On the subject of demos, there is a tradition of keyboards, drum machines, and other consumer electronic musical instruments each including one or more “demo songs” that show off the features and sounds of the device.
Casio keyboards, which were ubiquitous in my area in the 1980s due to wide availability and low cost, featured some particular classics, but each device had its own particular flavor, and I’m sure there are many bangers that were lost to the ages, only to be revived by the magic of the internet.
For this battle, we are going to be mining this trove of semi-forgotten demonstration tracks, and creating something new from them.
So, your mission:
Post a single demonstration song that came with any physical music device, or from a software program.
The older the better, but it’s up to you to decide what that means.
Bonus karma for recording from a physical device if you have one available.
Make your beat
Sample at least one song posted by someone else
You can sample the track you posted
You can use any drums or other played/programmed sounds you like, but all other samples you use in the beat should come from the tracks posted here.
Optional meta-challenges:
Feel free to try to make a beat using only samples from this thread for all elements, if you want an extra challenge.
If you choose to add an acapella, you can use any one you’d like, but are encouraged to pick one that fits the above theme.
Post your demo song sample by Monday August 24th
Submit your beat by Sunday September 20th
If it’s a demo pattern from an old instrument, can the demonstration song be us playing and tweaking it, or just the straight pattern right out of the machine?
I had a buddy buy one when they were going for 100 in 2008 and he used his MPC 1000 to sample from it . It sounds much better in person. The sound bank is Golden Era 80s / 90s in one rack.
Demo song from the Hohner PSK 20 my first ever keyboard, would of gotten it in '91 or '92 as a birthday gift and somehow still have it.
I let it record for a while because when it repeats (about every 50 seconds) it uses new sounds on the lead melody.
Song is Rick Astley - Together Forever
And Sleng Teng deserves a mention, the Casio MT40 rock preset
Demos had me thinking about demo versions of songs that I loved, and I remembered having a demo version of Had a Dad on cassette that I wore into the ground. I always preferred the demo version to the album one. Not too sure about mining that particular track for samples, but this remix of Been Caught Stealing has some moments…
EDIT: I can see how this doesn’t really fit the mission brief, but I’m going to leave it up as a place holder while I seek out some synth nerd stuff…