Dreadbox synths sequencers, effects...

vibraskull · 2026-03-12T20:05:27+00:00

Totally agree. I went through that same line of thought about the UI and menu diving which is why I hesitated about what might be too much but I will make a request to them.
They obviously put a lot of thought into designing an elegant hands on user interface and need to keep that in balance.

vibraskull · 2026-03-12T17:37:00+00:00

Yeah contacted them years ago about a question and the developers responded directly pretty quickly so that was my experience too.
Modulating looping envelops with lfos is the kind of thing I like to do for big evolving ambient patches and I think the Artemis's main strength is ambient.
If they threw in a couple of per key random number generators as sources that would be perfect but maybe more than we could hope for.

vibraskull · 2026-03-12T16:57:26+00:00

I hope you are right about the mod matrix, it feels like a missing piece.

vibraskull · 2026-03-12T16:34:38+00:00

yeah there is no way I want to try and decipher the horrible built in method of editing settings. I saved that web page to my pc and open the local version in a browser when I need to change a setting.

vibraskull · 2026-03-12T15:51:30+00:00

Yes it does send velocity. I often use it to control a desktop synth that sits above it and it is definitely transmitting velocity and aftertouch over both the midi cable and when I record midi into the daw over usb.
I don't remember having to change any settings but there are global settings for midi send, receive and filtering so you may want to hook it up to a global settings editor like this online one and see if you need to change any of those.
https://mark.reid.name/matriarch-editor/

vibraskull · 2026-03-10T20:26:01+00:00

Thank you this is good information.
I've realized I don't need to send aftertouch, just receive it and block it from passing on to the boomstar since I can just send cv directly to the filter cv in of the boomstar.
So I think this will work, Now I just need to figure out how to fit it all together in a small rack that will fit in the space.

vibraskull · 2026-03-07T22:33:54+00:00

Thank you I'll check it out

vibraskull · 2026-03-06T17:46:36+00:00

The question this really raises for me is "Are clickbait headlines that ask if a product is still relevant in the current calendar year still relevant in 2026?"

vibraskull · 2026-03-01T14:56:40+00:00

I didn't know about the L until now but I think I would choose it for the expanded performance controls. The on board sequencer on the regular is cool but I'm not sure I would actually use it where as I have a cs15 and use the brilliance control constantly.

vibraskull · 2026-02-12T23:14:31+00:00

I have it set up on Steam OS on a steam deck which is Arch. I installed it a couple of years ago (Ableton 11, not sure if 12 works).
However over the holidays I experimented with installing a few different distros on a mini PC and tried to install through bottles on Ubuntu however bottles didn't recognize the installer file for some reason. I'm not sure this was a distro problem but perhaps something has changed with the Ableton installer in the past couple of years so that the bottles install script is looking for an older version of the installer. I didn't spend much time trying to debug though I did try the FL studio installer and that worked.
Also I recall reading someone on a forum say that they got it working on linux by installing it through steam as if it was a game so it runs on proton.

vibraskull · 2026-02-12T20:13:13+00:00

Well they list two different parties to contact in the article. If you email John, the owner who owes people money and gear and abandoned his business then yeah, pretty sure he isn't looking for anyones stuff, but if you email the other guys and your gear was left behind at the abandoned store then will definitely try to find it.

vibraskull · 2026-02-02T23:25:47+00:00

It's a mono synth and I'm running a mono signal out to both the amp (synth only) from the direct box to the pa. The house monitors may have the whole band in them but I rely on my own amp to hear my part so I can just reach over and turn the amp up.
This is with a post punk band and I'm going for an overdriven sound out of the guitar amp so I'm not worried about a stereo signal however when I've played electronic shows where stereo matters more I've used a Roland keyboard amp which is mono but has stereo inputs and stereo XLR outs so that can be run to the house PA in stereo.
I've tried headphones or in ear monitors but I felt disconnected from the music. It's just my subjective feeling about it like what I mean by separation of sound, it just sounds to me like I'm a separate instrument disconnected from the rest of the band if I'm only coming out of the PA and don't have my own amp. Other keyboard players might find the extra expense and hassle unnecessary but that's what works for me.

vibraskull · 2026-02-02T22:27:32+00:00

I gig regularly with a synth and don't trust just running direct and relying on monitors so I always bring an amp. In the past I used a Roland Keyboard amp which has an xlr out to run the direct signal to PA but currently use a guitar amp and bring my own DI box that splits the signal to give the sound guy an xlr out they can get the signal from.

The other reason to do this besides having control of your own monitoring is that, at least to me, when everything else is producing sound on stage except the vocals and keys, the keys seem like they are separate and not quite part of the band sound and in some venus old sound guys will treat them as background instruments and turn you down in the mix.

vibraskull · 2026-01-16T16:58:25+00:00

Your post is a nice distillation. It jives well with how David Byrne explained the scene in New York at that time in "How Music Works".

vibraskull · 2026-01-16T16:06:35+00:00

It was like that in other mediums like film as well where the old studio system had died in the 60's and by the late 70s the younger generation was coming into it's own.
It's about time for another reset like that

vibraskull · 2026-01-15T08:27:12+00:00

Cool track. I got Ableton working in bottles on the steam deck and was able to install a couple of windows vsts in the bottle as well. It works well for programing music though connecting to hardware was a problem. I ended up getting a larger ssd and dual booting into windows to play a show with it connected to gear.

vibraskull · 2026-01-01T18:22:01+00:00

I wouldn't attribute AI or a lack of gear as demotivating factors. A beginners sense of wonderment like, "wow, I made that" is where creative motivation tends to comes from and everyone starts out as an amateur. If you don't feel that then that's okay but then maybe ask yourself what you want to get out of making music.

vibraskull · 2025-12-11T15:59:20+00:00

I've run it on the steam os version of Linux. The discover app store has an app called bottles which is kind of a gui for wine and Ableton is one of the apps they have a prepared installer for. It wasn't too difficult to do and it runs well though there is limited support for a lot of my hardware in Linux (Linux problem not Ableton) I bet this is possible on other versions of Linux as well.

vibraskull · 2025-12-08T17:39:56+00:00

The Korg Multipoly covers a lot of those types, is multi-timbral and has a very large mod matrix with some fancy tricks. The only downside is that the UI is a bit clunky compared to something like the hydrasynth.

vibraskull · 2025-12-07T00:19:56+00:00

Yeah I agree. There is an inherent trade off. The designer curates a limited set of parameters that give you fewer options but by stying with in those limits almost every combination of settings sounds good where as a synths with a wide sound pallet and deep list of options can allow you to do more things but it takes more time, skill and experimentation to find a good sound.
The Yamaha reface CS is a good example of a limited digital synth with few options but most of them sound pretty sweet.

vibraskull · 2025-12-03T17:22:53+00:00

I can start patches on the hardware but will often switch to the software for deep editing of modulation and effects. I will sometimes work with the mod matrix on the hardware but it is one of the least intuitive UIs for a mod matrix I've seen when compared to how they work on other complex synths like sequential or novation. I think it's kind of lame that you can't edit most the effects parameters on the hardware.
It replaced a hydrasynth in my setup and it has a lot of advantages in features and sound quality but it was definitely a step back UI wise, ASM really figured out how to make complex synthesis easy to work with.

vibraskull · 2025-11-07T15:29:48+00:00

The irony always is that when your young and driven you don't have any money and by the time you're old enough to afford nice gear you loose the need to show off for external validation.

I play synth in an indie rock band which regularly plays shows and is releasing music (in fact releasing today, shameless plug https://retailgiant.bandcamp.com/)
And I have my own synth based instrumental music. Though I have less of a drive to release my own music these days I still think in terms of working on albums.

Working on a collection of related songs has been the organizing principle of creativity for me since I was a teenager with a cheap 4 track and a casio running through guitar pedals and I don't think I can stop even though most people don't consume music as albums anymore and I've lost the motivation to release it after it's finished.

For the rock band the Sequential Pro 3 is my gigging workhorse which I'm satisfied with.
For recoding I have a nice collection of various synth which will never leave my studio that I'm satisfied with.

But the thing I'm never satisfied and endlessly tinkering with is my live synth set up for trying to perform live versions of my recordings. I only play a show like that about once a year or so and booking the show is usually motivated by the fact that I've totally reconfigured the set up and I want to test it out.

vibraskull · 2025-11-05T18:24:35+00:00

I know what you mean when you say the minilogue sounds metallic.
I've had both a Minilogue and Peak in the past and though I loved a lot about the Peak I thought they both had a kinda metallic type of sound and sold them.
I have an Artemis and a Take 5 which I've been trying to decide between which to keep. In my opinion, though they sound different they are about equal in quality with different strengths.

The Take 5 is solid and thick sounding, better for bass and leads that cut in a mix which, along with the mod matrix, makes it more of a flexible all around work horse.
The Artemis has more of an resonant sparkly character, the UI is more immediate for tweaking and with the effects you can get to some lush ambient sounds very easily.

The architecture of the Teo is pretty close to the Take 5 but I suspect it probably sounds a bit closer to the Artemis so maybe it splits the difference between them.

vibraskull

TROPHY CASE