Rick Wakeman, how can I sound like him?

[WeAreAs1 at aol.com]

I don't know the particular songs you mention, but in those days, Rick used a 
Minimoog for almost all of his synth solos.  If you want to get the same 
portamento that he gets, you'll need to have the Minimoog type portamento, 
which has a linear time response (unlike the typical exponential "lag 
generator" portamento found in ARPs and most DIY synthesizers).

The Minimoog portamento circuit is rather arcane, and I wouldn't recommend 
copying it directly, since there are less complicated ways to achieve that 
effect.  For instance, the Sequential Circuits Pro One and the Prophet Five 
have a nice linear portamento circuit that is pretty simple to copy.

Another trick that Rick used to use a lot was two or three oscillators tuned 
several octaves apart (at least three octaves apart).  Sort of like a piccolo 
and bass clarinet in unison.  On the moon.  On mushrooms.  Sort of.

Michael Bacich