playingdead wrote:The "marimba" I was referring to was more like a piano crossed with a marimba. Listen to a Tons of Steel from 85, that's the GS-1.
The only other time I've heard it used by another artist is on Rickie Lee Jones' tune "It Must Be Love."
Right--very percussive elec piano/marimba layer---I simply thought that was from the EMU and, I will assume I'm wrong about that...in any event, some people don't or didn't like his electric piano sounds over the years, but it always appealled a lot to me---I try to replicate it by using and Ensoniq KS-32, mixing a straight concert grand piano with a very nice pad-sounding electric called Encore (mixed across the whole keyboard at "100" and "80"--vol. levels) with a player-piano from middle C up (vol at 60) with no sustain on the player piano. I haven't achieved it perfectly but I think it's pretty close to the kind of sound he had on say Alabama from 85.
I also was intrigued at how he seemed to be able to take a given sound (elec piano say) and change it on the fly in an evolving kind of way where it would kind of add another timbre or layer without any noteable start point--just a gradual "blend"-----was listening to 10-14-89 last night and it's fairly noticeable on Chima Doll---which BTW we'll be playing for the first time at our next gig. What a great tune.
BTW----I read that there were only 100 GS-1s ever made---apparently they are very difficult to come by at this point.
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