Michael Jackson

The lush pad on “P.Y.T.” (after Michael sings “I’ll take you there . . .”). It sounds multitracked, but really, it’s not. It’s a singletrack sample of Michael Jackson’s voice, done on an E-mu Emulator I — serial number 1, in fact! We then used this mode the Emulator had where you could sample the sound twice, then detune one of the voices while in “unison” mode. It was recorded with lots of top end added, and Bruce Swedien’s special reverb known as “spit.” Quincy Jones would say, “Sven, put some spit on it!”

In the section of the source URL describing The “Human Nature” signature synth string part, quote:

"That was Steve Porcaro’s track. He used a Yamaha CS-80 with glide (chromatic instead of portamento) at the head — it’s got that nice little CS fuzz around the sound. That fuzz was also part of a multi-layered sound I used for the four-chord basic string vamp on “Billie Jean” — Michael Jackson himself played that part on a CS-80 in one take."

In the section of the article “THEN: The Vintage Keys of Thriller” (by Michael Boddicker) included in the source URL describing the “P.Y.T.” synth noodle that answers the chorus vocal: “That was a Roland Jupiter-6 “wang bar”-style pitch bend doubled with, and controlling, a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5, thus the sort of smear you can hear on the “wobble” between the top two notes.”

In the section of the article “THEN: The Vintage Keys of Thriller” (by Michael Boddicker) included in the source URL describing the big synth blasts that begin “Thriller.”: "A Roland Jupiter-8 in double four-voice mode, with the modulation “wheel” opening the filter."

In the section of the source URL's page called THEN: "The Vintage Keys of Thriller" by Michael Boddicker, the studio engineers working with MIchael Jackson are said to have used a Synclavier.

Quote: "The “Beat It” digital gong. Tom Bähler played a demo sound that came with his Synclavier — literally a factory patch, right out of the box." Although referred to simply as a "Synclavier", the accompanying image is apparently of a Synclavier II.

In this video Teddy Riley is seen talking about a specific patch from the D-550 he had used producing Michael Jackson's 'Remember The Time'. Michael Jackson does not directly interact with this gear as he was not a producer- But it's attributed to one of his released works through Teddy Riley.

In the section of the article “THEN: The Vintage Keys of Thriller” (by Michael Boddicker) included in the source URL describing the main comping sound of “Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough.” Quote: "Andy Leeds owned an Eddy Reynolds-modified, flat-top Rhodes 88.”

The synth basses on “Thriller,” “P.Y.T.,” and “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.” Those were my two Richie Walbourn-modified Minimoogs, set side by side, with engineer Bruce Swedien’s special multiple-mono compression.

Anthony Marinelli, programmer on Michael Jackson's 1982 album "Thriller" has stated the synth bass ostinato in the 1983 single "Thriller" was performed and programmed on his Tonus ARP 2600 and disproven any previous speculation as to whether or not this sound was performed on a Minimoog.