RIP Ryuichi and Yukihiro.
@CommunityGuidelines
6 ай бұрын
The homage to YMO at the end was fantastic!
@NeilABliss
6 ай бұрын
I still have nightmares of volatile memory 45 years later. Wrote my first soundtrack on a MC8 , System 700, Jupiter 8 , and an 808. Unbelievably stressful.
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
Wowsers, what a rig! Which soundtrack was that?
@NeilABliss
6 ай бұрын
@@AlexBallMusic nothing special , student film. I was in tech school at the time and that was the synth lab. Jupiter pre midi btw .. Actually the mc8 we had was one of Ralph Dykes prototypes...no idea how many he had before Roland started selling them . Ours was a late model prototype as it had the roland case mostly as it appeared in the final version. No idea what happened to it, but after the school closed down my friend bought the Jupiter and the 700 ...and they are in his basement to this day.
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
@@NeilABlissOnly the biggest composers in the world could offer a score on that setup now. Funny to think. Could I have the address of your friends basement? I'm just booking the hit team and we'll relieve him of the System 700.
@abeatcure3163
6 ай бұрын
日本のYMOファン、シンセ好きには最高の動画です! Great Video, thank you Alex ! !
@vinylarchaeologist
6 ай бұрын
There is an old German documentary from the mid 1960s where they show how composers of modern classical avant-garde (then called "electronic music") used to put in pitch and gate information step-by-step on even more rudimentary, clunky semi-mechanical devices. This job would be carried out by an assistant following a written score. I wonder if Roland's device was informed by that older practice, and invented partially with those composers in mind. Perhaps that's what also inspired its "Composer" name. Also, it's fascinating how that type of "composing" got carried over to the 303.
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
I'd be interested to see that! The MC-8 was actually a more sophisticated, multi track version of a prototype built by Ralph Dyck. Ikutaro Kakehashi caught wind of its development and did a deal with him to make it a Roland project. Perhaps Ralph knew of those earlier devices.
@vinylarchaeologist
6 ай бұрын
Found it: kzitem.info/news/bejne/lYJq1Guuh2KefKg It's from Nineteen-Hundred and Sechsty-Sieben.
@vinylarchaeologist
6 ай бұрын
@@AlexBallMusic Also, "earlier device" undersells it a bit, I think. It was several rooms of devices, it seems.
@stormstereo
6 ай бұрын
@@vinylarchaeologist Holy hell, that looks like a space shuttle launch. That, or programming a CNC lathe. And they're god damn serious about it!
@funkytransport
6 ай бұрын
We still call it “electronic music” ?
@Mtaalas
6 ай бұрын
I saw the thumbnail and Rydeen just jumped into my head immediately... YMO is an amazing band :)
@PocketUnv
6 ай бұрын
You sir, are a scholar and a wizard. If anything, this video makes me even more impressed by YMO, none of those songs could have come easy. Also, nobody can convince me that the end track isn't an unreleased YMO-track, it's absolutely bang on!
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
Thanks! Yeah, getting into just a small bit of the mechanics of their music reveals how impressive it was.
@marsmediapro
6 ай бұрын
YMO has been a fave for over 30 years. Thanks, Alex!
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
Absolute bosses.
@JapanPop
6 ай бұрын
Early Japanese synth pop and tech have contributed so much to my musical life. Thanks for covering YMO and their tech connections.
@davidharrison5873
6 ай бұрын
YES! There isn't enough about YMO. I'm still waiting for someone to make a documentary about their influence on early electro and rap. 1000 Knives of Ryuichi Sakamoto is also incredible.
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
1000 knives stands up even now. Amazing music, yes.
@slooberslodge
6 ай бұрын
Have you checked out the B2 album by Sakamoto, some even nicer tracks like Riot in Lagos and Participation Mystique, incredible production!@@AlexBallMusic
@MisAnnThorpe
6 ай бұрын
Riot in Lagos still sounds like the future to my ears. Not sure to what extent tinnitus plays a part in that.
@Sacto1654
3 ай бұрын
@@AlexBallMusic Anyone who's head the original Ryuichi Sakamoto version "1000 Knives" note just far ahead of its time that song was--it was his university graduation project from 1970! And it still sounds great in 2024.
@Blank_Frank
6 ай бұрын
Thanks for your video, always wondered how the hell you could program stuff into these boxes. That YMO-influenced song at the end was lovely !
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
Yep! I had to know how this thing worked and so I got one and learned. I'll now file that under the biggest folder in my brain: Useless things I didn't need to do.
@mickec5245
6 ай бұрын
スウェーデンのYMOファン向けでもあります。 2からのご挨拶!Love your interpretation Alex🙂
@SuperWave86
6 ай бұрын
Wow pretty cool vintage piece of music equipment and history great tribute to YMO 🎶
@kelseydaniels7283
6 ай бұрын
“Hello my fellow dorks,” is a top-tier opening line that caught me by surprise. 😂 Synth dorks are the best dorks. Great film as usual….RIP Ryuichi Sakamoto & Yukihiro Takahashi. (The closing track is such a great tribute to YMO too!)
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
I knew that would resonate. Thousands of nods. "Yep, I'm a dork".
@thebreakfastmenu
6 ай бұрын
Nothing but respect for those brilliant folks who actually made music with these things. I've never felt so dumb and bewildered watching someone make music with a num pad.
@JohnLloydDavis
6 ай бұрын
YMO, Devo and the Buggles are the ones who inspired me to play keys. Great video Alex :)
@judsonsnell
5 ай бұрын
This is so effing cool. I never knew anything but sequencing with the Mac (MasterTracks Pro!) when I started in 1990. It's amazing how music recording technology has gone from pressing vibrations into a foil cylinder into a a near-limitless DAW with emulations of every piece of gear ever... inside a laptop.
@Cubik303
6 ай бұрын
Nailed the YMO sound! Killer song.
@gazfunk
6 ай бұрын
The YMO tribute was fantastic. Excellent stuff.
@andrewcoates4952
6 ай бұрын
I heard Firecracker by YMO a few years ago and now is part of my regular song roster
@davidtravis8933
6 ай бұрын
Thank you Alex for the highest compliment you can give. I enjoy your channel and they don’t get much dorkier than me.
@rozzgrey801
6 ай бұрын
Roland knew the MC8 would be ahead of its time, that's why the left hand section is labelled with the abbreviation for Laugh My Ass Off.
@jakobholm1847
6 ай бұрын
I think it means Input My Ass Off.
@ytsm
6 ай бұрын
Literally *LMAO*
@YotamPiano
6 ай бұрын
Amazing, as a YMO fan and a fellow dork, I had no idea they used the MC-8. What a stunningly made video documentary - as always, Alex !
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
Hey Yotam. They did indeed! The early albums were all done with this mad computer.
@FatNorthernBigot
6 ай бұрын
A computer? That sequences music??? I never thought I'd see the day! (great-sounding track, BTW)
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
It'll never catch on.
@Mouxbar
6 ай бұрын
I'm the operator with my pachinko emulator. 💻
@stefangieck2914
6 ай бұрын
YMO not to be underestimated! Great hommage to these masters.
@TDRKB
6 ай бұрын
Hi Alex, its no wonder we haven't seen many videos lately, you have been programming steps into an MC-8. I can't imagine how long this video took to make. You really are dedicated to your passion. I bought a CSQ-600 in 1980 and it was a breeze to program and make music. It obviously isn't as capable though. You made a good point about the MC-8 being the precursor to DAW transport controls.An amazing amount of work, a catchy song and enetertaining and informative video. Thanks so much!
@dandalyn
6 ай бұрын
What a delight! Thanks so much for making this video. Matsutake and YMO are legends :)
@kastilruiz
6 ай бұрын
You ll need to be a superman like the famous japanese trio to program it and get the wonderful tunes of the first YMO albums. Congrats to Alex ..nice effort and very nice YMO style tune!!
@liamwhite6451
6 ай бұрын
Blimey, as musician myself, I take my hat off to you!!! YMO are a HUGE influence, so this stuff really resonates with me. Nice one.
@synthpro
6 ай бұрын
This is great Alex. I have been a YMO fan for years but didn’t know all this bit of history on the MC-8
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
Hey Jareth. Yep, this is what was giving them those super tight sequences to play over. 😀
@AxelWerner
6 ай бұрын
This gem will for sure soon replace all our DAWs , VST and all that software crap!! This is amazing!!! It's the future!!
@nobodynoone2500
6 ай бұрын
Ahh. Programming those was so satisfying and also a goddamn headache trying to remember your riff long enough to input it. Thats what the manual input was good for. Don't miss those keys either, a bit crap feel, maybe foam and foil? Even with the extra noise, tactile feedback is nice in the studio.
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
Yes, wonderful and awful all at once. The keys are actually pretty decent. They still work 47 years later, which is saying something!
@carlosserrano3985
6 ай бұрын
YMO Computer Games bring me to my childhood, I used to have the 45 record also I remember hearing that song in the arcade room in my local shopping mall, that was around 78 or 79. The MC-8 was also used by Martin Rushent in Human League Dare album with a System 700, the equipment is listed in the album. And like always your videos and your tunes are outstanding, thanks Alex.
@ekummel
6 ай бұрын
Wow...Talk about nostalgia! I haven't listened to my YMO albums in *YEARS*! What a delight listening to you explain this really tedious method of sequencing! and your homage to YMO's music with your stylized composition was just toe-tapping! I do remember looking at the back of one of their albums and seeing the list of equipment that they used to record that album and thinking to myself that it must be so amazing to have access to all those wonderful machines and synths and wishing I had just one of those things! Today, I enjoy my Yamaha DX7 FDII that I've had for 20+ years and a whole host of Korg Volcas and my latest acquisition, a Deepmind 12. That and my birthday present to myself, the NDLR and I can get some pretty decent stuff out of it. Thanks for rekindling my enjoyment or YMO...now I gotta dig out their albums and relisten to them again!
@chrissolbe5752
6 ай бұрын
NGL Alex, this is actually better than YMO who I love. Never mind the epochs of geological time spent programming the MC8. You're a compositional monster - the chord voicings and clever resolutions at the end of each section made me laugh out loud. Absolutely pitch perfect, and one of the best things ever on KZitem, seriously.
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
Very kind, thank you!
@chrissolbe5752
6 ай бұрын
@@AlexBallMusic I'm not kidding Alex, this is your finest moment yet. Apart from all the other ones.
@DL-1
6 ай бұрын
There's no way that I'm typing out a melody like this. But it's mind blowing to see how far that music production has come since these were in use.
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
I did that entire end track with the MC-8 and I may never do it again. 😂
@DL-1
6 ай бұрын
@AlexBallMusic 😮... 😆 🤣 🤣 .I hear you. I know that you like analog hardware and synths. Do you ever play with virtual synths? I'm curious about your thoughts about Uvi Falcon 3, and the Mpc Live 2. And my burning question is... how do you make pc instruments, a daw, and pc plugins sound comparable to hardware equipment on a sonic level? Can you do a video on that for us computer users? @AlexBallMusic
@DL-1
6 ай бұрын
@AlexBallMusic that final track is awesome by the way. That composer made a good synth bass sound. And I love the sound of that prophet 6. Do the computer emulations of it sound accurate?I can't afford analog gear yet. I would love to have a mixing console if I could. On another note, do you have a favorite talkbox? I'm trying to get a Zapp and Roger sound. Thank you.
@DL-1
6 ай бұрын
Have you checked out the Uvi Toy Suite?I haven't bought it yet, it's kind of expensive. But it has a 8 bit virtual synth in it for making video game type sounds. How does it sound to you?Zelda, well Nintendo and Sega level sounds from the 80's? Have a good day. You make great videos. Thank you.
@SoundWaveSea
6 ай бұрын
Brilliant video (as always) and DAMN, the YMOesque song you did so lovingly on all the period gear is wonderfully spot on. Bravo!
@sims774
6 ай бұрын
Great homage Alex! Incredible YMO style end track!! Plus vrai que les vrais ! (vocoder + synth bells down and up at 17:01 are perfect!) RIP Maestro Sakamoto and Takahashi Yukihiro 🙏
@dzod
6 ай бұрын
The track you wrote with this relic is an absolute belter mate!!!
@AnalogueSolutions
6 ай бұрын
your song perfectly captured the spirit of YMO
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
Cheers Tom. Still got yours?
@AnalogueSolutions
5 ай бұрын
@@AlexBallMusic yes. I bought a second mC4 also
@desktorp
6 ай бұрын
It's interesting how old synthesizers will maintain widespread allure for their sound characteristics, but old support devices like this sorta just become obsolete curiosities.
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
Yes, especially as devices like this actually had quite an effect on the way the music was made and how it sounded.
@enricopallazzoofficial
6 ай бұрын
"I'm the operator with my pocket calculator "
@Mook303
6 ай бұрын
Excellent video and cool track at the end. I was lucky enough to see YMO live on their world tour in 1980 IIRC. Funny how the MC-8 has a LMAO section too!
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
Live in 1980! Golden. Nice you can carry that with you for life, awesome. I think the text says "Imao" who was a previous owner. There's the same name hand written on the data cable. I'd love to know who that was because he was probably a pro to even have one of these.
@user-rv8wb1nl1b
6 ай бұрын
YMO Hip Hop Breaks !!!!
@zdravkodimitrov
6 ай бұрын
But can it compose my next hit?
@Patrick-bm6ih
6 ай бұрын
Yes
@nobodynoone2500
6 ай бұрын
It can, but it won't.
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
Let's find out! Power on Time base 120 Tempo 145 CV 1 / 1 Ready.
@JohnLloydDavis
6 ай бұрын
You need the Harrington 1200 :) kzitem.info/news/bejne/06ehu32Jg5ebZaQsi=XP3fS8jGgYMW3NIR
@Charlesbabbage2209
6 ай бұрын
It could back in the day, today hits happen when you open fruityloops and give Lil Shucky some codine.
@jooei2810
6 ай бұрын
YMO is a legendary group!
@dykodesigns
6 ай бұрын
The design of the machine is quite interesting, looks like an industrial piece of equipment meets a cash register. There’s just something about the numeric keypad and the angular shape of the enclosure that makes it look like a cash register. Even though it seems primitive by today’s standards the layout of the interface is looks well designed. Modern instruments have a habbit of putting a lot of features under complicated shift-button combinations, whereas this device has only single command for each button by the looks of it.
@evanglicanism
6 ай бұрын
Of all the equipment YMO used, the MC-8 was definitely the one piece most responsible for their sound. Thanks for doing a YMO doc, Alex. I’d love to know more about the LMD-649 sampler they used, but I don’t know if it exists anymore!
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
Oh boy, yes! I'd love to do something on the LMD. Maybe I'll get a chance somehow.
@rt-jw1cl
6 ай бұрын
I am one of the YMO maniacs in Japan. LMD649 was specially made by the staff for YMO and is not for sale. So there is only one in the world, and we do not know if it is still in existence. However, I remember that a long time ago, a Japanese synthesizer magazine introduced a method for its creation.
@skyrocketautomotive
6 ай бұрын
Always a pleasure to land on one of these videos early! Just got my Siel Mono up and running again so I'm in a very synthy mood!
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
Excellent. Play along!
@Dj_3x5
4 ай бұрын
Unbelievable. YMO has been my favorite band since I was 14 (44 now) and the song at the end is absolutely perfect. YMO is criminally underrated outside of Japan. Thank you for keeping their sound alive!
@urbanstarship
6 ай бұрын
As a big Erasure fan I think their best period musically was when they used one of these in the early 90s (I believe it was an MC-4). Yes, a pain in the ass to program by todays standards (or even by 90s standards), but with all art sometimes giving the artist limitations forces them to be creative.
@tschak909
6 ай бұрын
If I remember right, IMAO was a bizarre term Roland cooked up, that stood for "Integrated Memory Address Output" a funny way of saying, "These buttons control the parts of memory you address and see on the output display."
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
Imao was the name of a previous owner of this MC-8. The name is also on the cable in pen. I'd be interested to know who Imao was.
@tschak909
6 ай бұрын
Irony: This was the production unit of a prototype that Ralph Dyck had been carrying around with him for a few years, before, which was done entirely in TTL logic and ram chips. The move to an 8080 microprocessor allowed for 8 simultaneous channels, instead of just one, and all the MPX tricks that came along with being able to multiplex outputs.
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
Yep! It's well known that it was Ralph's invention. Ikutaro Kakehashi caught wind of it via one of his staff in the US and seized the opportunity to collaborate. Roland opened it out into something much more powerful. Things would be different had they not done it. Ralph also designed the SBX-80 sync box too!
@ianwynne764
6 ай бұрын
Hello Alex: It must have taken hours for you to learn the MC-8 sufficiently for you to make this video. Good job. Well done.
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
I had to read most of the epic manual! This video was made over several months. Worth it though.
@LeShark75
6 ай бұрын
YMO brilliant, anyone else recall hearing Rydeen on the title screen of Strykers Run on the BBC Micro Master Compact back in the 80s? 😊
@ryn8349
6 ай бұрын
And Isao Tomita ( which makes sense as YMOs Hideki Matsutake was Tomita's studio assistant
@AndyKing1963
6 ай бұрын
Nah it’s the Tangerine Dream sequencer ;) great video
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
😉
@AndyKing1963
6 ай бұрын
@@AlexBallMusic Tangerine Dream started using the MC-8 in 1978 beginning on their album, 'Force Majeure', (especially the title track and the section at the end which was based on Arcangelo Corelli’s 'La Folia' ). Chris Franke even met up with Tomita in Japan and they discussed how they both used the sequencer. TD would use it well unto the early 1980's - including on 'Love on a Real Train' from 'Risky Business'. Edgar Froese also had a MC-8 - shown in his studio from 1979 onwards, so probably used on his solo albums 'Stuntman' and 'Pinnacles' together with a TR-808: EDGAR in 1980: ‘I use the MC-8 primarily for precisely defined mathematical rhythm structures while I use the sequencer from the Moog (960 Sequential Controller) in a very variable way.’. Like most people they shelved the MC-8 once standalone hardware sequencers came along like the Yamaha QX1, by which time they had also started using Apple (II and 512K) and Commodore 64 computers
@mickydireland
6 ай бұрын
Round of applause for Jeff, Hillary and Susan for their valuable contribution!! Fantastic video Alex! 🙂
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
They were crucial.
@XavierRadix
6 ай бұрын
I salute the soldiers, such as you, to have gone through hell and back to make a 4 bar bass sequence on the MC-8 and not, you know, die from a cardiac arrest...
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
Only to be approached in the prime of health.
@FailedMuso
6 ай бұрын
And I thought the QX1 was a ball ache!! Brilliant stuff, as per!
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
Another level of devilry.
@SynthPrince
4 күн бұрын
Awesome track. Whats making the noises at the very beginning of the end track? Syndrum?
@cloudmover
6 ай бұрын
In 1999 I purchased an Alesis MMT-8. I hated it and blame my need for reading glasses on the four years I spent staring at that little screen. This video made me remember these horrible days and the headache I would get behind my eyes. LOL BUT, I can see why this method of working would be freeing to a composer. It's a step above notation and if you know what you are doing can deliver some amazing results. I still would never, EVER want to return to this workflow.
@shookmusic
6 ай бұрын
Legendary! So incredible you are covering this Alex, thank you for all your hard work ❤
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
Cheers Jasper!
@stevenmann9769
6 ай бұрын
Sweet! These beasts are pure synth exotica. Banger of a song too 😁
@treyquattro
6 ай бұрын
am I a dork? Yes I'm a dork! Bring it on!!
@jlindborg1105
6 ай бұрын
That song is really a "happy moment" song. Buying it promptly.
@zenithparsec
6 ай бұрын
This makes trackers interfaces look positively heavenly.
@Mirai_Kamisaki
6 ай бұрын
This project is wonderful! By the way, for my music, I operated the MC-4. Hideki Matsutake (who was said to be the fourth YMO member) I won the award for excellence in the show's contest.
@randydean23
6 ай бұрын
I am always taken aback by your talent with these machines and your inate musical abilities. And also your use of "crotchet" and "quaver" et al. As a yank I am so unaccustomed to the British way of describing subdivisions of the bar. It's pretty cool to have something so foreign to me yet be the same language. It's kinda like watching "are you being served" back in the day. 😂 Cheers
@iixorb
6 ай бұрын
Brilliant !! Can definitely see where the TB-303’s sequencer ‘logic’ came from!
@PedroMiguel-if3ll
6 ай бұрын
YMO were the best! RIP Yukihiro Takahashi and Ryuichi Sakamoto
@mitchelldries6628
6 ай бұрын
bloody hell. and i thought programming an sh-101 was a chore back in '99! obviously groundbreaking for the time, but if i saw you using this back in the 70's i wouldn't be able to tell if you were sequencing music or ringing me up at Tesco's... as always, great final track!
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
Don't forget to swipe your clubcard.
@chadkelham5034
Ай бұрын
“This is clearly a cash register” Me: “It’s a pretty amazing sounding cash register. I must say!!”
@D0Gdidthemath
6 ай бұрын
I think it would definitely possible to convince someone that the song you made was a lost YMO composition, you really nailed their style!
@tylereat
6 ай бұрын
Check out the Hideki Matsutake review for the Arturia Microbrute, he’s amazing
@enoz.j3506
6 ай бұрын
Ive always said tec gets in the way of inspiration & actually making music, just shows how YMO and alike pushed through and came up with some great music, whilst having to divert and learn the new tec. How easy we have it now, and i suppose thats why modern music sounds the same.Big fan of YMO since the late 70's. Good track you did here, Thank you.
@synthsandstuff
6 ай бұрын
Man, complicated times back then. We are so spoiled now. Great track, love YMO!
@AlexBallMusic
6 ай бұрын
Hey JP! Yeah, you had to work for your notes and rhythms back in the day.
@WilliamAshleyOnline
6 ай бұрын
lol, its like using a tracker without the gui/monitor :) This makes me appreciate my first music program I ever used MUSIC on the tandysl 1000 , atleast you had a score with that even if it was pc sounds. We are so lucky these days to have so much wysiwyg systems. But with that perhaps sacrifices the mental skill required to use these machine systems.
@MarsHottentot
6 ай бұрын
I remember when Pea Hix got one and put it on his blog - I wanted one so bad! They were fairly affordable back then, but I knew I didn't have the fortitude to actually use it😅
@GizzyDillespee
6 ай бұрын
Nice ending song... and it must've been a lot of work implementing it. I'm picturing a combination of a 303 and a Korg workstation event editor... and Roland will provide the screen. I've made tracks using old workstation sequencers, and I've used the 303 sequencer on the clone I own and... yeah, kudos for making such a cool track with this setup. "The clone you own". Probably still available for trademark! Luckily, I have no use for the phrase, so, free phrase, have at it, y'all! (Just, if you TM it, use it, don't just hold it hostage, like people did with web addresses)
@sub-jec-tiv
6 ай бұрын
What a blast! When do we get YMO’s LMD-649 sampling computer on your show? Jk 😉 They would have programmed it with this sequencer. YMO had the one-off prototype of the LMD, which was literally the first PCM sampler of all time. It can be heard all over the genius classic album Technodelic. Soon after, sampling would come to market via a company called Fairlight.
@theoriginaldanalogue
6 ай бұрын
I’ll never moan about the Logic Pro edit page EVER again. Great vid!
@fallingmanuk
6 ай бұрын
Thanks for another fascinating video - I always remember lusting after this thing in the Roland brochures in the early 80's - somehow it reminds me of my early computing days at school typing in BASIC code for a sequencer program in Computer & Video Games and it crashing immediately! Glad you had more success. The tune is a banger and the most uplifting track I've heard this week - I must check out YMO especially as I adore Behind The Mask that was originally theirs I believe. But one question: it says "IMAO" on the MC8 - pray tell what that stands for as the mind boggles (or should that be buggles given the subject matter)? 😁
@TheUnthaw
6 ай бұрын
Well I think I continue to treat my bassplayer well. It seems easier than programmng...
@peterhanes4985
6 ай бұрын
This is a great video, both for the rarity of the subject and the clarity of presentation. Presumably the note numbering system (at 6:20) is the forerunner of the MIDI Note message numbering system?
@ultramouse
6 ай бұрын
Just wild that classics like Rydeen and Kimi ni Mune Kyun were put together this way!! Very informative and great song.
@bernardryan475
6 ай бұрын
Been a fan of YMO since first heard them as a kid back in 1980. Great YMO homage track you created there. Here a clip from a documentary where YMO were featured for 5 minutes in the studio demoing using their MC-4 kzitem.info/news/bejne/2J2h0Gtjj3WeeKwfeature=shared
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