right, what synthesizer should I buy?

Looks like something a Goa Trance producer would have in his studio, horrible aesthetic design.

haha yeah, there was a lot of ANIMATED discussion on analogue heaven mailing list about the mopho -- a lot of people were all, fucking shit, that looks like DJ flashy crap!!

what i took from it was, it's a good machine underneath, unfortunately the marketing dept. @ DSI tried to make it look "cool" and flashy. there was disucssion of spraypainting it on the list...

I like obnoxious looking gear.

i just don't want my gear to look like everyone else's

well this is what i've bought....10/10 in the looks department!

"cream"ware

lol

lol i'm going to spunk on it

So in the knobless wonders dept., anybody have experience with either (preferably both) the Nord Micro Modular and Waldorf MicroQ? MicroQ is rackmontable, has more voices, and can still be programmed without software via painstaking matrix style. Micro Modular has native software though and I'm guessing more expansive patching options with the modular style. Both are about the same price used. Can either be set up for easy tweaking with rotary style midi controllers?

where's ten fingers ten toes when you need him?

  pantsonmyhead said:

  Awepittance said:

  Mimi said:

evolver kinda sucks

 

this statement only emphasizes your inability to use one

 

 

actually it's kind of true

i oogled the crap out of being able to modulate everything off each other then when i had borrowed seans poly i noticed something i never had before....the evolver kind of sounds terrible

it's shrill and thin

not saying i couldn't make shrill thin space sounds and creepy pads but i had to coax and plea so much just to get some decent bass out of the thing

 

honestly if you've been lookin at a waldorf q i'd go to it

or some other dave smith thing like a pro-one

What Awepittance said. The Evolver does wicked bass.

  telikan said:

So in the knobless wonders dept., anybody have experience with either (preferably both) the Nord Micro Modular and Waldorf MicroQ? MicroQ is rackmontable, has more voices, and can still be programmed without software via painstaking matrix style. Micro Modular has native software though and I'm guessing more expansive patching options with the modular style. Both are about the same price used. Can either be set up for easy tweaking with rotary style midi controllers?

i had a micromodular, then sold it to get the bigger nord modular. yes, you can tweak it with a midi controller. i dont know the microQ, but i am total nord modular fanboy. you should get one.

The real question to ask yourself is: "Why do I want a hardware synth?"

  Hanratty said:

i am total nord modular fanboy. you should get one.

  Tamas said:

The real question to ask yourself is: "Why do I want a hardware synth?"

que?

yes you can tweak both easily with pretty much any midi device. If you were to get a nord micro you might was well go for a nord mod 1 rack or kb you'll only pay 50-100 bucks more on ebay for one.

However the micro q is a completely different beast as far as timbre and offers wavetables, delay and reverb, more outs (6), and can be edited from the front panel. Not to mention 5 oscs per voice, 25 voices, 16 part multi timbral and completly different sounding filters.

It also has an advanced arpeggiator, but the nord offers pretty good arp/sequencing options so thats' not really a deal breaker there.

But they are both great and I myself would have a hard time choosing. I will say the software interface of the nord wins over most everything but if you really liek editing from the front panel the Waldorf wins.

oh and btw the matrix editing waldorfs use is really easy and you get the hang of it really fast. I can edit my xt with my eyes closed b/c i know how many times to press a button to get to a certain section, etc. I think its really intuitive, but its not for everyone. THe first time i played with a micro q was in a store, a after having my xt for a about a year, and i jumped right into the matrix editing with no prob and could access everything i needed really quickly.

  Tamas said:

The real question to ask yourself is: "Why do I want a hardware synth?"

because i have a hardware setup.

  telikan said:

  Tamas said:

The real question to ask yourself is: "Why do I want a hardware synth?"

 

que?

There are many software synthesizers that are more tweakable than hardware synths. You can buy a piece of hardware with a decent amount of knobs like the Prophet, which may sound nice (I admit I haven't tried it out before), or something that is more complex like the Blofeld etc with less knobs (and I guess for an analog purist something like the Blofeld wouldn't be sufficient), but VSTs can sound just as nice (as long as you render at something higher than 44kHz).

Completely analog synths sound nice, but I think it's outrageous to buy analog equipment when there are much more useful tools that an electronic musician can buy... You can make the mistake of wasting a ton of money on hardware and later realize that software can do what you want and more. Unless you're playing live shows where stability is important (hopefully you have a hardware sequencer as well then), and you need the ability to modify the changes in variables dynamically, software synths are just as good (if not better) than hardware.

I guess it's nice to show your dedication to making music by spending a lot of money on hardware synths, but I just think there are better places to spend the money. If you use hardware mainly you can buy a cheap computer/laptop, and run one VST at a time at a high sampling rate, and still be able to have low latency... The computer + a MIDI controller + decent soundcard would probably cost less than a hardware synth and give you just as much power over MIDI.

Either way BCM good luck with whatever you find. I don't want to sound like an asshole or anything and I'd love to own more hardware as well (even though most of what I own already isn't in the city I'm in) but you know, I like to present the other side of the question as well. I hope you don't take it the wrong way!

  Tamas said:

  telikan said:

  Tamas said:

The real question to ask yourself is: "Why do I want a hardware synth?"

 

que?

 

There are many software synthesizers that are more tweakable than hardware synths. You can buy a piece of hardware with a decent amount of knobs like the Prophet, which may sound nice (I admit I haven't tried it out before), or something that is more complex like the Blofeld etc with less knobs (and I guess for an analog purist something like the Blofeld wouldn't be sufficient), but VSTs can sound just as nice (as long as you render at something higher than 44kHz).

 

Completely analog synths sound nice, but I think it's outrageous to buy analog equipment when there are much more useful tools that an electronic musician can buy... You can make the mistake of wasting a ton of money on hardware and later realize that software can do what you want and more. Unless you're playing live shows where stability is important (hopefully you have a hardware sequencer as well then), and you need the ability to modify the changes in variables dynamically, software synths are just as good (if not better) than hardware.

 

I guess it's nice to show your dedication to making music by spending a lot of money on hardware synths, but I just think there are better places to spend the money. If you use hardware mainly you can buy a cheap computer/laptop, and run one VST at a time at a high sampling rate, and still be able to have low latency... The computer + a MIDI controller + decent soundcard would probably cost less than a hardware synth and give you just as much power over MIDI.

 

 

 

Either way BCM good luck with whatever you find. I don't want to sound like an asshole or anything and I'd love to own more hardware as well (even though most of what I own already isn't in the city I'm in) but you know, I like to present the other side of the question as well. I hope you don't take it the wrong way!

ekt siniclypse award goes to tamas

  hahathhat said:

  Tamas said:

  telikan said:

  Tamas said:

The real question to ask yourself is: "Why do I want a hardware synth?"

 

que?

 

There are many software synthesizers that are more tweakable than hardware synths. You can buy a piece of hardware with a decent amount of knobs like the Prophet, which may sound nice (I admit I haven't tried it out before), or something that is more complex like the Blofeld etc with less knobs (and I guess for an analog purist something like the Blofeld wouldn't be sufficient), but VSTs can sound just as nice (as long as you render at something higher than 44kHz).

 

Completely analog synths sound nice, but I think it's outrageous to buy analog equipment when there are much more useful tools that an electronic musician can buy... You can make the mistake of wasting a ton of money on hardware and later realize that software can do what you want and more. Unless you're playing live shows where stability is important (hopefully you have a hardware sequencer as well then), and you need the ability to modify the changes in variables dynamically, software synths are just as good (if not better) than hardware.

 

I guess it's nice to show your dedication to making music by spending a lot of money on hardware synths, but I just think there are better places to spend the money. If you use hardware mainly you can buy a cheap computer/laptop, and run one VST at a time at a high sampling rate, and still be able to have low latency... The computer + a MIDI controller + decent soundcard would probably cost less than a hardware synth and give you just as much power over MIDI.

 

 

 

Either way BCM good luck with whatever you find. I don't want to sound like an asshole or anything and I'd love to own more hardware as well (even though most of what I own already isn't in the city I'm in) but you know, I like to present the other side of the question as well. I hope you don't take it the wrong way!

 

ekt siniclypse award goes to tamas

Well I hope you at least read what I said. =)

just like sini, i read the first sentence or two before higher consciousness pushed down the fader on your post.

  hahathhat said:

just like sini, i read the first sentence or two before higher consciousness pushed down the fader on your post.

Lol. Well I hope it's not simply because I am seemingly against spending money on hardware.

  Tamas said:

  telikan said:

  Tamas said:

The real question to ask yourself is: "Why do I want a hardware synth?"

 

que?

 

There are many software synthesizers that are more tweakable than hardware synths. You can buy a piece of hardware with a decent amount of knobs like the Prophet, which may sound nice (I admit I haven't tried it out before), or something that is more complex like the Blofeld etc with less knobs (and I guess for an analog purist something like the Blofeld wouldn't be sufficient), but VSTs can sound just as nice (as long as you render at something higher than 44kHz).

 

Completely analog synths sound nice, but I think it's outrageous to buy analog equipment when there are much more useful tools that an electronic musician can buy... You can make the mistake of wasting a ton of money on hardware and later realize that software can do what you want and more. Unless you're playing live shows where stability is important (hopefully you have a hardware sequencer as well then), and you need the ability to modify the changes in variables dynamically, software synths are just as good (if not better) than hardware.

 

I guess it's nice to show your dedication to making music by spending a lot of money on hardware synths, but I just think there are better places to spend the money. If you use hardware mainly you can buy a cheap computer/laptop, and run one VST at a time at a high sampling rate, and still be able to have low latency... The computer + a MIDI controller + decent soundcard would probably cost less than a hardware synth and give you just as much power over MIDI.

 

 

 

Either way BCM good luck with whatever you find. I don't want to sound like an asshole or anything and I'd love to own more hardware as well (even though most of what I own already isn't in the city I'm in) but you know, I like to present the other side of the question as well. I hope you don't take it the wrong way!

fair enough - I've tried both setups in my years as a music maker...had hardware setups then sold it all and gone totally software, then bought more hardware and sold it again and made tracks on an Pentium 166 then got a laptop, then a mac etc etc... I've realised i much prefer to use hardware and just think it sounds better than a pure software setup....not got anything against vst's though - some of them are fucking well good. arturia's for example....

For me softsynths just aren't nearly engaging enough to inspire the music I want to make, even if they're perfectly capable of creating the sounds. I also don't like having to rely on my computer to record AND produce sound. Maybe if it were better I'd feel differently, but I like to approach it as an extremely flexible DAW machine, and leave all the music to separate little boxes. I know of plenty of music that I love which was created with only software, but I've never been any good at making it myself.