-=[THE SYNTH ZONE]=-

I finally got a Volca Fm, and I'm happily using the presets while messing with the velocity and algorithms (while just as happily not learning anything about fm synthesis).

So the Microfreak is fun for easy & quick modulations, especially getting pitch-bending sounds, but it just doesn't sound great in a mix? I feel like I have to either add a pile of effects to make it plausible, or I end up replacing it with samples or a different synth. Not universally true, but it can have a quality that's a little aggressive and brittle/thin.

With the Volca FM, on the other hand, I almost feel bad that I'm barely doing any processing to the sound. It just sounds great raw.

you can get some wild sounds once you mess with the EG settings, but i usually just play mildly tweaked presets through fx

The latest Behringer clone is unexpectedly the Octave CAT

https://www.synthtopia.com/content/2019/12/31/behringer-cat-synthesizer-clone-first-look/

just got my brand new benjolin in from derek holzer, hoping this will provide motivation to actually set up my studio space in the apartment i moved into like six months ago.

good iPad synth things lately:
AudioDamage Quanta - the only granular synth where I can get what it's doing rather than just turn every sample into noise or an atmospheric pad
ApeSoft Sparkle - resynthesizes two samples so that one takes on the qualities of the other

behringer is just shitting out synths like week-old sushi

Arp (Korg) teasing something that comes in a big box and has patch cables. Rumors of a Karp 2600 as per Jean Michael Jarre? Will probably cost less than what I paid to get my vintage one fixed last year.

always teasing something that comes in a big box

i feel like all that chinese sweatshop-built behringer mass-produced crap will break within a year

If the build quality is like their guitar pedals, then yes.

The construction of the Model D and Neutron seem perfectly fine, the DeepMind has been out for several years now.
Behringer has some shitty business practices but it's not like all the current Korgs and Rolands aren't being built in the same sweatshop factories.

does anyone make an affordable tactile sampler a la the dr. sample anymore

Roland still makes an updated version afaik (SP404).

fun. what about the maschine/maschine mikro? has anyone here used those? i don't really want to be tethered to a computer and the mikro looks hard to use without having it plugged into a laptop

yeah looks like those and the elektron model:samples require using a DAW to edit samples or sequence effectively

i had a volca sample for a while, it was kind of a nightmare to load samples into (via iphone app) but once that's done it's pretty self contained

The Elektron:Samples feels super crappy for the price - the buttons are squishy and the knobs aren't very responsive.
The Maschines are completely unusable without a computer I think.

Maybe a MPC 1000? I see them pop up locally for $400ish sometimes, they're usually listed for more online.

the roland sp seems like the best bet, i might just save up for a digitakt though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa3STYcrFAc
lol suck it Behringer

That thing is a beast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8NVBHmQfRw

yeah it looks amazing

so i am a guitar caveman but had a chance to mess around with the Jupiter-Xm at CES and holy shit... i had no making music could be so EASY. i think i've been turned out lol. price of entry is a bit steep but between that and the wavestate i feel like i might be selling a guitar in the near future

New MPC One looks pretty slick:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzM38LNaBQU

Behringer is going into modular with System 55 and System 100 clones at under $100 a module. Idk if I particularly want any of them. The System 100 phase shifter might be cool.

i'm not that interested but the meltdowns across the Modular Internet have been entertaining

(i have sold everything except for a macumbista benjolin which i run through a gauntlet of cheapo behringer pedals)

it's gonna be a bloodbath when behringer starts cloning mutable instruments modules

Have any of the Behringer synths been out long enough to see if they're reliable in the long term? I'm often tempted to buy one of the desktop units (Crave in particular piques my interest), but I don't want to plunk even modest dollars down on a synth that will crap out in five years.

So the Microfreak is fun for easy & quick modulations, especially getting pitch-bending sounds, but it just doesn't sound great in a mix? I feel like I have to either add a pile of effects to make it plausible, or I end up replacing it with samples or a different synth. Not universally true, but it can have a quality that's a little aggressive and brittle/thin.

With the Volca FM, on the other hand, I almost feel bad that I'm barely doing any processing to the sound. It just sounds great raw.

This has become increasingly true, to the point where I've made multiple keeper tracks based on the Volca FM, and will probably sell the Microfreak (RIP).

I'd like to replace it with another desktop synth to complement the Volca, maybe that Modal Skulpt? Any other ideas? Or maybe I'll just pull out the ol' Volca Keys.

I downloaded the demo of U-he Repro 1 and now I want one of the Behringer Pro-1 copies.

https://www.dreadbox-fx.com/chromatic-modules/

$100 a pop, curious as to how they sound. i bought the filter (looks like a MS-20 style make yr own bandpass thing) and the attenuverter/mixer/lfo, awaiting delivery

they sound bad

haha :(

ok, so like the LFO on the attenuverter/mixer/lfo thing was normalled to the final output mix unless you stuck a dummy cable in its output--and the mixer is kinda noisy the LFO acts as a VCA, so you've got triangle-wave amplitude modulated background noise at all times. unless you stick a dummy cable in there, which is very stupid.

the filter was kinda cool but the resonance slider was super super twitchy and i almost icepicked my own eardrums a couple times

That’s a shame. The unconventional approach seemed like the best thing they had going for them, otherwise you might as well stick with Doepfer.

how are you getting along with your digitakt? i am tempted to get the digitakt/digitone combo, or a rytm.

lately i've been playing guitar into a mess of mutable modules and it's fun but i want to do something more composition-oriented and i never finish anything in ableton

i've had the digitakt for about two years now and i love it, it's at the center of everything i make. the lack of song mode and stereo sampling is a limitation, but it's very fast and easy to use

Yep, I use it much more as a sampler and drum machine than a sequencer for my modular but it’s really fast and intuitive.

the other option is trying to bend ableton to my will with the push 2, anyone fuck with one of those?

maybe we should have a gear/process intersection thread, i am always looking for new gear solutions to creative problems which is incredibly stupid.

Not necessarily, I also like creative solutions to gear problems though.

I have a Push 2 but I almost never use it except as a step sequencer - even though I'm a unbelievably shitty keyboard player I can't get used to the pads as an alternative, I don't use the clip mode

Actually, I should look more seriously into crossgrading to Cubase and selling Ableton.

lol whoops i sort of accidentally solved my own problem by lowballing for an octatrack on ebay, the journey begins

Congrats!

I just got a Basimilus Iteritas Alter to sit alongside the Intellijel Plonk. It sounds immense.

i had one of those. it was awesome, i think my shitty monitors didn't do it justice.

i'll be going on a post-octatrack module austerity kick alas

Actually, I should look more seriously into crossgrading to Cubase and selling Ableton.

I've never heard anyone say this but I'm for it

I still use Cubase because it's what I learned on, and it's very fast for me, but it's my secret shame since literally everyone uses Ableton (and the ones that don't use Logic or FL Studio).

I know I'm missing out on easy warping, some crazy effects routing probably, and Max for Live. And that 'Ableton' quality that everything has today (I think of it as a little thin but with a lot of clarity and strong transients), which is a trade-off obviously. But at least I finish tracks, and I get '90s drum & bass pitch-shifting & time-stretching effects for free. :)

I'd like to think that the limitations are good for creativity, but maybe I'm just holding myself back, who knows.

I know a couple people who still use Digital Performer. Just wanted to confess to that. I was using it till I switched to Ableton.

It feels good to know that getting tracks done in Ableton is a common problem. I wish I had better work habits to overcome this.