Moog Sound on Abba's S.O.S

The Moog Forum Moog Music General Topics Forum
1

I have been asked to play a friend’s wedding ( my first wedding gig!) and one of the songs I have to learn is S.O.S by ABBA. Having never been an Abba fan I am totally blown away by the Moog sound & the coolness of the passages.

Can anyone help me out on how to recreate that sound?
Is it one Moog or are there two?

I don’t have a mini ( I own a Prodigy ) but, I bought the Arturia Software synth and am trying to re-create the sound from Scratch.

Thoughts, tips …S.O.S!

Thanks,

Chris

2

Let’s say that in all probability this was recorded with a minimoog. In keeping with the mini’s design there’s nothing too esoteric going on. Sounds like a pair of slightly detuned, filtered square waves. Using slight attack and moderate release times with the EG’s should get it close enough for rock ‘n’ roll. Adding a little digital delay will put it over the top!

Best,

dml

3

I forgot: add resonance!

dml

4

Thanks!

Do you think someone is actually playing the full line? It’s pretty fast, I thought it might be an arpeggiation trick unless ABBA got Wendy Carlos in or the session…
Is it possible to get the Mini to play a third? or a 5th interval?

Thanks again,

C

5

It was played by human hands. Benny Andersson’s, I believe. It’s a little fast, but with practice…
Yes, you can tune the oscillators on a mini (or any other synth) to a third, fifth or any interval.

Have fun at the wedding!

dml

6

Thanks again!

7

I must be really slow at this stuff…
I am getting the feeling that it’s an overdubbed part as when I retune an oscillator to minor 3rd, there are obvious problems when a major 3rd occurs in the passage. It is also impossible to play both parts on a monosynth.

If I can’t retune it, is there an arpeggiation trick that I could use?

Or am I wrong?

8

There’s no arpeggiation ‘tricks’ that I know of. Are you figuring this out by ear or do you have the sheet music.
I’ve seen ABBA concert videos where this part is played in real time on a minimoog.

Keep working at it!

dml

9

Well since it’s so fast, I used scoreeditor and 2 midi tracks in pro tools to write it out.
There are 2 parts, a 3rd apart, ascending from a Dmin 1st inversion, A7maj, dmin 2nd inversion, etc.

I am about to give up & just record what I have and trigger it from my midi controller…I suppose temp would be an issue even if I used arpeggiation so it’s worth a shot.

If you were working with a minimoog how would set it?

Thanks!

10

Don’t forget the key response on the mini will play into how the sound is created/played. I can do some wicked fast stuff because of the way the bed retriggers and handles pitch voltages. I’m not a fast player otherwise. And because I’ve never cared, I don’t know what the method is called but it is where you hold one key and trigger another and then release it. You get 3 very quick tones on one EG cycle or 3 very quick tones with the EG retriggering on each. Sounds like you are doing it nearly duophonically. So technique will be a big thing in the covering of the part.

11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIF157tVTEQ&feature=related

There’s quite a few of these available for viewing. I thought this one showed the fingering for the solo best.

dml