It’s that time of year again – and we bet you must have heard Paul McCartney‘s Wonderful Christmastime at least a handful of times so far in the run up to Christmas. He’s even been performing it recently on his current UK tour.
For the music nerds among us however, the often-polarising festive hit offers a smorgasbord of synth-based creativity. This is the basis of Reverb Machine’s Instrumental Synth Remix.
The main one heard in the 1979 hit is the Yamaha CS-80, a large, famously expensice synth famous for its use in Vangelis’ Blade Runner soundtrack. It sounds especially unique because it has a 2-pole filter as opposed to the more common 3-pole filter.
Reverb Machine recreated the sound by starting with one of the CS-80’s presets and adding LFO modulation to the filter to achieve the rhythmic effect heard in the track.
Meanwhile, the synth patch was recreated using Arturia CS-80 V4, a software emulation of the original instrument.
Reverb Machine even published an article demonstrating how they made it work.
If you’re looking for a modern version of the Yamaha CS-80, especially in the January sales, Softube recently unveiled the Model 77 Dual Layer Synth, a virtual instrument that “perfectly captures” the sound of the iconic Japanese synth.
Softube says it has “component modelled and accurately articulated every detail of the circuits” of the three instruments.” The sound, interaction, and performance remain as close to the hardware units as possible, accompanied by an interface that’s been redesigned for an improved and modern workflow.
