#527

It’s no “Shanghai Muzak”…

#528

I had dreams of picking up the Iridium many months ago. Ended up with a Peak, Hydrasynth, Argon8 combo instead. Ideally, I’d sell the Hydra and the Argon8, pickup an Argon8M, and save the rest for an eventual Iridium acquisition.

(To be honest, I still have daydreams about the Iridium…)

1 Like
#529

It almost felt like the designers decided, “The young folk, they like their modules these days. Lets try that menu approach!” Surely, I am way off base (and a little tongue in cheek), but I suppose for the depth of the device and the given panel interface space; it kinda works.

But intuitive is not a word I’d use to describe it either. One other thought, a polysynth that leans this heavily towards the idea “modules” should maybe have several more CV ins/outs?

For this to be the first product from a new company is still a great accomplishment. Two words sold a heck of a lot of these synths: “Polyphonic Aftertouch” and that helped put ASM on the map for the time being.

1 Like
#530

New one on the market from Arturia. 6 voice analog with digital control features. Ribbon controller and touch pad controller simular to the Moog Voyerger.

#531

I have a Prologue (16 voice). Great synth, now that the teething problems have been worked out. It’s a diva; it jumps right to the front of the mix.

I want another microtonal polysynth to complement it, but am having trouble making a decision. I didn’t care for the Peak very much, so the Summit is out of the running. The Prophet Rev2 does great brassy poly sounds and has lots of modulation capability, but sounds a bit harsh to my ears. The Hydrasynth…haven’t played one, and seems very “digital sounding” from what I’ve heard online, but perhaps that’s people not knowing how to use it? The Jexus demo is great, but he makes everything sound great…

1 Like
#532

I think its just from people going for a different sound. They see wavetable synth and figure why not make patches with wavetable type sounds?

The most awesome thing about the hydrasynth, imo, is the modulation available.

I share this video often, but I just like it that much. Creator is using only basic waveforms and just a ton of subtle modulation to make the string patch. I think it sounds amazing, like the video description says, kinda like a combination of both real and synth strings:

6 Likes
#533

So I ended up ordering a Peak and the order got cancelled. So due to covid situation I am again thinking about minilogue XD or digitone.

1 Like
#534

Iridium has a great interface where you can construct custom scales right in the machine. You can tell it to chop up an arbitrary interval into as many notes as you want (so, equal temperament scales are a breeze); or you can construct a scale out of repeating intervals (ratios or cents) and then manually tune notes as you desire (each individual note can be tuned relative to the previous note, or tuned absolutely based on cents or a ratio from the base note). Once you have a series of notes you like, you can then tell it to automap those intervals up & down to all of the other notes (so, you can construct eg a 5-note microtonal scale and then Iridium will automatically extend it to all notes). And it can also load Scala files if you don’t want to roll your own. It’s the most robust microtonal implementation I’ve ever seen on a polysynth, hardware or software.

3 Likes
#535

I didn’t see it mentioned anywhere in this thread, so I will say that I can wholeheartedly recommend the Roland Jupiter XM to anyone who wants a multi-timbral synth with Jupiter/Juno/JP/SH-101 sounds. I never used a Roland rompler synth back in the day, so having the XV-5080 is a nice bonus as well. It also has some very basic kits with classic Roland drum machine samples, a vocoder and a multi-sampled piano. It’s undoubtedly a weird mishmash of stuff, but I really enjoy it.

My only complaints are the very basic sequencer (not really worth using) and the I-Arp thing is a bit gimmicky.

#536

I’m also considering a Blofeld desktop module. Since I think I might end up using any polysynth as a preset machine, at least Blofeld on paper seems more varied than minilogue, and has interface similar to digitone. Since I have an octatrack I don’t care much for digitone sequencer. How does Blofeld sound in practice?

#537

That sounds fabulous.

1 Like
#538

The blofeld and digitone interfaces are really only similar in the way that they don’t have a knob per function, so the context of their knobs shifts as you navigate through different pages. How they execute this is pretty different from each other though. I think the digitone’s approach is way more refined, as the visual feedback on the screen directly correlates to the layout of the knobs, whereas the blofeld uses a parameter matrix that’s written out on the panel. For me, the blofeld was quite a bit clunkier and took more time getting used to, but I eventually did get used to it and now I enjoy navigating it quite a bit.

If you wanted a blofeld to use as a preset machine and not design your own patches, then you are greatly missing it’s potential. Going purely off of the presets, I would say that the blofeld sounds pretty dated and even cheesy. The presets may showcase the complexity of the engine, but quite a few have a 90s rompler quality to them.

If you were to explore its sound design capabilities though, then you may find how incredibly wide the spectrum of sounds it’s capable of. I believe the blofeld’s biggest strength isn’t found in emulating other synths (I.e. analog modeling), but in creating uncanny outer worldly sounds and alien physical modeling. I am by no means an expert in synthesis, but I feel like my nativity has helped me to approach the blofeld in a way that feels more like a conjuring. I go into it having a vague idea of what I want, and it usually gives me an approximation of that idea, but more often than not, it takes me to strange uncharted places-

Basically, it’s a world builders synth, which isn’t always what one needs. I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re trying to use it for those “bread and butter” sounds. There are better synths for that.

2 Likes
#539

@Freeways I guess I need to clarify the “preset machine” thing. I
currently have modular so my monosynth/ arpegio needs are completely covered. And I find the modular to be the ultimately easiest to grasp in terms of interface, due to IKEA effect I guess.
I was looking to expand that and get some poly capabilities which in modular are not feasible. The downside of all the polys I see on the market in lower price range ( sub 1.5k I guess) is the interface. They all are not “knob per function” to some extent. And I just tend to use such interfaces as preset switchers. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to design my patches:)
The Blofeld intrigued me because during my limited exposure to FM I couldn’t figure it out, and I also didn’t like the FM I had in modular (Cs-L). So I’m kinda afraid of the digitone due to not understanding FM. Blofeld looks more conventional in this regard, which is good.

#540

Ah, I see. Being able to save a patch and pull it up at will is definitely one of the benefits of most self contained digital synths. I can’t really speak to the Blofeld’s fm capabilities because I’ve never used it for that, but I’ve read that it’s fairly limited.

As far as Digitone is concerned, I find it to be relatively easy to navigate and design patches on. When I first bought it, I didn’t know anything about fm synthesis. I’m still quite the novice, but that speaks more to my own disabilities and nothing of the digitone’s difficulty as a synth. Upon buying it I watched a Thavius Beck tutorial, which clearly explained the basics of fm synthesis and how it works in the Digitone.

A word of encouragement- If you are able to build and learn a modular system, then you will definitely be able to learn the digitone!

#541

@Freeways Am I correct thinking that of the two(Blofeld and digitone) you would go with digitone?

#542

I love them both for different things, but if fm synthesis is what your mainly after, then I’d say go for the Digitone. It is so much easier to understand than the Blofeld. I would also add that I personally love the digitone’s sequencer and I think it gives it a major advantage over the blofeld, but since you stated that you don’t care for the sequencer, you could easily approach it just as a synth module.

#543

I’m after a sub 1.5k polysynth. I don’t really care about it being strictly FM :slight_smile:
I agree about elektron sequencer, I have octatrack for that. Not sure I need two of those sequencers:)

#544

Oh right, I just mentioned fm because you were talking about the Blofeld’s fm capabilities… I also use an Octatrack and have the Digitone midi synced to it. I personally think there’s an advantage to using both sequencers in conjunction. I’ll sometimes even make the Digitone the master because it has a more flexible sequencer - mainly with its ability to change the tempo per pattern.

#545

Watch out, the two terms here are the same but they mean different things.

FM synthesis in analog is a rather primitive form of what can be done in the digital realm. Digital FM is done through phase modulation and key scaling which avoids the distortion analog FM introduces. Add to this many generic algorithms in which multiple operators can additively shape a sound and you get a design that is impossible to replicate in analog. That’s DX7, Blofeld, etc.

OTOH analog FM invites single or two operator modulation and treats the side-effect distortion as a feature, not a problem to be neautralized. That’s West-coast analog synthesis.

2 Likes
#546

What I meant is I didn’t like the total unintuitiveness of the process. From the demos of digital FM I still don’t understand much aside from the basic principle :slight_smile:
And since we are getting more and more focused on FM I have to say that I have no specific needs for FM:) it just happened that digitone is FM, but were I to get it it would be just for it’s polyphonic abilities and size.