The Synth Thread...

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Re: The Synth Thread...

Post by OffYourFace » Tue Oct 02, 2018 9:27 am

eggwheat wrote:
Tue Oct 02, 2018 3:11 am

And...I was forced to sell my Voyetra in the great gear purge of 2014.. but those are crazily priced now, if you can even find one...gutted as I really want it back..I used it a hell of lot on my recordings.
We have a broken one in the shop. I can't wait to hear it!

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Re: The Synth Thread...

Post by redchapterjubilee » Fri Oct 05, 2018 7:43 am

OffYourFace wrote:
Tue Oct 02, 2018 9:24 am
It’s way too expensive and it’ll probably be full of bugs like all new Moog stuff.
I had to send a Little Phatty back to Asheville twice. Same thing. VCO 2 refused to track the keyboard 100%. You could tune the VCO's to be really close to each other and by an octave in either direction it would be way off. Last time I bought new Moog. And that was a $1200 synthesizer versus something 5x+ more expensive and more complicated.

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Re: The Synth Thread...

Post by oid » Fri Oct 12, 2018 12:52 am

I have had a blofeld for almost 3 months now and have learned to work around most of its shortcomings and idiosuncrascities but the thing that really confuses me about it is that most i f not all of its wave tables can be done with the normal wave forms and the modulation matrix, they are just cheap shortcuts that eat voices. I do not get why they did not use the stock wave tables that extended what you already have, I suppose it is just instant gratification. Why the fuck are there wavetables of things like a PWM square?

What is really surprising is that if you want to go beyond the 80s polysynth realm, it is quite slow to edit on, the Micron is actually quicker for such things once you learn its shortcuts, and it has better filters. The only really good filter on the blofeld is the PPG, which eats your polyphony, the comb filters have some uses but the rest are fairly uninteresting. The PPG filter is pretty great though, I would not feel I was missing anything if that was all it came with.

I am not sure how I feel about the blofeld, I enjoy using it, but it seems to always be almost great. Their sticking to standard CCs instead of NRPNs especially, everything being between 0 and 127 really limits, and everything being displayed in MIDI 0-127 really slows ones down and forces you to guess at what you are changing, how many seconds is an 87 attack time or how many hertz is 45? A modern synth has no reason to give you filter cutoff or envelope times as such abstractions, give us hertz and seconds, or at least tell us how to convert envelop/lfo rates from MIDI to seconds.

The LFOs being single wave form really drives me nuts, it would be less of an issue if they fixed the clock sync, but even then, kind of annoying to have to sacrifice an LFO if you want both Sample and Hold and Sine of the same speed or the like. The clock sync bug is somewhat useful though, it does give an effect of clock synced LFOs and it gives some unique sounds, but combined with the single waveform LFOs, rather limiting. Someone is going to exploit this on a hit a song eventually and other companies will copy this quirk, it can be fun and gives some interesting and pleasing results.

I think it may not be a synth for me, it is really geared to the polysynth sounds, sort of an updated Matrix 6. I suspect it will stick around for awhile due to its nice lap sized proportions, but it is turning out to be just a way to get ideas to execute on the Micron, suspect it will be gone as soon as I find something to fill its spot.
Logic gates based on billiard-ball computer designs have also been made to operate using live soldier crabs of the species Mictyris guinotae in place of the billiard balls.

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Re: The Synth Thread...

Post by panoramic » Fri Oct 12, 2018 4:40 am

i'm going to get an akai timbre wolf for myself this christmas, super looking forwarrd to it
I used to be cool, now I just complain about prices.

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Re: The Synth Thread...

Post by mackerelmint » Fri Oct 12, 2018 1:06 pm

Not a synth exactly, but after years of looking for one on the cheap after my ex threw my old one out, I finally got another Casio MT-45 today.

Image

Not my image, the one I got needs a little bit of crust removal but is in fully working order. Some of the voices are pretty good, and pretty much all of them are great when run through effects of one sort or another. The rhythm section is also top notch, I've written many songs using this dude as a drummer. Obviously it lends itself to lo-fi cheese, but I think it can hang in other contexts too if used judiciously, and after watching the price on these climb from around $50 to nearly 3 times that, I was quite pleased to come across this one for a paltry $11 and change. It's got RCA and 1/4 inch outs, too, I've used it for recording and had great results. This and a Zoom MS-70 CDR is a great lo-fi keyboard setup.
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Re: The Synth Thread...

Post by oid » Sat Oct 13, 2018 1:09 am

panoramic wrote:
Fri Oct 12, 2018 4:40 am
i'm going to get an akai timbre wolf for myself this christmas, super looking forwarrd to it
I regret no snagging a used one when they were clearing them out cheap, it was easy to find them used for under $100, they seem to be creeping up in price now, last I looked they were around $200. These things are great though, people just complain that they are not like other synths ::)

Very much on my list of things to get, check for a good deal on them every so often.
Logic gates based on billiard-ball computer designs have also been made to operate using live soldier crabs of the species Mictyris guinotae in place of the billiard balls.

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Re: The Synth Thread...

Post by Maggieo » Sat Oct 13, 2018 11:37 am

mackerelmint wrote:
Fri Oct 12, 2018 1:06 pm
Not a synth exactly, but after years of looking for one on the cheap after my ex threw my old one out, I finally got another Casio MT-45 today.

Image

Not my image, the one I got needs a little bit of crust removal but is in fully working order. Some of the voices are pretty good, and pretty much all of them are great when run through effects of one sort or another. The rhythm section is also top notch, I've written many songs using this dude as a drummer. Obviously it lends itself to lo-fi cheese, but I think it can hang in other contexts too if used judiciously, and after watching the price on these climb from around $50 to nearly 3 times that, I was quite pleased to come across this one for a paltry $11 and change. It's got RCA and 1/4 inch outs, too, I've used it for recording and had great results. This and a Zoom MS-70 CDR is a great lo-fi keyboard setup.
Those are great!

I've got an MT-68, the sounds are great, the envelope switches are cool, and, maybe the best thing, the auto chord and rhythm section makes for a fantastic songwriting tool, that keeps me out of guitar cliches.
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Re: The Synth Thread...

Post by Telliot » Sat Oct 13, 2018 12:54 pm

Have you guys seen this? There’s a link in the comments to the company doing the mods.
The cool thing about fretless is you can hit a note...and then renegotiate.

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Re: The Synth Thread...

Post by mackerelmint » Sat Oct 13, 2018 5:29 pm

Maggieo wrote:
Sat Oct 13, 2018 11:37 am
mackerelmint wrote:
Fri Oct 12, 2018 1:06 pm
Not a synth exactly, but after years of looking for one on the cheap after my ex threw my old one out, I finally got another Casio MT-45 today.


Not my image, the one I got needs a little bit of crust removal but is in fully working order. Some of the voices are pretty good, and pretty much all of them are great when run through effects of one sort or another. The rhythm section is also top notch, I've written many songs using this dude as a drummer. Obviously it lends itself to lo-fi cheese, but I think it can hang in other contexts too if used judiciously, and after watching the price on these climb from around $50 to nearly 3 times that, I was quite pleased to come across this one for a paltry $11 and change. It's got RCA and 1/4 inch outs, too, I've used it for recording and had great results. This and a Zoom MS-70 CDR is a great lo-fi keyboard setup.
Those are great!

I've got an MT-68, the sounds are great, the envelope switches are cool, and, maybe the best thing, the auto chord and rhythm section makes for a fantastic songwriting tool, that keeps me out of guitar cliches.
That's awesome. It's funny how these once shunned Casios are now hot shit, they've always been good songwriting tools and the skeptic in me thinks that the people driving up the prices on them still don't realize that, for the most part. I think I'll always grab an old Casio if it's a good price, just because they're so useful and easy and fun.
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Re: The Synth Thread...

Post by mackerelmint » Sat Oct 13, 2018 5:33 pm

Telliot wrote:
Sat Oct 13, 2018 12:54 pm
Have you guys seen this? There’s a link in the comments to the company doing the mods.
OMG. Crap, now I need one. :w00t:

That's an outstanding build.
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Re: The Synth Thread...

Post by shadowplay » Sun Oct 14, 2018 6:03 am

mackerelmint wrote:
Sat Oct 13, 2018 5:29 pm


That's awesome. It's funny how these once shunned Casios are now hot shit,
I may have mentioned this before so excuse me but...

I think some of the rehabilitation is at least partially down to the outsider musicianThe Space Lady getting who uses an MT-40 and sounds not unlike a synthesied other dimension, wedding entertainer Vashti Bunyan after raiding Moondog's dressing up box and a family pack of Bacofoil.

My pal Michael put this record out on his most wonderful Night School Records.

Transcendentally beautiful, The Space Lady's music is returning to Earth. Transmitting messages of peace and harmony, The Space Lady began her odyssey on the streets of Boston in the late 70s, then San Francisco ten years later, playing versions of contemporary pop music with an accordion and dressed flamboyantly. Following the theft and destruction of her accordion , The Space Lady invested in a then-new Casio keyboard, complete with a phase shifter and headset mic, birthing an otherworldly new dimension to popular song that has captured the imaginations of the underground and its leading exponents ever since.

The legend of The Space Lady has continued to grow in the 21st century. Following inclusions on compilations by John Maus, Erol Alkan and Irwin Chusid's "Songs In The Key of Z," the benevolent spectre of The Space Lady inspired humanity from afar in the mists of time and obscurity. 2013 sees the first official release of The Space Lady's music following a hand-dubbed cassette and CD in the early 90s. These recordings were recorded in 1990 for that hand-made release and have now been remastered by Brian Pyle
D
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Re: The Synth Thread...

Post by Maggieo » Sun Oct 14, 2018 1:15 pm

mackerelmint wrote:
Sat Oct 13, 2018 5:29 pm
That's awesome. It's funny how these once shunned Casios are now hot shit, they've always been good songwriting tools and the skeptic in me thinks that the people driving up the prices on them still don't realize that, for the most part. I think I'll always grab an old Casio if it's a good price, just because they're so useful and easy and fun.
It's just nuts. I've had that MT-68 since, god, forever? It's the thing I reach for if I have to read a piece of music, or want to make up a goofy improv song, or figure out records that aren't guitar-y.

I always liked it, but for a long time is was sooooo NOT COOl.

Now it is. Weird.
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Re: The Synth Thread...

Post by mackerelmint » Sun Oct 14, 2018 2:11 pm

Maggieo wrote:
Sun Oct 14, 2018 1:15 pm
I always liked it, but for a long time is was sooooo NOT COOl.
Which is exactly how I came to get my first one back in the mid-90s. Some friends were trying to get a band together and this guy they knew played keys, so when he showed up with his cheap little casio (immaculate, in its case), he was jeered so badly that he left it and never returned for it. I adopted it and got a little ribbing for that, but its charms were obvious so I didn't care. It took a minute to figure out how to get some of the voices to sound good to me, but the rhythm section was ace. I'd grown up puttering on my grandparents' Hohner organ pressing all the rhythm buttons in at various combinations so I loved those old "pre drum machine" sort of drum machine sounds. Hall and Oates knew. They knew.

There's a lot to be said for synth shopping on the island of misfit toys. Their charms are always rediscovered and they appreciate. I got a JV1010 for stupid cheap years ago, which is a half rackspace JV2080 with one expansion slot instead of 8, fewer outs and lesser onboard FX. The UI is terrible since it's geared toward playing the presets but that can be worked around with software. That synth engine runs deep.

Sometimes the least cool gear is the best/most charming/most useful, thankfully. :)
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Re: The Synth Thread...

Post by PJazzmaster » Sun Oct 14, 2018 2:36 pm

Telliot wrote:
Sat Oct 13, 2018 12:54 pm
Have you guys seen this? There’s a link in the comments to the company doing the mods.
I have seen that. 2 or 3 years ago I was almost about to send them my MT 68 for that Mod but for some reason I decided against it. Still very tempting...

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Re: The Synth Thread...

Post by Maggieo » Sun Oct 14, 2018 4:06 pm

Telliot wrote:
Sat Oct 13, 2018 12:54 pm
Have you guys seen this? There’s a link in the comments to the company doing the mods.
:w00t: :w00t: :w00t: :w00t: :w00t: :w00t:
:fp: :fp: :fp: :fp: :fp: :fp: :fp: :fp: :fp: :fp: :fp:
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