I recall seeing Jethro Tull back on their <i>Under Wraps</i> tour. I don't recall which song, but one of the tracks from that record features a repeating synth riff. The keyboardist (a hired gun) actually made a bit of a show with this, if you had your eye on him. He recorded the riff into his sequencer in realtime (which I guess should count as "real" rather than "fake") and then stood back and held up his hands as if to say "Look, Ma, no hands".