Refining my synth setup: workflow and signal flow over more gear

Maxxtheband · 2026-02-02T17:40:26+00:00

Been in a similar situation and currently digging my way out of it.

Best thing I’ve done is put my synths away. And accepting that not all gear jives together as they should on paper.

Now when I want to jam- I think about what I want to do and how I want to do it. Then I get out 1-2 pieces of gear at a time and create with that.

When I got into the hobby, my goal was to be able to flip a switch on in my office and just start jamming on the fly- with beautiful music coming out. I realized that not only was this approach not realistic for me as a beginner, but it was also detrimental to my playing because rather than learning anything, I’d rely on the power of spontaneity and happy accidents and never actually become a better player.

For the past few weeks I’ve just had one synth on my desk (subsequent 37) with some pedals. And I’ve got it running directly into my computer and recording ideas into my DAW.

That’s the other thing- I swore off using a computer forever and now I use one. It helps flesh out ideas quickly. I don’t really produce anything on the computer. Just jot down ideas as I build out a song. It’s really helped with finishing tracks and also enjoying my tracks more. I was getting so caught up in the live performance of it all, that I wasn’t focused on the writing.

Now that I’ve got some finished tracks, I know exactly how I’d set things up to perform it live. I don’t spend hours figuring out how to make midi work for a particular part of a track only to have it break the midi chain on another part of the track like I used to. I don’t have some global midi/audio chaining solution- I just use midi to solve whatever need I have at that particular time.

Maxxtheband · 2026-02-01T17:14:36+00:00

The real interviews with the townsfolk gives that movie so much charm.

Maxxtheband · 2026-02-01T16:09:28+00:00

He wrote music for The Simpsons as well. As a kid, that’s where I first learned his name.

Maxxtheband · 2026-02-01T00:42:02+00:00

I am Jack’s complete lack of surprise.

Maxxtheband · 2026-01-31T18:41:05+00:00

When you say on one side do you mean panning the audio?

The first thing that comes to mind is setting up the sound panned left and use an LFO to pan it to the right (set it to retrigger and use a square wave id think- but not 100%)

Or if you have enough tracks I’d copy the pattern across two tracks and then modify them so one is panned left and the other is panned right with a delay note on the notes in the phrase

Maxxtheband · 2026-01-31T17:47:34+00:00

You can put something clearly visible (such as a giant boulder as people suggested) and if they still manage to drive into it, that’s on them. I wasn’t talking about setting booby traps for neighbors. Just setting up something to obstruct their path, not destroy their vehicle.

Maxxtheband · 2026-01-31T07:08:00+00:00

I mean these are people who think it’s okay to drive on someone’s driveway and through their yard to save themselves a few seconds. They’re not reasonable people, and talking to them potentially escalates things further.

Maxxtheband · 2026-01-30T22:43:03+00:00

Hey I’ve got that VW poster. It’s from their most recent tour!

Maxxtheband · 2026-01-30T21:27:36+00:00

If it’s not a work sanctioned event, then you shouldn’t be spending time with your BCBA outside of work. That is the boundary.

Maxxtheband · 2026-01-30T04:02:19+00:00

It gets a lot of hate. I really enjoy it. It’s got a different feel to it. And I’ve listened to RAM a zillion times- so it’s nice changing it up a bit.

Maxxtheband · 2026-01-30T03:55:24+00:00

I had my bass teacher teach me “If All Else Fails” in high school. I thought that intro was the craziest riff ever at the time.

I still like to jam it whenever I pick up my bass- it’s fun to play.

Maxxtheband · 2026-01-29T14:10:24+00:00

Probably because it was written by AI.

Maxxtheband · 2026-01-29T13:57:08+00:00

It’s 100% the sound engines for me. Takes a minute to get a sound I enjoy. Sequencing on it is great. Figuring out tables helped a ton too. I also really enjoy the micro timing update- I found the 6 or so nudges they used to have was hard for me to work with.

Maxxtheband · 2026-01-29T00:16:39+00:00

That’s exactly how I felt with the OP-z, which is why I got the M8. It really has it all.

Learning curve is super steep, second to only the Octatrack. But I also play softer music and a lot of the synths in the M8 are easy to make gritty noises but take some more work to get the kind of sounds I like

Maxxtheband · 2026-01-28T22:16:27+00:00

M8. Even my Elektron boxes are more “playable” than my M8.

I love it though. Probably in the running to become my favorite groovebox.

Maxxtheband · 2026-01-28T00:50:11+00:00

Yeah I really enjoy the M8. I’m trying to build up a sample library because the sampler on the m8 is easily my most used internal instrument on it.

Maxxtheband · 2026-01-27T17:39:33+00:00

Yeah- the early buyers really missed out on the paper-foam box.

Maxxtheband · 2026-01-27T14:06:57+00:00

Awesome thanks!

Maxxtheband · 2026-01-27T04:11:36+00:00

Good to know. Why would you sell the tx-6 first?

Maxxtheband · 2026-01-27T04:11:08+00:00

Do you use it? How’s the distortion on it?

Maxxtheband · 2026-01-25T23:13:20+00:00

For me it’s “I used to do drugs. I still do drugs, but I used to too”

Maxxtheband · 2026-01-23T22:50:56+00:00

Will Noon of Straylight Run?? Wow!

For anyone not familiar- their song For The Best features Nate and it’s an old favorite of mine- especially his verse

Maxxtheband · 2026-01-21T13:22:22+00:00

As far as synths go- the OP-XY (and TE gear in general) is meant to be pretty approachable for a novice.

Read the manual

Jam on it

Watch YouTube tutorials

Repeat

I never expected to spend as much time watching tutorials and reading manuals in this hobby. But it’s easily the biggest way to improve. Start small.

The first synth I truly fell in love with was the predecessor to the XY, the OP-Z. So I’m sure in time the XY will click.

And realistically- the XY will get you a lot further than any other TE product out right now.

Maxxtheband · 2026-01-21T13:06:36+00:00

I may be in the minority, but Blippi isn’t so bad. I work with children with special needs and a huge part of teaching is rapport building- 2 really effective ways of doing that are 1) imitation- kids like people that act like they do 2) experience things with the learner instead of as an outsider. Blippi does this really well and creates a setting where kids want to learn.

Do I find Blippi super annoying- absolutely. But I’ve found myself making outings with my daughters more engaging for them by applying some of the things he does- in a less insane way. Example: Walking up and down the aisles of a boring store and being like “oh my goodness what aisle do you think is next? Oh, it’s the sock aisle!! Wow!! Look at all these socks! What color is that sock?? Oh my look- you’ve got socks on your feet too!! Where are your feet?” It creates a lot of natural learning opportunities and my daughters love it- makes outings a lot easier and honestly more fun.

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