Essentially I've had this question on what this particular sound from the song came come-- many answers directing to the Roland D-50, however, chronologically speaking it would've not been possible, and even if a usable prototype was lent to MJ's synth department, it probably would've been fact that some collaboration with Roland would be wide spread in synth publications. Though I was told of the Synclavier (perhaps the 2nd model "II"), and knowing that particular synthesiser had a great following and was already released, it only seemed more logical for it to be the potential culprit of such a beautiful chorus intro.

A sample taken from the multi-tracks of BAD will be given for sonic reference.
Any and all help on this is much appreciated!

 

I'm sorry, it will not answer your question but I listened to those videos a few days ago and it's fascinating:

Michael Jackson's Thriller Album: Stories In The Room Podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PL16Lee-qP79a-TUUdoxgzd2APq15lGpM5

I had to share in case anyone missed it.

 

I suspect it's a Synclavier. Or Fairlight, which was definitely used on Thriller. Both had digital synthesis engines but the Synclavier was more geared to it. I suppose a PPG would also be a possibility.

 

Its Probably the Synclavier II. Michael actually purchased two of them. Michael actually had the guy from New England Digital that sold them go on the bad tour. The guy was playing the two Synclavier IIs and playing guitar

 

Synclavier is my guess… Highly doubt it was the Emu Emulator. Jacko’s stable of producers and songwriters used fhe Emu for the vocal “woo” sound on P.Y.T… Heck, they could have even used the same “woo” sample and used it on the Synclavier and tuned it into a pad.

 

I have no idea, but several were used on Billie Jean. Starting at 35:16

 

they used the Yamaha dx7 extensively on that record. I am not suggesting it as source of the pad.

 

Hi
I've been studying this exactly, for professional reasons.
That was a Synclavier.
They had one sent for demo to the studio, together with a demo record (yes a record) form which they sampled the famous "Beat it" intro. Which at some point led to a legal issues, that were finally solved privately between Quincy and Synclavier.

I can assure that they (Michael and Quincy) worked a lot with Synclavier at that time.

Using Parawave Rapid, I was able to get close to their sounds. But there is a free Synclavier like plugin that's also very good for this . I'll get back with the name, now I'm traveling...

I hope this helps.

 

For certain! Thank you very much! I look forward to more of your findings. Bon voyage, and enjoy your trip! I'll be getting RAPID as well, incase we're able to share preset files and what not.

 

OK
This is the free Synclavier vst: Syncla-X https://sites.google.com/site/digitalsystemic/ home/syncla-x

You shouldn't. Developer is a mess. Better go for Kilohearts system. They are preparing a Granular module ....

 

I can't speak to it's accuracy, but the Arturia Synclavier V is pretty nice.

 

As I understand it, its accuracy is literally 100%. It's running the same code the original did. The only difference is hardware, which is actually going to be better now, you'd think.

 

Got it. While I do have Synclavier V, I very much appreciate the Synclavier plugin recommendation!

 

I had a feeling it was the Synclavier, and no official, precise coordinates are confirmed for how the sound was programmed. At best I just make a simple, siney-wavy string pad and accompanying synth breath vox... If anyone would like to post their presets, feel free to do that! I'll look into programming Synclavier V more.

 

Surprisingly, they are supposed to emulate the same synth, but you will get different result from one to the other.
Consider them both as complementary.

 

I bet MJ and Quincy never even touched the Synclavier… I’d like to know who else besides Porcaro did the real work.