THE INSTRUMENTS.
When looking to provide the two essential session staples that could encapsulate the sound of ’80s bass, the choice was easy: the Wal Mk1* and the iconic Minimoog Model D.*
The ultimate bass guitar.
From the outset back in the late ’70s, Wal’s ambition was as simple as it was bold: to build the ultimate session player instrument. In order to accomplish this, the then-small team designed virtually every component that went into it from the ground up, involving top players and producers in the process. In 1980, the first 20 prototype custom basses were made available, now known as the Mk1 (which is the same model as sampled for this EBX). In the years to come, the popularity of the brand grew and the Wal bass became a mainstay in the UK session circuit and around the world.
Although the first Wals surfaced more than some forty years ago, still to this day each and every bass that leaves the shop is produced with the same luthier ethos and scrutiny.
The synth that changed everything.
In an effort of offering an affordable and portable option of a modular synth, the Minimoog* was launched in the 1970s. In terms of synthesizers, the impact it had on music on a whole is unparalleled. Seeping through to virtually every facet and style, it became a lynchpin in the development in anything from funk to hip-hop and would even later come to lay the groundwork for altogether new genres. Aside from the fact that it was portable and that artists were able to finally bring the keyboard out of the studio and to the stage, the thing with the Minimoog was that it could carry a melody just as well as it could serve as the backbone of the rhythm section. Indeed, it was just as much a bass as it was a keyboard – a fact underlined in countless songs during the era when it perhaps made its most famed contributions: the eighties.
The instrument in question for this EBX is a completely restored, recapped and calibrated Minimoog* Model D Rev. 2 from 1976. Simply put, it’s a piece of history – sampled and tweaked to virtually scream eighties bass in every fabric of its being.
*All other manufacturers’ product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or affiliated with Toontrack. See full notice here.
