Digital synths from 80s/90s

[Starthief]

Korg DS-8 or 707 is kind of a neat alternative to the Yamaha FM synths – not quite as flexible but easier to program, and has a big unison mode that I loved back in the day.

(I still have my DS-8, but it needs a CMOS battery and probably other refurbishing, and space to set it up.)

Thinking about classic 80s/90s digital synths, maybe the Roland D-50 or Korg M1 Possibly the DW-8000?

[wheelersounds]

I’ve done a lot of testing with DX7 patches on my Volca FM using dexed, and I’ve found that at least half of the sounds preview differently in software than on the hardware. So I’ve been loading them onto the Volca and testing them there, rather than browsing on dexed. It also only has 3 voices, but they sound great. I added a Davies knob to the volume control on mine, and the other controls are really nice to use as love control. [edit: I meant to say “live control” but kept the typo]

My buddy has a Virus (too soon?) and I’m curious about others’ experience with them?

I’ve also hear great things about the Blofeld. Can you change params in real time on that as well?

[mimetaur]

I feel like the Virus might be in the digital synth uncanny valley right now. I clocked a lot of time with a couple different Virus revisions in the early 2000’s and I don’t know if they’re old enough to be charming.

I made a bunch of music with various digital synth gear listed here - I feel like you have to be ready for some serious data wheeling. Or use a software editor which is kind of clunky and joyless. Personally I can get in the zone with a two line display and ten buttons about half the time and loved the TG-33, ESQ-1 and Roland 1080, but I despised the Yamaha TX-81Z and TG-77.

(This thread also makes me feel old because it takes me back to a time in my 20’s when I knew every one of these as well as the “modern” virtual analogs. Now there’s an explosion of synths I imagine I will never see in person, let alone play.)

[fourhoarder]

supposedly the patches-not-transfering-right thing between Dexed and the FM is solved with the new unofficial Pajen firmware update. have not tried it yet but i’m excited for it if it works. searching “unofficial pajen volca fm” gets you the reddit page.

[alley_cam]

Definitely lusted after some of these E-mu rack units when they first came out. Early 2000s from what I remember?
Prices have stayed reasonable. Could be a diamond somewhere in that neon paint

Also love the concept of a synth sound uncanny valley. Saw a lot of Alesis Micron’s at shows recently (last year).
It was more exotic than the Microkorg in the early 2000s. Worth checking out as well.

[ElectricaNada]

Buy an ipad and load it with any kind of digital synth you can imagine. Easily done for well under 1000.

[kirklandish]

Micron is an incredibly deep synth, but as you might imagine some compromises with UI to jam so much in a tiny package. I think it sounds good though (bought and sold 2x). More voices and functionality than Microkorg.

[doomglue]

I am not sure why I would limit the search to 80s/90s gear, the reface dx is pretty cool as well when it comes to fm, it is easier to get extra controls via cc, apart from that the Yamaha FB01 is to be had cheaply and there seems to be an iPad app that offers patching via the iPad but external controllers are hard to connect afaik.
A personal favourite is the Clavia Micromodular or G1 for which you will need a computer for editing though but then set and forget about the computer while playing.
I regret letting my tg33 go, now they are so expensive compared to 8 years ago.
I also have a Kawai k1m which is kinda so horrible that I really like it. This thing paired with an Alesis Wedge… <3

[a773]

@slowsounds

less likely to have maintenance problems

I’m looking into getting a Blofeld, my main concern is that people seem to report that especially the knobs are a weak spot and either are broken or breaking on used models…

[mimetaur]

Yeah, I would definitely not bother with synths that are old enough (some of the 80’s models) that they use Sysex instead of CC’s, not least of which is because that often means the changes don’t show up until the next note and you can’t automate them from Ableton, most hardware sequencers, etc. Seems like digital synths are coming back enough that you can get some of the vibe without the pain now.

[Mangrove]

Ensoniq synths with analog filters have resonance, the digital ones don’t.

I have owned a ESQ-1, SQ-80, and a TS-12 as well as all the samplers aside from the ASR-10. It’s hard to recommend them enough. If they were knobby they’d be worth several thousand dollars.

Other fun digital synths: Kawai K3, Korg DW-8000, Roland JV-1080

I never loved the Korg Rack mount stuff that people go wild for. I have owned the M1, and the Wavestation A/D and neither did much for me, unfortunately.

[Blit]

I owned a Yamaha tg33 for a couple of years. Its great synth and there`s an ipad app called Patch Base that has an editor, which is very helpful to create patches (it also works with other synths as well)

@blitbleep

@blitbleep

@blitbleep

[slowsounds]

this does happen, it happened to mine. how bad it gets I think varies- mine is still usable but its obnoxious and I just haven’t gotten around to doing the fix, maybe this winter finally… that said, its readily available parts, nothing obscure, so if you have some DIY confidence you can do it yourself or should be pretty cheap to have a tech do it when/if it does happen.

@wheelersounds sure, you can change things real time, either with the control knobs/menu or with midi control. you can get a lot of real-time like motion/randomness/etc also using the mod matrix, arp, and and math functions. I’ve made lots of very organic/evolving sound patches on mine as well as ones where hitting just one button with a midi CC drastically changes the sound.

another thing to consider when getting a used blofeld is its worth paying a few bucks more for the desktop unit if it has the sample license installed- unfortunately Waldorf still charges $100 for that upgrade. but if you have it or get it you can also get even closer to replicating the sound of a lot of other rompler/rack classics since you can usually find the waveforms either for free or very cheap.

I used to have an EMU XL-1, wish I had kept it… I never had it but the boxes like the XL7 look like great options for people who want full sequencing OTB and without tons of other hardware. plus, between all those units you can swap the ROMs around, and again not as old. I was working with someone who wanted to use some older EMU Proteus units for a project/tour… one had a dead power supply which while available costs more than the synth at this point. the other I said we should get the battery replaced before relying on it since the memory will crash/corrupt. guess what happened an hour before the first gig on the tour?

[karol]

The encoders have tendency to start skipping values overtime - I have one Blofeld bought new almost ten years ago and it started to have this issue rather fast. From what I remember they tried to address that in few firmware updates in the past (probably by software debouncing) but the problem still persists. It was especially annoying for me because when for example playing live I wanted to switch sound to the next one the encoder would register turning it to the right as turning to the left and I would end up with wrong patch being played. I solved this by using multimode and assigning patches that I used live to different midi channels but then you need a keyboard which allows switching midi channels without hassle. But still it is a really good synth that can be bought cheap and I don’t think there is anything analogue which gives you the same synthesis power (multiude of envelopes, lfos, mod matrix etc.).
The Alesis Micron mentioned earlier is also a nice synth (but it tends to have problem with volume knob which can emit noise when turned) but unfortunately the interface was too barebones for me. I really like the sound but it requires a lot of the patience to develop your own sound (or I am just very bad at keeping all the parameters in mind - because you only see one at once in Micron display) so I am actually looking in selling mine (but right now only in Poland or maybe Berlin - sorry about that).
I think a lot of digital synths had rather abysmal interface - Novation Mininova being another one - really powerful synth engine (albeit the sounds of it did not click with me) but editing anything without a computer is a major PITA.
Funny enough I found Yamaha DX7 interface rather nice as most of the functionalities are just one button click away. I guess that it got bad rep compared to analogs + FM synthesis is not as intuitive as Subtractive.
If I had to choose two digital synths that I would like to lay my hands on it would probably be Korg Wavestation and Yamaha VL-1. I have never played (or even seen) any of these in person but I used Wavestation VST a lot when starting my adventure with making music and I also really like physical modelling sound so in case of VL-1 it would be really nice to check out what was considered a state of the art in the 90s.

[LLK]

Super compelling sound demo !

[toneburst]

I had a Korg EX-8000 (rackmount DW-8000) for a while.

It sounded ok, but to be honest the waveform selection was limited compared to a wavetable synth like a Waldorf Microwave.

The analogue filter was nice, though, and it did have a nice unison mode that stacked the oscillators, and sounded pretty fat.

A 1st-gen Microwave (with analogue filters) might be worth considering. I think they’re quite pricey on the used market, though.

[a773]

@slowsounds

its readily available parts, nothing obscure, so if you have some DIY confidence you can do it yourself or should be pretty cheap

Ok sounds reassuring. Would you happen to have a link to a fix?

[slowsounds]

generally seems there are two options- either replace the encoders (which may not actually be necessary if option two works), or option two is that I’ve also seen people taking very small capacitors and soldering them on the backside to reduce noise/jitter to solve the problem. option 2 is probably also worth trying before going through desoldering all the pots and replacing them since its about $1 worth of parts. not having done the fix yet myself no guarantees but I’ve heard from other people it works. theres some documentation here http://synth.stromeko.net/DIY.html. I would make sure to do it with the caps facing opposing directions like this person did- http://synth.stromeko.net/pics/Blofeld_Encoder_Fix_6.jpg nothing should be squishing them around inside the case, but still, best practices you don’t want any accidental connections happening on the capacitor legs.

some people also seem to think they should clean the encoders, but I wouldn’t- they have contact grease in them and unless you keep your synth somewhere that its probably getting other atmospheric damage like keeping it near an open window right next to the salty ocean I wouldn’t think that is your issue.

[jmsiener]

I’ve got a blofeld and it’s got the wobbly knob syndrome but only on the main out volume control. Yeah, you do have to kind of live with max volume because there isn’t much in between left in the pot but all the encoders are still spot on. One wobbly knob that I rarely touch. Go for it man!

[mrsoundboyking]

@jmsiener

live with max volume

Some might say this is the only way to live…