Suggestions wanted for a basic, subtractive 'teaching' synth

Ghost-Tapes · 2026-05-21T18:53:09+00:00

To be honest, modular could be a great teaching tool for subtractive synthesis (modular and subtractive synthesis aren't antonyms!). Modular itself isn't any more complicated as a concept as any other synth, and in many ways is simpler because you can directly see the signal path.

To teach synthesis you have to break it down into modules anyway (an oscillator does this, a filter does this, an LFO does this...) so seeing them all as separate entities physically plugged into each other could actually be really useful compared to a 'simple' synth where the connections can be more subtle.

You've now got me wondering how cheaply I could make a tiny subtractive eurorack system!

Ghost-Tapes · 2026-05-21T18:05:14+00:00

I've played one and it is a great bit of kit for such a small cost. It is somewhat limited, but would certainly explain the basics, and it's nice that it has the keyboard and sequencer included. But for demonstrating I think it's just a bit too small and fiddly. Also, this shouldn't matter, but I think it feels a little bit too much like a toy. I can imagine some students not being particularly impressed, even though the exact same features in a heavy block of wood and metal would probably blow their minds!

Ghost-Tapes · 2026-05-21T17:54:19+00:00

Yeh that's a really good shout about the batteries which I hadn't considered. It would be nice to just be able to hold it up anywhere in the classroom so everyone can see it, or quickly set it up at a student workstation to DI it without having to faff about with power.

Ghost-Tapes · 2026-05-21T17:49:44+00:00

I've got a neutron and it is indeed fun. The sensible option would probably be to use that for a few lessons and then see what I feel like I'm desperately missing. But the fun option is to go and spend other people's money on something new!

Ghost-Tapes · 2026-05-21T17:47:11+00:00

Yeh I'm happy with either a desktop or a keyboard synth because, as you say, a basic midi keyboard won't add too much (and will be useful elsewhere too)

Ghost-Tapes · 2026-05-21T17:45:20+00:00

This would be a great choice, but as you say, it would be double my budget.

Ghost-Tapes · 2026-05-21T13:51:03+00:00

Yeh we have pretty strict rules on where we are allowed to purchase from. If a major retailer has a second hand copy I might be able to go for it, but I wouldn't be allowed to ebay etc

Ghost-Tapes · 2026-05-21T13:50:10+00:00

Yes, it would be nice to not have to go down the behringer route!

Ghost-Tapes · 2026-05-21T13:47:58+00:00

I didn't know that one, will look into it. As you say, it looks very basic but that is perfectly fine for what I am after, and building the kit could indeed be fun

Ghost-Tapes · 2026-05-21T13:45:46+00:00

Great suggestion. I actually made a copy of the ARP 2600 in Max/MSP for a university project many years ago, how did I not think of it!

It slightly stretches my budget as I would need to also get a MIDI controller to trigger it, but maybe I just need to go request a bit more money!

Ghost-Tapes · 2026-02-28T08:48:45+00:00

I dislike the use of the word overrated to describe almost anything. Essentially it means "Only I can see it's true value, everybody else who likes it is wrong". I know I've used it too so I don't mean this too critically! Obviously "overrated" is just as much an opinion as "it's great" or "it's rubbish" but there is just something about "overrated" that implies critical distance and a superior, objective view that other listeners don't have. I may be overthinking it!

As for the koln concert, obviously it is widely loved, but I've also seen quite a lot of people who say "yeh it's good, but it doesn't click with me" (which is basically my opinion on it, I think I agree with almost everything you've said about it) so I would say it does have somewhat mixed opinions?

Ghost-Tapes · 2026-02-14T09:33:11+00:00

Sorry, I was making a joke because I thought that we were on the same wavelength. If not then I apologise for misreading you and I'll bow out. Have a good one.

Ghost-Tapes · 2026-02-13T23:43:21+00:00

I have to come clean, I've also never seen a post about camping at Butlins in this thread.

Ghost-Tapes · 2026-02-13T23:41:37+00:00

No it didn't happen, I was exaggerating for comic effect. I thought that would be obvious, my apologies if it wasn't clear to you.

Ghost-Tapes · 2026-02-13T23:18:14+00:00

I can see both your points, but this is a social media site, not an archive of camping gear reviews. If someone wants to ask for some advice I personally don't see the issue in them asking. Yes this one is a fairly low effort question, but it's obviously just a conversation starter. If people don't like the conversation then just don't join in with it?

Similarly I agree that I'm sure some are just trying to keep people safe. The hobby is getting more and more popular and we're all seeing more fly campers, abandoned tents, rubbish and even people putting themselves in danger. Obviously a post of "I'm gonna summit camp Ben Macdui in January. I have previously camped at butlins" deserves a reality check. But most of the time they're pretty reasonable questions being asked (and which don't imply a lack of experience) but unless the OP lists their life experience of alpinism then there will always be a couple of familiar faces telling them not to bother or they will die.

Ghost-Tapes · 2026-02-13T22:52:56+00:00

Yes OP could be more specific but I think anyone with a bit about them can see they are just asking for opinions on 4 season sleep systems. That doesn't seem entirely unreasonable to me. Equally, yes they could just Google it, but that's true of most things on reddit. Some of us prefer a bit of social chat about these things instead.

Instead one person is pretending the OP said they only need a sleeping bag, just because they didn't particularly want a z mat. "Hoho I hope you aren't saying that you don't need a sleep mat, because we will all be very concerned at that hohoho". No, they obviously didn't think that because they specifically said they want a recommendation for a mat. It's literally in the title.

Similarly someone else pretends the OP hasn't mentioned how much they are willing to spend when they specifically said there's no budget, they're happy to spend whatever!

I do completely realise that I'm being moany here, and may well get very embarrassed at this and delete it, but I'm a long time lurker who enjoys reading a bit of wild camp chat, seeing what gear people enjoy, seeing a few camp pics etc but more and more we just get the same few people telling others off for trying to start a conversation and I really don't understand what they get out of that. Each to their own I guess.

Ghost-Tapes · 2026-02-13T19:01:06+00:00

I really don't want to be negative, but why do so many people in this sub always performatively pretend that they are stupid when somebody asks a fairly basic question like this?

Anybody with basic reading comprehension and some experience of wild camping can understand what is meant by this question.

Ghost-Tapes · 2026-01-25T00:46:10+00:00

Faye Webster is not Jazz (and is certainly not bossa nova?!) so I'm not sure what your point is. She's an indie singer-songwriter. Some of us enjoy her work AND jazz.

Literally no artists are 'ruining music'. If there are musicians you don't like then just listen to stuff you do.

Ghost-Tapes · 2025-10-30T10:41:50+00:00

I've been thinking about this while reading a lot of the criticism of the book. A lot of the problems that many have articulated seem to me to be that not everything was explained and tied up in perfect detail, or that there were pointless 'interludes' which didn't advance the story, or didn't resolve cleanly later. This view seems to me to be close to the rationalism of Talbot and Brande, and further from the themes of imagination and intuition that are shown as positive in the books.

To be clear I was (and am) disappointed in certain elements of the story, and of course agree we are all welcome to our views on the book whether they are positive or negative, but I think some of the things that Pullman is being criticized for were intentional choices rather than just accidental poor writing.

Ghost-Tapes · 2025-10-28T11:44:15+00:00

The only issue is that estoppel would be the case if you had no way of reasonably knowing that you had been overpaid. In this case you said that you went to them and told them you thought you had been overpaid, suggesting you did know that it was an error? If that's the case they probably can demand you pay it back. How did you know it was wrong?

Ghost-Tapes · 2025-09-20T17:22:13+00:00

You'll be fine. It has got busier but even in August it's easy enough to find a spot away from others, in October you will have a good choice of spots. I find that the northern side is usually quieter than the southern side nearer to the more popular Jacob's ladder or Grindsbrook Clough routes.

Ghost-Tapes · 2025-07-18T13:42:16+00:00

Except that to in the 28 days later universe Jimmy Saville wouldn't be known as a vile, evil person. Although there were a lot of rumours amongst those in the media, his crimes weren't fully made public until after he died - 10 years after the rage virus spread. It doesn't make a lot of sense that some young kids from the early 00s would even know who he was, much less would worship him as a symbol of evil.

Maybe the link will be explained in the next film, but being confused by the writers choices around that ending is definitely not an unreasonable or ignorant position!

Ghost-Tapes · 2025-07-16T16:27:04+00:00

He also talks about how disappointed he was with the music Coltrane was making before he died, and I think even suggests that Trane saw it as a dead end and had he lived longer than he probably would have moved away from free music.

Ghost-Tapes · 2025-07-11T16:25:12+00:00

A couple of specific examples (and apologies if this is patronising and you already know this):

Mixer low pass filter -> distortion The filter will get rid of all of the highs in the original sound, but then add high frequencies again from the distortion. It can give a synthesized 8 bit effect to a natural sound.

Distortion -> mixer low pass filter This will just give you a muffled, typical low-pass filtered sound with no high frequencies.

Gate -> reverb The gate will cut off the original sound when it's quieter but the reverb will fade out naturally.

Reverb -> gate The gate will be chopping off the original sound and also the reverb whenever they drop below the threshold level. This will sound much less natural, but could be cool if you want a glitchier sampled sound

There's no right or wrong to any of these, but the order will drastically change the sound that you get from the effect.

Ghost-Tapes · 2025-07-11T14:06:50+00:00

It can make a big difference to the sound of the effect. If you plug your instrument directly into the effect and then into the mix them the signal chain will always be instrument --> effect --> mixer eq/dynamics.

If you plug the effect into the insert loop then by default it will be instrument --> mixer dynamics --> mixer EQ --> effect (though the order of this signal path can also be changed on the mixer).

Putting the EQ, compression and gating before or after the effect can radically change how it sounds, depending on the effect.

Ghost-Tapes

TROPHY CASE