For my third article with MusicRadar, I chose to cover the Roland VP-330—one of my all-time favourite string machine-style synths. It’s got one of the best string sounds of any vintage synth, and its choir section is just as good. The VP-330 has been used on so many incredible records that it’s basically legendary at this point.
Released in 1979, the VP-330 combines a vocoder, lush string machine, and a unique “human voice” sound all in one keyboard. It’s instantly recognisable and was used on everything from Queen’s Radio Ga Ga and Phil Collins’ In the Air Tonight to Stevie Wonder’s I Just Called to Say I Love You, Laurie Anderson’s O Superman, and Vangelis’ Blade Runner and Chariots of Fire soundtracks. More recently, it even showed up in Dua Lipa’s Levitating, where it provides that smooth, gliding choir sound.
The article features plenty of audio examples recreating iconic VP-330 sounds to show how they were used in these tracks. It was a lot of fun researching and writing about such an influential synth—check out the full article on MusicRadar!
