At the very end of the "How can you have a yellow alert in Spacedock?" scene in Star Trek III, there's a single bent note played on what sounds a lot like the "blaster beam" used by Jerry Goldsmith for some of the V'ger music in TMP. But it could just be some sort of electric guitar. Does anyone know for sure?
I think he did use the blaster beam instrument. Also in the Mutara Nebula battle in TWOK in some parts.
This is a remarkable instrument, I was obsessed with building one for a while. Here's a video of Michael Stearns, who used it in the soundtrack for Ron Fricke's "Chronos", describing it in detail: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h8o-1IQ5G0 Instantly makes you think of the start of TMP!
It is the blaster beam. I had the multi-track on Trek III when we did that album and sometimes I'd just listen to it isolated. And yes, it's in Trek II as well.
I might have to check the liner notes, but I guess the blaster beam was also used by Goldsmith for the First Contact score, wasn't it?
Are you talking about the scene on the ENT-E hull? Interesting, I'd always thought that was just a synth sound, maybe a sample, would be curious to know.