Hideki Matsutake (born August 12, 1951 in

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kana ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

) is a Japanese composer, arranger, and computer programmer. He is known for his pioneering work in

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

and particularly

music programming Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices and computer software, such as sequencers and workstations or hardware synthesizers, sampler and sequencers, to generate sounds of musical instruments. These mus ...

, as the assistant of

Isao Tomita , often known simply as Tomita, was a Japanese composer, regarded as one of the pioneers of electronic music and space music, and as one of the most famous producers of analog synthesizer arrangements. In addition to creating note-by-note rea ...

during the early 1970s and as the "fourth member" of the band

Yellow Magic Orchestra Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO for short) is a Japanese electronic music band formed in Tokyo in 1978 by Haruomi Hosono (bass, keyboards, vocals), Yukihiro Takahashi (drums, lead vocals) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (keyboards, vocals). The group is conside ...

during the late 1970s to early 1980s. Through his participation in the session recording of

Ryuichi Sakamoto is a Japanese composer, pianist, singer, record producer and actor who has pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his bandmates Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, Sakamoto inf ...

's 1978 album ''

Thousand Knives ''Thousand Knives'' (also known as ''Thousand Knives of Ryuichi Sakamoto'') is the debut solo album by Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto. The album is named after Henri Michaux's description of the feeling of using mescaline in ''Miserable Mira ...

'', he joined the recordings of Yellow Magic Orchestra during 1978-1982 as their sound programmer, to become known as "the fourth member" of the group. In 1981, he formed a unit of his own under the name ''Logic System'', which released its latest album in 2020. He also continued to take part in solo activities by YMO members such as

Haruomi Hosono , sometimes credited as Harry Hosono, is a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is considered to be one of the most influential musicians in Japanese pop music history, credited with shaping the sound of Japanese pop for ...

and

Yukihiro Takahashi Yukihiro Takahashi (高橋幸宏 ''Takahashi Yukihiro'', born June 6, 1952) is a Japanese musician, singer, record producer and actor, who is best known internationally as the drummer and lead vocalist of the Yellow Magic Orchestra, and as the fo ...

beyond the group's breakup in 1983. He was also a member of the

video game music Video game music (or VGM) is the soundtrack that accompanies video games. Early video game music was once limited to sounds of early sound chips, such as programmable sound generators (PSG) or FM synthesis chips. These limitations have led to ...

group Akihabara Electric Circus in 1988 and composed music for the 1996

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

Guardian Heroes ''Guardian Heroes'' is a 2D side-scrolling beat 'em up video game in the vein of ''Final Fight'' or ''Golden Axe'', but with RPG elements. The development team called it a "fighting RPG". ''Guardian Heroes'' was developed by Treasure and release ...

''. Today, Matsutake is also Chairman of Japan Synthesizer Programmers Association (JSPA).

Biography

Matsutake was grabbed by the playback of

Wendy Carlos Wendy Carlos (born Walter Carlos, November 14, 1939) is an American musician and composer best known for her electronic music and film scores. Born and raised in Rhode Island, Carlos studied physics and music at Brown University before moving ...

's ''

Switched-On Bach ''Switched-On Bach'' is the debut album by American composer Wendy Carlos, originally released under her birth name Walter Carlos in October 1968 by Columbia Records. Produced by Carlos and Rachel Elkind, the album is a collection of pieces by J ...

'' using a synthesizer and a computer at the American Pavilion of

Expo '70 The or Expo 70 was a world's fair held in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, Japan between March 15 and September 13, 1970. Its theme was "Progress and Harmony for Mankind." In Japanese, Expo '70 is often referred to as . It was the first world's fair ...

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

. In June the following year at age 19, he made his first step into professional music as an apprentice to

, providing him the chance of operating one of the few Moog III-P synthesizer units in Japan. Establishing a company of his own named Musical Advertising Corporation (MAC) in 1974, his involvement with 'new music' artists such as Yoshitaka Minami and

Akiko Yano is a Japanese pop and jazz musician and singer born in Tokyo and raised in Aomori and later began her singing career in the mid-1970s. She has been called "one of the major musical talents of the Japanese popular music world", and her vocals an ...

started. In 1978 he participated in the production of Ryuichi Sakamoto's first album, ''Thousand Knives''. In the years 1978 to 1982, Matsutake served Yellow Magic Orchestra as its sound programmer, eventually to become known as the "fourth member" of the band. He also led sequencing work for numerous technopop albums by other artists, especially at the beginning of the 80s. In 1981, Matsutake formed "Logic System" with Makoto Irie, with whom he toured to perform in other Asian countries several times. The unit has released 10 albums to date, two out of them released in eight countries. Its latest album is ''Technasma'', released in 2020. He was a member of Akihabara Electric Circus, which released the

chiptune Chiptune, also known as chip music or 8-bit music, is a style of synthesized electronic music made using the programmable sound generator (PSG) sound chips or synthesizers in vintage arcade machines, computers and video game consoles. The t ...

album '' Super Mario Bros. 3: Akihabara Electric Circus'' in 1988. He composed the

for

Treasure Treasure (from la, thesaurus from Greek language ''thēsauros'', "treasure store") is a concentration of wealth — often originating from ancient history — that is considered lost and/or forgotten until rediscovered. Some jurisdictions leg ...

's ''

'' in 1996, alongside Nazo Suzuki. Matsutake is currently chairman of Japan Synthesizer Programmers Association (JSPA).

Discography

Notes

References

* Profile of Hideki Matsuake found in a special interview articl
Matsutake plays with Terumin'' (松武秀樹ふろくのテルミンで遊ぶ)
on Gakken (publisher), viewed on 2009-03-28. * Article
''Interview with Hideki Matsutake - Marking his 30th year of Techno life'' (祝テクノライフ30周年～松武秀樹氏)
on All About, viewed 2009-03-09. * Interview with Hideki Matsutake about YMO, Logic System, Modulars and beyon
here
* An example showing general recognition of Matsutake as being a part of YMO can be see
here

External links

Logic System Homepage

Logic System at discogs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matsutake, Hideki 1951 births Japanese composers Japanese electro musicians Japanese electronic musicians Japanese male composers Living people Musicians from Kanagawa Prefecture Musicians from Yokohama