Back in Element: Synths in Madonna Songs

My interest is more in "Holiday", "Into the Groove","Lucky Star" and "Vogue". What synths do you think or know were used in these songs by Madonna. Here's what I figure in some songs already

Into the groove: The bass sounds like a Moog Bass with a heavy cut off ran through a DSX. I know for a fact the drum machine is an Oberheim DMX. I also know the brass main chord is definetly an Oberheim Synth.

Holiday: LinnDrum with a Rhodes Piano, OB-X and Moog Bass once again

"Lucky Star" Same as above with a Juno for arppegio

"Vogue" is a tough beast. Some of the sounds like the piano sounds like a Roland D-50. The drums could be real but they sound sampled so I could say it was either an SP-1200 or Linn 9000. I figure a DX-7 MKII is in there somewhere.

any thoughts.

Hi!

I like the idea of real drums in Vogue, but those 909 drums most likely are from the Roland R-8, considering the year and the bitrate/feel.

Most likely not as the R-9 came out in 1989 when the song was recorded and ain't no way that was no 909. It's too real sounding. More likely the drums in Vogue was from an SP-1200 or a Linn 9000.

The gear doesn't really matter because the magic is in the song and the vocal performance.

The key is to get a good singer in there and give her a good song to sing. You can use pretty much any gear from that era and the production will work out. Boogie related stuff isn't as rule oriented as techno and house.

She really did have a spectacular run of early singles.

Also, not trying to be all Geirist about it. I have been buying a lot of stuff from around this era and it seems like the vocalist is always the limiting factor on these records. So many of these records have great instrumentals that can cross over in a lot of ways from house to boogie to new wave to Italo, but god awful vocals ruin the vocal mixes.

It seems like any early 80's drum machine + a mono bass synth + a poly synth = a potentially good boogie record. That being said, you can get Quincey Jones with the Thriller studio team and a bad singer will still ruin the whole thing.

My interest is more in "Holiday", "Into the Groove","Lucky Star" and "Vogue". What synths do you think or know were used in these songs by Madonna. Here's what I figure in some songs already

First and foremost: "Vogue" used completely different synths from the other ones you mention. "Vogue" was an all-digital song from the all-digital age, not one single analogue synth in use there.

ain't no way

"Vogue" as i figured used Roland D-50s for backing pad sounds and possibly the piano. DX-7 for some of the bellish sounds and M1 for the orchestration sounds. This is speculative. The drum machine I am pretty sure was a Linn-9000 or a SP-1200

Let's just focus on "Into the Groove", "Holiday", "Lucky Star" and "Everybody" What synths do you think were used in them.

First of all, they had different producers. The former is produced by Stephen Bray whereas "Lucky Star" and "Everybody" were produced by Reggie Lucas.

Wikipedia says that an Oberheim OB-X and a Moog bass were used extensively on her debut album, along with a Linn drum machine.

Regarding "Into the Groove" I find nothing in Wikipedia about what kind of synths were being used, but I would guess there is a bit of FM synthesis in there. It surely sounds to me like a Yamaha DX7 has been used a alongside more traditional vintage synths. And then, the same Linn drum machine.

Actually "Into the Groove" was Oberheim DMX, it's in the wikipedia, look up Oberheim DMX in wiki and it will indicate. Listening closely, it sounds as if the DX-7 was used in a few bars. The bass may sound like the "DX Bass" in reality, it's a finely tuned Moog Bass.

great thread. i want to know about Like A Virgin.

Actually "Into the Groove" was Oberheim DMX, it's in the wikipedia, look up Oberheim DMX in wiki and it will indicate. Listening closely, it sounds as if the DX-7 was used in a few bars. The bass may sound like the "DX Bass" in reality, it's a finely tuned Moog Bass.

OK cool. Nobody can even try to claim there isn't a lot of DX Bass on the "True Blue" album though. :)

You can find "Like a Virgin" report in Sound on Sound on-line magazine. Look it up.

by way of this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR8b8xmrL8Y

I found out that the bass in "Into the Groove" was not a Mini-Moog but a Roland MKS-90 rack synth. With 16 Oscillators, It could be made to like an FM synth. I also have a feeling it was used in some other songs like Luther Vandross's "Give Me The Reason"

MKS-90 rack synth

no such thing. was an MKS-80, also extensively used by pet shop boys