Interview with Jean-Michel Jarre

[anonymous-user]

I would like those D50 sounds aswell.

It's a shame that Roland don't do Legacy collection Software, like Korg do.

The only thing that has D50 sounds are the V Synth XT, which are about a grand

I'm still trying to get Cubase and Cakewalk Zeta to work on my laptop at the moment. The Analog Legacy collection is working o.k. though.

[qube_TA]

You could always go n buy a D-50/550, they cost nothing now.

Or a JD-800 which basically has the same sounds but a miles better interface.

[MitchT]

Parrot of Doom said:

If you have Reason Mitch, you can download a not bad emulation of that instrument here:

I don't have Reason - currently using Logic Pro 8. Awesome piece of software though. Here's a fantastic version of Oxygene 4 that someone did using Reason 4... http://www.lowlanders.org/armandox/Oxygene4.mp3

qube_TA said:

You could always go n buy a D-50/550, they cost nothing now.

Indeed. Picked my D-50 up for £175.

[tribbles]

MitchT said:

I don't have Reason - currently using Logic Pro 8.

In case you didn't know, the two do work together fairly well (not as nice as the built-in synths of Logic Pro 8 though).

[MitchT]

tribbles said:

MitchT said:

I don't have Reason - currently using Logic Pro 8.

In case you didn't know, the two do work together fairly well (not as nice as the built-in synths of Logic Pro 8 though).

The built-in synths of Logic are pretty amazing, though a tad over-elaborate I find. I prefer using my third-party software synths like the Novation V-Station, Arturia Jupiter-8V and Native Instruments Pro-53. They look like the analogue synths that we're used to and are much more 'immediate' and intuitive to use. I plan to buy the whole Arturia V-Collection... and one day when I have the money and the space, a whole, real, modular 'Synth-Henge' to play with!

[tribbles]

MitchT said:

The built-in synths of Logic are pretty amazing, though a tad over-elaborate I find. I prefer using my third-party software synths like the Novation V-Station, Arturia Jupiter-8V and Native Instruments Pro-53. They look like the analogue synths that we're used to and are much more 'immediate' and intuitive to use. I plan to buy the whole Arturia V-Collection... and one day when I have the money and the space, a whole, real, modular 'Synth-Henge' to play with!

I've got the Jupiter-8V as well, but not the other two. I'm awaiting the East West Symphonic Choirs to be available on Intel Mac as my next purchase (I've got enough hardware and software synths to play with for the moment).

ETA: Looks like it's possibly now available if you buy an update to Kontakt (rather than it being included)...

Edited by tribbles on Tuesday 15th January 20:36

[minimoog]

MitchT said:

qube_TA said:

Ditto, I love old analogue synths but they are a PITA to use, especially when you're trying to use a few of them at the same time and they keep wandering off on their own.

Wandering off on their own Excellent!

My Polymoog didn't so much 'wander off' as ran full pelt down the stairs, jumped into a waiting car, screeched off to the airport, then caught the next plane to Bali. It's still lying there on a beach somewhere under a palm tree surrounded by Ladymoogs and sipping gin slings. The bastard

[qube_TA]

minimoog said:

MitchT said:

qube_TA said:

Ditto, I love old analogue synths but they are a PITA to use, especially when you're trying to use a few of them at the same time and they keep wandering off on their own.

Wandering off on their own Excellent!

My Polymoog didn't so much 'wander off' as ran full pelt down the stairs, jumped into a waiting car, screeched off to the airport, then caught the next plane to Bali. It's still lying there on a beach somewhere under a palm tree surrounded by Ladymoogs and sipping gin slings. The bastard

Wouldn't be as bad if they did that every time.

There was a great series on Radio 2 a couple of years back about the rise of synths in popular music, had all the grand masters on like ELP, Froese, Kraftwerk etc on, then all the 80's synth pop people like Numan. Human League too, one of them said that they'd have all these mono-synths, spend ages in a bedsit fiddling to come up with a great sound/sequence, they'd then take them round to a colleagues place to demonstrate 'their next hit' and the chuffing things would sound completely different despite all the controls being in exactly the same place!

[whygee02]

Rendezvou Houston has to remain one of the best concerts in history. I remember watching it as a kid in awe at the whole scale of it. I recently acquired a dvd copy of it from fleebay and its just as good as I'd remembered.

Also the recent concert in china DVD (couple of years old maybe) remains my party-peace for showing off my surround sound kit - genuine 5 channel instruments and several very good 'walk around the speakers' moments.

He remains the sole reason for my synth kit in my music room (Triton, MS2K, Radias, to name a few)

Will be keeping an eye open for tickets for this.

[qube_TA]

Problem with a lot of the older concerts was the very poor films that were made of them.

Concorde, Houston, Lyon, Docklands (that one in particular) were hopeless, they were usually far too short and were more concerned with silly 80's video effects rather than showing anything, or just shot close-ups of Jarre so you couldn't see the rest of the show.

The first one I was impressed with was Paris La Defense which was a massively OTT concert and it came across on the film.

Pity Jarre parted with Polydor n thus none of them will ever be re-released on DVD.

[whygee02]

I dunno, the Houston one is okay. Pity its not a digital remaster of the concert (dodgy second gen video to DVD copy I suspect), but the footage covers a fair bit of the event and surrounding areas etc etc. Does a good job at showing the scale of it all.

Yes some of it suffers from some 80's cheese factor though, I agree, but overall its pretty good.

[qube_TA]

Also most of the audio is mastered for your average 80's TV set with little speakers and no Dolby so they do sound a bit squashed.

He's also interviewed in this months Sound On Sound magazine if anyone is interested.

[qube_TA]

JEAN MICHEL JARRE: ROYAL ALBERT HALL CONCERT

EMI Marketing UK & 3a Entertainment have confirmed to JARRE UK today, that
Jean Michel Jarre will officially bring his 'OXYGENE' Concert to the Royal
Albert Hall, London, UK, on Sunday 30th March 2008.

According to the Official Press Release, Jean Michel Jarre will continue to
celebrate the 30th Anniversary of his 'OXYGENE' Album, by performing the
entire masterpiece, 'LIVE', at the Royal Albert Hall, using more than 50 of
his original Vintage Analogue Synthesizers, accompanied on stage by the
French Musicians Francis Rimbert, Claude Samard & Dominique Perrier.

This will be the first time that Jean Michel Jarre has performed in the UK
in over a decade. Coincidentally, his last performances in the UK were for
the 20th Anniversary of 'OXYGENE', as part of his 'OXYGENE TOUR' in 1997.

Jean Michel Jarre's 'OXYGENE' Concert will take place at 20:00 (8:00pm) at
the Royal Albert Hall, London, UK on Sunday 30th March 2008, Tickets for
which will go on sale from 9:00am on Monday 21st January 2008, priced at
£45, £55, £65 & £75 (all subject to booking fee), either from Bookings
Direct (www.bookingsdirect.com), or by phoning [phone] (24
Hours).

Arena, Centre Stalls & Side Stalls - £75
Loggia Boxes, Grand Tier Boxes - £100 (Reserved For Invited Guests)
2nd Tier Boxes - £75
Front Circle - £65
Rear Circle - £55
Circle (Restricted View) - £45

For further information about Jean Michel Jarre's forthcoming 'OXYGENE'
Concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London, please visit Jean Michel Jarre's
NEW-LOOK Official Web-Site (www.jeanmicheljarre.com), or alternately visit
the Royal Albert Hall's Official Web-Site (www.royalalberthall.com).

[tribbles]

Cool, thanks!

[MitchT]

Well, I know exactly what I'll be doing at 9:00 on Monday morning!

[PJR]

I am not especially a fan of his music, but being a bit of a muso tech geek, I was always quite interested in the kind of kit he used to make his music. So any like minded muso tech geeks like me might want to pick up the latest edition of Sound On Sound magazine, where he is interviewed and talks about his kit and latest Oxygene project. Has lots of pretty picts too. That mans got some toys!

P,

[PJR]

MitchT said:

Parrot of Doom said:

If you have Reason Mitch, you can download a not bad emulation of that instrument here:

I don't have Reason - currently using Logic Pro 8. Awesome piece of software though. Here's a fantastic version of Oxygene 4 that someone did using Reason 4... http://www.lowlanders.org/armandox/Oxygene4.mp3

I only just had a listen to that. As a Reason user myself even I am surprised how good that sounds. And remarkably faithful to the original. Infact I didn't believe it was really Reason doing all that. So after poking around the sites directory file, I found the Reason rps file also available to download. And sure enough, its the real deal! Nice to see how the clever chap strung it all together in the app itself. Top job..

P,

[qube_TA]

After the initial excitement I think I'm going to give this a miss.

Judging by the shows he did in Paris it's basically a rerun of the DVD with Oxygene 13 as an encore. So as much as I'd like to see it and ogle that kit the costs of going plus the 7 hour round trip for only an hours worth of music it just isn't worth it.

I'll watch the DVD and turn the speakers up.

Have fun those that go.

[MitchT]

Got my tickets - bought on-line this morning.

I got really lucky - I requested 'best available seats' and got ones that weren't that good with a message saying they were reserved for me for 20 minutes and then they'd be released if I hadn't bought them. Anyway, the site crashed at the payment stage to I started again by which time some that someone else must have been looking at, but not bought, had been released... and they're in a much better place... and this time the site worked. Sorted!

[Meeja]

MitchT said:

Got my tickets - bought on-line this morning.

I got really lucky - I requested 'best available seats' and got ones that weren't that good with a message saying they were reserved for me for 20 minutes and then they'd be released if I hadn't bought them. Anyway, the site crashed at the payment stage to I started again by which time some that someone else must have been looking at, but not bought, had been released... and they're in a much better place... and this time the site worked. Sorted!

Bought mine this morning too.... in the stalls.

Looking forward to it!