Originally posted by Alex S:
Originally posted by Birdsong:
[b]
Is that a posable action figure in the background?
I thought the same!!!
I thought that when I watched the clip before the programme, but there was a shot of it close up right at the start, and I don't think it was after all.
[/b]It looks like John!

:p
The synth on which the figure rests is one of John's other favourite synths,the Roland VP-330 Vocoder Plus Mk I. This synth features prominently, as both a vocoder and a string machine, on The Garden, Cathedral Oceans I and My Lost City.
John's other string machines or the like during the period: Elka Rhapsody 610, Polymoog Synthesizer/Keyboard and Prophet 5 Mk 2. He could have used a Jupiter 4 for strings because one is used on The Garden but the strings are fatter on a VP-330. A Juno 60 was probably the string synth on In Mysterious Ways replacing the aforementioned. John also replaced his ARP Odyssey Mk2 with an OSCar as the bass/lead synth on his final Virgin album.
I couldn't watch the programme but I've just seen plenty of snippets on youTube and they are all really good. BBC should release this documentary on DVD. A treasure and a great souvenir of those wonderful five years.
Chris
PS John looks well at home at Benge's studio. My dream too!
