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The Sequential Circuits Drumtraks is an overlooked unit, perhaps because of the Linn, Roland and Oberheim classics that came first, or perhaps because Sequential are so famous for their legendary synthesizers. Either way, it has a very punchy sound and reminds me of the DMX and LinnDrum.

I was interested to see that Tame Impala had made use of one on the Currents album and combined with the "May peace prevail on earth" message on the circuit board; I thought I'd try some space pop rather than something 80s.

Instruments used:
Drums: Sequential Drumtraks (1984) and PastToFuture Drums
Bass Guitar: Fender Jazz Bass / Orange OB1-300 / DBX 266XL
Electric Guitar: Squier Jagmaster (1998) / Blue Junior II / Vox Wah / Ibanez Tubescreamer / Boss CE-2 Chorus / SM57
Acoustic Guitar: Alvarez Baritone / AKG C414
Bass Synth: Sequential Circuits Pro-One (1981)
Polys: Roland Juno-6 (1982) / DSI Prophet REV2 (2017)
Dirty Synth: Korg MS mark I (1978)
Electric Piano: Rhodes Mark I Seventy-Three (mid 70s)
Vocals recorded with an AKG C414
Harp: GForce Mtron Pro
TamTam & Cymbals: Spitfire Joby Burgess Percussion

Plugins: Waves, Goodhertz, U-he, Past To Future reverbs, T-racks
Sequencer: Cubase 9.5

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As requested by a dozen or more people, here's the Rollin' & Scratchin' synth tutorial.

Ideally you'd have a 1984 Juno-106, as it has fully implemented midi control, but I'm using the 1982 Juno-6 as that's what I have. The workaround is that I had to use the arpeggiator with external triggers for the opening bit of the video.

The other part of the sound is the Boss HM-2 "Heavy Metal" pedal. I'm using an original Japanese unit, but I imagine the later Taiwanese version will be almost identical. You could also try the MT-2 "Metal Zone" pedal too.

Thanks for watching.

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The first ARP synth to ever appear on my channel, and not a bad place to start! This is a straight performance video rather than a demonstration or talk through, but the 2600 will appear again.

Huge thanks to Ian Livingstone for the loan of this rare instrument.
http://www.ianlivingstone.net/

There were nine different iterations of the 2600 between 1971 and 1980 and this is the penultimate model, the 2601 v2. That puts it as having been built somewhere around 1977 - 1979.

If you don't know, the 2600 is a semi-modular monosynth with three oscillators. There's a normalled signal path that can be defeated with patch cables if required with various modulation possibilities, but you can setup loads of sounds without having to reach for the spaghetti.

I think the Roland System 700 is the only comparable synth from the era in that regard, but let me know if you can think of any others.

The 2600 is probably most famous for providing the voice and sounds of R2-D2. Hence the reference and recreation of the sounds in my video.

I also setup a snappy bass sound, ticking sequence and sequenced sample and hold thing. There's a singing lead sound, some chords (created by tuning the oscillators into triads), synth drums, loads of FX and textures etc. But the whole point (for me) is always making a piece of music, so hopefully it's enjoyable on that front.

The video also contains some footage from this Creative Commons video that tied-in nicely as the lady in the video was showing off a brand-new Star Wars t-shirt. This was probably filmed around the time this 2601 was in a factory being built.

Original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t29dt...

ARP advert scans from the Retro Synth Ads blog:
http://retrosynthads.blogspot.com/

Alan R Pearlman's voice samples from the 2006 NAMM interview.
https://www.namm.org/library/oral-his...

All synth sounds: ARP 2601 V2
Drums: Linn LM-1 samples and Abbey Road Drums
Guitar: Squier Jagmaster, Fender Blues Junior II mic'd with SM57

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