The Synth Thread...

All instruments that aren't guitars (or bass guitars).
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tdbajus
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Re: The Synth Thread...

Post by tdbajus » Fri Oct 20, 2017 10:09 pm

Pleasantly surprised to find this here! I feel stupid for having not looked before.

I just bought my first big boy synth, a Prophet 6. It has, unfortunately made me now hate all my old synths. My poor MiniNova- such an amazingingly powerful little guy- gets no love. I had a Roland boutique Juno and Jupiter, and a subPhatty. All sold.

Here's the super weird thing though- with all the other, cheaper, far more flexible modern synths, I could get exactly what I wanted, easily.

The Prophet, though... man, it's frustrating. When I turn on a subOsc, I do it because I want a clean octave below for bass notes, not because I want to significantly change the timbre the mids and highs. I'm almost certainly describing this badly, but I know it can be done they way I'm trying to describe it, because I could do it on both Juno, the Jupiter, and the MiniNova.

The thing is, I had trust in the 9 bazillion people who swear it's amazing. I mean, there's also the matter of the 9 bazillion amazing records with Prophet all over them.

So, I just sort of assumed that i was still dealing with user error.

Also, it was not lost on my that when I was trying to design sounds I was frustrated, but when I listened to the recordings of solo synth/gtr/drum machine jams, I absolutely loved it.

There is something so incredibly 3D in the patches you can build. There's an option to pan the individual notes- you can go from mono all the way to full ping pong. A lot of stuff I listen to now sounds so small. It's gotten me obsessed with wide, detailed stereo fields with minimal instrumentation- basically a variety of modified Jazzmasters, played pretty clean, swimming in this dense soundchowder.

And I'm not talking that tomatoey Manhattan clam chowder, either, bub.

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Re: The Synth Thread...

Post by gusman2x » Sat Oct 21, 2017 2:30 am

My boutique d-05 arrived yesterday. But it's a Christmas present! Aaarrgggg

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Re: The Synth Thread...

Post by StevenO » Sat Oct 21, 2017 4:43 am

I stopped by a music store yesterday and saw a Prophet 12 set up, so I decided to go over to it. Plugged some headphones into it and started to play. THANK GOD I could not get any sound out of it, because I'm not entirely sure I could handle enjoying a 3k+ synth.

:whistle:

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Re: The Synth Thread...

Post by StevenO » Sat Oct 21, 2017 5:28 pm

I played a Prophet 8 and a Prophet 12 today and left feeling so "meh" about them. I bet they're fantastic and need a lot of digging deep into them to get the best from them, but right now I'm happy with my Juno.

My Prodigy on the other hand... :-/

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Re: The Synth Thread...

Post by OffYourFace » Sat Oct 21, 2017 6:45 pm

The new Dave Smith Prophets are nice and are very flexible but there's nothing like the 'real thing'. A nicely calibrated Prophet 5 (preferably a Rev. 3 if you want my opinion, forget about the gearslutz Rev.2 praise!) is a thing of beauty. It's not my favorite vintage synth but if you heard one next to a Prophet 6, forget about it.

Re: Junos

-The Juno 6/60 can get tight and plucky since it has the same envelopes as the Jupiter 8
Other than patch memory, the 6 also lacks a gain conrol for the VCA. Juno 60 all the way imo.

-The 106 can get fatter in the bass department but its envelopes aren't as snappy. We repair 1-2 of these every week.
I suggest replacing all 6 of the 80017A (VCF & VCA chips) with newer ones. We started using some that a guy in Canada makes. They sound no different than the crappy-made old ones and are just as good and cheaper than the Analogue Renaissance version.

-Alpha Juno 1 & 2 is the best bargain out there. It sounds 99% identical to the 106 but A) has an expanded envelope generator for a wider variety of sounds, B) has the same MN3009-based analog chorus BUT has complete control of the Rate/Speed. Buy one for $300 and then save up another $250-350 for an external controller (PG-300 or one of the clones). They're really not bad to program with just the alpha dial. But anyway, they're half the price of a well maintained 106.
The 1 has 49 keys vs. the 2 which has 61, velocity and aftertouch (the strip is usually broken but the effect is meh).
Also, the 1 is mostly plastic but the 2 has a metal frame that can handle more abuse.

I've owned them all and I currently have the Alpha 2... but after getting an Oberheim OB-8, I never use it.
I can't go back to 1 DCO per voice synths.

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Re: The Synth Thread...

Post by StevenO » Sat Oct 21, 2017 7:00 pm

Mike, what would you consider to be a good "companion synth" to the 106? I love mine, but I want something with a little different character. Honestly, I was considering looking for either a SH101 or a Prophet 600, but who knows...

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Re: The Synth Thread...

Post by OffYourFace » Sun Oct 22, 2017 11:52 am

A monosynth for sure. Get MIDI in your Prodigy or at least get the CV mod done. An SH101 is great but overpriced imo. P600 is cool but I dont think you need that and a juno.
The earlier Roland SH-2 is a great alternative to the sh101. It's cheaper and cooler imo.
Most people seem to use a 106 and a mini Moog. You're practically there with a Prodigy.

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Re: The Synth Thread...

Post by StevenO » Sun Oct 22, 2017 1:03 pm

I feel like the Prodigy doesn't get guttural enough or dirt enough. It kind of just sounds really raw and nasally. It would cut through a ton in a mix, but I kind of just want that low Minimoog sound. Does the new Behringer D do that? Other than that, I think I'm not much of a Moog guy as a whole.

I should probably get the gate/cv thing though. I put my prodigy up on the local classifieds as a trade/swap just to see what people offer for it. We'll see!

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Re: The Synth Thread...

Post by OffYourFace » Sun Oct 22, 2017 4:52 pm

My Rogue sounds so good now after I replaced every electrolytic cap and two sliders. I actually just bought a second one! I'll have one set for bass and one set for lead.

Prodigys can be temperamental if not serviced properly. They don't do bass as well as the Rogue but you can modify them to have lower octaves.
Still, I'd rather have the Rogue with mods. The next step is to install power transformers inside them to get rid of the wallwart and add midi. Oh and add PWM to the 2nd VCO of the new one.

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Re: The Synth Thread...

Post by StevenO » Sun Oct 22, 2017 5:02 pm

Dang, I bet that sounds great. :)

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Re: The Synth Thread...

Post by BlixaFan » Mon Oct 23, 2017 5:09 pm

i just went and read the interview with Richard D James about the Korg Monologue, and now i'm sort of curious about trying one out. i'm a sucker for synths in general, and also really want a Moog Mother 32.

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Re: The Synth Thread...

Post by StevenO » Mon Oct 23, 2017 5:18 pm

The Monologue is a great little mono synth for sure. My brother has one and I play it every chance I get.

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Re: The Synth Thread...

Post by tdbajus » Mon Oct 23, 2017 9:41 pm

I'd be happy with a Juno too.

Have you seen the guy who cuts them down to around 4 octaves, calls the mod something like Junior 106.

I dream about those.

The Prophet 8, IIRC, uses the same hybrid osc system as the Tempest. I love it, but the 6 sounds really different.

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Re: The Synth Thread...

Post by Singlebladepickup » Fri Nov 03, 2017 6:58 am

Haven't played many synths, but last night I got a chance to play my friend's Micro Korg while he played guitar. Super fun, really easy to get cool sounds. I wish I had more time to mess with arpeggiator settings

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Re: The Synth Thread...

Post by MechaBulletBill » Fri Nov 03, 2017 9:08 am

tdbajus wrote:
Mon Oct 23, 2017 9:41 pm
Have you seen the guy who cuts them down to around 4 octaves, calls the mod something like Junior 106.
Hell YES, that's a great idea

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