From Alex Ball. A look at some of the equipment used by Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori to score Halo: Combat Evolved, released in 2001. Huge thank you to Neo Te Aika, Frostbyte, Booey, Noelle, Yewlyn, Python Blue, Jafet Meza, RenSFX, meowsandstuff, Fleetwire, AtlyxMusic, PunkGalFuryn and anyone else at Project Odyssey for their incredible work…

From Alex Ball. A look at the revolutionary Roland MC-8 from 1977 which was one of the earliest microprocessor-controlled digital sequencers. Around 200 of these units were made and they were extremely expensive. As I’ve covered the history of this unit several times, I thought it would be interesting to follow in the footsteps of…

From Alex Ball. A look at the Polymoog and how Gary Numan adopted one of the presets from one of the versions to help define his sound. 0:00 Intro 0:41 What is the Polymoog? 8:00 Vox Humana and Gary Numan 13:35 Cars Cover

From Alex Ball. How to do the Dalek voice with a ring modulator. Enjoy!

From Alex Ball. A look at how the Korg MS-20 and SQ-10 sequencer were an intergral part of the sound of a group of German musicians in the late 70s and early 80s. 0:00 Intro 1:09 Der Mussolini – DAF 5:02 Los Niños Del Parque – Liaisons Dangereuses 8:10 Minimal Tape 3/7.2 – Pyrolator 10:48…

From Alex Ball. Got some great videos in the works, but here’s a little music.

From Alex Ball. I turned the EML wobbler patch (as used by Liam Howlett) into a sample patch. It’s free to Patrons on tiers 1, 2 or 3 on my Patreon. patreon.com/alexballmusic YouTube won’t let me change the thumbnail btw, so you’re stuck with the mid-blink. Lovely. Anyway, Merry Christmas!

From Alex Ball. Oberheim OB-X Tom Sawyer sample patch available on Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/AlexBallMusic

From Alex Ball. A look at the classic Oberheim OB-X synthesizer from 1979. Huge thanks to Steven R Sellick for the kind loan! Check out Steven’s track "Do Androids Dance to Electro Beat": https://unts-untsplinksandplonks.bandcamp.com/track/do-androids-dance-to-electro-beat 0:00 Intro 1:07 The Oberheim OB-X 1:30 Potted History 3:01 Demo 1 4:10 What’s on an OB-X? 6:50 Demo 2 7:44…

From Alex Ball. New album out now! Thank you. Bandcamp: https://alexball.bandcamp.com/album/sproing Or Pick your streaming service: https://share.amuse.io/sDS2Mv-NlbRF

From Alex Ball. A look at the last monosynth ARP made, the Solus from 1980. This is the least known of the trio (Odyssey, Axxe, Solus) because it was only made for a few months before ARP went out of business. 0:00 Intro Demo 1:04 The ARP Solus 1:46 Demo: Solus System 3:06 VCOs 5:49…

From Alex Ball. These things always deliver. Hardware jam, no processing. Reverb from an AKG BX15 captured as it ran, slowly blended in as the track develops.

From Alex Ball. A look at a specific drum setup used by Depeche Mode and Daniel Miller on their album, Speak and Spell, from 1981. 0:00 Intro 0:51 KR-55 Snare 1:55 Interfacing Setup 3:23 ARP 2600 Daniel Miller Kick 7:32 Roland MC-4 8:14 Test it out 8:43 Alternative Gear / Sample Pack 9:34 Outro Jam…

From Alex Ball. My remix of Nick Carlisle’s "End of Terrain" is out now. Buy “End Of Terrain (Alex Ball Remix)": https://nickcarlisle.bandcamp.com/track/end-of-terrain-alex-ball-remix

From Alex Ball. I thought it would be fun to look at one of my favourite uses of the ARP Sequencer, which is in Paul McCartney’s "Temporary Secretary" released in 1980. I also thought it would be interesting to see what the song would sound like if everything was done on synths, rather than guitars,…

From Alex Ball. Back by popular demand, another filmscore breakown. This time we look at Wendy Carlos’ 1982 score to Tron. 0:00 Intro 0:49 Wendy Carlos 2:04 Tron – The Instruments 4:44 The Recording Rig 6:39 Cue Breakdown – Tron Theme 9:10 Cue Breakdown – Tron Scherzo 10:22 Cue Breakdown – We’ve Got Company 11:40…

From Alex Ball. Following on from our look at Genesis SP-12 sounds, here’s a look at Tony Banks’ Roland JD-800 that he used live throughout the 1990s. In this video, we have a listen to the tour patches stored on the instrument and get a little glimpse into how Genesis did things in front of…

From Alex Ball. This was a very special opportunity indeed, and I really hope you enjoy it. In a nutshell, I got hold of an E-mu SP-12 from the 80s and then discovered that a friend, Andrew Ward, has some of Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford’s original floppy discs for it that are part of…

From Alex Ball. Veteran blue movie composer Geert Van Schlänger returns to give us his valued insight into the majestic wah-wah pedal. 0:00 Intro 0:28 The Wah-Wah Pedal 1:21 Basic Wah 2:49 Double Wah 4:47 Fuzz Wah 5:40 Summary 6:18 The Track Even though Alex Ball is a totally different guy to Geert, you may…