Benge - Yambience - Yamaha CP-30 + SS-30 ambient synthesis

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Wakey-wakey! - Rick Wakeman's SS-30s

 Here's Rick - Spot the SS-30!

Rick Wakeman - (Butler/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty)

In the all-time ranking of keyboard players Rick Wakeman is in the upper reaches. With prog giants Yes and working solo he bestrode the 1970s music scene tinkling ivories and tossing off stupendously fast runs of notes on the nearest Minimoog. 

Tourmato 1978-79

In 1978 Yes produced the album Tormato on which Wakeman played Polymoog, Birotron (a kind of 8-track cartridge version of the Mellotron, funded by himself) and RMI Keyboard Computer. A restrained ensemble of gear which was supposed to make the album more cohesive. 

Tormato - 1978

 

It was then time to embark on a 101 date US and UK tour running from 1978 to ‘79, Tourmato. On a giant revolving stage. Obviously Rick would need more than three keyboards, so he added a couple of Minimoogs (naturally) a grand piano (of course), Prophet 5 (nice) and more. At some point in the 10-month tour he added two SS-30s. He already had a Yamaha CP-30 electric piano (also pictured above) so I guess he was well disposed towards this range.

Yes live before - CP-30, space echos, Birotron, x2 Minimoog

 

 

Yes Live after - CP-30, x2 SS-30 and x2 Minimoogs

You can hear the SS-30 towards the end of Circus of Heaven, and see Rick playing it in the footage from June 1979 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

Why have two? If you’re playing to thousands of people every night the pressure to not only play well but also handle all the technicalities of a rock gig are quite daunting. Add the fact that you have 101 such concerts to endure then you would want to make things easy for yourself.

Looking at earlier footage he seems to be using a similar rig to what you can see here in an live set-up from a several earlier. On the left side he placed two Minimoogs on top of a dual-manual Mellotron. This was a custom built instrument with two trons in one cabinet.

Rick Wakeman (around 1974)

 

All I know for sure is that at some point this special dual tron was stolen. I think in 1978. I have to assume that the pair of SS-30s effectively replaced the single Birotron and provided a more reliable source of strings sounds. In a happy conclusion to the loss of his custom Mellotron it was eventually found and restored. Rick only uses the digital Memotron on stage now though.

Tourmato 1979 in motion

Rhapsodies - 1978-79

The introduction to the stage rig of the SS-30s seems to fall into the period when Rick recorded his next solo album, Rhapsodies. Was the SS-30 used in the recording though?

Tourmato took a break between November ‘78 and April ‘79 and based on footage from 1978 and the Philadelphia show in a June ‘79 I guess the SS-30s were added during the break and therefore around when the album was being recorded. 

Rhapsodies - 1979

The synths used on each track are not listed on the sleeve notes for Rhapsodies, and there is a dearth of interviews or anything else describing what gear was used, so all I can do is listen.

 

 

What I hear on Rhapsodies does indeed seem to be a strings synth. Whether it is the SS-30 or not I can’t say for certain, but it sounds very much like it to me, and the fact that Rick has two of them on stage within months of the recording makes it probable. 

 
The assumed SS-30 is used extensively on this album and is quite prominent on many tracks. For example on March Of The Gladiators it is heard from the off and through-out. At times it may be two SS-30s being played together. Sea Horses has a rather typical use of synth strings, creating a pad or bed to lift the mood. The Flasher is a standout demostration of strings synth, playing a chunky riff at the outset, then arperggios then swells of chords. Later in the piece a melody is played on what must be the SS-30. Swan Lager (a reggae version of Swan Lake. What?) has some very, very string synths style pads. In seems rick was enjoying the opportunities offered by the stringer and putting his Mellotron/Biotron days behind him.

1980 Tour

In 1980 The English Rick, sorry, Rock Ensemble was reformed by Wakeman and taken out on tour. You can see he has kept the same setup as used on Tourmato. What’s better now is you can really see the SS-30s in use much more clearly in this concert recorded by Swedish TV. 

The tour setlist includes a couple of numbers from Rhapsodies, but I don't think any are included in this concert. Nonetheless the SS-30 is used thoughout. 

Another point is that he is playing chords on the SS-30 with his left hand and soloing on the Minimoog with his right, as you'd expect. Crucially though, he switches postion and sometimes uses the pair on the left and sometimes the pair on the right. So, depending on which Minimoog he wants to solo on he uses the SS-30 underneath. Even if you can effortlessly play with two hands crossing one arm over and under the other is difficult.

1984 -1981

The following year Rick recorded and released 1984 and took it onstage at the Hammersmith Odeon, seemingly sponsored by Korg! 

Some of Wakemans's late arriving Korgs ready for live performances of 1984, in 1981

As Rick explained to Music Radar:

 I developed a great relationship with Korg during the ‘70s. Back then, there was no such thing as sponsorship. If I wanted a synth, I had to buy it. But the Japanese companies were the first to realise the value of artist promotion. If people saw me playing a Korg synth and they liked the sound, they were going to buy one.“I was flown out to Japan by the big boss of Korg, Kato San. What an amazing man! He said, ‘Rick, I want you to try all our keyboards. Take them on tour with you’.

https://www.musicradar.com/news/rick-wakeman-on-his-top-5-synths-i-suddenly-had-an-instrument-that-could-give-the-guitar-a-run-for-its-money

Seemingly he had hoped for the Korg consignment to come through ready for the recording of the 1984 album in early 1981, but they weren’t delivered in time. Instead he had to settle for whatever he had lying around and could beg and borrow. The old RMI with new Prophet 10 and Synclavier instead. Never mind, eh? 

1984 - 1981

The sleeve notes for 1984 are more forthcoming about Rick’s gear than Rhapsodies and on Forgotten Memories, alongside Prohets 5 and 10, acoustic piano and Minimoog is listed 'String Machine'. Which one though, Rick? 

Thanks to muzines there’s an interview from the time, where he has this to say.

I've used the Yamaha string machine and I've also made up my own strings using a Prophet.
To get my electronic string sound, I put down a basic string machine track on tape. I then add Harmoniser treatment to detune and chorus it further. I then use the Yamaha electric piano with all the attacks on full and all its sustain off and put this on the front for the attack. I put a strong echo on as it's mixed on to another track. Finally, I bring the echo of the string machine up front, cutting off the echo at the end so it's a more natural sound.

Then, referring to War Game

It ends with an upward portamento on synth over sustained Yamaha string machine sound.

http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/rick-wakeman-in-1984/3626

Electronics & Music Maker - Dec 1981

 

Which, I think, is conclusive. There really is only one Yamaha string machine (SK range excepted) and we know he had SS-30s kicking around. The additional effort he put into getting the right strings sounds in the studio shows the difference between that and his live arrangements.  

As well as those listed above, Overture Part 2 has some unmistakable strings machine sounds and Sorry also appears to have been graced with an SS-30 too. Of course, I'm not usre and the other keyboards used can do string like sounds. On Proles, it sounds like a stringer, but the attack and pitch bends make it impossible to be.

 

By the time 1984 was on stage the postie had been with a rather large parcel from Korg. In particular the two SS-30s had been replaced with a pair of Korg Lambdas. Fair enough, but for a couple of years, two albums and two tours the keyboard giant Rick Wakeman had a pair of Yamaha SS-30s in his arsenal. 

 

Anyway, here he is, in Korg heaven, with the Overture to 1984 played live on Film '84 (BBC TV) with introduction by Barry Norman.

 

 References

• http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=98771
  
• https://www.facebook.com/YesWakemanMellotron/
• https://yesmusicpodcast.com/tag/mellotron/
•  http://www.metal-discovery.com/Interviews/rickwakeman_interview_2010_pt3.htm
• http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/rick-wakeman-in-1984/3626
  
• https://www.musicradar.com/news/rick-wakeman-on-his-top-5-synths-i-suddenly-had-an-instrument-that-could-give-the-guitar-a-run-for-its-money
  

Oli Freke, Synthesizer Evolution & SynthTrax

 Oli Freke has started a Wiki site deicated to identifying which synths were used on what track. 

It's called SynthTrax and of course I have been over and editted the SS-30 entry - who else could do it?

Who is Oli Freke? When he's not managing BBC's iPlayer he is a writer and musician with a  lomg history and interest in synths. See here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olifreke/

Yamaha SS-30 - Oli Freke - SynthTrax website

 

Synthesizer Evolution

Actually, I was meaning to post about Oli's book Synthesizer Evolution since I got it last year. The book is a kind of directory of synths, drum machines and samplers and covers the period 1963 -1995. Its particular charm comes from the line drawings of each piece of gear listed. Of course the SS-30 is included and there is the lovely drawing of it above. 

The book was inspired by posters Oli created showing the evolution of synths.

It doesn't go into great detail on each synth. Even the big beasts get just a couple of lines beyond the basic description of what type of synth it is. Instead most of the text is about the type of gear in each section: synth, drum machine; sampler, and the major companies, like Yamaha. 

It's a really great book for the likes of us and there are lot of really obscure machines in there that will send you off in search of them online, as well as reminders of how the market evolved from analogue to digital and then back again. Which is the subtitle of the book!

SynthTrax

SynthTrax was started by Oli early in 2022 and is described best by him on his blog post about here. In summary though, he's trying to create a place where verifed uses of synths on tracks can be collated and the usual heresay and specualtion is left behind. As I have spent time doing that for the SS-30, it makes good sense for me to share what I've researched for this site with that noble endevour. 

Each synth on SynthTrax should have two pages. There's the article page with general info about the synth and a section on associated artists. For exmaple Ultravox's heavy use of the SS-30 is well known.  Here is the SS-30 page https://synthtrax.net/index.php/Yamaha_SS-30_Article_Page

 Then the main effort goes into the track (or song) list. The SS-30 list is here: https://synthtrax.net/index.php/Yamaha_SS-30_Song_List 

As I type this I have mostly completed the Article page and there is just one entry on the Song List page for the SS-30 (Ultravox - Vienna).

An SS-30 repaired - MIDI Installed - demo

Here are a pair of videos from Alexey Taber titled "YAMAHA SS30 - installing MIDI" parts 1 and 2.  Although no specfic details are provided, the machine has been repaired and then had MIDI installed

There's no explaination about the MIDI interface or repairs, just a demo of SS-30 in operation. Sounds like it's in good condition though.

Synth Wizards Episode 11: String Machine Madness!

 Sadly no SS-30 in this otherwise fairly comprehensive film about string machines, but then the SS-30 was never sold in the US. Yes, it says the SK-20 was the first Yamaha stringer too, but you have to forgive them. 

It's lots of fun -  despite this carping - and I haven't seen anything else cover as much ground in video form with actual examples of so many different instruments.

 

 

Edit. The SS-30 has a cameo in this Syntaur film about the DX1!

 

 

Nein Oh Nein

This post has now been moved to https://norgatronics.blogspot.com/2021/11/nein-oh-nein.html

SD 80'81 - Tuning

 This post has been moved to https://norgatronics.blogspot.com/2021/11/sd-8081-tuning.html