Jan Hammer TOTP


S0NNY

Recommended Posts

i remember i posted this video of Jan Hammer in Top of the Pops way back in .org site many years ago, i thought i'd post it here again:)   What interesting, like some people noticed,  that Crockett's Theme is in completely different key than what Jan actually is pressing here in video. It is because for he transposed key for his keyboard and even though he presses keys, they give transposed notes. It was easier for him to play transposed notes on standard keyboard layout:) 

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Great find! Looks like he's really enjoying himself there. :)
Unfortunately its not complete?

Here's one where he does the Miami Vice theme. Unfortunately (?) they inserted scenes from the show - either this was done by the uploader or by TOTP itself.


 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the video I just posted - What's that black box Jan is using on top of the fairlight? He's pressing a key on it several times at 0.35. 

Edited by Den Taylor
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That looks to be the keyboard that came with the Fairlight. You had a keyboard which kind of looked similar to a Commodore C64 computer on early Fairlight versions, and with which you could navigate the Fairlight's operating system. Load files, type in things to edit and manipulate your sequences, that sort of thing.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

yeah, and the harmonies he plays in the first half sound like straight out of an episode too... kind of sounds like one of those "sad moment" chord progressions by Jan Hammer. You know what I mean...

 

The second melody in the clip is also pretty famous :p

Also, has anybody tried the official Fairlight app for the iPhone? It's maybe the one reason why I regret getting an Android phone instead of an iPhone... because so far there is still no Android version of it.

Edited by Daytona74
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So I guess for the true Fairlight experience, you still have to shell out 15 grand to buy an actual CMI... :p

They do pop up on eBay every so often. And I think I saw an ad online elsewhere a while ago where somebody was selling what used to be Stewart Copeland's Fairlight. It was in bad need of maintenance and repairs, but the asking price was still around $10,000...

A man can dream though... a man can dream... :)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

vor 4 Stunden schrieb Daytona74:

yeah, and the harmonies he plays in the first half sound like straight out of an episode too... kind of sounds like one of those "sad moment" chord progressions by Jan Hammer. You know what I mean...

 

The second melody in the clip is also pretty famous :p

Yep, that guy almost inadvertenly played a sequence from Shadows in the Dark. O.o At the end I think he played Moments Of Love by Art of Noise (another classic Fairlight "Arr" song)

Either way, that black keyboard is so very cool old school. Thanks for the information, Daytona!

As for the Fairlight mobile app I heard some good things about it and some not so good things. Some say it does come close to the Fairlight with the big advantage you can carry it around wherever you go (true that is) but others say the features are limited. What is funny is that they actually built in floppy noises and stuff like that to emulate the real thing. Others find that totally annoying lol.  The only thing that interests me here is that it has samples from the Fairlight III series but only in the Premium version. And that's 50 bucks (?) - and it's only a few of them, not all. So to me personally it's not worth it. I already have the entire II library...which is not just available for Kontakt.

Edited by Den Taylor
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

To compliment my last post - this short interview was from early 1993 in Seattle for Jan’s big “Beyond the Mind’s Eye” album completed at the end of 1992.

 

Edited by Matt5
  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.