Roger Odonnell on Sonic State

Podcast and downloadable mp3 on Sonic State.

"We've got a bit of a treat for you all this week - we're talking Roger Odonnell who's been a touring and studio keyboard player since the 1980's where he began by playing with 80's pop sensation The Thompson Twins, then moving on to the Psychedelic Furs and finally a long stint with The Cure.

Roger talks to us about his recent work - including a new album titled "The Truth In Me" which was recorded entirely on the Moog Voyager, his involvement with the new Harmonic Table AXIS controller, the 80's and various thoughts on a number of synths."

Title link takes you there.

Synths on The Cure's Disintigration

Title link takes you to an interview with Roger Odonnell on the classic Cure ablum, Disintigration.

Image via Roger Odonnell's website. Speaking of, I need to pick up his latest album which was apparently entirely done with a Minimoog Voyager. Talk about a Voyager showcase.


A few excerpts from the intreview:
"his concern for sounds that are appropriate, rather than trendy, reflects in O'Donnell's stage setup. One of his two onstage keyboards is a vintage Roland JX-8P. "It wasn't really my choice to play the Roland," O'Donnell admits. 'But it has a lot of sounds from the old albums, so it made sense to use them, rather then to go through a lot of new stuff. We used it on the album as well. And now I'm quite happy with it. The high string patch is especially nice.'

Other venerable units lend an eerie timelessness to the textures on Disintegration. 'The characteristic sound of the album is the orchestral string sample I got from Doctor Sounds in New York for my [Sequential] Prophet 2000,' O'Donnell reports. 'But we often mixed it with a classic instrument from the Cure's old days--a Solina String Ensemble, which is still in the Cure cave. Robert actually likes to try to get it into every song. I sampled that into the 2000 for our tour.'"

"Some of the distinctive keyboard sounds on Disintegration also made it into the final mix with only minimal adjustment. For instance, Simon Gallup used the Universe Of Sounds organ sample on his demo for 'Lovesong'; it worked so well that O'Donnell kept it in the arrangement. And the massive textured synth on the opening cut,'Plainsong,' was originally created by Smith on his demo. 'We worked together on that, but it's mainly Robert,' O'Donnell acknowledges. 'I played the guide keyboard, with Boris [Williams, drummer] in the studio, because it's difficult to play to a click. For the guide keyboard part, I played a solo violin line. Then I added the bass keyboard line, which was a very heavy MIDIed texture with about four sounds, including a Minimoog, which I was determined to get onto the album somewhere, a very deep cello, and lots of Solina. Robert held down one chord all the way through--a kind of block C thing that he's fond of, with all five fingers very close together. It always works, which constantly amazes me. There's also a single high C held down all the way through, which we brought in and out of the mix.'"

I absolutely love the intro to Plainsong. Pure synth magic.

“Tiny Pieces of You”

via alka:
"wanted to give you a heads up that Roger O'Donnell is giving away a free download off of his new release (that i also appear on) for xmas!

in his words:
sometimes the absurdities of the record industry amaze even me but it saddens me when musicians get sucked into the vortex in their search for fame and fortune. It never works, never ever but they still try...

So here's a free song that my label and I would like to give away for Christmas. We don't have to ask anyones permission to do this because we think alike and we just love music and we would rather people got to hear good music.

This song is very special to me, I wrote it during a very difficult and moving period in my life and it is dedicated to the love I have for one person and what she went through. She is a special shining light.....

http://worlds-fair.net/news/2008/12/18/roger-odonnell-releases-brand-new-track/"

Synth Books and DVDs

I just added the Book and DVD amazon ads back to the right pane of the site. I had a little trouble getting them back up with the new template. Take a look. If you see any books or DVDs that you think should be on that list, post a comment and I will look it up. I was thinking about adding CDs but I don't want that to get out of hand. I'm wondering if a top 10 list of CDs might make sense or I could just make them text links like my blog roll. The rule of course would be the CD has to showcase the synth, so Wendy Carlos' Hooked on Bach (MOOG Modular), Morton Subotnik (Buchla), and Roger ODonnell (MOOG Voyager) would make sense. Let me know what you think.