The Cygnus Limelight M@ preset appreciation thread

Piing said:
Are you guys playing the solo note by note? I find some passages quite abstract and surrealist o_O

I do enjoy listening it withing the context of the song and the Rush concept, but when I try to play it note by note it clashes with my narrowed playing mindset 😅
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It’s a fairly easy lead to learn. It’s not terribly complicated… But it would help to listen to a lot of rush to understand Alex’s thinking/vibe. Works really well with what Geddie and Neil do.
 
On the subject of Limelight..., I have a cool story.
My first concert was Rush, Moving Pictures tour, at the Capitol Center in DC (Largo actually, now a shopping center I believe.)

So I'm at my girlfriend's house (high school days) doing homework, when the radio announces the Rush show, tickets on sale Monday, 9am, at Hecht Co. So I'm like, "YES. I wanna go see these guys," to which my girl says, "Well my father knows one of the ladies who works the ticket counter at Hecht. Want me to get him to call her?" "Hells yeah!" (He owned a fuel oil company, and she was a customer of his.)

So he gets her on the phone, "Hey Mabel, Cliff here. These wacky kids wanna go see some band called Rush... 10's the limit..., How many you want?" I say, "TELL HIM 10!" "Ok, thanks. 9am? Yep. Ok, I'll get the money to you tomorrow."

So instead of standing in line (which for future shows, we'd sometimes camp out, IN the parking lot, at the Annapolis mall, for 3 days to get great seats), she pulls TEN TICKETS for us, as soon as the computers (or whatever they were back in 1980) came online at 9AM.

Our seats were 7 rows from the stage, right in front of Alex. I was SO in awe by these guys, that I swore they were not humans, (a bit too much beer on the way to the show, plus some weed will do that, haha) but instead aliens from another world, cuz NOBODY could play that tight, and get that much music from just 3 guys. It was totally surreal for my young self.

After the show, my only regret was not knowing their back catalogue as well as I should've (and honestly, not gotten wasted), since that would've made the show that much more enjoyable. But yeah, very first concert, Rush, 7 rows from the stage. Which also, back then wasn't like today, where's there's a 20 foot buffer between the 1st row and the stage. It was very close
 
I've synced my project with the original Rush multitracks, so we can have MIDI and Audio tracks combined. There was no synth at these audio tracks, I have added it. The MIDI (bass/drums) is very accurate, except at the finale where it differs a bit from the original audio.

I attach the synced Cakewalk project. It doesn't include audio, just drag the audio files from the link shared above to the correspondent tracks named Neil, Alex, and Geddy

Here is my mixdown. I have added more sub-bass at the kick than the Rush studio recording (Submarine Waves plugin :D)
 

Attachments

  • Limelight Rush Cakewalk.zip
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Been trying to find the original Limelight patch that this thread is based on.

Not here anywhere in thread? Any chance someone in the know can add this rather important element to the thread?

cheers
 
ARF said:
Been trying to find the original Limelight patch that this thread is based on.

Not here anywhere in thread? Any chance someone in the know can add this rather important element to the thread?

cheers
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It's one of the newly updated factory presets, but not at my computer to look at the moment.
 
TSJMajesty said:
On the subject of Limelight..., I have a cool story.
My first concert was Rush, Moving Pictures tour, at the Capitol Center in DC (Largo actually, now a shopping center I believe.)

So I'm at my girlfriend's house (high school days) doing homework, when the radio announces the Rush show, tickets on sale Monday, 9am, at Hecht Co. So I'm like, "YES. I wanna go see these guys," to which my girl says, "Well my father knows one of the ladies who works the ticket counter at Hecht. Want me to get him to call her?" "Hells yeah!" (He owned a fuel oil company, and she was a customer of his.)

So he gets her on the phone, "Hey Mabel, Cliff here. These wacky kids wanna go see some band called Rush... 10's the limit..., How many you want?" I say, "TELL HIM 10!" "Ok, thanks. 9am? Yep. Ok, I'll get the money to you tomorrow."

So instead of standing in line (which for future shows, we'd sometimes camp out, IN the parking lot, at the Annapolis mall, for 3 days to get great seats), she pulls TEN TICKETS for us, as soon as the computers (or whatever they were back in 1980) came online at 9AM.

Our seats were 7 rows from the stage, right in front of Alex. I was SO in awe by these guys, that I swore they were not humans, (a bit too much beer on the way to the show, plus some weed will do that, haha) but instead aliens from another world, cuz NOBODY could play that tight, and get that much music from just 3 guys. It was totally surreal for my young self.

After the show, my only regret was not knowing their back catalogue as well as I should've (and honestly, not gotten wasted), since that would've made the show that much more enjoyable. But yeah, very first concert, Rush, 7 rows from the stage. Which also, back then wasn't like today, where's there's a 20 foot buffer between the 1st row and the stage. It was very close
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Wow! That was my first concert too! Same tour, same venue (Cap Centre). I was in 8th grade and my cousin took me with him to see them. What a great show! One of MANY I saw there when it was still around. I also wish I had known more of their back catalogue, but an amazing experience, regardless. Small world!
 
celongcor said:
Wow! That was my first concert too! Same tour, same venue (Cap Centre). I was in 8th grade and my cousin took me with him to see them. What a great show! One of MANY I saw there when it was still around. I also wish I had known more of their back catalogue, but an amazing experience, regardless. Small world!
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Damn, that is too cool!!! I see you're in Olney. I lived in Annapolis at the time. Small world indeed. Saw many shows there. VH, Wasted+Motley Crue+Ozzy 2nd row; Yes, 4th row; Duran Duran (God those girls could scream loud!) ZZ Top+Heart; Pink Floyd; Journey; Lots of Civic Center and Meriweather shows too (Rush + Mr. Big...) Wow. Saw Rush the most of any. My favorite band until Dream Theater came along...
 
LOL! I play this song daily. But I'm lazy and don't switch over to another scene for the A#(Bb), E, F# sequence that's in 3/4 time. I've always thought Alex switches it up to clean up and play those single notes progressions OR mixed in a cleaner guitar on the album. I don't even switch down to a cleaner pickup. I end up accenting the notes instead....if that makes any sense. It's really just laziness. One of the best songs EVER, IMO. My wife is tired of this and couple of Journey songs. It's funny how something I've learned 35 years ago still can stick and I know every note and nuance.

I watched Alex's video on YT on how he plays it. I'm definitely playing it wrong....or he is...lol!!! So much for every nuance. I think he's just gotten old and has thrown in some extra shit to make it interesting.

I also just found out about YouTube's ability to slow the speed down without changing the pitch. Where has that been all my life??!! My gosh..... that's cheating. I feel like I just learned there was an 'Undo' or Cntl Z function for the first time or really, I'm embarrassed that I didn't know it.
 
Ahh....So there's a clean scene in the preset. Do you guys switch pickups or play it same bridge pick up? Guess that's splitting hairs since you'll get different results. Really cool preset. I'm also going to add a 'hold' for the solo like @Scented Meat suggested. I thought that was what the Fx Exit was initially. Really cool preset.
 
Bman said:
Ahh....So there's a clean scene in the preset. Do you guys switch pickups or play it same bridge pick up?
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It was reportedly Alex' black Strat, which is hum single single but wired in an interesting way that more closely simulates two humbuckers with a 3-way switch. I'd guess the chorus was the middle position.
 
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I'm not sure if the video is accurate, but that section looks like the switch is set to the bridge humbucker in this screen capture.

1622646972598.png
 
Bman said:
LOL! I play this song daily. But I'm lazy and don't switch over to another scene for the A#(Bb), E, F# sequence that's in 3/4 time. I've always thought Alex switches it up to clean up and play those single notes progressions OR mixed in a cleaner guitar on the album. I don't even switch down to a cleaner pickup. I end up accenting the notes instead....if that makes any sense. It's really just laziness. One of the best songs EVER, IMO. My wife is tired of this and couple of Journey songs. It's funny how something I've learned 35 years ago still can stick and I know every note and nuance.

I watched Alex's video on YT on how he plays it. I'm definitely playing it wrong....or he is...lol!!! So much for every nuance. I think he's just gotten old and has thrown in some extra shit to make it interesting.

I also just found out about YouTube's ability to slow the speed down without changing the pitch. Where has that been all my life??!! My gosh..... that's cheating. I feel like I just learned there was an 'Undo' or Cntl Z function for the first time or really, I'm embarrassed that I didn't know it.
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Dude, there's been free software available since before YT that allows you slow down and keep the pitch, repeat sections, EQ so you can hear parts better. One I have is called BP Minus.
Not sure which nuance(s) you're referring to, but that A add9 chord has always been there, but it's hard to pick out of the mix. I used to miss that when I first learned the song. And I also don't switch to a clean guitar in the part you mentioned, mostly because I don't hear that drastic of a change. Reminds me of watching Rush play it live, and when he goes back to the 4/4 part, he obviously steps on a pedal (patch change), but I don't hear the change in his tone.
 
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