The album is a journey back to the good old times of synthesizer music. During the making of the album I was enlightened by the superiority of vintage analog synths for their warmth and character of sound, that cannot be surpassed with modern technology. I listened to some old-school stuff like J-M Jarre’s Equinoxe a lot at that time. You probably can hear some influences of the great three synthesizer music pioneers, Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis and Kitaro in the Enlightenment, but the outcome is still inspiring and original music of The William Salmela Project.
For that authentic feel of past, I even made new cool synth-versions of two of my earliest pieces, "Whirly" and "Xanthopia", to get those naive but lovely melodies right – you simply can’t compose things like that after you’ve grown up and matured…
My studio was growing fast with analogue synths and effects during the making of Enlightenment. That’s why I used more of the "real stuff" towards the pieces that were finished last. At first I used more modern synths or even sampled stuff of vintage machines, but some of the more important sounds were still replaced later with synths I didn’t have at first. I got so much into the analog stuff that I kept aqcuiring them after Enlightenment was finished. So, I had to make another album of vintage synthesizer music, namely "Subtle Moves".
In my opinion the Enlightenment became such a good album that I wanted it to be mastered professionally. I asked if the mastering could be done with analog hardware and recorded to tape for that extra bit of authenticity.
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| Enlightenment was made in only six months. New (vintage) synths were aqcuired frequently during that time. In the picture is a Korg Sigma just arrived. |
1. Opening
2. Enlightenment
3. Time Machine
4. Whirly
5. Sequences
6. Organic
7. Xanthopia
8. Daytime Dusk
Total playing time 43:15
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| The Enlightenment studio in the beginning of the project. |
The complete instrumentation of Enlightenment (with effects)
1. Opening
• Korg Delta (EHX Deluxe Electric Mistress, EHX Clone Theory)
• Korg Sigma
• Korg Trident (EHX Small Clone)
• Roland JX-8P (EHX Small Stone)
• Roland VP-330 -sampled-
• Roland RS-505 (TL-A Fatman Fat 1)
• Yamaha SK-20 (EHX Deluxe, Electric Mistress)
2. Enlightenment
• ARP 2600 -sampled-
• Fairlight CMI IIx -sampled-
• Farfisa Soundmaker -sampled- (EHX Small Stone)
• Korg MiniPops 7 -sampled-
• Korg MS2000R
• NI Reaktor 5
• Suzuki Omnichord system two (EHX Small Stone, Roland SDE-2000)
• Roland JX-8P
• Roland V-Synth XT
• Yamaha SK-20
3. Time Machine
• Eminent 310 -sampled-
• Korg Delta (EHX Small Stone)
• Korg MS2000R
• Korg Sigma (EHX Small Stone)
• Moog Minimoog -sampled-
• NI FM7
• Pearl Syncussion -sampled-
• Roland JX-8P (EHX Small Stone)
• Roland VP-330 -sampled-
• Roland V-Synth XT
• Yamaha CS-15D (Roland SDE-2000)
4. Whirly
• Access Virus b
• Eminent 310 -sampled- (NI Reaktor 5 phaser)
• Korg MiniPops 7 -sampled-
• Korg Trident (EHX Small Clone, Boss RCE-10)
• Moog Memorymoog -sampled-
• Moog Minimoog -sampled-
• NI Absynth 3
• NI Massive
• Roland Jupiter RS-505
• Yamaha EX5
5. Sequences
• Access Virus b
• ARP 2600 -sampled-
• Korg MiniPops 7 -sampled-
• Korg MS2000R (EHX Small Stone, EHX Small Clone, EVOC20)
• Korg Trident
• Ultrabeat, Logic
• Yamaha SK-20 (EHX Small Stone)
6. Organic
• Hammond F100 -sampled-
• Korg KaossPad 2
• Korg MS2000R
• Mellotron flute -sampled-
• PPG Wave -sampled-
• Roland RS-505 (TL-A Fatman Fat 1)
• Roland VP-330 -sampled-
• Yamaha CS-15D
• Yamaha SK-20 (EHX Small stone, Roland SDE 2000)
7. Xanthopia
• Access Virus b
• Eminent 310 -sampled-
• Korg 01/W pro
• Korg MiniPops 7 -sampled-
• Korg MS2000R
• NI Battery 3
• NI Pro 53
• Oberheim Matrix 1000 -sampled-
• PPG Wave -sampled-
• Roland JX-8P
• Roland VP-330 -sampled-
• Yamaha CS-1 -sampled-
• Yamaha EX5
• Yamaha SK-20 (EHX Small stone)
8. Daytime Dusk
• Korg 01/W pro
• Korg Trident (EHX Small Stone, EHX Small Clone)
• NI FM8
• NI Reaktor 5 (EHX Small Stone)
• Roland JX-8P
• Suzuki Omnichord system two (EHX Small Stone, Roland SDE 2000)