Amazing to watch Herbie Hancock approach the synth / sampler keys as its own instrument distinct from piano or rhodes or clav. He’s very comfortable with the stylus and touchscreen ui, too. They fit snugly into his workflow to where it feels like he helped develop them. Any videos on that? I’ll review the old Rock School videos from this same period. Quincy Jones is so lucky his dad took him to see Mr. Hancock.
I couldn't find any information - I think the instrument there is a Fairlight CMI, which Peter Gabriel actually helped develop. But considering how prominent Hancock was in electronic music it wouldn't surprise me if this was built custom. OTOH Hancock likes computers in general so maybe he's just a nerd :) https://old.reddit.com/r/OldSchoolCool/comments/120mqfs/herb...
The synth he's playing - making the synth brass sounds - is a Rhodes Chroma.
The Fairlight is being used as a drum machine. The Fairlight's keyboard controller is the one he points to at around 30s. The Fairlight's screen sequencer - called Page R - was easier than keyboard entry for drum and bass line programming.
I don't think Hancock did any development work or had any customisation done. (Except for the black case for the keyboard. Usually they were PC beige.)
It's fascinating this tech still has a legendary aura even though it's forty years old and has been completely outclassed by a cheap modern laptop and MIDI controller.
As for Quincy - a lot of people think talent is really just effort. But some people just have it - a deep instinctive feel for what they're doing - and he clearly did.
A friend of mine met Herbie on a Buddhist summer camp. She said he's an incredibly nice, humble guy as you would sort of imagine, he introduced himself to everyone as "Hi I'm Herbie, I'm a pianist". She didn't know anything about him so asked him what sort of music he played and he said she should listen to "Maiden Voyage". She became a jazz singer as a result.
