-=[THE SYNTH ZONE]=-

You can get the new Arturia Mini V filter for free if you download it from their site before the 25th:

https://www.arturia.com/arturia-festive-gift

Downloads are SLOW!

Got a DrumBrute this week. It's pretty fresh, and very fun to play. Downside is that none of the knob settings are saved, and cannot be midi controlled, so pretty much you want to work on one song at a time with it, or else you will need to take pictures of the knob positions or something. I'm thinking I'll use it to play a bunch of stuff live into... Live, and then cut together bits from there. The note repeat pads are super-fun, and the filter is a nice addition.

Downloaded that Mini V filter, but looked at their page for offline activation and realized I'm never going to do all that. :/

OK, the Teenage Engineering OP-1 looks urgent and key. Especially with the little antenna accessory that lets you apparently just sample right off of any FM station.
― El Tomboto, Sunday, December 11, 2016 11:20 PM

watched a video on that, not something i need but that interface/menu is amazing

I got the OP-1 and a PO-24 and have spent the intervening period playing with the ARP Odyssey and iDS-10 on my iPad instead. This is mainly because super hip Swedish UX design is actually fairly unintuitive and feels unwelcoming to me

also I need stereo mini patch cables now. lol the future

iDS-10 is so much fun. I do really wish that the quantization could go like one level finer than it does. But I really love the way it does knob automation (long pressing any knob bringing up its own piano roll)

i want a volca fm

I used to play the DS-10 on my nintendo DS. Esp. at the time it was really impressive feature-wise.

I'm fairly certain my entire contribution to the "no line on the horizon" ILX pre-cover compilation is made of DS-10 noises

hey yall, i've always wanted an MPC and now i'm seriously considering grabbing one. now that akai has basically discontinued the line in favor of a hardware/software combo, i imagine the older models are only going to get more expensive. any MPC users have any tips/tricks/advice for buying one? i'm looking at one of the tricked out refurbed 2500s from mpcstuff. also, any JJOS users? trying to figure out if its worthwhile to try and learn akaiOS first and then switch over

also, any alternatives for a hardware-only pad-based midi/sample workstation in 2016?

I have an MPC 1000 and have always used JJOS. It is 1000000% better than Akai OS. Don't even bother with Akai.

JJOS has had a bunch of different versions and it can be confusing. I was really used to one version then I upgraded and haven't used it as much since and a few things were shuffled about. There's no great documentation so it's annoying, but EVERYTHING is so much better in JJOS. Even just naming songs, adding grid edit, the last JJOS even had loop recording.

I'd pay for just the grid edit for starters. But everything is so much better.

ahh good to know. the lack of documentation with JJOS was making me nervous, given that i can barely even piece together which version of it i should be using

I know. That's confusing. But in the end, just get one of them and it'll be better than Akai's and you'll figure it out.

new standalone MPCs are on the way with touch screens and all that jazz like the hybrid 'touch' model from last year, probably announced at the trade shows. one's the portable form factor of the touch, the other is a big old-style one with heaps of extra encoders and stuff.

interesting.. i'll have to wait and see

welp: http://www.factmag.com/2017/01/09/akai-mpc-live-mpc-x-video/

the portable one, if it's got enuff grunt to run standalone proper-like, should be siqqqqq

I am banning myself from more gear though

mpc x looks cool, cv/gate outputs are nice, but it's a bit out of my price range.
mpc live looks like it has potential, but i guess it really boils down to how the software is. specifically for me, how the touch UI feels.

does anyone have any experience with the mpc touch or the mpc desktop software and can give their 2 cents?

Tip for the OP-1 - if you have a smartphone that can browse file structures, get an adaptor like this and you can back up onto your phone while you're out.

er, like this

http://www.dhresource.com/0x0s/f2-albu-g1-M01-4D-B1-rBVaGFXs9NGAFbkPAACe22w_e4I052.jpg/18cm-usb-3-1-usb-c-type-c-male-to-usb-3-0.jpg

Has anyone gone for one of the boutique 303s Roland put out last year?

this morning in the tunnel that connects the F train to the 1 train, late-middle-aged busker rocking a MASSIVE Korg Triton

Ha amazing.

Got to mess around with one of those again recently, a friend has been using it. It still had the Grindin' presets and everything.

https://teenageengineering.com/products/op-z_preview

I'm so mad I just got my OP-1 and then they do this

I'm not a fan of their user interfaces. Too many key modifiers. I tried playing around with one of the pocket operators, and was able to make a beat, but just couldn't get into it. I guess you just have to make it over the learning curve. I love their PCB design, though! Planning to use some of their techniques (using gold etch + silkscreen) with some boards in working on.

Anyone know if Nord is releasing a Stage 3 any time soon? I'm thinking of upgrading my old Electro 2, but I don't want to get burned.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/folktek-mescaline-3-part-synthesis-and-sequencing#/

That seems remarkably good value for $450.

wanna know something cool? I just took an old really busted Prophet 600 and got it fixed up and had the gigli teensy mod installed. These mods people are doing are really great, the idea that you can add so much life and features to an old synth. Maybe one day I'll do the Kiwi 106.

Is anyone currently working with a Eurorack or other modular system?

It appeals to me as a dorky, expensive hobby rather than a particularly practical musical tool but the idea of having that flexibility, and the option to - for example - integrate Wasp, Polivoks, etc elements into a set-up, is interesting.

Yay!
http://www.nordkeyboards.com/products/nord-stage-3

http://www.waldorf-music.info/media/rokgallery/9/9823bcc9-27c6-4ce2-cb4f-a750b3697e15/f1fe24c5-4192-4746-e03b-1104f6d78733.jpg

mike huckaby probably air-punching rn

Video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Phi8zPZcWtw

Is anyone currently working with a Eurorack or other modular system?

I have this small self-contained kilpatrick modular - uses banana jacks, not part of a rack so it keeps the desire to expand it at bay (a bit). I work differently with it to the way I worked with, say, anything with a keyboard - has tuned envelopes so I can get sweeping apreggiations going really quickly, I'm more likely to spend time routing things to other things and exploring the sound rather than just working on a melodic line, etc. can be self-indulgent, but doesn't have to be - you can play it or sequence it as easily as any other regular monosynth.

That look cool! I've got the Roland System 1m and the Makenoise 0 coast which are both patchable and Eurorack compatible so I am getting my head around them at the moment - the temptation to expand in the future looks pretty irresistible.

This looks pretty sweet: http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2017/04/19/novation-peak-8-voice-polyphonic-synthesizer-debuts-at-superbooth-17/

Interesting:

http://www.factmag.com/2017/04/20/behringer-deepmind-6-analog-synth-announced/

The Deepmind 12 is supposed to be good. You can also pre-order their controversial Minimoog clone now.

That thing looks pretty sweet, especially for the price. I think I'm done buying synths for now. Although the Peak looks pretty sweet...

Anyone here have a Moog Mother 32? I've been so taken up with programming patches for the OWL that I'm budgeting myself for a small Eurorack system.

Complete neophyte - Minibrute, Bass Station II, MS-20 Mini? Or is there a virtual analog to look at? Or the Roland JD-xi?

Eager for simple and to the point - watching Teenage Engineering OP-1 videos was overwhelming without even seeing one in person.

Those are good, but also consider the Korg Minilogue (polyphonic; can play chords up to 4 notes) or Monologue (monophonic; can only play single notes). Of your choices, I think the MS-20 Mini would be the toughest because of the knob layout. BSII seems good also.

Is there a particular kind of music you want to play?

On the virtual side, it might be worth looking at the Roland System 1.

Weird/ambient + wannabe Portishead, I think? I forgot the System-1, that and the the BSII were the two I was mainly looking at earlier tonight. Will check out the Korgs too.

Bought a used MiniBrute recently but wish I'd bought the Monologue.

It's the Minilogue for you son, six years

The Minilogue is a good bet. iirc it has four voice polyphony which I guess is enough for ambient pads.

It is definitely worth trying to play around with something in a shop if you can. Ease of programming is one thing but key size is another huge factor for me as a terrible keyboardist.

If you are completely new to synths, it might also be worth looking at a decent midi/USB keyboard and a good VST package. It isn't quite as tactile (or not without a bit of work) but you aren't wedded to mini keys and are not stuck with hardware limitations.

As a decent guitarist but mediocre keyboardist I actually find I respond really well to weak-resistance mini keys like the Nanokey. Full size keys seem so much bigger than they need to be...

My issue is probably being a terrible guitarist as well then.

ideal for me would be two mini keyboards one above the other so its easy to make larger intervalic leaps without having to fling my arm out wayyy over therrre