I've just come across some info regarding a fellow named Tomita. It's interesting because i thought i had dotted my i's and crossed my t's when it comes to important Moog sound designer's and user's.
I was wondering, how many people know about this person?
Apparently, as i understand it, Tomita was a big Moog sound designer and user in the late sixties/early seventies. Yet in books like Mark Vail's Vintage Synthesizers, his name is not mentioned and in Moog user groups people have responded with ???????? regarding Tomita.
My Question, is he real, is he alive, and will he design sounds for the Voyager?
BTW, check Arturia's Moog Modular V. Some of the presets have the Tomita signature!
Tomita?
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Kevin Bowden
- Posts: 96
- Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2003 10:14 pm
- Location: Bedfordshire, UK
[Although this shouldn't really be under the Voyager heading]
I collected all of his output from the 70's on vinyl but never got around to adding them to my collection when I 'converted' to CD.
I always found his use of sound to capture 'themes' within his interpretations of orchestral/piano pieces to be quite masterful, and certainly made me appreciate the original compositions a lot more.
Take Pictures at an Exhibition (mentioned previously). Originally written (by Moussorgsky) for piano it sounds quite thin on pianos alone. Hearing it played by a full orchestra (thanks to Ravel) adds a whole new powerful dimension. Then take the Tomita version - no comparison !!! The depth, breadth and subtle nuances within the pieces achieved by his treatment almost bring tears to the eyes. OK, only (yet) another persons interpretation of the work but imho this yields the best result - with my humblest apologies to the ELP and Mekon Delta fans out there that prefer their respective versions !
Anyone who wants to hear Moog modulars really being put to work (albeit with extensive multitracking) should check out his albums from the 1970's.
I've just found www.isaotomita.net which has a wealth of info (and sounds), and there's lots more out there in 'internet land' for anyone who'd like to learn more.
Yes, I've heard of him !!! And thanks to this thread I've rediscovered him !!!
Mind you.....at the same time, thereabouts, I purchased the Jack Kraft 1812 Overture interpretation (Kraft and Alexander on the ARP Synthesiser) - so you can obviously take my observations with a pinch of salt !
I collected all of his output from the 70's on vinyl but never got around to adding them to my collection when I 'converted' to CD.
I always found his use of sound to capture 'themes' within his interpretations of orchestral/piano pieces to be quite masterful, and certainly made me appreciate the original compositions a lot more.
Take Pictures at an Exhibition (mentioned previously). Originally written (by Moussorgsky) for piano it sounds quite thin on pianos alone. Hearing it played by a full orchestra (thanks to Ravel) adds a whole new powerful dimension. Then take the Tomita version - no comparison !!! The depth, breadth and subtle nuances within the pieces achieved by his treatment almost bring tears to the eyes. OK, only (yet) another persons interpretation of the work but imho this yields the best result - with my humblest apologies to the ELP and Mekon Delta fans out there that prefer their respective versions !
Anyone who wants to hear Moog modulars really being put to work (albeit with extensive multitracking) should check out his albums from the 1970's.
I've just found www.isaotomita.net which has a wealth of info (and sounds), and there's lots more out there in 'internet land' for anyone who'd like to learn more.
Yes, I've heard of him !!! And thanks to this thread I've rediscovered him !!!
Mind you.....at the same time, thereabouts, I purchased the Jack Kraft 1812 Overture interpretation (Kraft and Alexander on the ARP Synthesiser) - so you can obviously take my observations with a pinch of salt !
Post Subject
Hello,
Isao Tomita is very well known. The probable reason he doesn't appear in
Mark Vail's Vintage Synths is because the book is gear specific.
It is in the main, a discussion of the various synths that have (and haven't)
been produced since the instruments inception, the companies that produced them, their namesakes, and the principles involved in design, etc.
Articles about and interviews with Tomita can be found in books that cover
the more generalized discussion of electronic music and the personalities involved.
One such interview can be found in the book The Art of Electronic Music
compiled from issues of Keyboard magazine by Tom Darter, edited by Greg
Armbruster, with forward by Dr. Moog.
regards,
LWG
Isao Tomita is very well known. The probable reason he doesn't appear in
Mark Vail's Vintage Synths is because the book is gear specific.
It is in the main, a discussion of the various synths that have (and haven't)
been produced since the instruments inception, the companies that produced them, their namesakes, and the principles involved in design, etc.
Articles about and interviews with Tomita can be found in books that cover
the more generalized discussion of electronic music and the personalities involved.
One such interview can be found in the book The Art of Electronic Music
compiled from issues of Keyboard magazine by Tom Darter, edited by Greg
Armbruster, with forward by Dr. Moog.
regards,
LWG
Post Subject
Almost forgot,
There is also an interview with Tomita in the November/December 1977 archived copy of Synapse magazine at this link:
http://www.cyndustries.com/synapse/intro.cfm
LWG
There is also an interview with Tomita in the November/December 1977 archived copy of Synapse magazine at this link:
http://www.cyndustries.com/synapse/intro.cfm
LWG
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Kevin Bowden
- Posts: 96
- Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2003 10:14 pm
- Location: Bedfordshire, UK
Thanks for the link to the interview.
Even through the Japanese -> German -> English translation Tomita demonstrated a certain amount of vision wrt synths and their future evolution/deployment - and of course he was doing a lot more with the available technology at the time than many others were.
Before you know it we'll have an on-line collaborative rendition of Pictures at an Exhibition done on Voyagers (just to take things a bit further) !!!
That would at least get the old 'sound programming' juices flowing.
Well, I'm game for it - anyone else ???
Even through the Japanese -> German -> English translation Tomita demonstrated a certain amount of vision wrt synths and their future evolution/deployment - and of course he was doing a lot more with the available technology at the time than many others were.
Before you know it we'll have an on-line collaborative rendition of Pictures at an Exhibition done on Voyagers (just to take things a bit further) !!!
That would at least get the old 'sound programming' juices flowing.
Well, I'm game for it - anyone else ???
Tomita absolutely rulez...
He's my alltime Moog favourite! Not only his brilliant programming skills, but also his genious classical interpretations are awesome. And that using only monophone synths (in the beginning), being condemned to doing countless overdubs on analog tape machines.
I have collected most of his material over the years on CD. It would be quite a tribute to 'translate' his Moog works like Pictures at an exibition or Snowflakes are dancing or The Firebird Suite on Voyagers.
I would be in.
He's my alltime Moog favourite! Not only his brilliant programming skills, but also his genious classical interpretations are awesome. And that using only monophone synths (in the beginning), being condemned to doing countless overdubs on analog tape machines.
I have collected most of his material over the years on CD. It would be quite a tribute to 'translate' his Moog works like Pictures at an exibition or Snowflakes are dancing or The Firebird Suite on Voyagers.
I would be in.
Tomita
Ahhh Tomita...
Possibly the greatest sound designer on the Moog instrument anywhere...Listen to some of the listed albums and you can hear that he must have spent hours setting up his huge moog mudular for each and every detail of the sound... He gets sounds that seem impossible to get from an analog synth. Choirs, solo voice performances realistic string and horn sections, and some of the wildest sounds ever created in synthesis...
I'm so not worthy...
Sunsinger
Possibly the greatest sound designer on the Moog instrument anywhere...Listen to some of the listed albums and you can hear that he must have spent hours setting up his huge moog mudular for each and every detail of the sound... He gets sounds that seem impossible to get from an analog synth. Choirs, solo voice performances realistic string and horn sections, and some of the wildest sounds ever created in synthesis...
I'm so not worthy...
Sunsinger
"Work with what you've got" Eno
Tomita did program an amazing set of sounds on his Moog modular, and his output is outstanding. My favorite is the Firebird Suite, which, unfortunately, didn't make it to CD here in the US (I've got it on vinyl from the early '70s). I think it's his best work.
The one thing I've observed about his collective output is that he reused a lot of sounds over and over. I got the feeling that performing classical works eventually became more of a programatic effort than a true creative one for him. His best work is still the early stuff IMO (Firebird, Debussey).
Along with Walter/Wendy Carlos, Tomita was a modular tour-de-force back in the day.
The one thing I've observed about his collective output is that he reused a lot of sounds over and over. I got the feeling that performing classical works eventually became more of a programatic effort than a true creative one for him. His best work is still the early stuff IMO (Firebird, Debussey).
Along with Walter/Wendy Carlos, Tomita was a modular tour-de-force back in the day.
An FYI for anyone who happens to own a V-Synth - there's a VERY cool patch in the factory soundset called "Firebird" which imitates some of the sounds Tomita used in his version of the Firebird Suite. Some very clever programming went into these sounds, which are zoned into three areas across the keyboard (horns, glock and strings).
For all Tomita fans - the next time you're in a music store and can get access to a V-Synth, call up preset 254 (Firebird) and prepare to be amazed.
- Greg
For all Tomita fans - the next time you're in a music store and can get access to a V-Synth, call up preset 254 (Firebird) and prepare to be amazed.
- Greg