all things SYNTH & KEYBOARD thread

[RAGER]

Stumbled onto this site.  I'm sure there's a bunch of them cuz this stuff is part of everything you see and hear media wise.  Be kinda cool to upload some tracks, totally forget that you've done it, and then later get an email that says somebody is using parts of your tune in an action sequence between a honey badger and cobra for a nature documentary and here's your 50 cents.

http://www.ubm-media.com/musiclibrary/ubm/ubm%202223/

[RAGER]

Got my Elektron Octatrack. Having a lot of fun with it so far but it's pretty deep so it's gonna be a bit before I totally get my head around this thing.

Bought it from B&H because Jib had said good things about their customer service and had never bought anything from them before. They get a BIG FAT F- for their shipping and handling. When you're shipping something that is nearly $1500 you might want to put more than one of those blow up cushion things in the half ass taped up box you put the unit in so it doesn't bounce around inside like a fucking pinball when ups is handling your package with the utmost care. Good thing Elektron knows how to pack their equipment. B&H should take note of how Synthesizers.com packs their stuff. Very pro and near indestructible.

[eyeprod]

it's a very cool toy, but WAYYYY too expensive for what I would use it for.

My akai is working pretty good since they released a firmware update. Fixed some of the issues, thankfully. I was still having some problems with it, but I reformatted the SD card and that seems to have solved my problems (fingers crossed it doesn't glitch when I'm playing out). Made a bunch of cool samples for it using the CYNTHI vst, which is a pretty good clone.  The thing I really like about the akai is the mpc style pads which are velocity sensitive. So fun to play that thing with your fingers. I sampled bass tones and it plays easier than a real bass, especially when you only have one hand free. That octatrack looks great for sequencing, which is what the akai lacks. I do have dreams of one day using some kind of sequencer to run the akai with the drum/synth sounds I create. Enjoy!

What happened to the modular?? lol, is it working out?

[RAGER]

This is gonna help me with live stuff big time.  Just ordered two more modules.  I should be able to start making sounds with it soon.

[RAGER]

My girls says it sounds like a medical emergency downstairs in my studio sometimes.  I take that as a compliment.


/mortlock approved

[RAGER]

Stoned jam the other night with my Moog, Micron, and Octatrack.

[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/rager-1/somnambulance-chaser[/soundcloud]

[RAGER]

Another from a couple weeks ago with some drums.

[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/rager-1/trigonomotron[/soundcloud]

[eyeprod]

cool, I'll check em out later.

So my korg ds8 is up and running. Wouldn't save data and had some weird ass sounds coming out of it with strange characters and impossible settings, but that was fixed with a new battery. I actually used midi-ox software to load original patches into it and finally got that to work, but man were they godawful sounds. I'm in the process of creating my own and that's going pretty well. The thing about this synth is that it's evidently the easiest FM synth to program because they made the interface close to a subtractive synth. There's techincally no filter, which is weird. I thought the Casio CZ series was FM , but I learned that it is not FM but something similar. So this is my first FM synth. I read that the DX7 is really hard to program. What do you think of it, Rager?

This korg has some cool possibilities that my other synths don't have, which makes it a nice fit in my rig. For one, it's got a pitch envelope so you can make sounds change pitch over time. That alone is cool, but the other thing it has is you can specify start, peak, and end levels in the envelopes, which are usually fixed values in most synths I've ever used. It makes nice pads and "pianorgans", plus it will sustain for a really long time. Still getting used to it, but for $80 it's great.

The guy I bought it from turned out to be a synth geek too. Has a small modular among other awesome stuff, like a full array of moogerfoogers on a rack, piles of other random synths, and....a Prophet 5! I've invited him over to jam tonight with the band and it looks like he might be bringing the modular so that might be fun.

[RAGER]

Sounds like a good time.

Yes programming the DX7 is a bitch but I came up with a couple cool patches but didn't yet know how to save them and it needs a new battery which I don't know when I'll get around to doing that.  The most thing I use it for is the E Piano anyways.  We had a DS8 way back in a band I was in around 89-90.  Can't beat 80 bucks.

[mortlock]

theres another radio show I like along with ECHOES.. its called PIPE DREAMS. tons of awesome solo pipe organ heavy music. the real deal pipe organs in cathedrals and churches and shit. are there any good synths that can simulate that??

http://echoes.org/ 
http://pipedreams.publicradio.org/

[eyeprod]

I don't know, but probably some modern digital synths can emulate a pipe organ pretty good. Seems like a sample based unit would be the best at it. They probably make some software synths that excel at it and are probably sample based. I can make a pipe organ sound, and a couple of my synths have presets for it, but I dunno, maybe you'd think it sounded laughable. As in, not really convincing. You'd probably need at least 4 oscillators to get close to a proper pipe organ sound.

So we had a mindblowing jam tonight. The synth guy didn't make it, but a couple of my older hippie friends came. One of them plays reeds and he brought a tenor clarinet along with some african drums. Got pretty weird, channeling some pharoah sanders, sun ra and shit.

[eyeprod]

here's the recording of that jam the other night with my friend on clarinet. kinda jazzy, but not really.

[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/rtrippz/2-24-2015-what-the-masters[/soundcloud]

[RAGER]

Cool stuff.  Sounds like a good time.

Played an AIRA System 1 the other day.  Didn't spend much time with it cuz it felt so damn cheap.

[eyeprod]

that's too bad. They look nice, even if I have no intention of buying one

[RAGER]

I'd thought briefly about getting one a while back but that was fleeting.  I've got plenty of other gear that does similar stuff.  If I was gonna get another synth I think I'd go somewhat high end like an Analog Four or Dave Smith.  I got plenty of shit fight now.

[eyeprod]

yeah, I've got five at the moment. I plan on keeping them all and picking up killer deals when I can, but it's going to be more about a really special one somewhere down the line. When I'm rich and can afford an EMS.

[tombhex]

My old lady ended up giving me a Volca Sample for my birthday and I fucking love it. TR8 is off the table, this is the drum machine for me for the time being. It does exactly what I want and I love the process of replacing the samples with my own. It's the workflow that I've been hoping for.



That being the case, I feel like I need something to plop down next to the MicroBrute for chords and whatnots. I like the idea of playing two different synths with different hands. My M-Audio Venom is a pile of shit and is basically a fancy midi controller at this point. I actually really liked the Aira System 1, and I wouldn't mind something a little more expensive or feature-crammed than the MicroBrute for my next piece. MicroKorg is snazzy but generic in my opinion, and I don't feel like I know enough about the Bass Station 2 to love it for more than the sound quality. I'm not going to run out and spend Moog money for a toy for the office, and I want a standalone. Anybody have any ideas outside of the MicroKorg, System 1, Bass Station 2 and the Micron (which I hate)? I don't mind mini keys. Edit: I don't hate the idea of the Minitaur either, but I feel like you're getting a very one-dimensional beast there for the price tag, less versatile than the MicroBrute from what I understand.

[RAGER]

Nice dude.  I've heard good things about it.  Might have to pick one up some day.

[eyeprod]

No midi out is a big deal, imo. Why else would I want a sequencer except to have the option of running other devices? Still looks like a nice box. I see it has sync out. Basically seems like a sample based drum or bass unit, which is quite cool if you can get some good samples, or better yet make your own.

FYI, the microbrute can't play chords, as it's a monophonic synth, but if it's like the minibrute it can send polyphonic data via midi or usb. So, you can use it as a keyboard controller for another synth or module and can use it to play chords if that device is polyphonic.

[eyeprod]

If you're looking for a polyphonic synth I would suggest getting something digital on the cheap, as in whatever you can get for around $200 or less at  the local pawnshop or CL. As long as it's an actual synth and is programmable, it can be a good opportunity to learn about synthesis and you can probably coax some decent enough keys and pad sounds out of just about anything. The alesis micron is a good little poly synth.

[tombhex]

No midi out is a big deal, imo. Why else would I want a sequencer except to have the option of running other devices? Still looks like a nice box. I see it has sync out. Basically seems like a sample based drum or bass unit, which is quite cool if you can get some good samples, or better yet make your own.

FYI, the microbrute can't play chords, as it's a monophonic synth, but if it's like the minibrute it can send polyphonic data via midi or usb. So, you can use it as a keyboard controller for another synth or module and can use it to play chords if that device is polyphonic.

I plan to use it as a standalone bass/drum deal, not to sequence anything else. Because of that, it's perfect for what I want. I really do like some of the stock sounds and the iphone-based sample loader, while less user-friendly than a desktop based app would be, is pretty smooth to use.

I know the MicroBrute can't play chords - that's why I want a synth to set next to it so I can play notes on each with each hand. I'm pushing myself to learn two-handed piano stuff anyway, because it's easy when you're fucking around with a noisebox in your office to just fingerbang with one hand and turn knobs with the other. I want to be more musical about it. I'd love to find a DX7 for cheap or something, but those little Novation boards are pretty sweet. I did some looking around yesterday on youtube. I was wondering if anyone had a hard preference on a Mopho or MS2000 or something because they're the step up from the Micro-tier.

[RAGER]

Curious what you don't like about the Micron.  From what I've read, the Micro Korg and MS 2000 share the same synth engine.

[tombhex]

Curious what you don't like about the Micron.  From what I've read, the Micro Korg and MS 2000 share the same synth engine.

That's good to know re:MS2000. I just don't like a lot of the sounds I've been able to coax out of my friend's Micron and I don't like the form factor at all.

[RAGER]

Can you explain the form factor part?  Just curious.

[eyeprod]

the alesis micron and the ion share the same engine. Or so I read. Both get high reviews, my band mate has a micron. I have never tried programming it.

I'm not sure about the ms to micro.

Yeah, i misunderstood you about the microbrute.