Does anybody know what synth and preset was used to do this back in the 80s and what would be your suggestion for a Vst instrument that can replicate that ?
Somewhere Ive read a Jupiter 8 and the plugins out there doesnt even come close to that sound , I own a Roland JX-8P and while the Stab Brass is great, the characteristic of it isnt the sound Im looking for ( the jx8p is the Final Countdown Brass )
Records as an example of what Im after (They are different songs so the sound may change a little):

4:15

0:55

0:16

 

i just did a quick research and investigation that may lead to what synth was used to play such familiar brass sounding:

the example songs were released between 1985 and 1988.

so it could be any of these: Yamaha DX7, Roland JUNO and/or JUPITER 6 and maybe some Oberheim.

these synths were the most common and most popular at that time you could find them in any pro recording studio.

that brass sound is very easily achievable in your DAW using VST synths replicating any of those synths.

good luck

 

ReFX Nexus - House 2 Expansion - 70's Horn preset is what you're looking for.

 

Most of those sounds were about 3 to 10 patches layered up.

 

No Emulator?

 

I'd rather bet on two.

 

Can't say exactly, but my money would be on some sort of sampler, like the Emulator II. That brass stab sound has a sampled vibe, and those songs are post 1985, when digital was all the rage.

As someone also mentioned, it could be the result of layering. The transient definitely sounds sampled though.

Maybe Roland JX-8P 'Stab Brass', layered with a sampled horn/brass sound?

Other possible options:

Fairlight CMI (1979)
Ensoniq Mirage (1984)
Sequential Circuits Prophet 2000 (1985)
Roland S-50 / S-10 (1986)
E-mu Emax (1986)
Ensoniq ESQ-1 (1986)
E-mu Emulator III (1987)


Here's a version of "Call Me" that has the synth stab isolated in the start in decent quality:

And an Instrumental version of "Easy Lady" (at 0:50):

Not entirely sure if they are even the same patch.

 

Last edited: Mar 15, 2023

Hi the Sound what you are looking for was back then played by a YAMAHA DX-7 the Patch wasnt found in the Regular ROM Cards of Yamaha it was programmed a while after the DX-7 came out as many other famous Sounds, most of the Patches the DX-7 came with, sounded horrible and cheap to me with some exceptions. Unfortunately I couldnt find on any DX Emulations which included this Brass Section Sound or any of those Sounds who everybody used back in the days. Like an Amazing Harp Sound or the Madonna Funk Bass. In the Studio they often used a Yamaha TX-816 Expander which was actually 8 modules of Dx7 where you could use 3 of them slightly detuned and Pan them L-C-R. Fat Brass Sound with 16 Voices played with two Hands. Maybe you find a similar sound in one of all the emulations and edit it.

 

I appreciate all the answers given, I have to test everything and give it a go

 

I found something interesting! I found this preset in Korg Wavestation patch: 25 Big Big Brass.

Sounds quite similar, maybe some synth layers and it's ready. I know the original Wavestation hardware released later than the songs listed, but may be a lead to something else that came before.

 

I tried that and while its a brass can work if layered

I think I got it, but maybe it lacks another sound with it but the character is there
on minute 1:16 playing the Roland Super MKS-80

 

So digging a lil bit maybe its this preset layered with some other or tweaked to taste
https://www.synthmania.com/Roland MKS-80/Audio/Factory patch examples/I-14.mp3

so anyone here knows a plugin that can replicate an MKS-80 ?
Trying right now the Jupiter 8 but they all lack fatness

 

Great sound, especially the one in "Call me", great great track btw.
I too was wondering how that sound was made in these days.

In the isolated stab from Spagna the release part (the very end) has a sine like tone that seems the release from a synth brass stab sound but the overall character it's quite organic and "natural" sounding.

The attack part it's kind of FMish to me but it's only a sensation.
The release (sine) part is definitely synthy, no way that brass only samples have that sound in the release.

EDIT: the low notes reveal more of a sample character, the same character that I hear in the Ramazzotti song, the complexity of the sound doesn't seem only subtractive synthesis to me but it's definitely baffling me because sometimes it seems only synth when I listen to it (the "Call me" one)lol.

I'm pretty sure I heard similar sounds in other songs so I'm inclined to think it's an emulator patch (maybe a synth plus horn samples)

 

Last edited: Mar 16, 2023

Nice find. It doesn't sound exactly like the "Call Me" brass, but it certainly could be partly MKS-80. The MKS-80 is surprisingly capable of those glassy FM like sounds, despite being fully analog. I almost want one (but those prices!)

Though VSTs can get us pretty far with enough tweaking... don't blame the tools as they say. The Cloud Jupiter-8 is shown to be very close to real Jupiter-8s. But it begs the question: can a J8 even make that sound?

I'm not so sure. The MKS-80 envelope polarity is per-destination (filter and osc sets polarity independently), the sync and cross-mod apparently works differently (and might be responsible for the somewhat digital/glassy feel). Not to mention the Envelope Reset feature, as well as the dynamic time envelope control (can finely tune the envelope speed). Any one of those could be responsible for the uniqueness of the sound.

So yeah, just have to pray that we get a MKS-80 emulation some day.

 

Last edited: Mar 16, 2023

DX7 ROM 1A 01 BRASS 1

 

I think that's a close sound...