Read us a bedtime story, Espen Kraft! Who knew going through these old zines could be so much fun. I owned many of these very issues - including this one. I remember that Jan Hammer interview vividly, which inspired me to go out and buy Rockmans and MXRs and try to replicate his virtual lead guitar sound with my DX11. (I still have those Rockmans!) Coincidentally, I recently visited my mom’s attic and ran across all my old Keyboard magazines in a box and nearly threw them all in the trash! I glad I didn’t, because I later learned that, unlike most anything else, there is apparently no real digital archive of Keyboard magazine back issues available online anywhere! So for now it seems, these hard copies are our only link to those bygone days of glory! I’m Lady App-titude, and I am not the 80s - but I’m glad you are!

How can 5 people not LIKE this?

The Korg Poly 800 ad brings back memories. Nov '84 was the first time I ever jammed with another person (me on guitar and my school friend on his new Korg Poly 800). He sequenced Hold Back The Rain (Duran Duran). I still have the cassette of the recording we did, must dig it out and listen. *Edit* - and he's still got the Poly 800!

Jan Hammer wearing the quintessential 80's getup, a sports blazer with rolled up sleeves.

Loved Jan Hammers DX Guitars. Loved 1985 when my favourite Keyshop had still all the big Oberheimsynths ready to play, OBX OB8 Matrix12.......

I loved the Manny's advertisement! I lived in midtown New York back in 2012 and would walk passed it's store location on my way to work. It had been occupied by Sam Ash music store taking over several store fronts, each housing a different instrument type like guitars, drums or keyboards. Any sign of Manny's was long gone with the exception of some inlaid mosaic tile spelling Manny's name on the main door apron. That part of 48th St. was nicknamed music row, and at one time probably filled with every type of instrument shop imaginable, as it was only a few blocks from Radio City Music Hall. However only Sam Ash and a couple other privately owned music shops remained. By the end of my stay there, even Sam Ash had left "Music Row" for 32nd St. A recent viewing of Google Streets showed the old pre-war brick buildings that housed Manny's and those other shops were demolished. But the'll never demolished the memories of Manny's.

This is fun espen. Brings back memories. I still have boxes of old music mags from the early 80’s . Must weed through them to find some nice fullpage ads from moog etc to pt in a frame

My God I had all these issues and actually specifically remember this one! Uh yeah, this is a video series you must continue!😉

What’s fun with the AX80 ad is that it does not feature the ”dial” it what actually manufactured with... Yes I’m a geek. 😁 And the AX80 is a great synth as it sounds like the AX80 and nothing else 😉

YESSS! My favorite issue! I’m a huge fan of Jan’s Miami Vice music!

Manny’s Music was a legendary music store on 48th Street in Midtown Manhattan. That strip, known as Music Row, was where everybody from Charlie Parker to Jimi Hendrix shopped for gear for decades. I bought my first 80s synth and sequencer (a DX-11 and QX21) and many other classic pieces of 80s-90s kit on 48th St. In the early 70s, Todd Rundgren bought his first synthesizer at Manny’s (an EMS), and it was the only one available, so when David Gilmore came to looking for one, they put him in touch with Rundgren, who in turn introduced Gilmore to the EMS synth in his downtown NYC apartment. So the roots of “On The Run” can be traced to Manny’s. Sadly, Manny’s and the whole 48th St. scene (which had been the music gear epicenter for musicians since the 1930s) closed around 10-12 years ago and music stores migrated downtown. A pale shadow of the legacy survives w/ Sam Ash in the 34th St./9th Ave area today. Todd Rundgren tells the story of Manny’s, David Gilmore, and the EMS in this video: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/r7dkZdScvbzXo6s.html

Great vid, keep these coming! Regarding Moog hardware /software for C64, I have a good friend who is actively involved in the C64 community who has one. It's known to be a convoluted, impenetrable enigma in C64 circles. He had me take a quick look to decipher it, and after thumbing through the extensive (300, 400, 500-page?) instruction manual, I told him I'd need a lot of time to break down exactly what it does...

I've been to Manny's Music a bunch of times and bought some gear from there. I also owned a Poly 800. I had a Commodore 64 but don't remember what sequencer software I ran on it. I remember playing with it a little (I only had a Juno 106 at the time) before I moved up to an Amiga running Dr. T. where things took off for me.

@6:30ISH. Caruso music. I loved that store in New London CT.

Thank you for sharing your collection with us. I just loved this video. Take care and be safe!!

The versions on the sound page: “Airport Swap” is the same as the official release, but the Golden Triangle tracks are exclusive variations.

Thanks for going over this issue for me. I thought Hammer's opinion on the Super Jupiter MKS-80 not having the random arpeggiator was funny. It's nice that nowadays you can use a modern keyboard, like the Fantom G8, to play any type of arpeggiator you'd like. In fact, yesterday I was using my Fantom G8 arpeggiator to control my MKS-30. I like the soundtrack to Miami Vice more than I like the show. It sometimes seemed like it was just a long MTV music video. :) Take care, Sam.

The main reason that Miami Vice among loads of others at the time is that not all TV stations had the ability to transmit in Stereo. I did work experience at a TV station audio department back in 1986, the mixer used had been modified from Stereo to Mono, the other thing is that the number of TV Sets back then where mono.

This reminds me I need to dig out my issues of Keyboard Magazine, which I started reading about 1985. I have a later issue of Keyboard that also features Jan Hammer on the cover. I really only know his (great) theme to the opening of Miami Vice. In your issue it showed two books from Keyboard Magazine. I have, and highly recommend their book on the greatest rock keyboardists. It featured Keith Emerson on the cover, and many of my favorite keyboardists, including Dennis Deyoung from Styx that is lesser known to many as a keyboardist, but everyone knows his voice from #1 hits on the radio. Their music was full of great synthesizer sounds. After the breakup of Styx in 1984,, Styx guitarist JY recorded a solo record called City Slicker with Jan Hammer playing both the keyboards & drums for the album. A couple other things I noticed in your magazine. Advertisement for Caruso Music in CT where I used to buy some of my keyboards in the 80s, just 1 hour from here. They had a great selection and I enjoyed spending hours trying out lots of synths. There was an add for a new album with Yes alumni Patrick Moraz & Bill Bruford. I'm a huge Yes fan, but in the 80s I was a huge fan of Patrick's keyboard work with the Moody Blues using the brand new revolutionary Kurzweil K250. I saw him on tour with them twice using it. The Casio CZ for the mid 80s was a great alternative to expensive, analog synthesizers, much more cost effective, patch memory, and sysex bank dump ability. My introduction to hardware synthesizers, but I started with soft synths first on the Amiga in 1985. Basically doing what the Mirage did & more, without needing to buy a Mirage and gaining a state of the art personal computer with the best video games and more. The other book mentioned from Keyboard Magazine, I didn't remember but I'd like to pick it up.

Funny to hear Jan Hammer give such high praise to an arpegiator, something we now very much take for granted. I hope he still has his jupiter 8.

Nice those old magazines. i want to start a collection to on cb radio & electronics. Nice one Espen.

Jan Hammer talking about the Super Jupiter...and the thumbnail of this video... OMG it's foreshadow of some upcoming reviews!

Ian hammer is a goat.miami vice was/is my favourite series and my fav cartoon was "Spartacus and the sun beneath the sea "with the music of v cosma .

Hi Espen, I like these reviews, I wonder why you don't make more of them, hope to see more in the future.

Awww thanks Espen this brings back sweet memories. September 85 will always remain special to me for this was the month i decided to buy a synthesizer. 🎹

Oh yes Manny's NYC still up and running😊

What a fun and nostalgic walk down memory lane! Makes me feels twangs of regret for the almost two decades worth of Keyboard mag back issues I traded for a couple of SM57s in the early 2000s. Sigh. . .

Thanks for continuing to do these!

So Ray Kurzweil has had an Interesting Career (1) The Amazing thing about the K250 is that it's noT Sampled Sounds ...it's Additive Synthesis(!) ...so when you hear a *Still Amazingly Realistic Piano Sound* (still today even though it's from 1982)...you're actually listening to sinewaves. (The re-synthesis analyzed the patterns in the waveforms) ...But the Interestng Thing is that his Entire Career has been built on building "Pattern Recognition" into computers. He created... a reading-machine for the blind, A music program that'd create it's own music back in the 50s 60's? the K250, The company 'Nuance' which is the technology behind allllllllll the voice recognition programs...as in Dragon Naturally Speaking, SIRI, a few others. NOW He's working for Google as head of their tech dept's ...i'd guess for image and pattern recognition etc. but some guess he's building a complete Artificial Brain :)

I just love this kind of videos also 🙂

These are a cool time capsule man

I totally loooove these issues!🤟😍 Thank you so much for sharing your love of the 80s

I own Two Korg poly 800’s, a Casio CZ101, a Mirage, Sequential circuits Pro-8-, the Japanese version of the Split eight so I guess these magazines represent what I would have owned back in the day if I was a wealthy man. Only now those keyboards were affordable for a while, but as we know, the prices are going up again.

These are my favorite videos on KZfaq.

YAY!!! A new one!

Was at Mannys in 1994, was a bit dissapointed for their synths, but on my way out i run into Elvis Costello, who was great to meet.

In those days, Jan Hammer used to frequent my local C-Town supermarket in Kent, NY.

Love This video series! ✌👍

In 1985 I didn't know of Keyboard Magazine. I wish I had, because I loved synth music but didn't know anything about it. I grew up in the mountain west USA. I was young and had no money, synths and sequencers were so expensive.

These are great! Keep these kinds of videos coming! May not hurt to do a best music in early Atari ST/Commodore 64 games too ;)

Back then nobody wanted the Akaisynths, only the Samplers S612, 900,950,

Wow. Soundpage still secured to the magazine.

Great issue! Thanks for the video :-)

Love the ad photography back then. Everything just sort of hovers in the foreground and has a blue or purple glow in the background...like the dawning of a new day. Fun to look at. Did you catch the price on the Emu SP-12? $2745.00! This is why every synthpop kid jumped out of their seat when Ferris Bueller loaded a disk onto his Emulator! Who had that kind of money? On the other hand; if you owned a Fairlight you could get a scoring gig for NBC. lol

Did I have this? I did have this. It's the reason I bought a CZ5K. Oh crikey, and I saw Moraz/Bruford on the Flags tour, too.

Now i feel the need to do more with my CZs...

I hope they liked the CZ-5000 because I happen to own one now! Back then it was a bit out of my league.

I can definitely say the Bo Tomlyn DX7 patches are amazing, if you don't already have them, download and do a sysex dump!

Que buenos recuerdos!!! Saludos...

I once bought a whole case of Ampex Grandmaster 456 tape from Manney's when they did mail-order.

nice to see the original Akai AX80 add!

i was 14 in sept 1985...damn thats a long time ago.... :)

First to like! I love these videos because I love old magazines as well.

Not familiar w/ John Costa on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood??? I know he's in Norway, but Espen should treat himself. ;-) And the main thing I don't like about the Akai AX80 (I have one) is the lack of glide.

runaway was a great movie.... those damn spiders scared the crap out of me.... :D

Rhythm of the Night title song was featured in the greatest 80s movie: The Last Dragon. Sho nuff!

I get the impression that many artists back then weren't as particular about the synth sounds as people are nowadays, for instance Jan Hammer appears to be ok with the Super Jupiter as though it could replace a Jupiter 8 if it had the arp feature. I would love to have known whether the synth artists of that era would have been able to tell whether something like a Jupiter X wasnt analog if we could transport it back in time or whether they would be bothered and whether the music would have been better or worse if they had access to todays synths and samplers.

Hi espen, I enjoy listening to your album those days and had Saturday night on repeat, have you started on your next album yet? If you have no knowledge how easy is it to learn ? Can you learn with a synth and a chord book ?

También conservo mis revistas de keyboard magazine es casi que mi biblia

A bit strange that there seems to be no mention about the Atari ST that was released in June that year (This is a September issue). The "Music Expo 85" which focused on MIDI/software should have had some type of software for the ST or at least a mention about the fact that the ST was the first computer with a graphical interface/mouse that featured built-in Midi in and out. (Yamaha had the first midi equipped computer, but it didn't have the graphical interface/mouse). Maybe the programmers didn't have access to the ST until it was released, unlike like it is today with, for example, game consoles where the developers have access to the hardware long before they are released? EDIT : Nope, checked an article about the history of the development of the Atari ST and Midi, daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2017/10/atari-st-instrumental-instruments and it said that they had two Atari development machines half a year ahead tof the release. (so from late 84 early 85) But that may have not been enough to time to actually release something before this september issue. There was almost not documentation he also said and that it was really hard to work with.

0:36 I think it’s about time I send my EX-800 down to you soon. Whaddayasay? ;)

Hi Espen, do you know where I can buy these Vintage 'Keyboard Magazines'? I have just a few of them when I was a kid back in the 80's 😊

Ye more random arpeggio and patch generators... I use it alot to get ideas

Which synthesizer is Jan Hammer holding on the cover?

If you have a record player, you should play the records!

You could tell us which one advert you’d buy gear from, per magazine, and see what studio you’d end up with?

Miami Vice - Cuda

6:00 Espen you must let us know your waist size and height! I'm sure some would be happy to send to your local Post Office some fabulous 80's outfits for you to wear in future videos. :)

Glemmer aldri Musikk Praksis med dobbeltside og ELKA EK-44 og Jan Mikkel Jarre. En tidligere driver av platebutikk i Notodden ga bort Simmons trommesettet...