BONUS FEATURES : HEAR

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The Original Manor March:

This piece appeared as a flexible vinyl (playable) page in Keyboard Magazine in June 1986 and was the first incarnation of the Overture to The Interstellar Suite. Produced by composer Steve Porcaro, formerly of Toto, the March takes its title from the Manor Studio that was run by Steve Porcaro and David Paich, Toto’s other monster keyboardist. The version here has judicious use of Emulator strings and horns, but the final album version, as per Amin's edict, used no samplers at all.

LISTEN TO THE MANOR MARCH DEMO
(click the image)

(Amin Bhatia: The Manor March c. 1985)

Read the 1986 Keyboard Sound Page interview with Amin Bhatia and Steve Porcaro on The Manor March.

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Flight Beyond the Stars - The Roland Synthesizer Contest Winner:

For the first time since its creation, here is the first version of Interstellar’s "Launch" available for listening. Originally titled "Flight Beyond the Stars", this is the piece that won the Roland International Synthesizer Competition in 1981. The judges included synthesist Ralph Dyck, luminaries Oscar Peterson, Bob Moog and Isao Tomita. Amin entered this piece been into the "amateur" category, but the Roland judges moved
it over to the professional category and awarded him Grand Prize. What impressed them the most was the fact that this piece was done entirely using a monophonic Minimoog and an Akai 4-track tape recorder.

The inspiration for this music was a college radio play assignment by Amin’s friend Michael E. Baker. Though the radio play was never produced, Amin edited some musical sketches together and submitted it at the last minute when his high school friend Dave Kletke saw the ad for Roland contest. The tape noise you hear is inherant in the process of overdubbing and editing hundreds of tracks over and over again. It took Amin nearly 500 hours to put this four and a half minute piece together.

LISTEN TO FLIGHT BEYOND THE STARS DEMO
(click the image)

(Amin Bhatia: Flight Beyond the Stars © 1981)

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