A lot of fans are asking this question: what synthesizers did the Italians use to create that specific sound. The answer is not easy. In the early eighties a lot of digital musical instruments came on the market, companies like Roland and Korg made synthesizers and drum computers that were affordable. So it's no surprise that those instruments were used by many Italian musicians and producers. Sometimes they used the standard presets so this is easy to recognize, but in many cases they tweaked the synth and drum parameters so you get a very different sound. We can give you some examples:

Most used Drummachines

Linndrum, Oberheim DMX, Korg KR55, Kawai R50, Roland TR 505, 606, 707, 727, 808 and 909

Most used Synthesizers

Korg Polysix, Korg Poly 800, Elka Synthex, MiniMoog, Prophet 5, Korg Ml, Roland D 110, Yamaha DX 7, Roland Juno 106, Roland Juno 60, Oberheim OB-X, Roland JD 800, Roland JP-8000, Roland XP-8, EMU Emulator and many more.

Roland D 110 -when Giancarlo Pasquini started to produce freelance in 1989 you can hear that he bought a Roland D 110, the drumsounds on tracks like Domino - Fever, Sissy Brown - do it are recognizable

Korg KR55 - favourite drummachine from Bobby Orlando in the early days, The Flirts - Passion is based on this drummachine

Roland JD800 - the characteristic pad and lead sound of A.Beat-C Records comes from this synthesizer.

Korg Ml - preset number 1, an organ sound, is used by the Visnadi brothers on their projects with Alex Party and Elastic Band.

Roland TR505 and TR707, when you listen to the sound of Farina/Crivellente on Asia, Flea and FCF Records you can hear these drum machines.

To give you a clue we've recorded some material on the CD/DVD that comes with this book. Surf to the directory music/soundfiles and you'll find examples, compare them with your favourite record or song and see if you can recognize the sound.