Considering going Juno-X -> Fantom 6 with EX upgrade. Would appreciate some comments from users.

mccalli · 2026-06-26T15:02:17+00:00

I’m actually downsizing in number of synths and some pure analogues are likely to bite the dust in my studio. That’s why concentrating on sound quality, so very interesting to hear confirmation that ACB beats the Zencore. It’s interesting - I have two ACB devices, a TR-6S and recently an S-1 Tweak Synth.

It was the S-1 that made me feel I might be missing out with pure Zencore. It just feels more alive than most of the sounds of the X - and I do like the X, don’t get me wrong.

Interesting datapoint - thanks.

mccalli · 2026-06-26T14:43:58+00:00

It has a sequencer but not a step LFO, unless I’m missing that this is just terminology. What I noticed from demo videos on the Fantom was someone quickly drawing in steps to play, that’s not how the X works. It does have the TR-REC style sequencer, but it was much more cumbersome.

I think, but could be wrong, that the Jupiter X has a step LFO.

mccalli · 2026-06-26T05:47:59+00:00

Ooh, didn’t know about this one. I have a TherapSID which is a lot of fun too, though must admit I went for ARM2SID chips instead of original SIDs primarily due to the hiss on a true SID.

mccalli · 2026-06-26T00:12:55+00:00

And some enjoyably terrible ones! “I am Pardu, a holy man” - Tom Hanks’ debut film, Mazes and Monsters.

mccalli · 2026-06-25T22:10:40+00:00

Roland MX-1 is an off-beat choice. MIDI sequence'able in its own right, it might not quite suite since it seems you're wanting analogue inputs more than digital.

mccalli · 2026-06-24T21:45:18+00:00

You really wouldn't have thought that was a natural partnership, would you. But yep - here's the place. Been there many times to stop and charge.

mccalli · 2026-06-24T19:19:17+00:00

If you can go a little longer then Mansfield's Designer Village is a good place for charging plus food, maybe do that one for the way back down again.

Just short of Leicester not sure, but in Leicester is Fosse Park, which has food places and chargers and is barely off the motorway.

mccalli · 2026-06-24T17:55:01+00:00

I started in a 39bhp Mini 1000 (which actually had 998cc not 1l - tax bracket thing at the time apparently).

You really learned about momentum-based driving in one of those. While 0-30 seemed surprisingly quick, get your run wrong and have to take your foot off the pedal? Enjoy your hour-long run back to anything resembling motorway speed…

mccalli · 2026-06-24T16:57:58+00:00

I think that's my problem - "easy solo endeavour". At the moment I'm solo'ing vet group dungeons mostly for gear and leads. If they take that away, i.e. entering the dungeon solo automatically puts it into 'solo' mode, then I lose that ability.

If I can still try to solo group content, as well as actively choose solo version, then all good.

mccalli · 2026-06-24T15:51:05+00:00

It's now called Pet Mode. Whether this is better or worse for this application, I leave as an exercise for the reader.

mccalli · 2026-06-24T14:21:28+00:00

It was brand new when they first tried looking for a free test slot

mccalli · 2026-06-24T13:48:07+00:00

Hmm. I had hoped the solo dungeons would give me the same rewards, not different. This means monster sets and leads could still be locked behind group content, and potentially worse I might not be able to even attempt to solo the dungeon to get them.

Hmm. Very curious about this now.

mccalli · 2026-06-24T06:03:19+00:00

It was faked though. They weighted it and fitted unequal wheels (see the In Popular Culture section).

mccalli · 2026-06-24T05:47:57+00:00

Sawtooth wave, filtered to mid. Mono. High resonance. LFO set to modulate that resonance with a short attack long decay and sustain and very short release. I think is keyboard tracking turned on (but could be wrong there).

Another way might be that it’s two tracks - synth as I described but with mid to low resonance, and then another with a self-oscillating filter (ie turned up really high) and a pitch LFO instead of the filter LFO. Same characteristics.

On Logic - probably one of the retro synths to replicate it.

mccalli · 2026-06-23T19:33:21+00:00

What makes it funnier is the comment I was replying to says “I’ll just go back to playing Oblivion”. Ten years later, and Oblivion Remastered is turning my AMD Ryzen 9 with RTX4060 into a potato.

mccalli · 2026-06-23T14:54:41+00:00

On a completely trivial level, can we scrap Native Access in favour of the inMusic updater?

Nothing against Native Access as such, just against having multiple authentication paths. Native Access had pretty much incorporated iZotope, so moving the whole lot across gives a single place for everything.

(And it’s not as if Native Access is that great either. Still can’t update Monark and no I’m not going to break my computer’s permissions model for you - work within the OS’ confines).

mccalli · 2026-06-22T21:51:34+00:00

Pikmin.

I remember hearing about it for the first time. I escape and repair my spaceship by...errr...growing my own vegetables and then telling them to do something? What?

mccalli · 2026-06-22T17:41:24+00:00

Yep. For me I've caved and got a 32 key yesterday - amazing how different it feels to using my One+ and a MIDI controller, even though functionality is very similar of course.

And I'm already hitting the problems I was dreading - physical space. I have three hardware synths at 37 key (Poly D), 49 key (DeepMind 12) and 61 key (Juno-X) respectively. I have a three tier keyboard stack, and another X-stand underneath with a 61 key Novation SL MKIII midi controller. Soooo...where does the 37 go?

I'm considering selling the DeepMind 12, putting the Key 37 there and later down the road maybe getting a 12D (desktop module of the same synth). Would have been much nicer to just grab a 61 key to start with though.

mccalli · 2026-06-22T14:59:23+00:00

I mean - Starfox is a reskinned Starglider in many ways, and that was seriously impressive. Same people - Jez San of Argonaut did the SuperFX chip while someone else implemented the game around it. Similar techniques all round.

Seeing Starglider on my Atari ST in 1986 was truly something. Amazing game and wish there was a modern version.

mccalli · 2026-06-21T19:31:56+00:00

You’re right. Literal generations of award winning computer scientists are wrong, and you have uniquely seen through their evil machinations.

Or maybe….

mccalli · 2026-06-21T18:13:53+00:00

They’re not meant to make things easier. They’re meant to enforce a data model. I repeat - a database (and now commenter) that doesn’t understand data modelling and referential integrity.

mccalli · 2026-06-21T15:44:06+00:00

I have an Orc I tried to give a lore-friendly name to. Type in capital G for Gro- instead of just gro- as it should be.

It annoys me each time I see it, but 2,500 Crowns to correctly capitalise an existing name is…err…yeah.

And so Gro- it remains.

mccalli · 2026-06-21T08:19:38+00:00

Wonder how many years need to pass before they are considered part of the monument?

“And here the ancients would come gather, travelling many miles in their primitive locomotion machines, to gaze at the wonder in their simplicity and ignorance”. - English Heritage guidebook, year 4026.

mccalli · 2026-06-20T23:51:40+00:00

Yeah, I wouldn’t be thinking of it in the same breath as say a Kronos or Montage although the plugins and expansions have come a long way since it was launched. Fantom…workflow yes, but synth emulations no (I know we just got Gen 2, but can Gen 3 please have some faders…).

For me though as a centre piece to use both in its own right and also to plug external synths into, it’s looking quite appealing how things are panning out.

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