What synth is used in Dracula's Wedding (Outkast)?

December 13, 2005 7:57 AM

Name-That-Synth-Filter: Help me identify the monophonic synthesizer used on "Dracula's Wedding", from the Outkast album The Love Below. Samples inside...

So I've just been obsessing over the synthesizer used in this particular song: There are two types of synth sounds - the bassline (example 1), and the solo/lead sound (example 2 and example 3). I think that both sounds could be from the same instrument, but who knows? My synth-knowledge is sorely lacking, but this definitely sounds analog, and I'm pretty sure it's monophonic - not that that really helps narrow the field... There's an Outkast song named "Synthesizer", so google tends to just bring up lyrics sites and discography stuff when searching for various combinations of related terms.

If you can't tell me what this particular synth makes these crazy sounds, I will also accept answers along the lines of "That sounds exactly like the synth used in [insert song name here], by [insert artist name here]" - anything that may eventually help me figure this out. Hope me, MF's!

posted by sluggo to media & arts (9 comments total)

As it is on Andre 3000's side of the album, it is likely that he's the one playing the synth. Quite talented, he is.

*cues iPod to Speakerboxxx to investigate further*
posted by grabbingsand at 8:06 AM on December 13, 2005

Okay. Found something. It could be that Andre's keyboards were mostly virtual.

"When I look at Pro Tools, it looks scientific to me," he says. "Nuendo is set up where you can do things really quick, and I like the graphics, too. I have [Native Instruments] Battery. I have [Propellerhead] Reason and five or six VST keyboards. I love Reason. I love the sounds they have in there. But I haven't really freaked it yet. I have a setup for the road, and I actually did two songs on this album [with that setup] in a hotel room when the heater went out in my house. It's a small MIDI controller, an IBM laptop, some little box that [engineer] John Frye hooked me up with and Nuendo. That was all I needed."

-- Andre 3000, Remix Mag, August 2003
posted by grabbingsand at 8:13 AM on December 13, 2005

Thanks for the good info, grabbingsand!

Even if this is a software synth, I'd still like to know what real model it's based on, or at least what real model(s) sound close to that.
posted by sluggo at 8:37 AM on December 13, 2005

Reason has two native virtual analog synths, it could be a patch for either, so it's not necessarily based on any "real" synth. That said, it sounds vaguely Moog-ish, with the portamento cranked all the way up. Given the capabilities of Reason, it could be almost anything.
posted by doctor_negative at 8:59 AM on December 13, 2005

I don't think you'll find out which specific synth it is unless Andre mentioned it in an interview. It's a pretty generic sound: a couple of sawtooth oscillators, portamento/glide, a resonant filter, and maybe a bit of overdrive. I could come very close to it with my Alesis Ion, but that's just what I have handy.

People in synthesizer circles debate this sort of thing endlessly--it's not necessarily obvious to anyone.
posted by mmoncur at 9:01 AM on December 13, 2005

It sounds very much like an Arp Odyssey to my ears. There is a VST version called Oddity made by GForce which he may have used.
posted by dydecker at 9:05 AM on December 13, 2005

Samples and description of Odyssey.
posted by dydecker at 9:08 AM on December 13, 2005

Thanks! Good info on how to "make" the synth from mmoncur; good call on the ARP Odyssey, dydecker - it sounds pretty close. I'll check out the Oddity softsynth later!
posted by sluggo at 9:38 AM on December 13, 2005

I'm certain this is the same synth used in Marvin Gaye's "T Plays it Cool" from the Trouble Man soundtrack. The synth in that song has always been my favorite part. Check it out!
posted by jgee at 2:28 PM on December 13, 2005