http://www.rolandus.com/r...-duran.asp





In a musical world dominated by artists that seem to come and go like fashion trends, it’s refreshing to see a few bands with longevity. Nearly 23 years since the release of their first album, Duran Duran are at it again, recording their 11th studio album while playing a few select dates in the U.S. and abroad. And here’s the best news: all five original members are back: Simon Le Bon on vocals, Nick Rhodes on keyboards, John Taylor on bass, Roger Taylor on drums, and Andy Taylor on guitar.

I’m told that each of Duran Duran’s shows in the U.S. have sold out within minutes—proof that America has not forgotten about the band that brought us such hits as “Planet Earth,” “Hungry Like the Wolf,” “Rio,” “Ordinary World” and “Come Undone.” Having seen one of their recent shows at the Hard Rock hotel in Las Vegas, it was clear the magic is back. The band not only sounded great, but they looked as good as ever. But what really caught my eye was Nick Rhodes’ beat up Jupiter-8, placed right alongside a brand new Roland V-Synth.

After exchanging a few e-mails with Nick’s keyboard tech and programmer, Mark Tinley, Roland Users Group was invited to attend one of the band’s rehearsals in Los Angeles prior to their big show at the KROQ Inland Invasion (which featured a stellar lineup including other ‘80s icons like The Cure, Violent Femmes, Echo and the Bunnymen, and the Psychedelic Furs). This monster festival was just one of three shows the band were preparing to play over their short stay in the States.

Upon arriving at the rehearsal room, Mark took me up on stage to check out Nick’s rig, which included, among other things, his trusty (but very worn looking) Jupiter-8 synthesizer, a brand new V-Synth, and a BOSS BF-2 Flanger pedal and PH-3 Phase Shifter (Incidentally, guitarist Andy Taylor’s pedalboard is also chock with BOSS—including a DD-5 Digital Delay, BF-2 Flanger, OC-2 Octave, and TU-2 Tuner.) Mark mentions that Nick’s Jupiter-8 is on its last leg, which is why he is very excited that we showed him a brand new VariOS Open System Module with the new VariOS-8 Analog Modeling Synth loaded up and ready to go.

After a quick demo of the three VariOS software suites—V-Producer 2, VariOS-8 and VariOS 303—Mark becomes very excited. “The potential is to replace the Jupiter-8,” says Mark of the VariOS-8, “and if anybody is gonna make something that is actually capable of sounding like a Jupiter-8, Roland will probably do it better than anyone else.” But Mark also sees massive potential with the V-Producer 2 software. “V-Producer looks very interesting. I want to use that for programming drums, actually. I like the idea that you can just take a snare and move it back and forth within a loop. You can actually load a loop in and move your beats around.”

Mark then begins to tell me all about the V-Synth, which he got only four hours before the first show—a testament to its ease of use. “The thing I like is what you can do with the pitch and formant. You can put samples into it and completely stretch them around. I like how I can put a sample on this key [points to a note] and I can stretch it over about seven octaves. I can still do things with it when it’s completely way out of the range of other samplers. And then it just starts doing really weird stuff as well, which makes it interesting. Then when you assign the Patch mode you can start playing with the filter, the formant and the time and it just makes noises that nothing else can make.”

About this time Nick arrives and he immediately notices the VariOS-8 on my iBook’s screen. After a quick explanation, Nick sits down with a pair of headphones and plays. “It’s quite nice,” he exclaims after going through a few of the VariOS-8 Patches. A few minutes later he’s making plans to have Mark program his favorite Jupiter-8 Patches into the VariOS-8—just in case his axe of the past 20-something years finally takes a dive. Mark knows it’s going to be a late night.

Watching Nick trigger the VariOS-8 from the V-Synth, I notice how fond he is of the realtime controllers like the TimeTrip Pad and D Beam. “I like the versatility of the knobs,” says Nick of his brand new V-Synth. “I love the beam and the pad. I even figured out a way to where I can actually sort of play all three at once if I put it on ‘Hold.’” Upon examining a few of his presets, I notice one entitled “Girls On Film.” Turns out Mark has programmed the song’s trademark camera sound so Nick can trigger it from the D Beam during performance and play it forwards and backwards with the TimeTrip Pad.

Intrigued, I ask Nick to explain how he’s using the V-Synth in performance. “It gives me a little bit of flexibility,” he responds, “because a lot of the songs were so strong… I guess people like to hear them as they were. But on some of the newer stuff I’ve built in a little space for myself to actually fiddle around a little bit more and make it a little more abstract live.” And the V-Synth is certainly the right instrument for this type of job. “It’s great for noises,” adds Nick.

Turns out, Nick is also very fond of the V-Synth’s drum sounds and loops. “They really have great depth,” he says. “I’ve got to get into that more. And I love how you can assign things to the knobs. That’s a big thing.” Mark mentions that the V-Synth is also being used to trigger and manipulate sounds. “We sampled some announcements from the bullet train in Japan, and I’ve got loads of TimeTrip adjustments in there. Just a lot of samples with really heavy manipulation that Nick can play around with in between or during songs.”

Having noticed a couple of BOSS pedals on the floor, I ask Nick about them. Turns out the BF-2 Flanger and PH-3 Phase Shifter are plugged right into his Jupiter-8, allowing him to re-create the vintage effects he used back in the day. “I love analog pedals,” Nick proclaims. “I never use internal effects from synths… it’s very rare. I used to use a lot of MXR stuff and I think the BOSS pedals are fairly close and they’re obviously newer and more reliable.”

With only a few minutes left before Nick has to get back to rehearsing, I ask him how the reunion came about. “I guess the stars were just aligned properly,” he responds jokingly. “I don’t know why it didn’t happen earlier, but it’s been a lot of fun so far.” And what about the new album the band is currently recording in England? “The record’s sounding great; it’s very Duran Duran. It sounds like what we should sound like now, but at the same time it’s got elements of all the earlier albums that we made together, and the sound we made together.” Sounds like a winner.

To get all the latest Duran Duran information and news, be sure to visit their website at www.duranduran.com. And our thanks again to Mark Tinley for letting RUG backstage!

marcdeondotcom said:

Don't you just want to roll around nekkid in all that?

Maybe it's just me.

I thought the article was gonna be about Roland Orzabal... DAMN!!! Wishful thinking on my part...

VinaBlue said:

Haha,you´re so cool,Vina!
Yes..I know exactly what U mean.The world of
synthesizers is such a great world.
It´s awsome that he knows the value of the vintage
stuff as well as the new.If it sounds good it´s cool.
He´s also right about using external effects before
internal.Sounds so much better & the boss efx R the best.
Prince uses them 2.Last week I bought a delay that I love.
My favourite keyboardplayer Bernie Worrel,who´s a real
wizard of keys still uses his old clavinet & moog
2 this day.
/peace Manki

manki said:

I just looove keyboard talk!

Clubkid said:

Sorry Clubkid, I did think of that when I posted, but it was the title of the article so I went with it anyway.

How you been?

VinaBlue said:

I'd rather watch you

marcdeondotcom said:

Will you join me? That's kinda what I had in mind...

VinaBlue said:

VinaBlue said:

No probs... I'm very well... yourself?!

I heard a rumour that Tears For Fears would open for Duran on the US tour this year... I saw this headline and I got really excited... not that info on the equipment isn't as exciting... I reallly hope that happens... Scissor Sisters and Goldfrapp are supporting on the European leg, which I wouldn't be too upset about...

Clubkid said:

I'm doing good.

Tears For Fears would probably be a cool opening act for Duran. I heard Berlin is really great live, I wonder if they would do it?

I saw Berlin live (not the entire original line up)... Terri Nunn's voice was great... her dancing (which she proceeded to do on every song) was EMBARASSING! She looked like she was having a seizure. It was not attractive.