-=[THE SYNTH ZONE]=-

Here's a little jam I did last week:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YUFCO0v1kI

I start hitting the arp on the Peak around 4:30.

that rules thank you

Haven’t used mine in a while but mpc1000 w jjos was a great sequencer. I never used it as a sampler. I only loaded drum samples and sequenced ext synths with it. And it’s a workhorse. You still see lots of live electronic artists using them on stage.

The MPC One is like $700 and does so much.

Yeah those new MPCs look great. I was kinda turned off for a while because they were supposed to be buggy and felt like software in a box but seems like they’ve ironed out some stuff. I wonder if it would feel enough like using a 1000 but with all the modern stuff added.

the MPC live 2 was tempting but it the 1000 is very photogenic, also i'm not sure i want another touchscreen in my life

the battery/portability thing in the live 2 is cool tho, someone's developed a battery mod w usb-c charging for the 1000.

Been seriously considering an MPC to break me out of my typical workflow.

Unrelated Sidenote: The Roland SE-02 is a fuckin beast and is too slept on. Basically a 3 oscillator Moog for like 400 bucks. Sounds monstrous. Don’t think Behringer is even giving you that much at that price point.

The MPCs can now use their USB host ports for controlling gear, which would simplify things a lot.

I went to Guitar Center to buy picks and they had one of the new Waldorf M retro wavetable synths set up (despite having no other synths these days). The price is way past reasonable for me but it sounds great and it's laid out really well for programming.

DJI love it so much when the arp arrives

at 4.30

This thing looks wild:
https://www.synthtopia.com/content/2021/10/08/analog-drum-machine-in-5u-powered-by-artificial-intelligence/

And the $600 mini Hydrasynth with poly aftertouch looks cool too.

"AI trained in electronic music and other genres"

I do not understand the appeal of generative/algorithmic music.

I downloaded the demo of Berna3 (early electronic music lab in software) and I recommend giving it a spin - I never got the old version to work, it was incomprehensible and timed out before I could figure it out but the designer put together a good video on this version and it's much easier to navigate.

https://www.giorgiosancristoforo.net/

I do not understand the appeal of generative/algorithmic music.

Grids, which that drum machine is based around, is a good module but I can’t imagine not also wanting a programmable sequencer, even an external one.

Purely generative music can be fun to make, less fun to listen to - i agree.

It’s not either / or, though. I have a Mutable Marbles and a Qu-Bit Bloom and they’re both good for generating phrases that can be repeated and altered or adding semi-random variation to deliberately programmed patterns.

Yeah, I was being a bit glib there. Thoughtfully programmed stuff that incorporates just the right amount of chaos/randomness (and shit if it isn’t a challenge to hit that balance and to keep that randomness as consistently interesting as possible) is really what I’m always shooting for.

On the primitive end of it, I can get lost for hours tweaking a bunch of LFO’s controlling various parameters on a particular loop and listening to it morph and align and become its own organic thing, but I’m fully aware it’s hardly as entrancing for most anyone else.

I don't see that as generative, you're making a lot of choices with intent but involving randomness. Generative seems to range more "let's let this sequencer decide the notes with little or no input" to fully fledged "let the computer make it all" - then the building isn't even fun, it's more about consumption.

Like this thing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3Ho3sKDJFg

My buddy dragged over his gear and we did an hour of Twitch. It gets a bit repetitive, but there's some decent stuff in there:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXy7xB1563g

that torso sequencer is maybe a bit too reductive but I've been enjoying dialling in various amounts of chance on the tracker - I find it good to have a simple melody or phrase, then do some auto filling the empty notes with like 10-15% probability, then fill those with a range of random notes to scale - that basic phrase grounds it but then the probability can produce some surprising fills.

it's good to have something else to bounce off, I think, even if it is "the computer" - especially if you're not doing anything with a band environment.

Like I’m pretty sure 99% of generative modular stuff only sounds good to people who are also modular heads. Thousands of dollars and countless hours researching, building, patching and ultimately it just sounds like stuttering digital farts with reverb to everyone not in on the hobby.

Most modular folks I know don't listen to their own stuff, much less music made by other modular synthesists. The majority of modular is performance-only. They're not critically evaluating their own output, they're not releasing albums, and they don't spend any time thinking about the musical aspect of their hobby.

https://www.reddit.com/r/synthesizers/comments/q7lika/sold_90_of_my_gear_to_condense_into_a_single_case/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrcV2W73rGc

excellent review https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRVZd19gAaY

lol

I needed something to sit my TD3 on behind the mc707, and was happy that this book was the exact size I needed

🕸

I needed something to sit my TD3 on behind the mc707, and was happy that this book was the exact size I needed

🕸

I needed something to sit my TD3 on behind the mc707, and was happy that this book was the exact size I needed

Unrelated Sidenote: The Roland SE-02 is a fuckin beast and is too slept on. Basically a 3 oscillator Moog for like 400 bucks. Sounds monstrous. Don’t think Behringer is even giving you that much at that price point.

I picked one up today and first impressions are great. I understand objections to the form factor / UX but it sounds huge.

Finally ordered a the Behringer Neutron after months of debating with myself. Fully expecting to spiral down an modular spending spree / wormhole once I get the hang of it - send help lol

Same thing happened to my friend/band mate, and now he sends me a text every other day with some new module he’s getting. Started with a Neutron.

not ready to take the plunge, but I fully expect this will be me someday too

I can believe it. I’ve managed to avoid modular so far (apart from smashing clicks from sampler outputs into SH101 clock ins in the late 90’s), mainly as I lack any self control with buying music kit ;)

It’s not my first rodeo, I bought an Octatrack in the early ‘10s and ended up with pretty much the full Elektron box range within a few years, eventually selling them as all I did was jam and never ever finish anything.

Either way v v v excited to make some odd noises after a few years on VSTs alone

I'm salivating for the imminent Black Friday sales (looking at you NI and Arturia)

behringer is a gross company but i like the neutron. it can do some wild shit but it gets good and moogy when you want it to

I've been eyeing the Arturia MicroFreak, don't know that I'm really ready for more gear yet though

I posted somewhere upthread about it, but I bought & sold the 'freak. Liked the interface a lot, loved the keyboard, hated the sound. Just sounded digital in the bad way and did not fit in my mixes (criteria #1).

I'd have to pile on plugins to get it to sound ok, whereas everything that I've used lately (Volca FM, NI Razor and other Reaktor stuff, Reface CP) I have to remind myself to try some EQ and fx, because it sounds so good raw.

that's good to know because I definitely want something I can blend in with my Ableton stuff, and that doesn't sound too thin

I really like the MicroFreak, but I admit it does have a particular "sound" to it, digital to be sure but it can sound plenty warm with some finesse (subtle supersaw with low-pass filter and LFO pitch wobble sounds pretty good to me). I agree with Jordan that it can be tough to mix, but I'm more of a guy who likes to piddle around and jam than produce finished, polished material, so ymmv

I want to make finished material. Whether I actually will is another story.

I mean I do too, but my top priority is just havin' a good time with knobs & sliders

Also an FYI for you or anyone else considering the MF: it's got a weird phase-cancelling thing with the main out that can contribute to the apparent thinness of the sound, especially if you split the signal from mono to stereo at any point. For this reason I always just use the headphone out, which always sounds good lol

Oh huh I wonder if that was affecting me

one of the biggest thing I've taken away from watching a bunch of Ableton YouTubes is that most producers put a string of effects on every patch for the express purpose of thickening it up, adding some crunch, and narrowing it down to essential frequencies. I don't know if the same applies to hard synths, but I'm guessing in a lot of cases it does.

Yeah my guess is that the MF feels more like a soft synth in that sense.

I had a weird a/b recently where I tried the same part with 1) a sample from my microBrute (RIP), which sounded thick with tons of harmonics to start with but then went through a ton of vsts for compression/bitcrushing/distortion etc, and played in Iris vs 2) NI Razor, which of course can do a lot of those things within the plugin itself, using a barely modified preset I think.

It was crazy to me how similar they sounded given that they were generated completely differently. I went with #1 just on principle since it felt more personal.

I have a pair of the Behringer 2500 filters (the 1047) coming from Thomann to play with the Matriarch and start my eventual journey into Eliane Radigue cosplay.

Much as Behringer sucks overall, the synths all seem to be decent products.

Those Behringer analog drum machines look pretty cool. I don't think they ever put out the 909 one, but I thought it was cool they actually had full 1/4 outputs for each instrument.