What synth was used for
Tell It To My Heart by Taylor Dayne for the bells bass and horn lead played by Rich Tancredi
I Think We're Alone Now by Tiffany for the horn lead and plucked bass played by John Duarte
The whole Ace Of Base The Sign album. Though this is 90s.

I think it's a DX series Yamaha or TX series. I hear the "Solid Bass" preset and some DX/TX bells all over these records.

Casio SK-1. Every song. I'm sure of it.

Well....I AM Rich Tancredi and didnt use a Casio SK-1. on any of it. I used my minimoog with a CV Gate Trigger to mid box on Bass. TX for bells and my Emulator II for piano. I also used a Profit 5 for pads and an Oberheim Xpander for horns. (Also Taylors voice sampled for the ID line.

Wow i have so much nostalgia for that track i was 14 when it came out!
What drumcomputer was used for that?

Welcome. I'm sure there is much we can learn from you.

There's DX7 all over that album.

Thanks for chiming in, Rich. The SK1 thing is a bit of a running joke.

Awesome pop dance track from the 80's, I actually bought the album back then(I was into hip hop/house usually). Was this track designed as a latin freestyle record as I kind of get that vibe from it?

I actually spent a month on research and then another month making the track. (Seems a like a lot of time considering there’s not that many parts).
The track had to fit into the Latin Hip-hop feel that was going on in the clubs at that time however the song was Pop and it was crucial that it make it onto the pop radio stations so from there it can move up the Billboard pop charts. Then add in the dynamic of a really powerhouse of a singer that was white but sounded black. Trying to shoot 1 arrow through all 3 of those loops to hit 1 bullseye is why it took me 2 months to get the track right. It needed to be a club hit then cross over to radio, then move up the pop charts and then release the album.

Thanks for your reply, I hope you hang on this board a while, welcome it was one of those tracks outside of what I usually liked but it kinda appealed to me and still does to this day, kind of up there with Nu Shooz etc...

The bass in Nushooz “I can’t wait” is one of the best F’ing bass sound recorded back then. I wish someone could find that guy and ask what he used!

Sounds like a fat analog to me, maybe a Minimoog.

I found on synthmania that they had a Prophet VS as well.

Prophet VS

I read it was Prophet VS so by being first, I didn't know you had answered when I answered kinda confirms it...

Great....that was the last big mystery in my life...now what’s left??

Really? I always thought it sounded like a rather "normal" Minimoog-bass with a sharp attack on the filter

No the mini Moog never sounded that perfectly pointed on the attack. Also moogs oscillators would drift too much so the attack transients would phase in and out too much.

I can’t wait definitely has DX7/TX-816 bells in the intro.
Some other stuff I know:
We Built This City has tons of DX7/TX816, especially the Percussive Synth 1 and E. Bass 1 (modified). I have Dexed, which is a great alternative to the DX7 and TX which you can get for free.
I see this song definitely has a lot of TX-816, for the bell riff.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xlY3bsjFbhs
Rich also played on this one. I definitely can hear E. Bass 1 or a modified version of it as well. A lot of freestyle music I hear the DX7 or TX stuff (but not typical stuff, stuff like brass stabs, layered bells and some basses) like in this song.

Wow I was only 20 when I made that record. (I am really showing my age now eh kids?) I used the Yamaha DX/TX's a lot when I needed trigger accuracy on a sequenced part. You could trigger a patch that was as staccato down to 5 clocks. Consider that 480 clocks was a quarter note in MOTU Performer. Analog synths couldn't trigger with such accuracy which made that cool in its own right however when you need a part to trigger perfectly the digital aspect of the DX/TX's was my go to. Listen to the intro of Taylor Daynes "With every Beat of my heart" to hear what I am talking about.

At the age of 20, may I ask was you a trained musician or had some kind of natural ability? I mean you were going for a hit and got it, what was the reason you could go and do that? also what I love about 80s electronic dance music is you could have tough beats but still a proper song structure.

Was it one of the presets? That's left to find out...

I had a lot of drive and determination when I started out. I got an offer from a recording studio to use the room from midnight to 10am every day for free. The owner wanted to make some euro sounding dance tracks to sell overseas. He said "The hours suck and there's not going to be much money (if any) for a long time but you can use the studio and the gear...and i said "THAT'S THE MOST AMAZING DEAL OF A LIFETIME....I'll TAKE IT" From there I starved for 2 years making hokey dance records until it all came together for me when I did "Tell it to my Heart"

Were those all your synths, or did they belong to the studio?

Steve

Any other breakthroughs or underground cuts from you apart from Taylor Dayne? What happened afterwards, still in the trade or a life change?

They were mine.

I made 3 albums with Taylor Dayne and worked on Mariah Careys 1st album as well as 2 Albums for Celine Dion. You can just Google “Rich Tancredi” to see my entire discography

Token of appreciation! Back in the day I got into music school - piano performance and composition using Tell it To Your Heart as one of my sound-a-like compositions. Atari 1040ST and a few cheap synths.. Thank You!

recorded on warm analog cassette tape?

Pretty sure yes.. still have it somewhere. I remember we used to also record to HI-FI VHS, the real hi quality format we could just steal mom and dad's VCR.