I believe he was highly receptive of the rapid-moving trends in the first three or four years of the 1980s, and he built a working system and cultivated it into a distinct sound.

.

I believe his abandonment of the 'Purple Sound', if that is a well-defined concept, is rooted partially in his susceptibility (vulnerability) into the negative musical criticism in the press circa 1984/85, and his certain frailties towards his limited formal training. I believe he may have been concerned, rightly or wrongly, that his Oberheim/Linn-live drumming/effects/etc "Wall of Sound" was more successful gimmick than a product of the high grade of musicianship he wished to command of himself. I believe the jazz ensemble/art rock/neopsychedelica/bare-essentials funk rebranding of 1985 and 1986 are an almost direct outpouring of these considerations, and also partly consistent with a radio era during which the sound that prevailed ~1982-1984 was rapidly disappearing due to the format changes on the broader musical landscape. A good deal of what was released late 1985 throughout 1986 was very unlike anything before and quite different from even the several years thereafter (speaking of the entire pop and r&b musical landscape).

.

Beyond the 'Purple Sound' era (again, if that is a well-defined concept), he began toying with the Fairlight in mid-1985, but he didn't abandon the Linn, more or less for good, it would seem, until some indeterminate point mid-to-late 1987, and he used it as his predominant drum machine well into early/mid 1986. (I speak of studio recordings with reference to timing)

.

Afterwards, there is period of time from mid-1986 through some point 1987 he seemed to rely almost entirely on the Fairlight for drum patterns, before occasionally delving back into simplified Linn-driven tracks, and then its disappearance altogether.

.

He may have brushed it out ~1989 for some of the work on Corporate World/Pandemonium/Grafitti Bridge, but that would be mostly touching up earlier-recorded tracks, or self-parodizing his older production styling.

.

[Edited 1/19/16 18:05pm]

thebanishedone said:

Why do you think Prince inorporated Linn Lm1 drum machine to his sound? DO you think he use it because it was a trendy piece of gear or did he try to expand his sound? If he really loved it than why he stop using it after 3 years of heavy use?

It wasn't trendy. He was one of the first people to get one. Infact, there were only 500 made.

imprimis said:

I believe he was highly receptive of the rapid-moving trends in the first three or four years of the 1980s, and he built a working system and cultivated it into a distinct sound.

.

I believe his abandonment of the 'Purple Sound', if that is a well-defined concept, is rooted partially in his susceptibility (vulnerability) into the negative musical criticism in the press circa 1984/85, and his certain frailties towards his limited formal training. I believe he may have been concerned, rightly or wrongly, that his Oberheim/Linn-live drumming/effects/etc "Wall of Sound" was more successful gimmick than a product of the high grade of musicianship he wished to command of himself. I believe the jazz ensemble/art rock/neopsychedelica/bare-essentials funk rebranding of 1985 and 1986 are an almost direct outpouring of these considerations, and also partly consistent with a radio era during which the sound that prevailed ~1982-1984 was rapidly disappearing due to the format changes on the broader musical landscape. A good deal of what was released late 1985 throughout 1986 was very unlike anything before and quite different from even the several years thereafter (speaking of the entire pop and r&b musical landscape).

.

Beyond the 'Purple Sound' era (again, if that is a well-defined concept), he began toying with the Fairlight in mid-1985, but he didn't abandon the Linn, more or less for good, it would seem, until some indeterminate point mid-to-late 1987, and he used it as his predominant drum machine well into early/mid 1986. (I speak of studio recordings with reference to timing)

.

Afterwards, there is period of time from mid-1986 through some point 1987 he seemed to rely almost entirely on the Fairlight for drum patterns, before occasionally delving back into simplified Linn-driven tracks, and then its disappearance altogether.

.

He may have brushed it out ~1989 for some of the work on Corporate World/Pandemonium/Grafitti Bridge, but that would be mostly touching up earlier-recorded tracks, or self-parodizing his older production styling.

.

[Edited 1/19/16 18:05pm]

.

To add a reply to the OP, I'd say that not just Prince but dozens of others jumped on the Linn the minute it was released, some even earlier than P. Every time there's a new tech toy out, it's only natural that musicians try it and adopt it if they like it, my musicians friends actually do that with whatever new gear that's out when they can afford it. Synth and drum machines were "in the air" since the late 70's and it makes sense that a young musician like Prince would have wanted to be part of the zeitgeist/avant-garde, + André was into new wave a lot and reportedly exposed P to it a lot, and this scene actually adopted all that gear before black music did.

.

Now besides the zeitgeist thing, I'd assume that Prince actually realized that he'd found a way to make the Linn sound like no one else did, and that it allowed for fascinating rythmic experiments (it did indeed), so it's only natural that he'd explore the possibilities until, I guess, he felt he'd done every possible interesting thing with it by 1987.

.

Imprimis (or someone else), do you know which gear Prince used for Batman and other 1989 stuff? It was a short phase but 1989 tracks such as The Future, Lemon Crush, Trust, Shall We Dance and a few others have a very distinctive, quite unique drum programming sound palette, and I've always wondered what Prince used to obtain such an original sound.

JudasLChrist said:

thebanishedone said:

Why do you think Prince inorporated Linn Lm1 drum machine to his sound? DO you think he use it because it was a trendy piece of gear or did he try to expand his sound? If he really loved it than why he stop using it after 3 years of heavy use?

It wasn't trendy. He was one of the first people to get one. Infact, there were only 500 made.

Prince has a modded prototype from Roger Linn not the released final version, which is slightly different...

Neversin.

Neversin said:

JudasLChrist said:

It wasn't trendy. He was one of the first people to get one. Infact, there were only 500 made.

Prince has a modded prototype from Roger Linn not the released final version, which is slightly different...

Neversin.

Really? Cool

I read that he obtained some of the unique sounds he had with it by adding guitar pedals and effects to it.

databank said:

Neversin said:

Prince has a modded prototype from Roger Linn not the released final version, which is slightly different...

Neversin.

Really? Cool

I read that he obtained some of the unique sounds he had with it by adding guitar pedals and effects to it.

He used Boss pedals for various effects (flanger mostly) but his LM-1 has a couple of mods installed and misses some stuff that is present on the final released version...

Neversin.

Prince likes to record fast and he likes new technology. At least one of his old engineers said he was very impatient waiting fro drums to be set-up/mic'd-up, tuned-up, etc... so it makes sense that he could save a lot of time and effort dealing with live drums whilst also embracing the "computer" drums.

databank said:

imprimis said:

I believe he was highly receptive of the rapid-moving trends in the first three or four years of the 1980s, and he built a working system and cultivated it into a distinct sound.

.

I believe his abandonment of the 'Purple Sound', if that is a well-defined concept, is rooted partially in his susceptibility (vulnerability) into the negative musical criticism in the press circa 1984/85, and his certain frailties towards his limited formal training. I believe he may have been concerned, rightly or wrongly, that his Oberheim/Linn-live drumming/effects/etc "Wall of Sound" was more successful gimmick than a product of the high grade of musicianship he wished to command of himself. I believe the jazz ensemble/art rock/neopsychedelica/bare-essentials funk rebranding of 1985 and 1986 are an almost direct outpouring of these considerations, and also partly consistent with a radio era during which the sound that prevailed ~1982-1984 was rapidly disappearing due to the format changes on the broader musical landscape. A good deal of what was released late 1985 throughout 1986 was very unlike anything before and quite different from even the several years thereafter (speaking of the entire pop and r&b musical landscape).

.

Beyond the 'Purple Sound' era (again, if that is a well-defined concept), he began toying with the Fairlight in mid-1985, but he didn't abandon the Linn, more or less for good, it would seem, until some indeterminate point mid-to-late 1987, and he used it as his predominant drum machine well into early/mid 1986. (I speak of studio recordings with reference to timing)

.

Afterwards, there is period of time from mid-1986 through some point 1987 he seemed to rely almost entirely on the Fairlight for drum patterns, before occasionally delving back into simplified Linn-driven tracks, and then its disappearance altogether.

.

He may have brushed it out ~1989 for some of the work on Corporate World/Pandemonium/Grafitti Bridge, but that would be mostly touching up earlier-recorded tracks, or self-parodizing his older production styling.

.

[Edited 1/19/16 18:05pm]

.

To add a reply to the OP, I'd say that not just Prince but dozens of others jumped on the Linn the minute it was released, some even earlier than P. Every time there's a new tech toy out, it's only natural that musicians try it and adopt it if they like it, my musicians friends actually do that with whatever new gear that's out when they can afford it. Synth and drum machines were "in the air" since the late 70's and it makes sense that a young musician like Prince would have wanted to be part of the zeitgeist/avant-garde, + André was into new wave a lot and reportedly exposed P to it a lot, and this scene actually adopted all that gear before black music did.

.

Now besides the zeitgeist thing, I'd assume that Prince actually realized that he'd found a way to make the Linn sound like no one else did, and that it allowed for fascinating rythmic experiments (it did indeed), so it's only natural that he'd explore the possibilities until, I guess, he felt he'd done every possible interesting thing with it by 1987.

.

Imprimis (or someone else), do you know which gear Prince used for Batman and other 1989 stuff? It was a short phase but 1989 tracks such as The Future, Lemon Crush, Trust, Shall We Dance and a few others have a very distinctive, quite unique drum programming sound palette, and I've always wondered what Prince used to obtain such an original sound.

I believe some of the sounds are sequenced, processed sample library percussion/drum sounds, and a good deal of Alesis HR-16. I am going to research to try to pin down the range of drum machine sounds from that era more precisely. He did seem to obtain a very distinctive sound again circa late 1988 - 1989, before disappearing into a more banal drum machine sound and eventually mostly live drumming.

.

His mid-1986 through early 1987 programming on the Fairlight (mostly) is also quite remarkable, almost an angry, severe "Purple Sound" accomplished through a different set of devices, after a more subdued use of the Linn 1985-mid 1986. Consider the Warehouse 1986 'We Can Funk', 'It', 'Telepathy', 'Baby Go-Go', etc.

[Edited 1/20/16 9:21am]

imprimis said:

databank said:

.

To add a reply to the OP, I'd say that not just Prince but dozens of others jumped on the Linn the minute it was released, some even earlier than P. Every time there's a new tech toy out, it's only natural that musicians try it and adopt it if they like it, my musicians friends actually do that with whatever new gear that's out when they can afford it. Synth and drum machines were "in the air" since the late 70's and it makes sense that a young musician like Prince would have wanted to be part of the zeitgeist/avant-garde, + André was into new wave a lot and reportedly exposed P to it a lot, and this scene actually adopted all that gear before black music did.

.

Now besides the zeitgeist thing, I'd assume that Prince actually realized that he'd found a way to make the Linn sound like no one else did, and that it allowed for fascinating rythmic experiments (it did indeed), so it's only natural that he'd explore the possibilities until, I guess, he felt he'd done every possible interesting thing with it by 1987.

.

Imprimis (or someone else), do you know which gear Prince used for Batman and other 1989 stuff? It was a short phase but 1989 tracks such as The Future, Lemon Crush, Trust, Shall We Dance and a few others have a very distinctive, quite unique drum programming sound palette, and I've always wondered what Prince used to obtain such an original sound.

I believe some of the sounds are sequenced, processed sample library percussion/drum sounds, and a good deal of Alesis HR-16. I am going to research to try to pin down the range of drum machine sounds from that era more precisely. He did seem to obtain a very distinctive sound again circa late 1988 - 1989, before disappearing into a more banal drum machine sound and eventually mostly live drumming.

.

His mid-1986 through early 1987 programming on the Fairlight (mostly) is also quite remarkable, almost an angry, severe "Purple Sound" accomplished through a different set of devices, after a more subdued use of the Linn 1985-mid 1986. Consider the Warehouse 1986 'We Can Funk', 'It', 'Telepathy', 'Baby Go-Go', etc.

[Edited 1/20/16 9:21am]

Cool, thanx

I don't even know how u do this, but I assume u're a musician and u've had all those gadgets in your own hands. It's pretty cool

Another thing that is hardly ever discussed but would deserve a technical thread is this incredible work P, Morris and Tommy did with live samples in 94-96, including all the background vocals (though it seems it began earlier, I think I recall Tommy saying he already had to handle dozens of samples during the D&P shows). I never figured out how Tommy and Morris managed to play AND launch all those samples. Some were obviously sequenced loops but it seems a good share of them had to be launched individually at the right time, at least this is what suggests the fact that lots of songs evolved into semi-improvised jams, or had longer intro or impromptu breaks from time to time depending on the performance, suggesting most of it wasn't just a track launched at the beginning of the song. Maybe it's too out of topic and I don't want to derail Thebanishedone's thread, but if u have any technical insights to share about this as well, I'd love to read it

steakfinger said:

Prince likes to record fast and he likes new technology. At least one of his old engineers said he was very impatient waiting fro drums to be set-up/mic'd-up, tuned-up, etc... so it makes sense that he could save a lot of time and effort dealing with live drums whilst also embracing the "computer" drums.

Succinct and correct.

databank said:

imprimis said:

I believe some of the sounds are sequenced, processed sample library percussion/drum sounds, and a good deal of Alesis HR-16. I am going to research to try to pin down the range of drum machine sounds from that era more precisely. He did seem to obtain a very distinctive sound again circa late 1988 - 1989, before disappearing into a more banal drum machine sound and eventually mostly live drumming.

.

His mid-1986 through early 1987 programming on the Fairlight (mostly) is also quite remarkable, almost an angry, severe "Purple Sound" accomplished through a different set of devices, after a more subdued use of the Linn 1985-mid 1986. Consider the Warehouse 1986 'We Can Funk', 'It', 'Telepathy', 'Baby Go-Go', etc.

[Edited 1/20/16 9:21am]

Cool, thanx

I don't even know how u do this, but I assume u're a musician and u've had all those gadgets in your own hands. It's pretty cool

Another thing that is hardly ever discussed but would deserve a technical thread is this incredible work P, Morris and Tommy did with live samples in 94-96, including all the background vocals (though it seems it began earlier, I think I recall Tommy saying he already had to handle dozens of samples during the D&P shows). I never figured out how Tommy and Morris managed to play AND launch all those samples. Some were obviously sequenced loops but it seems a good share of them had to be launched individually at the right time, at least this is what suggests the fact that lots of songs evolved into semi-improvised jams, or had longer intro or impromptu breaks from time to time depending on the performance, suggesting most of it wasn't just a track launched at the beginning of the song. Maybe it's too out of topic and I don't want to derail Thebanishedone's thread, but if u have any technical insights to share about this as well, I'd love to read it

Major use of the Roland R-5, Roland R-8, or its brethren on 'Electric Chair', 'Partyman', 'Trust'. Also 'some' heavily processed Linn LM1 samples (I presume) on 'The Future' and 'Electric Chair' and 'Scandalous' (perhaps processed actual Linn on this one, and Fairlight). Possibly some actual Linn LM1 on 'Arms of Orion', too.

.

[Edited 1/20/16 10:10am]

Neversin said:

JudasLChrist said:

It wasn't trendy. He was one of the first people to get one. Infact, there were only 500 made.

Prince has a modded prototype from Roger Linn not the released final version, which is slightly different...

Neversin.

He has 5 Linn LM-1s, infact.