Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 10:19 am Post subject:
Electro-Harmonix Pedals Recreate"Telstar"
Electro-Harmonix Pedals Recreate"Telstar"
Effectology Vol:8 Telstar
The Clavioline
In this episode of Effectology we recreate the classic hit "Telstar.
The British hit Telstar was written and produced by the legendary recording engineer Joe Meek.
It was one of the first chart topping records to feature a synthesizer!
Telstar used a VERY early vacuum tube Synth called the Clavioline.
It opened the world up to new sounds never heard before.
In this video I recreate some the classic sound using just a regular guitar and Electro-Harmonix effect pedals.
I also explore some other fun sounds along the way!
Joined: May 16, 2005 Posts: 8933 Location: Birmingham, England, UK
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Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 10:45 am Post subject:
Another great video
BUT
You are WRONG!!
The instrument used to make Telstar was a Jennings UniVOX and not a Clavioline!!!!!
The UniVOX created sound in a completely different way, and essentially had only one sound. The Clavioline OTOH, was a far more sophisticated instrument, which had much better voicing.
Now go and do that viddy again! _________________ ACHTUNG!
ALLES TURISTEN UND NONTEKNISCHEN LOOKENPEEPERS!
DAS KOMPUTERMASCHINE IST NICHT FÜR DER GEFINGERPOKEN UND MITTENGRABEN! ODERWISE IST EASY TO SCHNAPPEN DER SPRINGENWERK, BLOWENFUSEN UND POPPENCORKEN MIT SPITZENSPARKSEN.
IST NICHT FÜR GEWERKEN BEI DUMMKOPFEN. DER RUBBERNECKEN SIGHTSEEREN KEEPEN DAS COTTONPICKEN HÄNDER IN DAS POCKETS MUSS.
ZO RELAXEN UND WATSCHEN DER BLINKENLICHTEN.
Joined: May 16, 2005 Posts: 8933 Location: Birmingham, England, UK
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Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 10:51 am Post subject:
Jennings UniVOX ;
http://www.hendrixguitars.com/Univox.htm _________________ ACHTUNG!
ALLES TURISTEN UND NONTEKNISCHEN LOOKENPEEPERS!
DAS KOMPUTERMASCHINE IST NICHT FÜR DER GEFINGERPOKEN UND MITTENGRABEN! ODERWISE IST EASY TO SCHNAPPEN DER SPRINGENWERK, BLOWENFUSEN UND POPPENCORKEN MIT SPITZENSPARKSEN.
IST NICHT FÜR GEWERKEN BEI DUMMKOPFEN. DER RUBBERNECKEN SIGHTSEEREN KEEPEN DAS COTTONPICKEN HÄNDER IN DAS POCKETS MUSS.
ZO RELAXEN UND WATSCHEN DER BLINKENLICHTEN.
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Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 1:09 pm Post subject:
Quote:
Almost identical to Jennings' (Vox) Univox, the Clavioline actually predated the Univox by several years. Was it the Clavioline or the Univox that made the Tornadoes "Telstar" such a huge hit? While JMI/Vox have certainly claimed this (even to the point of using the Tornadoes in their marketing!), the likelihood is that it was probably the Clavioline. This is one dispute which will never be resolved, as the musician who actually played on the single just cannot remember himself!!! (and they say the drugs are so much stronger these days!J ) Once again an all valve based unit the Clavioline utilized a simple square wave oscillator system, as opposed to the Univox's more versatile sawtooth oscillators.A veritable feast of Filter Rocker Tabs , Octave Divider Tabs and way cool Vibrato Selectors make the Clavioline a must have for any serious collector and a unique addition to any gearhead junky's studio setup...just the appearance alone is enough to bring specks of white foam to the corners of the mouth. In typical Selmer tradition, the covering is inset with their standard reptile skin panel and gold piping..a sight to behold in our era of plastics, plastics and plastics. To borrow a little Pythonese - Beautiful Plumage!!
After much digging around, my conclusion is that this could very well be a question only Mr Meek could shed light on, and I don't even think that 20,000 Volts is gonna wake him up again!
My info came from one of the bass players (or drummers?) of Joe Meek's band who happens to live about 3 miles away from here, in Hall Green, Birmingham. I once almost bought a Roland W30 off him. He was very confident that it was a Univox (but Meek did own all kinds of interesting kit), and I was also told the same info by someone else back in the 1980's, and they were very astute about it being a Univox- this person could have been a bloke named Peter Fox who let me play with my first ever synth, a Mini Korg 700.
I've also heard the two instruments side-by-side, and the Univox has a far stronger, more 'raw' sound, compared to the Clavioline- which is actually quite sweet sounding, and softer in tone.
Who knows? Who cares? One thing for sure, "Airwaves" by Kraftwerk could be a cover of Telstar! Take a listen to the two and tell me
_________________ ACHTUNG!
ALLES TURISTEN UND NONTEKNISCHEN LOOKENPEEPERS!
DAS KOMPUTERMASCHINE IST NICHT FÜR DER GEFINGERPOKEN UND MITTENGRABEN! ODERWISE IST EASY TO SCHNAPPEN DER SPRINGENWERK, BLOWENFUSEN UND POPPENCORKEN MIT SPITZENSPARKSEN.
IST NICHT FÜR GEWERKEN BEI DUMMKOPFEN. DER RUBBERNECKEN SIGHTSEEREN KEEPEN DAS COTTONPICKEN HÄNDER IN DAS POCKETS MUSS.
ZO RELAXEN UND WATSCHEN DER BLINKENLICHTEN.
Joined: May 16, 2005 Posts: 8933 Location: Birmingham, England, UK
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Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 1:14 pm Post subject:
Quote:
the Clavioline utilized a simple square wave oscillator system, as opposed to the Univox's more versatile sawtooth oscillators
It just occured to me, if this is true, then the waveform should determine which is right, right?!? Oscilloscope to hand anyone? (mine is dead!) _________________ ACHTUNG!
ALLES TURISTEN UND NONTEKNISCHEN LOOKENPEEPERS!
DAS KOMPUTERMASCHINE IST NICHT FÜR DER GEFINGERPOKEN UND MITTENGRABEN! ODERWISE IST EASY TO SCHNAPPEN DER SPRINGENWERK, BLOWENFUSEN UND POPPENCORKEN MIT SPITZENSPARKSEN.
IST NICHT FÜR GEWERKEN BEI DUMMKOPFEN. DER RUBBERNECKEN SIGHTSEEREN KEEPEN DAS COTTONPICKEN HÄNDER IN DAS POCKETS MUSS.
ZO RELAXEN UND WATSCHEN DER BLINKENLICHTEN.
It just occured to me, if this is true, then the waveform should determine which is right, right?!? Oscilloscope to hand anyone? (mine is dead!)
Well, only the Kraftwerk one is played in isolation and it is practically a sine - if it has any overtones to speak of they're too weak to show on a scope and (for me) to be heard. The Tornados one is buried in the mix, so no scoping possible, and it isn't exactly rich with overtones either. The playback is also so ripe with noise and nonlinear "processing" that any detail is hard to hear and the YouTube encoding doesn't help - can anyone hear if it has any remnants of the buzz of a saw or the hollowness of a square? At a weakly founded guess it was once a square, but I could well be wrong.
Edit to be clear: I did look on the scope.
Quote:
Who cares?
You do, obviously. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
And lastly, but most important: Bill shows us once more why he is the Grand Master of Effectology! Awesome!
DJ
-- Last edited by DrJustice on Thu Oct 08, 2009 9:54 am; edited 1 time in total
Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 4145 Location: Sweden
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Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 7:00 am Post subject:
Just listened through it on Spotify. I don't have a scope handy, but my guess is a narrow rectangular pulse (like square wave with pulse width turned way to one side). Or possible some deformed sawtooth approaching the form of said pulse. There is also some kind of low extra static tone in time with the lead sounds, sounding like a trigger synched to a low tone.
Bill, as always, your grasp of effectology, combined with great musicianship, is SO impressive! I almost wish you'd stop posting, as it makes me feel both inadequate and a bit of a slacker.
NOOOO, keep 'em coming, they're all very inspirational! _________________ Where there are too many policemen, there is no liberty. Where there are too many soldiers, there is no peace. Where there are too many lawyers, there is no justice.
Lin Yutang (1895-1976)
As far as looking at a wave form, remember Joe Meek was a genius at distorting or clipping the signals while recording.
He was one of the first to see what it did to the harmonic content of a raw signal.
Common now but then UNHEARD OF then!!!!!!!!!!!!
He had his "green" box he built and used it track by track.
My guess it was a compressor that overdrives as well as maybe a spring verb.
I have to research if he was a Ham radio operator like me.
If that's the case, he could have built ANYTHING tube or valve driven at the time.
On the other hand he may have just had an ear to red line the inputs into distortion.
No one would at the time would do that but if you did the effect was magic!
Hes gone now and when alive VERY secretive about what he did.
Meek had many problems.
Joined: Feb 28, 2003 Posts: 794 Location: New Jersey
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Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 1:25 pm Post subject:
baranger1 wrote:
Thanks guys!
....I have to research if he was a Ham radio operator like me.
If that's the case, he could have built ANYTHING tube or valve driven at the time....
Thanks again guys for listening!
Bill
QRZ?
I'm also a Ham operator (sort of - have not done much in the past few years...) Used to tweak and build quite a few gadgets....ah those were the days... My next project is to get my ARP 2600 up and running.
And as said by others - great job on the Telstar piece! _________________ Dave
www.davesneed.com
Hi Dave!
My call sign is W9WCR.
I have not been on the air in a long time but boy it taught me a lot growing up!!!
I still love to listen to shortwave radio and when I do get on the air its QRP or operating with very little power.
Its fun to get a signal to Japan from Chicago using a radio powered by double A batteries. Using the super low power makes it a real challenge.
Bill
DES wrote:
baranger1 wrote:
Thanks guys!
....I have to research if he was a Ham radio operator like me.
If that's the case, he could have built ANYTHING tube or valve driven at the time....
Thanks again guys for listening!
Bill
QRZ?
I'm also a Ham operator (sort of - have not done much in the past few years...) Used to tweak and build quite a few gadgets....ah those were the days... My next project is to get my ARP 2600 up and running.
And as said by others - great job on the Telstar piece!
Joined: Feb 28, 2003 Posts: 794 Location: New Jersey
Audio files: 8
Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 11:23 am Post subject:
Hi Bill!
My call is KF2DH. It's been quite a few years for me as well. I did some HF work but really liked working the satellites. I had a commercial 2m cross polarized antenna and a home made 432 cross polarized beam - made out of copper pipe. Worked quite well...
When I saw the title 'Telstar' in the subject heading I knew I had to check it out. I remember back in the 60's there used to be a monthly book club - Scientific Reader, or Science Digest - something like that - that I would get one booklet monthly. The pictures came seperately and were basically on sheets like postage stamps - you had to tear each picture off and moistened the back and stick it into the book (talk about them saving money!). I remember the issue that came that was discussing space and in particular the Telstar and Echo satellites. I wore that booklet out reading it front to cover over and over again.... Of course when the Tornadoes came out with Telstar it was like icing on the cake!
Very cool Dave!
Never work satellites but found amazing to watch!
Man the 60,s were a fun time for science nerds like us to grow up in!
What a time for the USA technology wise.
Think of all the beautiful gear that was built here on big tube chassis.
Hammarlund, Halicrafters, Drake, Collins, Gonset on and on.
I miss that stuff and still hoard a bunch of old Hammarlund radios that still work
Bill
DES wrote:
Hi Bill!
My call is KF2DH. It's been quite a few years for me as well. I did some HF work but really liked working the satellites. I had a commercial 2m cross polarized antenna and a home made 432 cross polarized beam - made out of copper pipe. Worked quite well...
When I saw the title 'Telstar' in the subject heading I knew I had to check it out. I remember back in the 60's there used to be a monthly book club - Scientific Reader, or Science Digest - something like that - that I would get one booklet monthly. The pictures came seperately and were basically on sheets like postage stamps - you had to tear each picture off and moistened the back and stick it into the book (talk about them saving money!). I remember the issue that came that was discussing space and in particular the Telstar and Echo satellites. I wore that booklet out reading it front to cover over and over again.... Of course when the Tornadoes came out with Telstar it was like icing on the cake!
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