That "crashing iron" synth sound that was popular years ago

[corey trevor]

Does anybody know what synth was used to make that, I guess the best way to describe it would be, "crashing iron" synth sound that was real popular in house music in the late 80's through mid 90's? I've linked an example of the sound it comes in at about :16 seconds. If anyone could tell me the synth that made this sound, or how it was made, it'd be greatly appreciated. I've got a bunch of soft synths that I'm sure I could recreate something close to it with. Pretty much the closest I've came is by sampling bodybuilders lifting weights and dropping them.

The synth in question crashses in at about :16, this isn't the most melodic example, but I've heard it used where the pitch changes, so I know it can't just be a sample of a dude in an iron forge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHBpLvFl6P0#t=0m16s

[masterblasterofdisaster]

Sounds like a sample of a hammer hitting an anvil to me.

[beatmunga]

Classic sound. I know exactly what it is: it will sound unlikely but give it a try!

It's a tambourine hit played a good few octaves down.

The Roland R8 or Korg M1 would have been the most likely candidates for a severely detuned tambourine at the turn of the 90s.

I'll go through my drum machine samples and let you know the exact one and tuning... give me 5 mins.

[glenn303]

I think its a drum machine making that sound. Pretty sure I've heard it on my Roland R8 years back, I could be mistaken though.

[beatmunga]

Great minds think alike glen303.

It is indeed a Roland R8 tambourine detuned by exactly 2 octaves (-24 semitones). I have just loaded the sample of my old Boss DR-550 (the poor man's R8, same sounds) and it is identical to the sound in the link.

'Strings of Life' is my favourite example of it...

[beatmunga]

Sounds like a sample of a hammer hitting an anvil to me.

You know, there's a legend that a similar sound on old Motown records was due to a big old iron chain and an anvil that Mr. Gordy had installed in the studio.

I'd bet a kidney that this story was a smokescreen to put the rivals off the true scent - it was obviously a tambourine played onto highly varispeeded tape, resulting in a good old drop in pitch on playback at normal speed.

I can understand the secrecy - awesome sound!

[glenn303]

Great minds think alike glen303.

It is indeed a Roland R8 tambourine detuned by exactly 2 octaves (-24 semitones). I have just loaded the sample of my old Boss DR-550 (the poor man's R8, same sounds) and it is identical to the sound in the link.

'Strings of Life' is my favourite example of it...

I now have the urge to dust off the old R8 and start making some beats.

[beatmunga]

This is a great example too - The Prodigy when they were still proper Ravers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6-8pUOlm8E

I now have the urge to dust off the old R8 and start making some beats.

Great machines the R8 and R5. The 16 bit samples were a bit 'clean' but the extreme pitching and separate outs were loads of fun.

Go on, you know you want to!

[taoyoyo]

Used to have the R8-M... used that detuned tamb sound in a couple of tracks back in the early 90's.

As others have said, you could get a lot of mileage and some interesting sounds by detuning the samples... there was a guiro sound that when detuned enough turned into a 1-bar sequence.

[beatmunga]

Used to have the R8-M... used that detuned tamb sound in a couple of tracks back in the early 90's.

As others have said, you could get a lot of mileage and some interesting sounds by detuning the samples... there was a guiro sound that when detuned enough turned into a 1-bar sequence.

I know exactly the sound you mean.

And an 808 clap 3 octaves down sounds like an anti aircraft gun... those were the days - squeezing every last bit of creativity out of the only bits of hardware you could afford.

I miss 'em sometimes.

[taoyoyo]

Used to have the R8-M... used that detuned tamb sound in a couple of tracks back in the early 90's.

As others have said, you could get a lot of mileage and some interesting sounds by detuning the samples... there was a guiro sound that when detuned enough turned into a 1-bar sequence.

I know exactly the sound you mean.

And an 808 clap 3 octaves down sounds like an anti aircraft gun... those were the days - squeezing every last bit of creativity out of the only bits of hardware you could afford.

I miss 'em sometimes.

Same here... things like recording a line from an old Juno-106 through effects double speed into an S950 and then playing it an octane lower cos it only had like 1.75mb ram onboard! Squeezing it

[beatmunga]

Used to have the R8-M... used that detuned tamb sound in a couple of tracks back in the early 90's.

As others have said, you could get a lot of mileage and some interesting sounds by detuning the samples... there was a guiro sound that when detuned enough turned into a 1-bar sequence.

I know exactly the sound you mean.

And an 808 clap 3 octaves down sounds like an anti aircraft gun... those were the days - squeezing every last bit of creativity out of the only bits of hardware you could afford.

I miss 'em sometimes.

Same here... things like recording a line from an old Juno-106 through effects double speed into an S950 and then playing it an octane lower cos it only had like 1.75mb ram onboard! Squeezing it

Bang on. Or learning how SEND AND RETURNS work because you couldn't afford to buy an Alesis Microverb for every friggin' channel on your desk.

Kids - they don't know they're born these days taoyoyo.

[corey trevor]

Nice guys thanks. Yeah I'll try that tamborine trick, I've got the M1 Legacy so I'm also gonna see what its got.

[glenn303]

Nice guys thanks. Yeah I'll try that tamborine trick, I've got the M1 Legacy so I'm also gonna see what its got.

If you happen to have the Korg Legacy Wavestation you can get that type of sound with it too.

[Pitch Black]

Korg "Pole"?

http://www.synthmania.com/m1.htm (patch#19)

http://www.synthmania.com/Korg%20M1/Aud ... 20Pole.mp3