Most standard keyboards come with presets so wet-behind-the-ears musicians can play around with them and get into the groove of making their own music. However, a few different standard keyboard presets have been used by famous musicians in famous songs… and you might not even know it. Let’s take a look at four different examples! Some of these songs might just shock you.
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1. “Let’s Go” by The Cars
The Prophet-5 is one of the most influential synthesizers in the world. At the time of its release in 1978, this synth’s ability to let users save programmed sounds was revolutionary. The Prophet-5 became the standard in 1980s new wave music as well as pop music.
The Cars (or rather, keyboardist Greg Hawkes) famously created the talkbox sound that makes up the riff of “Let’s Go” using the Sync II preset from the Prophet-5.
2. “Running Up That Hill” by Kate Bush
Famous musicians use standard keyboard presets pretty often, but not everybody was able to clock the fact that Kate Bush used a synth preset in her famous track “Running Up That Hill”. But, with the song’s resurgence thanks to Stranger Things, a new generation of ears was able to put two and two together.
Bush used a Fairlight CMI synthesizer for this song, which featured a cello preset that helped make up the melody. Bush uses a number of other elements from the Fairlight in this song as well.
3. “Clint Eastwood” by Gorillaz
A while ago, during an interview with Apple Music, Gorillaz’ Damon Albarn showed off precisely how he created the iconic beat in the song “Clint Eastwood”. Spoiler alert: He didn’t do much. The beat simply comes from a Japanese omnichord under the Rock 1 preset. Omnichord players and equipment nerds around the world felt really dumb for not clocking it from the get-go.
4. “Take My Breath Away” by Berlin
Giorgio Moroder is one of many famous musicians who used standard keyboard presets in their songs. Specifically, he used a Yamaha DX7 keyboard for the hit Berlin song “Take My Breath Away”. Remember those brassy, deep notes that start off the song? Those notes are actually from a Bass II preset on that very keyboard.
It might sound very 1980s to the modern ear, but the way Moroder manipulated the preset and made it unique was pretty much unheard of at the time.
Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Coachella
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