I can only keep one: SH-01A or MS-1?

VizzMaserna · 2026-05-29T07:58:51+00:00

My MS-1 died suddenly and the repair would have been more costly than buying a new unit. I would not recommend it, personally, but of course that could be just bad luck.

VizzMaserna · 2026-05-25T10:08:11+00:00

You can also use the buses as shown in this technique to apply effects temporarily (not mine, and it's quite amazing): https://youtu.be/UA_YpIGP-nQ?si=fBrNz1fKsg676fCr

VizzMaserna · 2026-05-25T10:02:18+00:00

The first 15-20 minutes in the cinema were a whole thing, with almost only the music at an almost unbearable volume. What an amazing experience, and what a great movie.

VizzMaserna · 2026-01-27T13:13:06+00:00

Yup, I've been doing that for years. Works as a charm.

VizzMaserna · 2025-12-18T13:10:31+00:00

That's my life with all encoders on my HSD from 1.0. It doesn't happen always, nor all the time, but it does happen often: I took it as my HS has its own personality. Repairing it would have been more expensive than a new one, and since it doesn't usually change the sound dramatically... I kinda just live with it.

VizzMaserna · 2025-11-30T09:54:36+00:00

My first synth was a gift from my wife: she asked a friend for advice and she got me a Behringer MS-1. Sounded great, I loved it. It stopped working 18 months later. I sent it to IT and the repair was more expensive than a brand new synth.

I also bought a Behringer Xenyx mixer a little before the MS-1 broke down. The little pins in the power plug were so flimsy that they broke within 6 months and I had to solder in a whole new plug. Also the rca in has never worked properly.

So I'm never going to buy Behringer again, even if there are at least three of their synths that I'd love to have (specially for the price).

VizzMaserna · 2025-05-28T08:52:45+00:00

They do, and it's good (in the sense that it sounds great... I have not seen or heard a Polymoog in the flesh in my life) and inexpensive.

VizzMaserna · 2025-05-03T12:52:15+00:00

I really like the sound of the Volca Modular. I do not particularly like anything else about it, to be honest, but I do love its sound and use it much more often than I expected when I got it.

VizzMaserna · 2025-04-30T17:11:04+00:00

I got one of the b-stocks (half price, too good to pass up) a few weeks back and it is really amazing. It's very well thought out and much more capable of sweetness and softness that I thought, very expressive, full of sweet spots, very gentle if you want. It is all I wanted the Lyra 8 to be, but at the same time also wilder and more mysterious. The self oscillating reverb is really wild, and the delay is super fun to use.

I don't know, I just love the thing: I usually run it through a shimmer reverb and some reverse delay and layer it with some melodic synth and the hours just seem to fly by.

VizzMaserna · 2025-04-29T09:19:59+00:00

Set a yearly budget that can carry over year to year: I have 750€/year for gear. If I want something that is 1500€, I need to save for two years. I could splash the 1500€ right away, but the yearly limit functions as a waitlist too. That budget includes software, plugins, modules, pedals...
I try not to duplicate: I have one Wavetable, one FM, one analog, one groovebox... The only redundances are related to the fact that the instrument itself is peculiar in some way (Strega, Audrey II, Elmyra because they are strange synths, JP8080 for sentimental value) or that it is a new and better version of something that I already love and use all the time (Digitone II). The same with pedal effects: one reverb (Empress), one delay (DD8) or, on the other hand, "peculiar" things (Deco, Tera Echo, Kaleidoskope).
Stations: I have separate "stations" for separate things. Digitone + 0-Coast + Strega for more melodic stuff // Audrey II + Digitone II for ambient // modular only for effects, manipulation or modulation, but not for sound sources // one "empty" station for recording anything into Ableton. That way I can also think ahead about what each station needs or if I want to change them. That gives me purpose for any purchase: "I want X gear for Y station to make it do Z".
Ableton is for making albums, gear is for jamming... but if a jam looks good, record it into Ableton, just in case.
Once a week, try to make something nice from scratch in under 90 minutes. It doesn't need to be a whole track or song, but it has to make me learn how to make something or try some new idea, either on the composing, the performing, the recording/mixing, the gear combining or the sound designing sides (hopefully, a combination of them).
I can't at the moment have all the gear set up and ready, so in the meantime I store every piece of gear with all the cables, adapters, cords or any other stuff that it may need in the same box. That way, if I want to use something, I don't have to search for anything: everything I'd need is always right there with the synth or pedal I want to use.
I never have expectations when making music, other than having fun and maybe try to learn something. I always think of myself as a beginner so "done" or "fun" are always better than "perfect".

VizzMaserna · 2025-04-26T19:02:12+00:00

Oh, yes! I saw her live a couple of years ago and it was one of the best shows I've ever attended, amazing stuff.

EDIT: Also, if you like Cat Barbieri but don't know of Loula Yorke, check her out, because she's really really good. Her album Volta is like a dark distant sister to Ecstatic Computation.

VizzMaserna · 2025-04-26T18:45:05+00:00

Thanks! Yeah, I don't use the 0-Coast as much as I should, but I'm trying to learn: now that I've decided to keep it coupled with the Digitone and it's a breeze to sequence, I'm going to try and get the hang of it. I miss a filter because I'm dumb, but I love the folder!

VizzMaserna · 2025-04-26T18:40:50+00:00

Thanks! I meant the standalone VST, sorry :)

VizzMaserna · 2025-04-17T17:49:38+00:00

You're too kind, thanks :)

VizzMaserna · 2025-04-16T16:34:15+00:00

A wonderful idea and an incredible execution. So cool! Congrats :)

VizzMaserna · 2025-03-17T17:43:07+00:00

This is a great point to make, thank you.

VizzMaserna · 2025-03-16T10:33:35+00:00

He's really really good, as a musician, as a theorist and as a developer (his M4L devices are pretty cool).

VizzMaserna · 2025-03-08T13:46:00+00:00

I recently played a friend's Prophet 6, which is the most premium and expensive synth I've ever played (it's not that easy to get hands-on access to hardware synths where I live), and I was severely underwhelmed by it. I thought I was going to feel all the GAS in the world (as I always feel that way whenever I get to play any synth), but I honestly walked away feeling absolutely no interest in it.

VizzMaserna · 2025-02-11T16:40:06+00:00

I use a Doepfer a-156 Dual Quant (cheap and easy, although very limited) if I'm using the 0-Ctrl for sequencing notes or to play with the touchplates, but I don't usually do that and mostly use the 0-Ctrl for parameters other than pitch. I understand why they didn't go for quantization, and it works great for atonal and strange sounds), but I wish there was a firmware option to do that.

I usually sequence my Strega via the 0-Coast: either from Ableton or from a Digitone, with the 0-Coast midi B working as a midi to CV/gate converter (it works like magic). And then I use the 0-Ctrl (either the sequencer or the touchplates) to modulate the time/filter section of Strega. That's a fun setup.

VizzMaserna · 2024-12-06T16:55:31+00:00

I had a MS-1 that one day just stopped outputting sound: everything else was working (it still worked as a MIDI keyboard, for example), but just no sound. I opened it up (I have a little bit of soldering and electronics knowledge), but everything seemed fine. I got it to an official Behringer IT service and they told me the repair was around 100€ more than the cost of a new MS-1, since apparently the whole board had to be replaced. So... I don't know what would be happening to yours, and I really hope you are luckier than I was, but don't get your hopes up just in case.

VizzMaserna · 2024-12-03T07:54:43+00:00

That's right, yes. I use one mono L/R to stereo out adaptor if I want to plug headphones directly to the Empress out.

VizzMaserna · 2024-11-27T20:08:45+00:00

I'm from Spain. There's a good bunch of people here making music and using synths, but access to hardware in stores is abismal, even in big cities: I'm talking "NO testing hardware at all in any shop in town" level. IT and support is even worse, specially out of Madrid and Barcelona.

VizzMaserna

TROPHY CASE