-=[THE SYNTH ZONE]=-

Any idea what they didn't like about it?

Good question, not sure but probably they just weren't using it enough to justify the cost/space? Here's a video of Ali Berger making good use of the TR-8S (which apparently adds the ability to load your own samples?):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGy9X2BF5u8

If you find the workflow & sound palette inspiring, go for it.

yes, the S in TR-8S is for samples. It's pretty much in the upper range for me both in terms of price and complexity. I could see going for something more basic like the drumbrute imapact, but that may be just a tad too limited. I really want something immediate that I can crank out chunky beats on quickly and that can integrate nicely with what I'm already using. The added functionality on the TR-8S seems nice. It's there if I want to take it a step further, but not critical to using it. That said, I would like to know more about its drawbacks.

The different Elektron boxes look really nice, but generally too expensive and just too much overall. It seems like you get massive amounts of control over every little element and can get some truly wild sound design and sequencing out of it, but that feels like overkill for me. Any really complex sound design I need, I'm probably going to do via Pigments. If I add in external boxes, I really want them to just be dedicated to doing one very specific part of a track really well(drums, lead sequence, etc).

I love stuff like this, although I doubt I could ever be this adept. Make sure to turn on closed captions. Apologies if I posted this before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8gFmlGqfuU

I got the drumbrute impact and I love it. It does thump hard but you can dial things down to get subtler beats. Really easy to just crank stuff out on, and I love the arturia sequencer. Separate outs available for different drum voices so you can e.g. run the snares through a delay pedal or whatever.

there's a very high likelihood I'm going to want to process individual drum sounds in ableton, so separating them out is pretty important for me

am I correct in thinking the drumbrute impact has improved sound quality over the original drumbrute?

It sounds way more aggresive as I understand it. Just checked and there are output jacks for the kick, snares, hats and the FM drum as well as the master output. When you separate out the kick for instance, it will remove it from the main out.

I'm seeing regular drumbrutes on ebay for roughly the same price as the impact. Drumbrute seems to have more functionality, but that more aggressive sound on the impact is important too. Don't know which is better for ~$300.

As far as synths/sequencers go, I've been drawn to the minibrute 2s because I could imagine using just the sequencer as as a controller for ableton synths or pigments, plus I could see the synth being a good tool to add an extra melody to the mix. I like that there's some hands on analog synthesis, and then I could dabble a bit with patching on top of that, but without it being immediately essential to using the box.

The one downside on the DBI for me is not being able afaict to feed pitch information into the FM drum voice via midi to create melodic patterns. That would be sick. Not sure what other boxes in that price range can do that though

that seems like a clear plus with the TR-8S, but it's twice as expensive

All synths should look like props from a sci-fi movie IMO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe8pV9FnWeU

For the TR8S money, you could get an MPC One! But sounds like you don't really need a whole new DAW. I have the Drumbrute, and it sounds a little wimpy, but some compression/saturation can help with that. I ordered an SP404 Mk2 to give me more drum options (and of course so I can sample stuff), but it won't get here until March, at least.

right, I don't need a full music production box, and I don't want MPC style samplers.

I went ahead and purchased the two boxes I mentioned off ebay for somewhat reduced prices, guess we'll see if it works for me! I took a hard look at both drumbrute options, I like the way the impact sounds, but was worried it would lead me to use the same drums on everything.

oh cool, have fun moodles!

btw just noticed that bad gear just did a video on the DBI, so you can see whether to rue your decision or not! it's a pretty fair review imo, though i can't say i noticed any knob-wobble on mine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rzujay4tUtE

TR-8S would be my top contender for a HW drum machine, too. I tried the TR-8 and loved the intuitive design, but its sound pallet was obviously limited. The 8S seems like it should solve that. I hope you have a blast with it!

it looks like it has just the right amount of complexity to get creative with it without being completely mind boggling

https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-topics/g02027/

The Casio Employee Behind the “Sleng Teng” Riddim

Surprised it doesn't mention the Bowie Hang On To Yourself theory.

I've been spending the day with the minibrute 2s, going through the manual and coming to grips with programming it. The manual is really well written, very friendly and conversational rather than purely technical. It guides you through examples to help learn what everything does. It's really the perfect first synth for me: fairly basic, but with enough bells and whistles to keep it interesting, and it's gotten me thinking how I might get it to work with other synths or eurorack stuff. At this point, I'm feeling pretty comfortable with dialing up patches, but the one thing I haven't wrapped my head around is what all the alternate track options are for on the sequencer. For example, what does it mean to sequence envelope or control voltage or LFO, and when would I want to use that?

I'm hoping to do a similar deep dive with the TR-8S, but the manual and other materials for it are not quite as welcoming, it may take some warming up to truly appreciate what I can do with it. I'm slightly intimidated.

This ancient (in Youtube years) video of Adrian Utley screwing around with a Minibrute popped up in recommendations recently, has me wanting to keep an eye on Craigslist for a 1 or 2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtc1qNYCeHY

For example, what does it mean to sequence envelope or control voltage or LFO, and when would I want to use that?

Not Minibrute specific but CV sequencing something other than pitch would generally be used for things like automating changes to volume, how open the filter is, note length, pulse width, etc,

You could, for example, have a sixteen step melodic sequence with the filter set to nine o’clock and trigger an envelope on the fifth and thirteenth steps to open the filter dynamically through to three o’clock.

put some polyrhythmic sequencing on envelope segment lengths (like on different slopes of a MN maths) and you can get real weird real quick

the buchla music easel and the buchla-inspired aalto VST from madrona labs both have a sequencer that's designed to be patched into all kinds of things. sequencing delay time is fun. sequencing the modulation index on the complex osc is even more fun.

I’ve got a Make Noise 0-Ctrl with 3 controllable CV outputs per its 8 steps (among other things) and it’s been fun uncovering all the weird possibilities.

i used to have a MN rene and pressure points combo, which i think is somewhat similar to the 0-ctrl, and it was the best hardware sequencer i've ever used.

the arturia pigments sequencer, discussed in depth on the pigments thread, is also terrific

Arturia's manual game is top notch, the Microfreak manual is very also super readable. And sequencing stuff besides just note values/length/velocity is where synthesis gets really fun, imo. You can discover all kinds of strange grooves this way.

I can more or less understand applying an LFO or envelope to something at a particular point in time, but I don't really know what it means to apply a control voltage to something or why I'd select one control voltage over another.

Control voltage is mostly for controlling other pieces of hardware (in lieu of midi), right?

Control voltage is what drives everything, including pitch. Your sequencer sends a control voltage to the oscillator to determine the note it is playing. You can equally send CV to anything else that can be controlled automatically via a patch point, for example to change the frequency of a filter, to change the amount of an effect, to have precise control over amplitude, etc.

Yes, you could also use a CV output to connect a sequencer to another synth with a CV input.

there are different standards for CV (like, the range that the input is expecting) so interconnections can get funky--eurorack is mostly +/- 10v iirc but not everything is. but you're unlikely to fry anything.

some of the most useful eurorack modules are just like 4 attenuverters on a panel that let you tweak incoming cv or invert it or blend it together into some bizarre waveform.

then when you lose your mind and start buying banana jack synths you have to connect them to common ground b/c bananas don't carry ground and then eventually you start buying diy synth kids and soldering stuff when your kid is napping.

(and it all still sounds like crickets in a bag inside a helicopter)

I had a late night session with the TR-8S, and it's starting sink in just how powerful it is. Getting comfortable with setting parameter locks opens the whole thing up.

Synth dads <3

https://i.postimg.cc/3N8tJ6Yn/0-C8-D28-ED-53-F0-4-F03-A8-C7-90-B9-CE7-FC84-A.jpg

I’ve had my eye on a Winterbloom Castor & Pollux for a while but they’ve been impossible to get here until now. It’s great - a really versatile Juno-inspired dual oscillator.

beautiful, love the mixer and waveform sum outs, curious how the chorusing works in practice, post bleeps

loving the minibrute 2s, it sounds really, really good, especially if you are into buzzy, distorted sequences. kind of reminds me of the classic korg synth (the MS20?). I wish there was a way to save patches, I keep finding really great sounds, but then can't resist tweaking then, and then find I'm unable to re-create them. I may just try to remember to take pics of them and attempt to catalog the pics somehow.

I am moving into a new place that will have a detached garage (for the bikes / tools) and studio (for the ~synth zone~) building in the back yard that I have been given domain over. I am excited to setup the studio furniture from scratch. I plan on transferring over my standard Ikea DJ booth (2 x 4 Kallax on it's side + legs to get it to proper height) but am totally free to build / buy the desk / rack for my hardware gear setup. The center of my setup is the MC-707, and I've got a 61 key controller keyboard and a handful of other outboard kit (couple of td3's, electribeS, fx boxes). Should I put it all on one flat surface? Make some kind of tiered setup? standing desk or sitting desk?

I have one of those Output desks, and I like how it has a big tray underneath for my keyboard. My back definitely misses my standing desk, though.

Hardware is fun and cool, but lately I'm trying to save $$ and I'm diving into some VSTs. And holy cow, I want to strongly recommend Vital. I've ponied up for the "Pro" edition, but the basic version is free. The sound-design and modulation possibilities with this thing are utterly wild, and it's got one of the user-friendliest VST UIs I've ever seen (assuming you're already familiar with some synthesis basics).

This guy has a bunch of cool hard techno videos featuring the Roland TR-8S, it's cool to see it in action getting stretched well beyond drum sounds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go0CLlh3Js0

I recently downloaded the new operating system for the Elektron Machinedrum, not from Elektron. And it's really a beat. I went ahead and bought the little controller thing that also gives a more advanced sequencer.

Just more ways to make/program electronic sounds and melodies beyond the percussive sounds.

Vital looks extremely up my alley, ty!

Wish I'd gotten a Machinedrum and/or Monomachine when they were just 'old' instead of 'vintage digital' and $2500-3000 each.

Ethics and vapourware suspicions aside, this really is the most extraordinary undertaking:

https://musictech.com/guides/buyers-guide/behringer-synthesizers/

Behringer claims to have 50 synths in the design / testing phase, including a Polivoks, Kobol, LinnDrum, CS80, Solina, etc.

Yeah I got my non user wave machinedrum when they were just cancelling it and it was like 600 bucks. The price immediately started climbing.

Behringer’s desktop Solina String is the one I’m most interested in.

Surprised they haven’t floated something like a Farfisa combo organ in a MS-1 sized package.

Yep, the Solina and Polivoks, for me. Particularly as they are working with Vladimir Kuzman on the latter.

They’ve just announced they’re planning a $399 copy of the Buchla Easel 208….

Hmm. Still trying to save $$ but that mkII Volca FM looks pretty nice...2x the voices and patch memory of the original, but in the same price range. Still kinda baffled that they don't put USB ports on these though

Ha, they finally added velocity to it too. I wish this had been a firmware update to the regular Volca FM, I'd love to have the upgrades but not enough to sell mine and buy a new one.

Surprised they haven’t floated something like a Farfisa combo organ in a MS-1 sized package.

Yamaha's Reface YC is pretty damn close to this. I kinda prefer it more than my actual Farfisa just because I know it'll work.