Analog Synths sound dated?

I agree!  Tony Banks made extensive use of the Arp Pro-Soloist, and that sounds very dated (even back then, I didn't care for the sound all that much).  He transitioned to the Poly-Moog on "And Then There Were Three," and got a very nice sound of out it. 

Moog is still in business, see: 

Generally, I find modern digital synth technology to be less fun than this old stuff!  It was great to grab a handful of oscillator & filter controls and wrongle the crap out of these things!

The MASTER of all that was, without a doubt, Patrick Moraz during "Relayer"!  I saw that tour twice, and my God, he seemed to nearly break the knobs off of that Mini-Moog!   Think of the synth solos on "Sound Chaser". 

I'm not much of a keyboard player, but these days, I'd want a top-notch workstation synth (like the Roland Fantom, see http://www.rolandus.com/products/productdetails.php?ProductId=589) for the Mellotron & Hammond patches, an analog synth with LOTS of knobs, and.....well, throw money!!

 

I would think otherwise, Tony Bank's ARP use gave a new sound not heard often by Prog bands from the time, and the sound still sounds fresh today like the solos on Firth of Fifth and The Cinema Show.

The Mini-Moog on the other hand, the early stuff made by Emerson or other early users of the instrument, make it sound very dated.

 

But this is just pure subjective talk, not really the purpose of my thread...

But so did the Moog, Wakeman's use on Tales and Going for the One particulary shows some screechings.

Thanks!!  Great advice!  I've looked at the M-Audio & other software synths, but as a very poor keyboardist, I tend to focus on the bass & 6-string guitar stuff first!   Really good keys are fun to noodle around with! 

You may not find a lot of support re Banks because I guess, at least instrument wise, Hackett's solos are the favourite part of Genesis for most fans. Genesis's work doesn't sound so 70s-ish because it's less tied to many other 70s cliches.  Contrast them to Yes, especially circa Yes album/Fragile, or Kansas and the latter have some overlap with Deep Purple.  Genesis and King Crimson, or Gentle Giant for that matter, were more individualistic and harder to pin down in terms of era. But it's not imo Banks's synth tones that give Genesis that timeless quality you speak of and in many instances like Battle of Epping Forest it gives away the era (not that that's such a bad thing).

I would qualify it as I unconditionally like Banks's contributions as composer up to W&W but am more selective with regard to his playing.  And it makes sense that people would mention Hackett more because in spite of having a less dominant role, his contributions shined better and it's hard to think of a better stand out moment in the capacity of individual musician for any of the Genesis members than the Firth...solo.  Banks was their most prolific composer but not their most talented player.  Re SEBTP (or Lamb for that matter), it wasn't just the change of equipment but much improved production that contributed to it.  I think some of their best playing is on Nursery Cryme but it's let down by poor production.

Not so sure about that, let's not forget poor, much-maligned and much-bashed Phil Collins, by all means a monster drummer, but a monster capable of showing sensitivity (Cinema Show).  And re Hackett, I am happy Hackett left Genesis but not so happy that Genesis lost Hackett.  It took more out of them than what he lost by not being part of THE Genesis.

I've never seen criticisms of his solo's around, in fact things like The Cinema show and In The Cage are some of the most positively mentioned Genesis moments, i absolutely adore the solos themselves when done on the Arp 2600 but some of the live versions switched to the Arp live, like robbery, assault and battery on seconds out just sound dated at times, this isn't saying i hate the solos or sound, just facing the facts that the Pro-Soloist was an early synth with a few dated sounds on it 

sounds like a sh*te review but the internet is full of trolls i learn to tune it out

Ditto, I prefer Banks's mellotron work or even piano work.  His synth stuff is also compositionally very interesting but I don't feel that I have to necessarily like the tones he uses to enjoy their music overall.  Yeah, Hawken's work for Strawbs is lovely.