In-Flight Movie are a synthwave band from Oxford. They combine 1980s style arrangements with film inspired soundscapes. In-Flight Movie like to play everything live using analogue gear and electronic drums to take a tour of the dark and nostalgic places that old school synths can take us.
We chatted with In-Flight Movie on how they use the Prophet Rev2 in their music:
What made you choose Sequential?
There were really two main reasons:
First, The phenomenal power of the Prophet Rev 2 – This synth has become our workhorse and is incredibly flexible. I like to use this synth with both hands and so to have the ability to play a split key bed with a fat monophonic bass patch on the left hand alongside a soaring lead patch on the other is awesome. The 16 voice polyphony means that we can have long release patches alongside fast bass lines with no problems, all with a warm analogue sound palette.
Second, The philosophy behind both the synth and sound design – The architecture of the Prophet makes sound design really accessible. The mod-matrix is incredibly intuitive and avoids the horrible menu-deep experience which bedevils other synths out there. The ability to work with layers and splits at the same time is also really useful. Underpinning all this is a really warm sounding set of oscillators with some great options to add character through parameters such as ‘slop’ which is a unique feature. Ultimately you get a sense that the Prophet is, at it’s heart, an instrument which has had an enormous amount of thought going into its design.
How are you using the instruments?
Before Covid, we were a gigging band based in Oxford (hometown of Radiohead), the Prophet was used as a workhorse synth alongside live drums, guitar and vocals. We have also taken the synth on recording holidays at an old mill cottage in Wales which we visit annually. Since Covid, we have been unable to gig and so have been focusing on creating material for our next synth-wave EP. To this end, I’ve rigged up a home made midi-pedal system which allows me to modulate up to four parameters at the same time whilst playing two patches. (Usually we opt for cut-off, mod, sub and volume to tweak on the fly.
What are some of your favorite things about them?
The oscillators sound fantastic before you even start. The triangle waves in particular are very pure and warm, with a bit of release you get a very nice ethereal sound. The filter is excellent and can create a real punchy bass sound with great wave shaping options through the envelope controls. This can of course be played alongside a nice lead with the split option which is really an incredible feature for an analogue poly-synth when you think about it!
What do they give you that other synths might not?
Huge analogue polyphony along with a very warm fundamental sound. At the same time, with the right envelope settings you can get bass patches going which rival what you might expect from some of those iconic ladder filters that you find elsewhere in the market [winks].
Any interesting tricks or techniques you would like to share?
Yes! Step one: Press the latch and arp buttons. Step two: hold down your favourite chord. Step three: go and travel through the sonic landscape that has been brought to us by Dave Smith!
LINKS
facebook.com/inflightmoviemusic
inflightmoviemusic.bandcamp.com
MORE ABOUT SEQUENTIAL
For more information, check out the Sequential product page here.
Find your local dealer for pricing here.
If you’re using Sequential products in interesting ways, tell us about it. Contact us at .