Aphex Twin synth talk

if youre into electronics and made your own synth thats super tell us about it

u better open a brew before reading this thread

talk about synths in here

right then

whats a good synth ? whats good about it then/ yeah that's good but what else? ah yeah thats fucking kick ass as well/ any downsides?

sh 101

the oscillators are square, sawtooth, or squarewave subbass. you can change the pulsewidth which is fucking awesome or modulate the pulsewidth by the lfo to make people puke up. the triangle can do some childish melodies on that which is alright for kiddie songs like a bbc.

the sequencer was quite shit u just type in the melodies and slides then trigger the notes from a drum machine such as 808 or 707. it sounds ok when done properly i think u can hear it on aphex twin ambient works.

if you chuck the cv and gate plugs connected to the tb 303 output then youre gonna get a good accompaniment, quite wild if you filter it properly. i prefers this to the sequencer at the moment. anyone good with the sequencer? what do u do, do 16 notes for each bar like a 303 style?

mushing the pitch up with lfos can get a bit stale but if you use it wisely it can give you a funny melody

um i quite like the filter but i havent had much time for modulating it much, it's too choppy

oh how about the noise with some resonance for same dodgy windy sounds?

also getting the rez to go into the bass range and messing with the adsr with 0202 setting gives some 909 style (imo) kicks!!! ive got those on me sampler.

there was an article in sound on sound about making snares on a sh101 but the snare sounds pathetics just like white noise, not very snarey, i wouldnt use it in a tune

anyone got a roland cmu? whats that like then...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Roland-Cmu-800r-analog...1QQcmdZViewItem

looks like one there. beware of dodgy sellers. ur risk. and be sure these cmus things needs all kinds of specialist cards and softwares to work or youve got a housebrick

i made a thread about synth diy (building synths), it's on here somewhere.

aside from that, korg ms2000 doesn't have a terribly unique or rich sound, but i use it all the goddamn time. great interface, the thing is like an extension of my body at this point. never had a manual for it but never needed one. just wish it had more voices - anyone know if the korg radias - ms2k's sequel - is any good?

would look into buying a radius or a virus if i had the cash.

The radias is badass. Excels at that digital cut through the mix perfection. Does the analog emulation too which i found quite good. It's a digital beast at its best. Has the mod sequencing and a continuously variable filter (meaning you can smoothly switch the poles without clicking or popping, etc.) Only down side is the price. But it's slowly coming down. I wouldn't bother with the kb version. Just get the rack, for the money you'd be better off using your controller or buying a cheap controller with a few features instead of their kb. It's one of the few hardware pieces im interested in. Oh its got the phrase vocoder thing too if you're into that thing.

It has badass wave sequencing. The effects in the thing are pretty decent too. Much better than the ms2000/electribe effects. Drum kits, 24 voices, motion sequencing. Awesome interface like the ms2000.

Talkbox type stuff

There's a bunch of radias vids on youtube

Not many of the vids are too amazing but some give some good ideas of waht its capable of.

So we be just talkin bout any synths in here?

I have 2 synths and they fit my needs perfectly: a nord modular keyboard and an access virus A.

The two most important factors for me are 1) nice sounding filters and 2) extensive routing capabilities.

The virus has the best sounding filters of any virtual analogue I've ever heard. Far surpasses the nord lead. And they have a wide range of sounds due to the configuration of the 2 filters. The virus also has an insane modulation matrix. In less than a minute I can configure it to have an extremely complex soundscape that gets my LSD damaged brain dancing.

I don't find the stock filters on my nord modular to sound all that great, but with some proper programming you can create some [british]lush[/british] filters. Smarter people than me have created patches with very analoguish filters that only AFX can detect as being digital. And I think I'd be hard pressed to find a similar synth with the routing capabilities of my nord modular.

The biggest downside I run into is polyphony. A complex patch on the nord will kill off any extra notes you might need. The Virus A is decent as long as you don't go crazy layering voices on each patch.

Another downside is they are both digital, which limits the size of my penis.

you guys aren't making the radius vs. virus choice any easier!!

when i first got into all this stuff ages ago, i walked into guitar center and started playing with the synths. MS2000 was one that struck my fancy, Virus A was another... I wanted both for years, eventually got an MS2000 once they came down in price and i came up in income level. now that i'm starting to be near being able to get another synth... confliction halp

first on my list is a good controller and some proper monitors, however

  James Fucking Cagney said:

Another downside is they are both digital, which limits the size of my penis.

The correct answer is Nord Modular!

The really correct answer is that it doesn't matter in the greater scheme of things.

  TheTuskenRaider said:

The really correct answer is that it doesn't matter in the greater scheme of things.

when you've got mc-202's

  TheTuskenRaider said:

The really correct answer is that it doesn't matter in the greater scheme of things.

Well then nothing does really so why are we on a discussion board.

Although perhaps we can compromise with Microsoft Excel

i once -almost- bought a Roland CMU, don't know why i didn't. But i believe it's quite a sweet system, some sort of a roland emu to the 303 and it has a drummachine and all that, programmable by the cpu thing...

i want one.. slapping myself over the fact that i didn't buy one when i had the chance

  Fahz0r said:

i once -almost- bought a Roland CMU, don't know why i didn't. But i believe it's quite a sweet system, some sort of a roland emu to the 303 and it has a drummachine and all that, programmable by the cpu thing...

 

i want one.. slapping myself over the fact that i didn't buy one when i had the chance

It's supposely the guts of like 2 202's and a 606 I think? Or maybe a 707? Just without the knobs and stuff (the sliders on the unit are for the mixer), so you have to program all the changes in on the computer. And the computer has to be an Apple 2 hehe, but yah Ive always been curious about them too.

there are two cmus.

AFAIK one is compared with the mc202 only better yet w/o sequencer. R@RE synth. all u fucks will be scanning ebay for this one now and the price will go up. drink lager every day.

the other is the 606 style drums, very basic bass and melody synths. this one can only be controlled by old apple computer. it needs interface, cables, software, all kinds of crazy shit so that it works. theres 2 on ebay now. neither will work because some cable or software is missing. wouldnt mind trying this out just for a laugh but it's rare to find the complete setup. beware of HOUSEBRICKS!!! u can see this synth on youtube.com. i think the bloke off matrixsynth blog bought one brand new in box and is on the video playing with it. he lubes and bums it. :devil: if u was a genius of hacking equipments u could have a laugh and build your own sequencer or whatever.

this series didnt sell because the name was borked. imagine if it was called the roland CUM series heh heh

anyone tried one of these? let's hear your story mang

got me a yamaha cs 30 now

3 envelopes but one lfo !!! wtf

chucked my 303 cable in the input and used the filter and it gave the squelchiness a different feeling. later tried a mic through the filter and started speaking fake german with the resonance on and it sounded like kraftwerk, i was like whoa cool, then tried again another day and it didnt sound like kraftwerk, d'oh. no cv/gate on this fucker, some similar thing yamaha only bullshit that gives the wrong pitches. kenton pro solo to the rescue!!!!!!!!!! shitloads of modulation on this machine but it's a fuckn shame of the 1 lfo speed knob!!! 2 envelopes and 2 lfos for the win. talk more about this later.

I worked a saturday job at a bakery so I could buy an sh101

  chunky said:

got me a yamaha cs 30 now

3 envelopes but one lfo !!! wtf

chucked my 303 cable in the input and used the filter and it gave the squelchiness a different feeling. later tried a mic through the filter and started speaking fake german with the resonance on and it sounded like kraftwerk, i was like whoa cool, then tried again another day and it didnt sound like kraftwerk, d'oh. no cv/gate on this fucker, some similar thing yamaha only bullshit that gives the wrong pitches. kenton pro solo to the rescue!!!!!!!!!! shitloads of modulation on this machine but it's a fuckn shame of the 1 lfo speed knob!!! 2 envelopes and 2 lfos for the win. talk more about this later.

you could knock out some LFOs pretty easily if you're handy with a soldering iron

http://home.swipnet.se/cfmd/synths/friends/stopp/asm1lfo.pdf

not exactly deluxe or intensely wide-range, but use a TL084 and you'll get a pair on a tiny board without much work

http://www2.yamaha.co.jp/manual/pdf/emi/en...synth/CS30E.PDF

look at page 21. the lfo can mod nearly anything and there's loads of options. replacing that will be a cunt. :devil:

i could build that schematic on stripboard but i dunno about hacking my synth soldering skills OK, synth case hacking skills ZERO

ill go home later and take a look at the case. xtra lfos would be cool. ta.

ahh, when you were talking about using the kenton i figured it had a modulation input or two... hacking it up is another issue entirely, yeah... panel connections are pretty tolerant but internally sometimes shit expects a very specific voltage range, or the presence of this or that widget balances some network out... find the schematics... post the question around... that's if you want to try it.

there are pieces of a nord g2 sitting on my living room floor

when it is put together, it is a great synth

  ten fingers ten toes said:

  Fahz0r said:

i once -almost- bought a Roland CMU, don't know why i didn't. But i believe it's quite a sweet system, some sort of a roland emu to the 303 and it has a drummachine and all that, programmable by the cpu thing...

 

i want one.. slapping myself over the fact that i didn't buy one when i had the chance

 

It's supposely the guts of like 2 202's and a 606 I think? Or maybe a 707? Just without the knobs and stuff (the sliders on the unit are for the mixer), so you have to program all the changes in on the computer. And the computer has to be an Apple 2 hehe, but yah Ive always been curious about them too.

upon research (vintage synth explorer), it's an emulator similar to the 303, and the drums similar to the 606

http://www.vintagesynth.com/index2.html

  Quote

anyone good with the sequencer? what do u do, do 16 notes for each bar like a 303 style?

yeah. and no i sequence it as far away like a 303 possible.. because what the point?i got a 303 to programe.

listen to these tracks all 101 is internal sequenced. all the way triggered by the 606, for some reason i dont like to do it on a 707.

  Fahz0r said:

  ten fingers ten toes said:

  Fahz0r said:

i once -almost- bought a Roland CMU, don't know why i didn't. But i believe it's quite a sweet system, some sort of a roland emu to the 303 and it has a drummachine and all that, programmable by the cpu thing...

 

i want one.. slapping myself over the fact that i didn't buy one when i had the chance

 

It's supposely the guts of like 2 202's and a 606 I think? Or maybe a 707? Just without the knobs and stuff (the sliders on the unit are for the mixer), so you have to program all the changes in on the computer. And the computer has to be an Apple 2 hehe, but yah Ive always been curious about them too.

 

upon research (vintage synth explorer), it's an emulator similar to the 303, and the drums similar to the 606

 

http://www.vintagesynth.com/index2.html

the drums are 606 but the bass is nowhere near 303. this is NOT a cheap 303. just in case anyone buys one thinking that... also beware housebricks (see above posts)

  chunky said:

the drums are 606 but the bass is nowhere near 303. this is NOT a cheap 303. just in case anyone buys one thinking that... also beware housebricks (see above posts)

Hahaha, indeed!

that song is amazing!

re: Roland CMU 800

There are two on ebay now with cables and interface card. No mention of software though! You need an apple computer and the specific software to get it to work!

One of the auctions mentioned a midi hack:

http://homepage2.nifty.com/rjb/cmu800.htm

...but the website is in Japanese.

mp3:

Forgot about this, but this machine has loads of cv/gate outs. A midi version of this machine could be a pretty kickass midi/cvgate converter, drum machine, and silly melody generator in one.

http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/2006/12/ro...ersion-kit.html