Studio Pics

  On 11/23/2019 at 8:24 PM, Braintree said:

It's a cluttered mess in here, but thought I would share my new setup.

 

I'm probably going to rearrange some things (and put that Vidiot somewhere useful...), but I'm pretty inspired to get some shit done now.

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Is the Novation Bass Staton II any good? I already have the Sub Phatty, but I'm super intrigued by the Novation one

  On 11/23/2019 at 11:49 PM, Squee said:

Is the Novation Bass Staton II any good? I already have the Sub Phatty, but I'm super intrigued by the Novation one

It is seriously one of the best synthesizers I've ever owned. It's pretty much the first Bass Station with extras. I've used it for a bunch of tunes in different styles spanning from ambient to acid and it's fun to work with and versatile.

  On 11/24/2019 at 9:42 PM, Braintree said:

It is seriously one of the best synthesizers I've ever owned. It's pretty much the first Bass Station with extras. I've used it for a bunch of tunes in different styles spanning from ambient to acid and it's fun to work with and versatile.

Sold!

haven't tried the synth, but all I've ever read about it is praise, so it must be p good!

Working on a synthesis masterclass for NI, so they kindly gave me Komplete and a couple of controllers. I plan to sequence Maschine with TidalCycles, and use Massive X, Razor and u-he Bazille and/or Hive 2 as the only sound sources. Hopefully my CPU won’t melt down ^^

  On 11/30/2019 at 11:03 AM, Nil said:

Working on a synthesis masterclass for NI, so they kindly gave me Komplete and a couple of controllers. I plan to sequence Maschine with TidalCycles, and use Massive X, Razor and u-he Bazille and/or Hive 2 as the only sound sources. Hopefully my CPU won’t melt down ^^

 

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Nnnnniiiiicccccceeeee!

  On 11/30/2019 at 11:03 AM, Nil said:

Working on a synthesis masterclass for NI, so they kindly gave me Komplete and a couple of controllers. I plan to sequence Maschine with TidalCycles, and use Massive X, Razor and u-he Bazille and/or Hive 2 as the only sound sources. Hopefully my CPU won’t melt down ^^

 

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sounds like a fun gig Nil, very cool. new Maschine controller always looks so nice when i see it in studio pics, good use of a small space to get all that together in there on desk....how are you liking that SE-02? i've been lightly gassing for one.

Massive X seemed to fly completely under my radar, how is it?

If I'm totally honest with myself, I'll admit that both Hive 2 and Bazille are my favorite synths... soundwise. It's not glamorous to prefer software I know, but having amazing monitors has confirmed that it's not about the technology used but it all comes down to tone and intuitivity "to get there". That's why I sold my Digitone and haven’t regretted it one bit (I know, blasphemy hehe).

Massive X : sounds pretty solid and real from the get go, but I have to warp my head on parts of its workflow. Sonically it's up there with the finest, but I'm not that much of a fan of its tabbed design. FM is easy though, and I might spend most of my time and energy trying to coax interesting things out of it. I like to do weird things with wavetables too since I've bought Hive 2, so I bet I'm going to have some fun mixing both WT and FM. The stress test will be its envelopes, it's so often overlooked while being a crucial part of a synth sonic identity.

I bought the 3 Boutiques for a few reasons : form factor, MIDI and 24/96 audio over USB, and to relieve my CPU while live-coding. I've always loved the core, raw tones of the 808, 101 and MiniMoog, and will spontaneously go for tonally reminiscent patches when sound-designing (it definitely motivated my purchases) and they all deliver in that departement. But when using tese, I often miss all the  more sophisticated options I can reach with more complex synths to spice stuffs up, how ironic. So I'm a bit torn, and don’t know yet if I’ll keep them or not.

The raw tone of the SE-02 is pretty lush, often described as a sort of Roland take on the Moog signature sound... and it's effortless to go into MiniMoog territories with the 02. The first loop I did with both the 02 and 08 was basically a super-convincing sounding Kuedo (Severant era) rip off ^^ It handles reverb really nicely too. Now it does weird and unusual as well, it's surprisingly versatile. The only downside would be the compact layout of the unit, alas not big hand friendly   

yeah the size of the knobs is a plus and a minus....small form factor overall is great but the tiny knobs on my volca kick are a bitch to play with for more than a few seconds (and i have pretty small hands)... heard some people on dumb internet forums (not this one, others) claiming that the ext box for the SE-02 that AS put out makes this mostly better even though it only expands some of the functionality actually, so idk. it does always sound good anything i've heard from it for sure. anyway nice setup tho for reals

I almost bought Massive X today due to the upgrade offer during NI’s sale. But the UI is somehow even more convoluted than the original Massive UI. I’ll stick to Serum or Phaseplant. 

@Squee as you’re gravitating toward wavetable synths, do yourself a favor and give Hive 2 a try  It’s basically a modular in disguise with super lush sounding, scriptable WTs.

  On 12/1/2019 at 9:33 AM, Nil said:

@Squee as you’re gravitating toward wavetable synths, do yourself a favor and give Hive 2 a try  It’s basically a modular in disguise with super lush sounding, scriptable WTs.

Yeah, I've heard good things about it, but when I look at the UI my brain just dies. For some reason Serum just appeals to me because I can see exactly what's going on and what is affecting what.
Is Hive 2 just as big a memory hog as Diva?

It's much easier on the CPU. Though Diva isn't that big of an hog with modern CPUs IMO.

I teach synthesis using Serum (not my call here)... though I hate its sonics. It has a harsh, metallic tone to it that I can't stand and always end mixing against. Its UI is too distracting as well to me, too much eye candy not enough ergonomics.

  On 12/1/2019 at 12:21 PM, Nil said:

It's much easier on the CPU. Though Diva isn't that big of an hog with modern CPUs IMO.

I teach synthesis using Serum (not my call here)... though I hate its sonics. It has a harsh, metallic tone to it that I can't stand and always end mixing against. Its UI is too distracting as well to me, too much eye candy not enough ergonomics.

Yeah, you're right about the harsh and metallic tone, but I usually only use it for basses and stabs.

But discussion only leads to one thing... hardware is the best.

Depends

  On 12/1/2019 at 5:25 PM, Nil said:

Depends

Haha, correct. I actually hate it when people say, "hardware is better" because it totally depends on a bunch of things. But I just love controlling and adjusting hardware synths a lot more than dialing in one knob at a time

Software controlled by hardware is the best.

If your software isn't controlling your hardware remove my number from your phone imho.

  On 12/1/2019 at 8:29 PM, user said:

If your software isn't controlling your hardware remove my number from your phone imho.

How do you make words go into the computer tho?

  On 12/1/2019 at 9:57 PM, sweepstakes said:

How do you make words go into the computer tho?

I usually have my secretary write my posts while I dictate. That's why the grammar is perfetc.

I have been making drones.  It is fun and productive.

From right to left:

Modified Electro Faustus Blackfly with plates and wire for creating sounds

Valeton Distortion for amplification and crunch

Electro Harmonix Freeze for holding specific sounds to add a drone layer

Pladask Elektrisk Fabrikat for feedback / looping / EQ /. granulation

DOD Stereo Flanger to give me stereo output and control

I picked up an FX 75B in the box a few months ago for like $35, it sounds fantastic and I've been using it way more than I probably should (even though the stereo outs aren't actually stereo, the second one is just an inverted version of the first one so they null if you blend them in mono and completely ruin any chance of mono compatibility in your mix if you use them in stereo, which I found out the hard way - stuff recorded in stereo from the FX 75B literally disappears completely from the mix in mono).

  On 12/4/2019 at 5:39 PM, Soloman Tump said:

Modified Electro Faustus Blackfly with plates and wire for creating sounds

That looks awesome, I need to try this myself soon.

Also I HIGHLY recommend swapping a clickless footswitch into the Freeze if you haven't already, it makes it a lot more playable.

SPST, clickless, normal-open momentary switch like this:

https://lovemyswitches.com/spst-momentary-foot-switch-normally-open-soft-touch/

It's a really easy mod but if you've never done anything like that before here are some good instructions:

http://www.mattgallagher.uk/2011/07/replacing-the-footswitch-in-an-ehx-freeze-pedal/

Some people who use it mostly on a table top rather than the floor like to put in arcade buttons or similar since the action is even better, but that complicates everything since you have to modify the case (and apparently the new 2019 PCB layout makes most arcade switches not fit at all). I put in a regular foot switch like the one I linked a few years back and it was a big improvement.