Dear, MarcE.
I am writing this letter on behalf of all the people who have contributed to this tribute project, the EX5Tech team, and the users of EX5Tech in general.
It was nearly two years ago to the day that I purchased my EX5. Just before I made the purchase, and whilst I was still undecided, I was browsing the Internet looking for user groups for the EX5, and the best I found was the original EX5Tech, which was ran in those days by Steve Jackson.
One thing that finalised my decision to buy the EX5 was not just that it appeared to have huge sonic potential, but because it had a thriving user group which was one of the liveliest and most useful I had ever come across.
In my mind, one of the strengths of the EX5 is not just the synthesiser itself, but this very strong user community that gives freely and selflessly in many ways. I’ve never seen such an altruistic collection of people, who come together from all over the world to discuss this unique synth and to contribute towards its support.
As I got to know my EX5, through EX5Tech I discovered a wealth of patches for my new keyboard over at SampleLibrary. I was bowled over by the quality of these patches, and all of them being given away for free.
In the early days, out of all the patch collections, there were two, one called MarcE and the other MarcE2, which really caught my attention. You’ve provided many more patch releases since then, but I think that there was just those two in my early days with the keyboard.
I couldn’t believe the quality of the sounds in your patch banks, especially the way a single performance could contain so many sounds, which evolved over time.
Over the years you’ve freely provided even more patch collections, and I personally have always looked forward to each release by you.
So, it was with great sadness that I learnt that “The End Of” would be your last EX collection, and it was with even greater sadness when I found out why.
A couple of days after hearing the bad news, I was sitting down playing with the latest voice set from you, and a thought came to me that it would be nice if the EX community could give something back to you. The idea being that as you’ve given us many quality sounds, it would be nice for people to turn these round into songs in tribute to you and the wonderful patches that you’ve created.
MarcE, on behalf of all at EX5Tech and all who have contributed to this project, I truly hope that you pull through the days ahead. Although I know that songs such as these cannot bring your health back, I hope in some small way that this tribute, which has made selflessly by people who appreciate the genius of your patches, will provide some comfort and support to you and your family.
And if ever you feel like making more patches for the EX, there will always be a home for them here and elsewhere throughout the world.
Best Regards
Derek Cook,
On behalf of EX5Tech and all Tribute Contributors.
Note: some submitted songs were cover versions of other artists' tunes. Where this is the case, for copyright reasons, they are not included in this web version of the tribute. Some songs also may not be available because the artist does not want their work to be publicly available.
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No |
Title |
Artist |
Links |
Artist/Compiler Message |
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1 |
Children Of God |
John Doran |
I could not get myself to play for several weeks after the 9/11 World Trade Centre incident Then one day I just sat down and this simple song came out. No editing, just layers of choir on piano. MarcE, your “Angel Song” voice was the perfect sound to blend the choirs together. The name was appropriate too. I refuse to believe you will not create more beautiful voices like this one. Voices that inspire people. May God bless you always for the wonderful gifts that you have given us all. |
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2 |
Seas of Tranquility |
Derek Cook |
This song is based on Performance B9 (“Tomita Song”) from MarcE2, and it also utilises the excellent “Dark and Grey” TorusGuitar™ patch from Mel-Labs. Apart from the guitar, all the sounds are created by that one MarcE performance, played in one take. “Tomita Song” is an excellent example of what MarcE can wring out the EX in a single performance, and I think the performance is beautifully layered and responsive to both playing in various octaves and velocity. I’ve had this song in my head for about two years, and it’s only now I have a new toy in the form of an audio PC running Cubase, that I have been able to record it. It’s quite a slow, relaxing piece of music (I even fell asleep one night to it whilst listening to the final mixdown!) MarcE, my words to you are simple: you truly have a genuine talent, and I sincerely hope you will be able to carry one with something that you obviously dearly love so much. God bless you. |
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3 |
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen |
Krel |
I recently completed a project of Christmas music using the EX5. I used a number of voices I downloaded, among them Marc E’s “STEVE HOWE”. Having been a great fan of Yes for decades I couldn’t wait to use this voice. It captures the trademark sound that this legendary guitarist has given us in the music of Yes. I will miss Marc E’s contribution to the EX5 Tech forum. There are only a small group of people creating and sharing voices (I’m sure because it is not easy to develop original approaches) and losing just one contributor is a significant loss, but especially when so many of these voices are so useable. I’ve collected many and I’ve kept records of where I got them. Marc E’s are among the most valued I have found and I’ve used several in my latest recordings. Marc, even though you will no longer be involved in the EX5 forum, your voices will continue on in our songs. I published my Christmas recordings (not for profit) on an audio CD and I used your voices prominently on several songs. These will be listened to by my children and family for years to come. I made these recordings as a Christmas present to family and friends. |
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4 |
Child's Hope |
Cerys Cook (aged 7) |
(These words are written about Cerys by her Daddy, Derek.) When I was working on my song for the MarcE tribute, my seven year old daughter, Cerys, was curious to know what I was up to. I explained to her that I was planning a tribute to a man who made great sounds for my keyboard, but he was now ill and couldn’t make the sounds any more, and some friends and I were planning this tribute to give a little something back to the guy who had given us so much. Cerys then burst into tears, because she was upset about this guy she had never met being so ill and she wished that he wasn’t ill. Well, after I wiped the tears from her eyes (and mine, to be honest), Cerys asked if she could do a song as well. I said “sure thing, darling”. With one thing and another I’ve been quite busy lately, and I also thought that Cerys had forgotten about this. But the other night, whilst finalising my contribution, Cerys asked me when were we going to record her song. So I loaded up “The End Of …” into the EX, and Cerys played about with the patches until she found a sound she liked, which was Performance A10 (Travel Dream). I held down the notes C-G in the lower octaves to create a drone sound (and the “bouncy” arpeggiator bit) for her to play against. Cerys played all the melody notes in the higher octaves that you hear in the song. I must confess to having a tear in my eye when she played this as I only showed her how to play chords a couple of weeks ago, and she still is learning to make her tiny fingers stretch and play the three notes of a primary triad. I was also surprised that during the recording, after playing a C chord (and bearing in mind that I’ve only shown her the C, D and E major chords) Cerys went for an F chord. Now I sure haven’t explained the three chord trick to her yet. Is that intuition or what? I wanted to capture something spontaneous from Cerys, and I think I caught it. All I did in Cubase was correct a few bum notes, and reduced some gaps where she was deciding what to play next. Other than that, it’s exactly as Cerys played it. I then asked Cerys what she was going to call the song. After a thinking period, and some scribbling of words on paper and some suggestions from my wife and myself, Cerys came up with the name “Child’s Hope”. And I really think that sums this song up and the wish behind it: the pure hope of a child that somebody wasn’t so ill. It’s such a sincere wish, and I still get a lump in my throat when I think of it. We sure could do with a lot more sentiment like that in the world, and I am proud of not only what my daughter has recorded for this tribute, but the sentiment and reason why she wanted to do it. MarcE, I hope you enjoy this little piece of music, which encapsulates the purity and hope of a child, and which also happens to be my daughter’s first recording. And remember, you heard her here first, folks! |
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5 |
Remember |
Steven West |
Well, getting a contribution from Steven West (of Electricky fame) was a real scoop for this project. I heard a couple of tracks of his a while ago, and identified what I thought were some MarcE patches, and I thought it would be a scoop if we could get his support. Well, it was quite a slog tracking down the elusive Steven West, but after an exchange of emails, I persuaded him to contribute to the project, as he too has been saddened by the thought that there will be no more MarcE patches. MarcE, Steven West is quite a shy guy and was word struck when it came to providing a “wordy bit” to go with his song, but then again I think his song speaks for itself and on his behalf. |
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6 |
Love Lost |
Adaptus |
This song utilises the patch called “Love Potion” from MarcE. I’ve learned a lot from playing around with MarcE’s patches. I just wanted to share this song as a tribute to MarcE for his hard work, and I hope you find a way to continue making music despite whatever obstacles stand in your way. |
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7 |
About Mice And Men |
goTra |
While making "About Mice & Men" I used the following patches from the "The End Of…":
Patches 1-5 are used in real-time, triggered from a Cubase VST sequencer, while 6-7 are recorded and modified using a DBX 266XL Compressor/Gate. The drums and percussion are various samples and sounds from other machines. The vocal is mine. MarcE, I made this song in gratitude for the things you've done for myself, and all the EX community. I just wanted to tell you that your sounds were and will always be a permanent inspiration for my music. I wish you a quick recovery, and hope you regain a new EX5 synth. Yours,
Goran Trajkoski (goTra) Lyrics for “About Mice & Men”
All is bright
I’m lacking words
I type
Whatever I think
I type |
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8 |
Endless |
Staffan Ohman |
On this tune, 50% of the voices are from the MarcE_4 release, and the rest of the voices are the EX5 factory voices. The following voices have been used from the MarcE_4 release:
The following EX5-factory voices have been used:
The drums have been sampled from an E-Lab CDROM ( http://www.e-lab.se ), and after that I've used Recycle to change the tempo from 100 bpm to 90 bpm. The song have been made as midi-song in Cubase, as almost every EX5-voice is AWM2 (no audio tracks have been used in this tune). The following computer programs have been used:
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9 |
Memory |
Fuse |
The entire song was made following the message that MarcE posted on the board announcing that “End Of Days …” would be his last release for the EX5. That message really got to me since I knew how much he loved making sounds and playing with synths. So I wanted to have as much of MarcE's luscious synth patches in there as possible. All patches were from “The End of.... “ release. The song itself starts with a vague radio message and, if you listen very carefully, a lecture from Noam Chomsky about terrorism. It then fades away and the song evolves in this retroish song inspired by the sounds of Tangerine dream. Like a jam session somewhere where there is only music and nothing else. Those Novation samples are really helpful by making it 'stick' together. I've used MarcE's sounds in dozen of songs because they are so inspirational, so the least thing I can do is to give some of that inspiration back. |
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10 |
Snowman |
Uncle Vic |
This is Uncle Vic’s first song, and quite a good rendition of “Walking in the Air” from the animated film “The Snowman” it is too. |
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11 |
Papillion |
Isaari |
This song is in the style of a French ballad. |