Sunday Synth Jams: This synth music jam is pure analog, with the Eminent and the Roland SH 3A, wih Roland DEP 5 & Electro-Harmonix Small Stone phaser added for effect.

via magevers

This is a demo of the Korg Minipops 20 S, the stereo Minipops, a rhythm box/drum machine from about 1970.

The Minipops was probably most famously used by Jean Michel Jarre.

via AnalogAudio1:

Jamming around with the Korg / Keio Minipops 20s.The Korg Minipops 20s is an early rhythmbox from Korg. It’s the only one Mini Pops model which has stereo outputs. Different sounds come from the two outputs – that’s great!

I used them like single outputs with different effects in the video. I used a Yamaha ProR3 reverb and a delay from Roland DEP-5.

On the second half of the video I sent one of the outputs through an old ELECTRO HARMONIX HOT TUBES.

I love the Minipops boxes – I recently bought the 20S. Now I have them all

Jean Michel Jarre, somewhere in Europe.

Fan video – but surprisingly decent sound and image.

via parisvisite

Sunday Synth Jams: A faithful cover of Jean Michel Jarre’s Oxygene 13, played by GroovBird.

Three things to note about this video:

• GroovBird proves you don’t have to have awesome vintage gear to play classic synth music, if you’ve got some good gear and, more importantly, a good ear.
• Oxygen 13 was released in 1997, 20 years after Jarre’s original Oxygène, yet it matches the original album seamlessly.
  
• Jarre is one of the few artists that explicitly authorizes and encouragse fans to make covers and cover videos of his music for non-commercial use. Kudos to Jarre for a classy call on that.

Gear details below.

via GroovBird:

Many thanks to Jean Michel Jarre, for producing this song, and for allowing us fans to share our interpretations.

I play this live, using the following instruments:- Roland XP-30 with Vintage expansion board, using the Solina patch with heavy modification and some layering.- Korg ES-1 sampler with drum samples from Boss DR-880 used by Jarre in the album version.- Korg RADIAS for the FX in the latter part.

Filmed on Canon EOS 5DMkII, I have some sync issues in the end, I hope you don’t mind.

He sent us a copy of his 2008 album Electronic Secret, a 10-part suite of electronic instrumentals that he describes as “Nice chill Electronic music with a touch of Jean Michel Jarre, Kitaro, Vangelis ….”

In other words – his music is inspired by the late 70’s-early 80’s golden age of synth music.

Of the influences that Henriksen notes, the most obvious is Jarre. Henriksen’s obvious affection for Jarre’s music may excite some and turn off others, but, for fans of classic synth music, Electronic Secret deserves attention on its own merits.

The album is made up of 10 songs in a continuous mix. The songs are melodically focused, with simple themes that are repeated with various instrumental combinations. Henriksen creates interest through tasteful arrangements and his choice of sounds, rather than from fiery solos.

Here’s a video of Glenn and his daughter Iselin performing Part 10 of Electronic Secret, in concert in 2008:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Electronic Secret has limited distribution as a CD – but you can get Henriksen’s album at Amazon, via the link above, as MP3s.

This video demos using two Small Stone Phasers as a stereo phaser effect for synthesizers to get the classic phased synth sound of Jean Michel Jarre.

via Yorkshirelad69:

This mod requires 2 Small Stone Phasers pedals (EH4800).

The mod will make both pedals work together so that you can use both the left and the right outputs on your synth/keyboard rather than just having the phasing effect through just the left/right channel (listen carefully to the sound track).

The phases are synced together and the rate controlled from the master unit.

It’s a true stereo signal path and doesn’t simply split a mono signal into two.

This is ideal for Jean Michel Jarre fans as the Small Stone Phaser plays an important part in creating his classic Oxygene/Equinoxe pad sound.

Note1: Ignore the slightly odd effect at 0:19 that’s not the pedals that’s my sound processing!

Note2: The revision on the printed circuit board is EC-4800 Rev.L : this mod may not work on other revisions.

Jean Michel Jarre playing his laser harp on Second Rendez-Vous.

via richiology

This is a cover of Jean Michel Jarre’s Chronologie 6, via syntesen:

I decided to do a quick cover version of Jarre’s Chronologie pt. 6 to test out my new studio routing, deciding to make everything with my hardware synthesizers (the used ones are the Nord Lead 2X, Blofeld, D-50 and MoPho)

.It’s quite close to the original, but has a slightly more modern sound, which i think fits it nicely.

This synth jam, via magevers, features Roland SH 3a synthesizer + Eminent 310 U for the Jean Michel Jarre style synth strings.

This is a demo of the very rare EKO ComputeRhythm drum machine.

via kovalmoog:

This is a pretty rare drum machine manufactured by EKO in 1972 in Recanati, Italy.

Model ComputeRhythm, maybe one of 15-20 ever made (curiously SN #0113).

This particular one is owned by a musician living in Madrid, Luis De La Cruz, and It was repaired and slightly modified by me on the past months (www.synthoma.net).

Before giving back to its owner I have the chance to made these demonstration videos to show its features and incredible programing methods.

Due to the price it was mainly used by famous electronic musicians like Jean-Michel Jarre and Manuel Göttsching (founder member of Ashra Tempel). J-M Jarre has used it extensively on his first albums: “Oxygene” and “Equinoxe”.

If you’ve used the EKO ComputeRhythm, leave a comment with your thoughts!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here’s another demo, via kovalmoog:

Three jacks was applied on this drum machine, Trigger IN, Trigger Out and Start / Stop Out. On this demo, the Trigger IN feature is shown.

When a 1/4″ jack is connected on the Trigger input, the sequence stops, and remain in “waiting” mode for an external trigger.

On this case the trigger is provided from a gate out of a Roland MPU-101 midi converter, then a midi software running on a PC (not shown) controls the tempo of the drum machine, beyond its own internal clock capabilities.

On high speeds the refresh of the webcam can’t permit to see the MPU-101 gate LED flashing synchronized with the EKO sequence, but in very low tempo is easily noticeable.

Resources:

• EKO Computerhythm at Jarrography
• EKO Computerhythm photos at Synthmaster

Sunday Synth Jam: This is a cover of Jean Michel Jarre’s Oxygen 6 on Elka EP-8, showcasing the EP-8’s distinctive sound.

via organfairy:

This is a re-run (notice the hair) of one of my first videos ever. Unfortunately the original post was removed when somebody claimed that their copyrights were violated. But I have read that the composer himself – Jean Michel Jarre – has given permission for amateur performances of his music here on YT. So I’m re-posting this allmost historical video.

The music is made in two layers. The first layer is recorded on the tape you can see running on the tape deck. The other layer is the one I’m doing while recording the video. The rhytm comes from the old (1977) Elka Preludeo 22L. The other voices are played on the Elka EP-8.

Image: LittleO2

This awesomely iconic shot of Jean Michel Jarre playing the theremin comes from his 5/30/09 concert in Zurich.

via the Synthtopia Flickr Group

Jean Michel Jarre jams on the Roland AX-Synth in Koblenz.

via MytubeMichi:

The AX-Synth is the first wireless keyboard (keytar) with build in sounds.

Jean Michel talks about the BLACK AX. On stage he seems to have much fun with his new toy …

Jean Michel Jarre introduces his new website, JeanMichelJarre.com.

The site features sections for news, Jean Michel Jarre’s blog, tour information, multimedia, a Jean Michel Jarre discograhy and a forum.

Jean Michel Jarre’s laser harp breakdown during Rendez-Vous 2 at the InDoors concert in Vorst Nationaal, Brussels, Belgium.

via ProjectZ2

Jean Michel Jarre posted this photo of himself and Armin van Buuren, after his Amsterdam concert:

After the show, I met Armin van Buuren. He told me he was a great fan of mine and that my music inspired him to become a musician!

I felt really honored coming from one of the 2 or 3 best DJs in the world.

We discussed about how my music has influenced trance music, which is so huge all over the world, except in France where we are more electro. I definitely feel part of that trance family. Armin is also a great human being and we promised to each other to keep the contact and to collaborate on one project, one of these days.

It’s a great photo – because superstar DJ Armin van Buren has the same look on his face as every other musician meeting one of his heroes.

That look that says “This is so awesome that my brain can’t entirely process it!”

Here’s Jarre with another fan after the same show, Michel van Osenbruggen, aka Synth.nl:

Osenbruggen describes his meeting like this:

I was in such a rush of adrenaline that I hope I didn’t say anything stupid

Well it was a big honor for me to finally meet the man that put my to buying my first synthesizer and inspired me to start composing and producing my own music. It will be a long life memory for me for sure.

I’ve had similiar experiences, meeting personal heroes like BT,  Ken Jordan of The Crystal Method or ambient artist Robert Rich. In each case, I ended up impressed with how gracious these artists are with their fans – even fans that may be temporarily inarticulate.

Have you had an experience like this – as either a musician or as a fan?

Image: Elfworld

Can the curse of Herbie Hancock be broken?

Jean Michel Jarre is doing his part to reform the keytar’s image, busting out the keytar chops during his May 13ths show in Oslo Spektrum.

via the Synthtopia Flickr Group

Image: Ork de Rooij

Saturday Synth Porn: This wonderfully lit shot captures Jean Michel Jarre performing live in Carré.

via the Synthtopia Flickr Group

Image: miemo

An iconic shot of Jean Michel Jarre, taken at his recent Helsinki concert.

via miemo:

Tonight I saw the musical hero of my teenage years live on stage for the first time. Jean Michel Jarre threw a visually & aurally thrilling show as part of his “In>Doors” arena tour. The concert was at the same time both very timeless and a nostalgic retrospective trip to 80s.

I haven’t actually listened to Jarre for many years, so it was interesting so hear the classics again in another time – before this concert I hadn’t realized how much in dept bands like Röyksopp are to Jarre.

via the Synthtopia Flickr Group

Timelapse Malmo compresses a Jean Michel Jarre concert into under two minutes.

via jeanmicheljarre