Double's Captain Of Her Heart

“Captain Of Her Heart” is so haunting yet beautiful... yet I couldn't find much in terms of the synths used besides the mention of a demo with  the catchy melody played on an Oberheim synthesizer (which could have been any model).

Having recently confirmed myself with Kurt Maloo (one half of the duo), the song’s basis was provided by an Oberheim system, featuring an OB-Xa synthesizer, DSX sequencer and the DMX drum machine. Drums-wise, it's it's not the sort of DMX sounds that are easily discernible: the snare sound was pitched down for a full, low thud sweeping sound much like a Simmons snare... the hi-hat is at regular pitch too like it's almost real... Somewhat clever tuning of the sampled sounds of the DMX, if you ask. Fellow Swiss band Yello used similar DMX drum tunings on the song "Vicious Games".

The Oberheim OB-Xa provides the main synthesizer pad throughout as well as the sequenced eighth-note bassline. In addition to that, there’s also a harp glissando from a Jupiter synth (probably a Jupiter-8) that’s heard just before the instrumental middle section.

The rest of the song is acoustic instruments. They had at their disposal a small Yamaha grand piano, a couple of acoustic guitars & a saxophone. There was also a drum kit around on the sessions but Felix Haug – the other half of Double and the duo’s drummer/keyboardist – preferred to program rhythms on the DMX.

It’s worth noting that the piano part was originally recorded by Haug as a guide track for the vocals, and was going to replace it later with another sound. But thanks to engineer Phil Carmen’s ears and Maloo’s persuasion, it was eventually kept on the final record.

Sources

email conversation with Kurt Maloo

http://www.kurtmaloo.com/media/Captain_d.pdf (page 95)

Songfacts “Captain Of Her Heart” page