‘Smalltown boy’ was the group’s first single release and proved to be their biggest hit, so today Lucas takes us back to 1984 by recreating the track’s bass, pad and lead sounds with DRC and a little help from DLYM and FRMS too.Ĭlick here to download the Ableton project file. With all three members openly gay, Bronski Beat’s music was an expression of the group’s experiences, representing an often unheard community and raising awareness of the issues they faced.
In the 1980s, society had a very different view towards the LGBT community, way before the acronym was in common usage acceptance, understanding and equality were controversial sexual politics. This iPad DX7 patch editor for TouchOSC, via armatronix, is designed to simplify and speed up programming the ‘notoriously difficult’ Yamaha DX7, TX7, and TX816 FM synths, via MIDI SYSEX. This boosted Patchworx pack comes complete with not only 81 custom presets and 77 MIDI files but included in the download are 78 Wav rendered versions of the patch and associated MIDI files for quick drag and drop inspiration.
The Pack is also available as part of a discounted bundle with the L Slow and Waterworx Packs. The lyrics and narrative however tell a much darker story. Each preset comes with its own unique MIDI file melody to help fire off some inspiration for your next Trap production. Inspired by the experimental sounds of the 60s and 70s, this eclectic set of dream-like instruments and textures is ideal for soundtracks, film scores, or anyone looking to spark offbeat production ideas. The simple riff is matched by its suitably soft and gentle pluck sound, and had the track been an instrumental, it would have been a fairly lighthearted affair. Its pleasant musical phrasing resolves satisfyingly in a loop that is instantly memorable but never tiresome. The keybed is well built and springy (borderline percussive), the split and layer plus stereo outputs add lots of extra depth, and the performance patches are incredibly useful. However, the DX is still such a fantastic stage keyboard/ controller. I use the Yamaha DX7 synthesizer as an example to show how I set-up my DX7 fo. I just recently replaced my DX7 IID with an SY77, it's bigger (muuuuch bigger) badder brother.
The hook from Bronski Beat’s ‘Smalltown boy’ has a catchy simplicity, such that it treads the line somewhere between melody and arpeggio. This is a tutorial video of how to setup a synth for MIDI and audio recording.
It’s one of those 80’s synth-pop lead riffs that is forever tied to the preset/patch being used to play it, the two married together in our memories.