Vince Clarke - Lucky Bastard
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The CD is broken down into
3 main sections, the first and by far the largest (tracks 2-83) is a collection
of sequences & sounds spilt by synthesiser in both construction kit format
(main loop and then its components are played in isolation) and just single loops/sequences/sounds.
The second is a collection of single hit samples from an Erasure tour and the
last few tracks are multisampled single sounds from Vince's synth collection.
The loops are all in the range 85-132 BPM.
Roland System 100m
- Tracks 2-4, 12-20 - The first few tracks are of the construction kit type format
and introduce us to exactly the sort of material we would expect from Vince Clarke.
Trademark analogue percussion and blips/bass/ fill effects. The second part of
tracks is full of classic short analogue sequences, loops and sounds - blips,
thips, bass, burbles together with percussive effects. Many are very simple in
structure and ideal for combining with other elements. Excellent throughout.
Arp 2600 - Tracks
5-7, 30-38, 75-83 - The most common synth in the collection starting off with
some excellent sequences before some shorter "Noise" samples, some
of which are excellent others a bit more dubious. More sequences and percussive
effects in the middle tracks, quite a mixed bag from very spartan blip type patterns,
to busy synth riffs, rounded out with a collection of short synth bursts. The
latter tracks focus more on percussive based loops and vary from the excellent
to the somewhat suspect noise type blurp loops. Only downside is that a number
of these samples are quite badly effected by background noise, no doubt a defect
of the original machine but quite intrusive in a few places. Overall though some
excellent material here.
Korg MS20 - Track
8 - Just a couple nice little bass & blip loops from this classic little
monosynth.
Synthi VCS3 - Tracks
9, 67-68 - By Vince's on admission one he doesn't know how to get the best out
of, does tell, if you like abrasive squeal type sounds you'll love it, otherwise
a section to skip.
Obie 2 Voice - Track
10 - A couple of sequences, one very good the other a bit more suspect.
Mini Moog - Track
11 - Surprisingly few samples from this classic synth, which I'd imagened would
have been one of his mainstays, what sequences there are though are excellent.
Moog Hat Patterns
- Tracks 21-24 - Whole variety of light analogue "hi hat" patterns,
ideal for layering with other loops, quite a range of sounds from authenticish
hi hat emulations though blips, noise and squelch effects. Once again ideal for
combining with other loop elements.
Misc Synth Drums
- Tracks 25-29 - A variety of single drum sounds, even a pad sound that sounds
strangely out of place in this collection !, together with three construction
kit type loops, which are very good.
Moog Bass - Tracks
43-44 - We get a handful of classic moog basslines together with a track of individual
bass notes for sampling and sequencing into your own loops.
Serge Modular - Tracks
45-46 - Half a dozen quite light blippy 120 BPM sequences that are so-so, a little
nondescript compared to a lot of the others on offer here.
SCI PRO One - Tracks
47-49 - Rather the same comments as the section above really, nice light blippy
loops that would be ideal for adding some interest to loops, though nothing too
distinctive here.
Polyfusion Modular
- Tracks 50-60 - Eleven tracks of sequences and samples that feature some slightly
different sounding loops, featuring some hard sync and modulation effects, together
with some junk percussive and noise type effects, all with the classic analogue
sound and blippy style that is Vince Clarke's trademark sound.
Roland System 700
- Tracks 61-63 - This section features some distinctive analogue little riffs
together with some nice little sequences.
Syrinx - Tracks 64-66
- Not a synth I'm familiar with, rather a slow collection of sequences here,
together with a few weird sounds. Not the best of the collection for sure.
Emulator Modular
- Tracks 69-71 - Back to form here with some slightly more complex, blips and
bass sounds. Very good.
Oberheim Xpander
- Tracks 72-74 - Excellent collection of more complex sounding sequences and
sounds, slightly more movement and interest in a lot of the sounds. Perhaps not
quite as good as the Roland 100m collection but not far behind for my money.
The second section of the
CD is Tour Samples that is 4 tracks that contains all of the individual
samples from the tracks performed on an Erasure Tour, there are no sequences
here, just the individual sounds. Unfortunately they're all in a bit of a muddle,
each track contains the samples for 5-7 songs and there is no demarcation for
what samples belong to which songs. Would certainly been a lot easier for people
to use had they been more clearly defined, had people for example, wished to
reconstruct a track.
The final section of the
CD is Multisamples, 15 or so pad, noise and bass samples that are multisampled
up to 9 times across the keyboard range to produce a very accurate rendition
of the sound. Certainly a nice collection of longer sounds that contrast nicely
with the much shorter sounds and sequences that feature throughout the collection.
Summary
& Overall...

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