In the background of "Legs" by ZZ top, there is some type of synth or electronic drum machine, or both, accenting every 1/16 note. This is the first sound on the CD,before any other instruments or vocals come in, sounds kinda like electronic morroccas or something..

I would like to ID it, so we can reproduce it, at least closely, to play the song. If it is a synth, anybody know what type, what effect on the synth, what settings?
Or- how the sound might be reproduced,nowadays, even if we have to use a digital effect, or record something on a track for playback behind us.

it is a sequenced synth part, like you mentioned. The drums on that record either sound like drum machine or at the very least, triggered pads using an old (new at the time) Roland Digital Drums sound module.

You could replicate it live using almost any synth with a sequencer. That sound is sort of generic. Make sure your drummer is prepared to play to a click track.

You could also do a similar trick by running a synth (or anything) through a noise gate with a trigger input, and plugging a drum machine playing a 16th note pattern into the trigger input and adjusting the gate for a quick attack and a pretty short decay, so you hear a 16th note tremolo effect. Again, you must play to the click in order to be in time.

The good news is once you have "Legs" down, you can teach yourself "Heart of Glass" by Blondie too.

Roger

Huh?
Hmmmmm... Are there any synth schools around
for us old fashioned geetar players?