#91

They’re great instruments, actually, but what Rossum had in mind for the Z-Plane filter was well beyond what computers of the day could do. Fortunately we now have that Eurorack module of his that does it right…

#92

MPE is my next great mountain to climb. I might write an article about it for the magazine, but that’s the extent of my professional connection; for my own music, I am just now beginning to explore MPE hardware and software, and would love some recommendations. (Is there an MPE thread already going here somewhere?)

I am thinking of stripping all the music software off my portable “clean it off and start fresh as needed” laptop (gotta love pawnshops in Colorado – dual i7 11" MacBook Air for $400) and replacing it with only MPE instruments, maybe running under MainStage. (Life without Live, at least for a little while? Gulp…)

I am still a babe in the woods with Aalto and Kaivo (Hi @randy ! How’s the fam?) but I’d like to do more with them. Omnisphere is too big SDDwise for my lappy, but I’m just starting the deepdeepdive into Falcon. Equator’s sort of a gimme for this stuff, and this would be a good excuse for me to finally start learning Bitwig…

For MPE controllers, I am starting to amass a bit of a collection: Sensel Morph, ROLI Lightpad M, and Linnstrument 128 all in hand, with Joué and K-Board Pro 4 on their way eventually… new territory and very exciting stuff!

1 Like
#93

The only softsynths I’ve ever used are the stock Ableton synths and a couple M4L devices (CZ101 emulator and some sort of additive synth). I was pretty happy with what comes stock in Suite particularly Operator, Simpler, and Collision.

I wish I had more patience for ITB work, but the old “I work with computers all day…” sets in for me.

#94

Very true. You have to work hard to separate the “putting hands on something” part from the “staring at a screen” part. That’s why MPE intrigues me so much; it’s a chance for me to really get hands-on when I play rather than widdling virtual dials with a mouse.

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#95

I recently picked up a Nord Wave and I’m really loving it so far. It is nice blend of flexibility, sound, and ease of use/immediacy.

I have yet to start building sample sets for it, definitely something I want to start doing soon. It has no pitch/time stretch algorithms so if I want chromatic sample playback I need create a sample for each key. This opens other possibilities as well though!

I think my dream hardware poly synth would be a two oscillator version of the MI Plaits module, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

1 Like
#96

Here you go:

What do you think of the Sensel Morph and Roli Lightpad M? I love my Linnstrument! It’s the controller I always wanted.

I tried the Seaboard Grand early on, and ended up sending it back for a refund after one trip back to the factory did not permanently resolve hardware-based stuck note issues. I also realized that the not-quite-piano layout just wasn’t doing it for me.

Someday I want to try a Haken Continuum, but I don’t know if I’ll ever feel comfortable spending that much money. Hard to say.

And I’m very keen to learn what @randy has up his sleeve with regard to the next version of Soundplane…

MPE/touch controller options?
#97

I just found and read that thread on my own and got caught up on it. I will take my response there, as it’s more appropriate than hijacking this thread.

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#98

anyone else use an Ensoniq SQ-1 and deeply love it even tho they know mb they shouldnt?

#99

I’m very close to finding myself a Perfourmer and letting go of a bunch of other gear in an effort to simplify. How often and how flexible do you find using specifically as a polysynth?

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#100

Well let’s start by saying it’s NOT gonna be a tetra or a mopho x4, so you won’t get easy pleasing “typical” polysounds out of it, but then that’s not what it’s for. I used it a lot as a polysynth personally, I like a lot about it, the possibility to make it a dual two oscillator synth, or a 4 voices polyphonic synth with two modes (one “classic” where it goes in sequence to the next oscillator everytime a new note is triggered, and one where the oscillator pick is more random and chaotic, which I personally found myself using more!), there’s no sub oscillator per voice but it’s kinda crazy how fat it sounds without it so I would cross that as a non-issue, then there’s possibility to synchronize / desynchronize LFOs to eachother or make every oscillator an additionnal LFO (and if you choose to synchronise them, the possibility to make them interdependant by chosing that the next one is gonna be delayed from its previous oscillator by a subdivision of your choosing) this alone can help creating crazy texture with very slow or very quick oscillations in rythm. If you’re interested, you’ve noticed you’ve got independant output for each oscillator, which I use ALL the time to put different settings on each oscillators in ableton / protools, and then there’s the crazy beautiful FM knob, where you can use the previous oscillator to cross modulate with the next FM style and go completely bonkers with the sound palette. There’s still a lot I didn’t mention that makes this synth special to me, so, in substance, yes, it’s only 4 voices, and if you’re interested in a classic kind of keyboard playing, I don’t think it’s the ideal choice and 16 voices DSI synths will be the go to place, but if you want to tweak parameters in real time (ONE KNOB PER FUNCTION! It’s all layed out for you on the front panel and It’s the best, most fun providing, possible thing) out of a sequencer or create beautiful pads / drones / ambiant chords or whatever really (I actually use it for everything), I think it’s just a beautiful piece of instrument that takes inspiration from a lot of places and is absolutely thrilling. I’ve tried a lot of synths before but this one was love at first sound :slight_smile:

Damn I did just sound like a Vermona rep for a whole paragraph, I promise this was only sponsored by my love for this little thing!

6 Likes
#101

Thanks for the answer. I’ve been very intrigued by the architecture it has, but it helps a great deal to hear your enthusiasm for it. By chance, do you have the CV/gate model and (if so) do you ever use it?

#102

Software polys?

Dexed as I mentioned above is a fantastic recreation of the dx7. I would dare anyone to try a blind sound comparison. It also can use dx7 sysex patches and create them if you want to fire them into your hard ware synth.

As a lover of 80s vibes I can’t get enough of sylenth1 and katsihiro chiba’s classic synth max for live devices. (I _think_they are all poly).
https://www.ableton.com/en/packs/classic-synths/

4 Likes
#103

I’ve read a lot of discussion around it’s shortfalls but I’m listening to a lot of ob6 demo’s and feeling like that’s the sound I’ve always wanted out of a poly, I’ve never found that before. But, it’s expensive and a fairly big bit of hardware for my tiny studio. I’m not anti software but haven’t found any demo’s that come anywhere close to that magic (subjective obviously) sound, yet. I’ve been listening mainly to Arturia stuff. I’m going for the prettier stuff btw, I’ve got crazy/ aggressive covered elsewhere. Would probably prefer some soft synth at this point due to the reasons above, so any suggestions for getting close to that oberheim sem beautiful sound? (Or should I just start selling my stuff and making some space)

#104

re: soft synths, i tend to shy away from them nowadays due to the issues that arise each time i upgrade os/daw. one i keep coming back to is gforce imposcar, love it to the point of being tempted to get a real one but worried about maintaining it. so i’ve been also trying to find a touch digital controller for it (a dedicated controller that was produced only for a very limited time - if anybody has one for sale please let me know!).

but that goes back to my concern it’ll stop working one day. it just occurred to me that perhaps a solution to this would be running it on raspberry pie - has anybody tried using one as a dedicated VST box?

#105

People really like the DX-7? Because of the digital artifacts, or in spite of them? I found the DX-7 II to be decent sounding, and leaps better than the original. I know the II had 16 bit dacs instead of 12, and perhaps they upped the sample rate. I would think that the software versions don’t tend to emulate the “classic mid 80’s” sound of 12 bit + aliasing?

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#106

I’m planning on doing the Gligli update on my SCI Prophet 600. Supposedly it really transforms the synth. On the off chance that anyone else has done this, do you have any technical tips?

#107

So I updated my Prophet 600 with the Gligli update and, wow! It really is like a new synth. Really lush and classy sounding, far more impressive than I was expecting! It no longer has that murky vibe of the P600 and is much more in the Prophet 5 spectrum. The soldering to modify the Teensy 2.0 ++ board was a bit fiddly but still manageable for a beginner like me.

Highly recommended for anyone with a Prophet 600!

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#108

if you have not, go for the dx7. there is nothing like its family and it is so good sounding and fun. best programmed naked with candles.

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#109

i have one in storage. it has the soft case carry bag.
come visit portland and bring it back with you.

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#110

Interesting, seems inspired by the Virus:


http://www.productpilot.com/en/supplier/exodus-digital-ltd/product/valkyrie/

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