programming synths

does anyone think that maybe buying a sound module type thing like a roland jv is wiser if you don't want to get into synths with complex editing? (like racks or fm synths....)

depends how you make tracks. some people can't make a track unless they have hand edited every sound. other people just need to get the rough idea done quickly and tweak later. if you're in the latter group, you'll benefit from a box full of decent sounding presets

yeah i think i'm the latter. aw, you know of any cheap synths like that?

Korg , awww, what's it called, the mini one with the MS2000 engine. that'd be a good one i spose. it has various presets under various genre banks. sounds quite phat. i had one a couple of years ago. loads of people use 'em tho. but it is a nice little synth.

MicroKorg! that's the one.. the first synth in this vid, lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5DhRnmggDo

or da MicroKorg XL.. (not used one before tho but these guys are funny)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6hjxAFUPJ0

yeah that's a popular one. i know a couple people that had one at one time.. the xl looks sweet too

I bought a JV-1080 recently for pretty cheap.

I don't anticipate that it will be my main synth or anything

But it'll do well when I need "realistic" sounds that an analog or FM synth can't do well.

It does sound surprisingly good. No doubt some one could do a whole track with one, or even a whole album.

Edit: By the way, it does have a lot of editable synth sounds as well.

  On 11/4/2010 at 11:53 PM, scones to die for said:

I bought a JV-1080 recently for pretty cheap.

 

Edit: By the way, it does have a lot of editable synth sounds as well.

I mentioned this in another thread, you might find it useful.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/nov03/articles/xvjvmasterclass.htm

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec03/articles/xvjvmasterclass.htm

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan04/articles/xvjvmasterclass.htm

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb04/articles/xvjvmasterclass.htm

  On 11/4/2010 at 11:02 PM, yek said:

yeah i think i'm the latter. aw, you know of any cheap synths like that?

Well I have a Proteus 2000 with the hip hop expansion, plus a Matrix 1000 and an MKS-7, which are basically analogue preset boxes

Hardware romplers are pretty unfashionable and kind of "obsolete" in that there exist VSTis that exactly replicate their functionality. Unfortunately a lot of the online sellers paid $$$$$ for them relatively recently and want to recoup their investments, so they're cheap but not as cheap as they maybe should be.

I really want an MKS-7

  On 11/5/2010 at 12:34 AM, analogue wings said:

  On 11/4/2010 at 11:02 PM, yek said:

yeah i think i'm the latter. aw, you know of any cheap synths like that?

 

Well I have a Proteus 2000 with the hip hop expansion, plus a Matrix 1000 and an MKS-7, which are basically analogue preset boxes

 

Hardware romplers are pretty unfashionable and kind of "obsolete" in that there exist VSTis that exactly replicate their functionality. Unfortunately a lot of the online sellers paid $$$$$ for them relatively recently and want to recoup their investments, so they're cheap but not as cheap as they maybe should be.

funny. i was looking into the e-mu racks actually. you can get some good hardware for cheap there.

the Proteus (and other romplers like the JV i suppose) is actually a pretty powerful synthesiser that happens to use samples as its "oscillators".

With that in mind there's actually been a few projects to produce custom sample ROMS that are just the raw output from a bunch of classic VCOs. I know they did one for the Kawai ROMpler, and if they ever did a proteus one i'd be all over it.

I use my Korg 05R/W still. Hell I've used it on so many tunes over the years some bad and some good. For me it just has real bread and butter sounds which are real handy such as keys, piano, bass guitar etc.

ROMplers sound shit and are obsolete next to modern vst's

you have to use a software editor to get the best out of them so why not just use a vst anyway that doesn't have alaising multimapped samples

even the flagship K2000's are doorstops these days unless you need something more solid for playing gigs or need to integrate into a large hardware setup

the JD800 would be the only Roland ROMpler i'd ever look twice at and thats only for the lush UI

^ this is why romplers are a good buy right now. wait 3 years and the cool kids will be all over them

If you can find a decent software editor, something like a P2k might be a good buy. It was my first synth, and I paid about a grand for it. If you're used to soft synths, editing will be highly tedious, but there is quite a bit of preset-mangling power in there.

Get in there for the nineties revival towards the end of the decade.

this thread is about not editing though

I also want a JD800

  On 11/5/2010 at 11:06 AM, analogue wings said:

this thread is about not editing though

Oh yeah, sorry. Well I guess a P2k is good for a 90s revival if nothing else. For presets I'd simply get software; for reams and reams of presets the ridiculous sprawl of soft synths is tough to beat.

I like romplers. I like that athsthetic, especially after slapping some effects on.

Get a korg triton:

http://www.vintagesynth.com/korg/triton.php

Or a Roland XP-80

http://www.vintagesynth.com/roland/xp80.php

The triton has a sampler, so bonus on that. I prefer the Triton, as I don't really like the sound of Roland's digital filters from that era. But that's up for debate i'm sure.

Anyway they both have fully capable sequencers, great arpeggiators , 64 voices, and a verrrrrrrrry large array of sounds. ON top of that, just like all other workstations, as mentioned earlier in this thread, you can edit the patches and make them your own too, should you so desire.

They can both be had on ebay for VERY VERY cheap compared to what they cost when they were "top of the line". You can get a Triton KB for about 500 bucks + likely 50-60 bucks for shipping.

DO IT.

And then get a kaoss pad for extra fun and put it on the main or one of the sub outputs.

  On 11/6/2010 at 4:23 AM, Brandi_B said:

Get a korg triton:

 

http://www.vintagesynth.com/korg/triton.php

 

Or a Roland XP-80

 

http://www.vintagesynth.com/roland/xp80.php

 

The triton has a sampler, so bonus on that. I prefer the Triton, as I don't really like the sound of Roland's digital filters from that era. But that's up for debate i'm sure.

 

Anyway they both have fully capable sequencers, great arpeggiators , 64 voices, and a verrrrrrrrry large array of sounds. ON top of that, just like all other workstations, as mentioned earlier in this thread, you can edit the patches and make them your own too, should you so desire.

 

They can both be had on ebay for VERY VERY cheap compared to what they cost when they were "top of the line". You can get a Triton KB for about 500 bucks + likely 50-60 bucks for shipping.

 

DO IT.

 

And then get a kaoss pad for extra fun and put it on the main or one of the sub outputs.

i really just need a rack unit. triton is way more power than i need. i'm just going to be recording one track at a time into a software multitracker, thanks though. fucking hell the trition's are going cheap.

there's a rack triton ya know :) even cheaper than the kb. I'm guess around 350 maybe? That's a steal, nice rack all that stuff and still has an interface!

319 no bids yet good seller

http://cgi.ebay.com/Korg-Triton-Rack-Module-/290495129975?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43a2dbe977

hell i'm almost tempted to get one.

also should note incase you are looking for vst options later on, there's a vst that is the whole yamaha motif, in a nice easy to use vst.

but the crucial (imo) vst rompler to me is Refx nexus. God i love that thing, the filter sounds so good! I don't even use it as a rompler except for a few of the piano sounds, i use it as a synth, but there are sooooooooooooooo many sounds that are good. quality fx too and it isn't a cpu killer.

I'm sure omnisphere is great too but its massively cpu heavy so ignore. and I'm going off about vsts, so shhhh me.

that rack stuff ... where can you get those racks anyway? i can never find them on ebay

this thread is retarded

you'll all be pining after S1000's next!!!