all things SYNTH & KEYBOARD thread

[RAGER]

Ahh the E piano patch of the DX7.  Love it.  played through a Backstage Plus

had a couple of these laying around and they're reversible polarity so I have a sustain pedal for it.

[jibberish]

there you go.

here is the famous dx-7 song:

edit: imitating a mellotron is not so easy. I may have to study exactly how they constructed those mellotron tapes. I think part of the spooky charm is that the tapes didn't quite run at the same speed and were all a hair out of tune.  I have very tiny increments on these lexicon pitch shifters but it still is sterile. I have to maybe try massive slow chorusing or vibrato, or whatever slowly changes the pitch over the pitch shift. idk..fun problem to work on tho.

edit: maybe cheat and scavenge mellotron samples and get one of those volca samples for $159 and just load it up with those.

[Beta Cloud]

Ahh the E piano patch of the DX7.  Love it.  played through a Backstage Plus

had a couple of these laying around and they're reversible polarity so I have a sustain pedal for it.

oh rager, you sweet lil' ol' romantic.
that minor blues walkdown/my funny valentine ass piece has me throwing my panties at you.
stay classy.
seriously, that was MAD cool man. 

[RAGER]

Funny how a progression will get into your head and you play something without even really knowing it.  I was thinking I was playing more like a Vangelis Blade Runner love scene.

Most people listen to some chill music or some nice jazz like Bill Evans stuff over coffee in the morning while getting ready for work.  Not me.  Had my Maximal Drone going and hitting random keys on my DX7 through a delay as I walk by once in a while.

[black]

So as I've been watching this thread progress, I keep wondering; do you cats that have multiple synths and keyboards and gizmo boxes ever run all the instruments at the same time? I don't mean just hitting all the buttons and letting things go nuts. I mean do you get to the point where you can manipulate all your gear, simultaneously for a composition, or is it just liking having multiple options that differ from instrument to instrument?

[RAGER]

Just depends on the moment.  I don't really do compositions because I don't like that much structure and let's face it, I'm not really sure how to do that anyways .  But yes sometimes I like all the shit going at once to create a cacophony of noise wall.  Other times I'll stack 3 different synths onto one controller to get a really layered sound out of just hitting one key while having a neat little sequence going on another synth being filtered or delayed.  That possibly might be midi synced with a drum machine although it might not be playing a drum beat in a classic sense, just something beat driven that is clocked. 

[eyeprod]

I have most of my stuff on and set up to use if I want. I'm going through a mixing board to allow for a simple stereo setup with my half stacks, so it's easy to have everything available. I am into slow and thoughtful manipulation of my synths and gizmos, so I make it a point not to blast it all at once chaotically. More like a drone on one device, a synth (or two) ready for effects and filter sweeps, a sampler with pre-made synth blasts to use as one shots or maybe loops, a traditional keyboard always at the ready for organ or piano type sounds, and maybe a specific sound/tone set up on another synth now that I have one with memory. The thing with a lot of players is to have multiple synths set up with specific sounds, but mainly the player uses one at a time, maybe two. I use variations on those themes, but it's always real playing and tasteful transitions. The most automation I like to use is an arpeggiator (you still have to play the chord you want) and now my roland has a pretty cool and easy to use sequencer, but these things still have to be programmed or otherwise manipulated on the fly. At least that's how I do it. The most pre-prep I do is record samples in different keys that I use, and now with the roland I have programmed all my own patches as I do not generally care to use presets.

[eyeprod]

here's a little test of the jx3p. I don't know if this has any value, but it might be mildly interesting to hear it. First vid on my new phone, so just a test. I think I used the sequencer to play along with.

[jibberish]

So as I've been watching this thread progress, I keep wondering; do you cats that have multiple synths and keyboards and gizmo boxes ever run all the instruments at the same time? I don't mean just hitting all the buttons and letting things go nuts. I mean do you get to the point where you can manipulate all your gear, simultaneously for a composition, or is it just liking having multiple options that differ from instrument to instrument?

my wall of sound goal is to do just that: get the whole works going. I am sorting out my controller situation right now.  looking to get a foot pedalboard like on an organ.
then I will have that+12 step foot controller +sustain pedals + 2 keyboards to run all the other stuff from. I still will need a couple of 1 x 4 MIDI splitter boxes to send timing info to synch up all modules.
I spent an entire year putting together my sound system to handle a huge wall of sound (4000w continuous and up to 14 channels), 6 effects engines, and  4-buss mixers for tricky routing and semi-360 degree sound.

the doktor death's "circle of death" will become a reality some day soon.

my playing is more performance of pieces. I will however have a bleep-bloop setup for raw synth sounds because it is big fun. and that's where you need a toy box full of stuff to put together the sound desired for the day. the idea of modular synths is to wire up different combos of stuff in unique ways for unique sounds so it's more like a tinker toy or lego set. the more different pieces you have, the more crazy sounds you can build with different combos of stuff.

just be careful. it is so easy to get sucked into this.  I may need to check in to the betty moog clinic pretty soon myself. they have a nationwide apb out on rager

[jibberish]

here's a little test of the jx3p. I don't know if this has any value, but it might be mildly interesting to hear it. First vid on my new phone, so just a test. I think I used the sequencer to play along with.

every gear demo vid has value to me. I get to play that piece without even having that piece.

[black]

Thanks for those answers, gentleman. I appreciate the insight.
Since this thread started up I find myself listening more for synths in all sorts of music.
As far as GAS/gear goes, they seem like they would be a blast.

Thanks again!

[RAGER]

Ok here's the skinny on the ARP Odyssey from a dude in a synth group I'm on.

So for those of you waiting on some information regarding the Korg ARP Odyssey... I have a source at a little indie synth shop (not here in Portland) who confirmed what is also being shown on the JRRshop website - that Korg sent out an official email today to all the retailers with allocation numbers and this is what my source said:
The independent shops will get the Korg ARP Odyssey first, in the Mark III color (Black and Orange) priced at $999, full length keys but narrower(?) and then Guitar Center and their partners will get their Odyssey but in the Mark II colors (Black and Gold) and then Sweetwater which will have the Mark I color (White Faced.)
All of this will be shown at NAMM. Release dates still pending, but my source says, the indie shops should get the black and orange Odyssey reissue within 30 days of NAMM.

[eyeprod]

that's probably solid info.

It's cool that they're making them again, but on the other hand the cool factor goes way down when they are mass produced like that. That was one of the synths on my bucket list, but now I'm not so sure. All the edm dorks will have them now. Reissue an EMS and I might change my tune, but I'd much rather see manufacturers taking Arturias example and start making more low cost analog synths that are original, based on classic gear.

[RAGER]

Yeah I see what you're saying.  Pretty cool but I'm not wetting myself over this like I was the Sub 37.  The Odyssey's are pretty gritty but so is my Minibrute so yeah.

[jibberish]

I had a white-faced version, so I guess I would have to wait for sweetwater heh.

seriously though $1000 is most of the way there to a sub37. that sub 37 is in another league.

the odyssey was a 2 oscillator deal. you could either play 2 notes or combine the oscillators for a fatter sound
the feedback , ring mod and noise were a trip.  the Frankenstein thing was pretty easy to mimic.
mine was about a G brand new shipped wtf.  so I think that price is too high for what it is.

if behringer lands at $500 and does a good job, that is where the odyssey belongs pricewise.
you can get a mophox4 for a grand and that thing will kill the odyssey

I think the comparison to brutes is a good one. basic layout:  osc-filters-envelope and out

[RAGER]

First jam in about a month with my drummer bud yesterday.  Gear used.  See below





Results. Loud and distorted.  Never mind beyond 6:27.  I'm an idiot.  I'll fix it later....maybe.

[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/rager-1/rager-and-mark-synthdrum[/soundcloud]

[jibberish]

that was great. the organ sounding stuff around 3 minutes or so was really outstanding how that all worked together.

[RAGER]

Cool thanks. That 3 min mark was the Waldorf Rocket. I have that blended with the Se 1 on a controller all going through the Big Sky on cloud reverb. At that point I dialed down the se 1. I used the 12 step to control the sub 37 with my foot while twiddling the cut off Nd my right on the Waldorf se 1 and micron or mini brute.

That room is only 10 x 12 or so. It was crazy loud. I will set the H4 to low input next weekend and hopefully won't be so distorted.

[neighbor664]

http://abc7news.com/472581

[RAGER]

I just read about that place yesterday. Next time I'm in the Bay Area imma stop in there.

[eyeprod]

sounded cool, but is it the same jam repeated? Working on writing a song? Your friend is a tight drummer.

here's our first jam of the new year with new gear. my friend got a volca beats and I used my new synths. We've almost got a name, but still kicking around ideas for one. I still have an hour or so of material to go over from this night.

[cloudset]https://soundcloud.com/rtrippz/sets/1-12-2015[/cloudset]

[RAGER]

sounded cool, but is it the same jam repeated? Working on writing a song? Your friend is a tight drummer.

Yep because that's what happens when I try to get involved with a daw and then try to upload to souncloud.  Derp.

[RAGER]

Eyeprod, what's your recording technique?  A little live effects and then run everything back through a reverb?  Sounds pretty good.

[eyeprod]

Thanks man. I think it sounds really good, but the key to our sound is definitely low volume. That's evidently the only way to play subtly and also capture that sound in a recording. Too loud and it's pretty much impossible; turns into a volume battle and all subtleties are lost.

I've got my deluxe memory man in the fx loop on the little mixing board we use. That is working on all channels, except for the one Cody plugs his synth rig into, since he uses his own delay. Then the two main amps (concert lead and acoustic 150) both have reverb which is most of what you hear. They (EDIT: reverbs) are both at max setting. All synths, vocals and the sampler are going through those amps. In reaper I use a reverb plug-in on the overhead mic and the room mic, which are both condensers. This last session I did use a heavier reverb setting on the room mic than I normally do. I add a touch of stereo delay to the left and right stereo mix channels. I pan those pretty hard left and right, but I like to fill out the mix with that touch of stereo effect. Bass rig is not miked, though I plan to change that for more low-end control, and there's two guitar amps with their own reverb and effects that are miked closely. I usually don't add anything to those channels in reaper, but sometimes I give Cody's guitar a little stereo delay action since he's typically panned way over to the right.

[jibberish]

that sound is coming along. I ran this set instead of the chill out youtubes I usually put on when i'm working on stuff.