Xanadu BY RUSH

[Thebullsback]

HELLO, Fellow TAURUS owners. Does any one know the sound or edited sound Geddy Lee gets from is pedals in the song ,'Xanadu'... it's the the part where Neil goes to his cowbells. It's a sound he used alot during that time, i thought it would be one of the presets.. the closest is some of the lead sounds. I don't think he was interfaced into the Mini Moog at the time
so i'm pretty shure thats just the old T1 making that sound.

[MC]

Studio or live (ESL) version?

Geddy had his T1s modified to trigger his Oberheim polysynth (before MIDI).

[wolf2112]

Actually, the Merely Players book states that the T1's were interfaced with a "mini-Moog model D cherry finish", on the All The World's A Stage tour (1976-77) and the AFTK album and subsequent tour. The Oberheim (8-voice) polyphonic was used on the Hemispheres album and a second set of T1's were added and interfaced with that one on that tour.

[shanef]

I'm pretty the Xanadu part in question was played both live and in the studio using just the variable sound on the T1.

[superd2112]

I've written a T-3 "Xanadu" patch that I'll post on knobtweak & the microsite this weekend for those interested. Also works well for La Villa & a few others.

[HB3]

I'd like to check that out.

[Thebullsback]

Thanks!!! Superd2112

I realized it's the same patch used for LIMELIGHT that was posted.It was also used in the middle of Entre Nous..which for some reason he did not trigger it on the Snakes and Arrows tour which i think hurt the intrumental break in the song. I, guess he thinks that sound is antiquated.

[superd2112]

Agreed Bullsback, some of Ged's Taurus parts just don't carry the same weight since he went the digital/sample route.
I'll get my Xanadu patch up this weekend - its slightly different from my Limelight patch, with modded filter cutoff & envelopes, and the other patch I wrote for the intro is just the standard Taurus 1 sound, with a sharper attack & the oscillators & drift set to be more in tune together. The factory Taurus 1 patch on the T-3 sounds (to my ears) like my old Taurus did when they were in need of a calibration - just a hair too much detuning & drift for my taste.

[superd2112]

Posted the Xanadu patches on Knobtweak and the microsite (under "images" in the owner's gallery) - give 'em a try & let me know what you think.

[factorplayer]

I'd love to hear it superd!

I have been playing Xanadu with my band lately and been using the 'FunkyFoot' patch or whatever with some slight tweaks, it works pretty well, but sounds a little lower than the album version.

It's pretty clear the sounds on Xanadu did indeed come from the Taurus. It was mainly the Tom Sawyer growl sound that Geddy used the Oberheim for and triggered with the Taurus.

[keb]

I've always liked that higher-range "lead Taurus" sound used in Xanadu, Cinderella Man, Hemispheres, and other songs in that era. It seems like a teensy little almost-overlooked detail in the overall whole of the Rush sound of that time, but it adds a nice tasty bit of flavor.

[miamigroove]

to seek the sacred river Alph, to walk the caves of ice...

On the original T1's, it is the "Variable" preset (basically a standard saw wave) tuned and set to the highest octave setting (HI + OCT). Set the "beat" to a low setting. Then the cutoff is lowered to nearly zero, while the resonance (emphasis) is boosted just above the point of self-oscillation. Lastly, on the T1 the "filter" foot slider is set about halfway down, and the decay is set to taste. A little external reverb doesn't hurt either.

Im sure this sound can be easily replicated on the T3's, just as it can be on the Little Phatty, Minimoog, etc. Just find the corresponding menu elements and follow the above settings. With a little tweaking you'll have it. Good luck!

[LeChuck]

I guess I had always assumed he played that part by interfacing to the Minimoog. But he does have different sound/filter settings on the Minimoog, and he's definitely playing the part with his feet in the performances I've seen. And since he uses the regular Taurus preset in other parts of the song, I guess he's switching between that and Variable on the fly. Interesting!

Anyone know what-played-what between the Taurus pedals, Oberheim 8-voice, and Minimoog on 'La Villa Strangiato'? I've watched a live performance from 1978 on Youtube where you can partially see his hands, but I couldn't quite work out how he was covering all those parts.

LeChuck

[LeChuck]

Anyone know what-played-what between the Taurus pedals, Oberheim 8-voice, and Minimoog on 'La Villa Strangiato'? I've watched a live performance from 1978 on Youtube where you can partially see his hands, but I couldn't quite work out how he was covering all those parts.

In typical fashion, I found a much clearer video right after I posted this. Looks like during the opening synth section, Geddy is playing the opening chord and that higher lead/filigree part on the 8-voice. Alex is playing the lowest bass part (with the quick filter sweep) on his Taurus pedals, so Geddy must then be playing the remaining low/mid range lead part on his Taurus pedals.

This leads to the question .. which parts did he trigger to other synths with the Taurus pedals? If I recall, in the Exit Stage Left DVD he's triggering the Tom Sawyer sweep with his left hand (that great wall-of-synths pic from that era shows an Oberheim OB-1 there). There are some backing synth lines that seem a little out of range for the Taurus, so I'm guessing those all come from the triggered 8-voice.

LeChuck

[miamigroove]

for the part you're talking about take a standard 'Lead' sound and crank up the Resonance (Emphasis) a bit while also reducing the cutoff and decay. Play with that till you get the sound

Check out my video to see how Geddy does it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwmKfhxVNOk