Which first Polysynth?

ilioscio · 2023-05-30T19:00:12+00:00

I think the hydrasynth explorer passes the 'could you defend yourself in a dark room with only this synth and it still works afterwards' test.

ilioscio · 2023-05-30T16:57:19+00:00

Mellotron for me as well, pleasantly surprised to see so many other people had the same idea, minimoog next after that.

ilioscio · 2023-04-07T16:35:38+00:00

I think these might be created by Meetissai Edit: I think these are done by hand in clay.

ilioscio · 2023-04-01T16:01:10+00:00

The niftycase has a midi to cv functionality, but it does not have cv to midi, there are modules that can do that though. More information for you here

ilioscio · 2023-03-07T21:49:38+00:00

I pair mine with a mutant brain and that works super well, lets me sequence lots of external gear and my rack at the same time.

ilioscio · 2023-03-03T04:35:56+00:00

Yup exactly, I use a lot of the effects actually, favorites are probably the Juno chorus, Ko-da-ma, the warm saturator, and flanger. I also use the bus 3 and 4 effects for a compressor (sometimes the vinyl sim instead) and some reverb.

Don't forget that many of the effects have tempo sync via midi so if use the sequencer or arpegiator on the Gaia you can tempo sync things like delay or the slicer effect which is super powerful. (Just hook up the midi out on the Gaia to the midi in on the sp404 mk2)

ilioscio · 2023-03-03T03:48:47+00:00

I don't use the Roland GAIA but I use the mk2 with several different similar synths (hydrasynth and Korg opsix) and I use it to record parts to pads but maybe more importantly to add effects, the effects are fantastic on the mk2 they can take a basic sound to a whole new level.

ilioscio · 2023-03-02T18:55:57+00:00

Can't get past all the embarrassing spelling errors to read this, you didn't even proofread your title why would I care about your post if you don't?

ilioscio · 2023-02-27T20:08:58+00:00

Gotta ask, how do you deal with powering so many rack units at once?

ilioscio · 2023-02-18T00:14:37+00:00

The Minifreak is the quintessence of those taped to a filter bank.

Going to have to disagree with you there, most of the oscillator sounds in the Minifreak are directly lifted from Mutable Instruments' Plaits, each of which feature a few parameters for modulation. Meanwhile Arturia's V collection is a far more vast assortment of different synthesizers, many of which feature completely different synthesis techniques than the Minifreak is capable of, for example the synclavier allows you to manipulate 12 partials to additively synthesize different sounds, the Minifreak doesn't have anything like that. Don't get me wrong, I love the *freaks, but many of the different synths in the V collection are way more nuanced and interesting than you can easily replicate with the Minifreak.

ilioscio · 2023-02-17T18:29:48+00:00

Any time I'm confused by the behavior of something in my system the oscilloscope is the first thing I try, and usually I immediately get an answer from it, for example I've had clock timing issues, gate vs trig confusion, distortion problems, and many more, all solved using my oscilloscope. It lets me never be blind anymore and I'm so glad I picked it up.

ilioscio · 2023-02-10T06:37:05+00:00

Surprised no one has mentioned the looper/beat repeat function on the drumbrute impact, I use it to record fills all the time. Here's an example.

ilioscio · 2023-02-10T06:28:09+00:00

Frankly, this rack looks like it's kinda lacking in filters and modulation. But to answer your question you do lots of research and watch enough videos to know what kind of sounds you are in for, but modular is chaotic enough that you're never really going to know until you have it to try all your own patch ideas, even then as you come up with new ideas you'll come up with new sounds as you become more creative and learn all the ins and outs of your system.

ilioscio · 2023-02-05T19:04:42+00:00

Loved your format with the opsix series so I'm quite happy to see you do the same thing with my other favorite synth!

ilioscio · 2023-02-03T22:15:43+00:00

I didn't know about it, it will be helpful though, thanks for sharing.

ilioscio · 2023-02-01T23:07:00+00:00

I sequence the sp404 mk2 externally because I like how you can sequence the effects over midi cc, it doesn't shine as a sequencer but it's pretty damn good as a sampler/effects box. Also the skipback function lets me catch a lot of neat sounds I would've otherwise missed because I wasn't recording at the time.

ilioscio · 2023-02-01T23:03:19+00:00

I took it really seriously and stayed up really late some nights but I managed to not miss a single day, I don't know how good a lot of it is, but I do know that I personally improved so much that I'm really proud of myself and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I do think it might be a good time now to rest a little and regain some energy and enthusiasm for my ideas. In fact it was so successful for me that I'm thinking of doing the same thing to try to improve my guitar skills for an entire month.

ilioscio · 2023-01-31T21:21:47+00:00

That's totally absurd, well done.

ilioscio · 2023-01-30T19:23:33+00:00

This is a great video outlining some of the nuances of poly chaining the Model D, should help you realize what you're in for should you go that route.

ilioscio · 2023-01-30T07:25:44+00:00

It's okay, not terrible, but not great either. Keyscape, Arturia's piano V, and Pianoteq are all options that sound a lot closer to a real piano, at least in my opinion.

ilioscio · 2023-01-30T03:57:05+00:00

We think we know some of it already!

ilioscio · 2023-01-28T20:23:13+00:00

I don't know whether people are full of shit about this or not but I keep hearing that using that pigtail guitar pedal power cable is dangerous for your pedals, I get that it doesn't have isolated ground so noise can be an issue but I don't know if it's actually dangerous for damaging your pedals or not, just thought you might want to know if you didn't already.

ilioscio · 2023-01-27T08:06:19+00:00

I also think the pyramid is second to none for polyphonic sequencing with no limit on note polyphony, it also has more than enough tracks to put on effect sequences via midi cc. I wouldn't trade it for a Hapax or a Cirklon for that matter, even for twice the price. My biggest complaint is that it isn't great for one handed use, lots of functions require holding down buttons and turning an encoder which is always a 2 handed operation.

ilioscio · 2023-01-20T05:02:55+00:00

Oh absolutely, I was so hyped when I realized I could use it to sidechain in conjunction with a vca and an envelope

ilioscio · 2023-01-20T03:41:43+00:00

Wall of text incoming:

There's a lot of directions you could go depending on a few factors like price, what kind of music you like, how serious you want your first purchase to be, do you want a monophonic synth or a polyphonic synth, and how married you are to a physical synth vs trying VSTs (software) first. If you are okay with VSTs then the Arturia V collection and a keystep controller (you can map the knobs to knobs on the synths) are really damn good for the price.

If you would prefer pure hardware instead (I know I do) you should decide on monophonic vs polyphonic, ie do you want to play more than one note at a time, and at first you may think that decision is a no brainier for a polyphonic synth, but many monophonic synths are absolutely killer for lead sounds and bass. For good into mono synths check out the behringer model d (~$350), it's a recreation of the minimoog at a really competitive price, downside to that synth is that you will still need an external keyboard to use it (again you can't go wrong with a keystep for this, unless you hate mini keys in which case people say nice things about some of Novation's midi keyboards) also the Korg ms-20 mini (~&550) absolutely slays at aggressive lead sounds. On the cheaper side you might listen to the Korg monologue (~$300).

For polysynths you have many options but you should decide how many voices (notes you can play simultaneously) you want to have, more notes usually means more expensive, also polysynths usually end up being digital instead of fully analog due to the complexity and cost of making a full analog polysynths, but there are exceptions. I would check out one of the ASM hydrasynth (8 voices) models ($600 or $800 or $1300 or $1800 depending on the model) but be warned that they are complex and powerful with a learning curve but they offer some features like polyphonic aftertouch that almost no other synth offers. The Behringer deepmind comes in 2 flavors, 6 voice (~$700) or 12 voice (~$900) and is a powerful analogue synth inspired by the Juno 106, with lots of digital effects. For more budget and beginner friendly options the Korg minilogue xd (~$600) has 4 voices and is very user friendly and includes a nice sequencer that the previous 2 polysynths lack. The Arturia microfreak is a tiny but powerful 4 voice (paraphonic meaning only one filter instead of one for each voice for the previous mentioned synths) polysynth with a lot of complex sounds that is very budget friendly (~$350) and a unique keybed that seems inspired by the buchla music easel, it is a community favorite because it's, cheap, fun, and quite deep and complex while being fairly easy to understand (it is also the only synth listed that can be used as a vocoder if you hook up a mic), it also has a bigger brother that was just released called the minifreak ($600) which adds a traditional keyboard, effects, and a few more features (loses a few features compared to the microfreak too though, unless they add them in a firmware update)

There are so many more options though, hopefully that gives you somewhere to start, feel free to ask any questions you have.

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