What keyboards or synths were used to make Thriller?

The main riff and overall production on Thriller are pathetic steals from Rick James' "Give It to Me, Baby".

And "P.Y.T" is Prince's "I Wanna Be Your Lover".

This post has been no help whatsoever, I'm sure.

Also if you just wanted to know for trivia reasons I wd guess Oberheims and Yamahas, those seem to be the most 'pop' of synths, and even with the original models you would need to score some OG 80's error chorus/flange/reverb FX to really emulate the sound perfectly - Lexicon, Yamaha and T.C. Electronic might be yr best bet.

I dunno, stick "Thriller" next to any 80s-era Prince, or "Atomic Dog", or Rick James... christ, even Andre Cymone's records are more interesting than Jackson's. All MJ had going for him was the squeal, the dance moves, and a shitload of industry backing.

But not at the point in question (1982) because it (DX7) hadn't been released yet.

From memory I think Thriller used a Linn for the drum track. I'm not sure how the 'bom bom' sound could sound like a synth bass AND a vocoder. I wish I understood what sound you're referring to.

I didn't really like or have a romantic history for 'Thriller' save "Billie Jean", but OFFTHEWALL is the sound of many days spent at skating rinks. Don't laugh.

If you are talking about early prince records, you can bet the farm that the drum programming came from a Linn Drum, and that the synths were Oberheims.

You are going to want to use one of the higher end analogue poly-synths for strings and pads. Oberheims OB-8's/OB-Xa's, Roland Jupiter 8's (Nick Rhodes' favorite board), A strong contender would be a Sequential Circuit's Prophet 5. There was also a lot of Minimoog on that record.

David is right, that is not a Yamaha FM synth. It was a Synclavier II. For the record, the DX7 was commercially available in 1982.

One of the great eighties moments -- Andy Bell from Erasure introduces Vince Clarke's Oberheim Xpander on stage, instrument part by instrument part. As heard on The Two-Ring Circus.

(I have no specific sources to cite, but I'm not claiming I'm right, I'm just claiming you might not have won the farm...)

I think I'm starting to understand why people dislike nu-ILM....

"Thirteen drum sounds all with programmable tuning"

"used by Orbital, Freddy Fresh, and Prince"

production began in 1982 [Purple Rain = 1983]

harveyw, I think it's safe to start buying cows for your new farm.

picture and info from the Vintage Synth Explorer.

(Like just about everyone who could afford one in the 80s, Prince also used a LinnDrum.)

http://machines.hyperreal.org/manufacturers/Sequential/Drumtraks/
http://machines.hyperreal.org/manufacturers/Linn/

The next thing I did was soulseeked (Using soulseek as a verb rulez!) as many Prince singles from the early/mid 80's that used drum machines as I could find. Then I went through each track about four times checking the drum track and trying to figure out exactly which sound were used underneath all the processing.

Here is what I came up with:

Little Red Corvette: This one is definitely LinnDrum. There is a lot of reverb and eq over the different sounds, but the sample set is too big and doesnt quite match the Drumtracks. The Kick Drum is the dead giveaway, the DT has this punchy "put-put" kind of sound, whereas the Linn samples have a longer decay and seem to roll off a bit. The Toms which double for kick drums in parts also don't match the DT. It also seems like he was using the sidestick snare as well.

I Would Die For You: I am pretty sure this is the Drumtracks. The kick and the clap seem to be the clinchers on this one. It is funny how much the sample sets of these two machines overlap. The Kick seem to have that "put" punch to it, and the clap is DT. The Snare is the hardest part and I can't be complete sure where it came from, it has so much gating and reverb on it. The funny thing is that if you were not really studying the record you really could not tell that big a difference between the DT and the Linn.

U Got The Look: To be honest I can't even tell if this is drum machine. Obviously Sheila E. is playing the latin percussion over the top, but the kick and snare have so much gating and reverb on the that they could be anything.

Ballad Of Dorthy Parker: This one is LinnDrum without a doubt. Listen to the sidestick snare, the kick, and the hi-hats. When I talk about how a LinnDrum feels, this track is exactly what I am talking about. This is a text book example on why those boxes were awesome.

Kiss: This one is LinnDrum as well. The Kick and Snare are reverb and gated to hell, but he leave the hi-hats clean in the mix. That is how you can tell, those aren't drum tracks hi-hats, they are Linn.

Erotic City: Damn, this one is hard, probably the hardest one yet. I really can't say because all percussion that isnt the kick and snare is bathed in reverse reverb and a touch of flange. The other thing is that a lot of the percussion is layered through effects, so you can't get a clear picture of what it is. I think it is the Linn, but I am honestly not sure.

That was pretty weird, six random prince track from soulseek, two of them I have no idea about, three of them are definitely LinnDrum, and the other one is Drumtracks. One thing I did learn is that Prince is the man. That guy knows how to make it work.

all Prince did was omit the bass line, add a guitar part and sing over it.

the tech on thriller is definately as credited to the inside sleeve
a synclavier mk11 a linn lm1, a tr808,and natural unsampled percussion on certain tracks, yamaha dx7,s were NOT commercially available UNTIL MARCH 1983! fact,i am a music technologist who worked on that project it took 15 years to get the fm tech right as you know it in regards "dx7's". thriller was fully recorded as you know by the autumn of 1982 so there is no dx7 in there at all!!!!!!.

in fact! the thriller album utilises NO fm sound technology it utilises sampling technology voice samples and added bells on the synclavier it is in the sound library i have got it!!!
!!!

a jupiter 8,and various other impotant synths made the grade!!!.

the sequential circuits drumtraks actually robbs I MEAN utilises the linn drum AND oberheim drum sounds and those drum sounds were sampled in LA by a session drummer called art woods, USING A LUDWIG DRUM KIT AND OBVIOUSLY HIS HUMAN HAND CLAP!

the drumtraks actually is not used (a whole big lot on the whole) by a lot of famous people as some of you are led to beleive, i am afraid the linn lm1 and linndrum are the definate culprits there and that is indisputable fact.
if you want to know the tech research it properly before accomplishing stupid "facts" un educated ones at that.

sorry to be insulting but you act like babies and i will mother you all suck my big pert mother tits y'yall lol.......

The main riff and overall production on Thriller are pathetic steals from Rick James' "Give It to Me, Baby".

Uh WAT

I will allow that assertion.

Re: "Kiss": "there's quite plainly an actual hihat there as well..."

Yes and you can hear it slightly opening several times - sometimes on the and of four, sometimes on the and of one. It may not have been played live but it certainly appears, disappears, and moves around in different measures. The gated acoustic is a deeply fine sound but it is not responsible for the funky sizzle of the slightly open hat.

MJ loved Tangerine Dream.

he apparently used their groove i.e. samples, in several places ..

^ e.g. the Synclavier sound 35 seconds into this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPcglRBYfu0

oooooh

I assume they didn't sample that though. Just the same preset.

The main riff and overall production on Thriller are pathetic steals from Rick James' "Give It to Me, Baby".

Uh WAT

― Johnny Fever, Friday, June 19, 2015 5:44 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I can kinda see what the means, tbh.

@ 3:30
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaiBhPWWvKs

xp I went back to listen to Give It to Me Baby specifically with the intention of hearing Thrillerisms and didn't hear anything even approaching overt, so *shrug*

the "Thriller" bassline sounds like "Give It To Me Baby" the same way "Another One Bites The Dust" sounds like "Good Times"

Ah okay, I kind of get it now, but saying either of the latter two songs are "pathetic steals" from the former two is a tenuous claim.

John Deacon actually was influenced by Good Times on that song tho. The Thriller/Give It to Me Baby comparison is one I hadn't heard before, and even though the bass lines aren't exactly the same, taking into account the similarity (along with the underlying chord progression on the verses) is close enough that if they were songs from today, I would totally not be surprised to see RJ sue MJ.

Don't know about the synths but MJs vox on Thriller were famously recorded with the decidedly mid-fi Shure SM7. Why? Because it sound intersting

I would totally not be surprised to see RJ sue MJ.

Aw man, I just got bummed out when it occurred to me both these guys are dead.