what would your ideal all-in-one hardware synth be like?

hullo.

i'm new. this forum is arranged in a very itinerant way so forgive me if i'm posting this in the wrong place but hey...

...i signed up because i'd like a thread full of people who know what they're doing to give their opinion on what a truly singular hardware synth would be. One synth to rule them all. A 'my precioussss* of a synth that is as multi-realizable as it can possibly get. one that doesn't need any convoluted and fetishised excuses-after-the-fact to be considered worthy of use, and can do exactly what needs to be done to get the direct effect any real music maker would want to hear from an electronic music making machine.

yours,

- mistabishi

I'm not 100% sure that this exists yet, but there's something in the works that will soon fit this description. Unfortunately I can't tell you much more yet...

i already have one. it's called a laptop.

i think grooveboxes are pretty terrible. and i can't imagine making music with stuff like that. i mean i know it's possible and cheaper than buying loads of exclusive hardware but.. yeah. there's just no way you can make EVERYTHING you need with one device unless you want to make goa trance on mc303 or something.

fully analogue, polyphonic, analogue style sequencer with sliders rather than knobs, programmable arpeggiator, mini keyboard, ext audio in, dual midi outs, midi to cv + din sync...that'd about cover it.

  On 4/20/2014 at 2:38 PM, 2WV said:

fully analogue, polyphonic, analogue style sequencer with sliders rather than knobs, programmable arpeggiator, mini keyboard, ext audio in, dual midi outs, midi to cv + din sync...that'd about cover it.

  On 4/20/2014 at 12:20 PM, futureimage said:

I'm not 100% sure that this exists yet, but there's something in the works that will soon fit this description. Unfortunately I can't tell you much more yet...

......so close......

dub siren with a D-beam imo

Well my ideal setup is a 4-op FM synth, a bloop & bleep machine which also does white noise so you can have airy Ryuuichi Sakamoto/Japan type sounds, and a VSS-30 with memory and MIDI.

So it'd be something like 4 sine/saw/square/noise operators, a low pass filter with an envelope generator and two LFOs which can be routed anywhere. One of the operators also allows a sampled waveform and has basic reverse/loop/u-turn functionality. A decent on-board delay unit and a pitch envelope are nice pluses.

The interface could be similar to the DX series. You've got an LCD where you check the exact numbers, and a main slider. There could be one or two other free sliders you could assign parameters to. Each parameter has a dedicated button.

It'd be Yamaha with a bit of Korg thrown in if that makes any sense?

I thought about getting an MC 808 for drums and a shruthi1 for synth work (yeah I know you've got to put it together, but I've got experience with that kind of thing, so it's not an issue) but I haven't got a clue about what else I would need to get. I think I need to get a midi sequencer or something? I could get all of that for 400ish dollars but I'm wondering how good those things would be, and what else I would need.

I mainly just want to get a small analog setup for drum programming.

aphex twin plugin

fleshlight controlled groovebox

  On 4/20/2014 at 12:50 PM, kinski said:

there's just no way you can make EVERYTHING you need with one device unless you want to make goa trance on mc303 or something.

Depends on what 'everything' is to someone I suppose. I'm a believer in limitations. The irony with grooveboxes like the MC-303 and MC-505 is that they were made to give more options with a wider palette of electronic music based sounds in one package, and now it's widely deemed as solely an acid trance machine with very limited possibilities. And yet:

you can make everything with electribe if you really want and that's all great. just not sure why would you limit yourself like that in this day and age. my girlfriend makes great tracks using a quotsa music box (this one www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic7epHs7hlQ) and a kaoss pad. and it's fun as hell. but talking about smething ideal. just not feeling it in this context.

  On 4/21/2014 at 7:15 PM, kinski said:

you can make everything with electribe if you really want and that's all great. just not sure why would you limit yourself like that in this day and age. my girlfriend makes great tracks using a quotsa music box (this one www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic7epHs7hlQ) and a kaoss pad. and it's fun as hell. but talking about smething ideal. just not feeling it in this context.

Congrats on having a musician girlfriend btw.

(Seriously, that's a really cool thing)

  On 4/21/2014 at 7:15 PM, kinski said:

you can make everything with electribe if you really want and that's all great. just not sure why would you limit yourself like that in this day and age. my girlfriend makes great tracks using a quotsa music box (this one www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic7epHs7hlQ) and a kaoss pad. and it's fun as hell. but talking about smething ideal. just not feeling it in this context.

For me something ideal is something tidy and deceptively simple. I'm not confortable with DAWs. I'll admit this means I'm not meant to be a musician (that's why you won't see my tracks in EKT for a long time...)

  On 4/21/2014 at 8:09 PM, LimpyLoo said:

 

  On 4/21/2014 at 7:15 PM, kinski said:

you can make everything with electribe if you really want and that's all great. just not sure why would you limit yourself like that in this day and age. my girlfriend makes great tracks using a quotsa music box (this one www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic7epHs7hlQ) and a kaoss pad. and it's fun as hell. but talking about smething ideal. just not feeling it in this context.

Congrats on having a musician girlfriend btw.

 

(Seriously, that's a really cool thing)

she just plays around with her kaoss pad.

sounds like a lowbrow joke but its the truth.

but thanks. i think.

  On 4/20/2014 at 2:38 PM, 2WV said:

fully analogue, polyphonic, analogue style sequencer with sliders rather than knobs, programmable arpeggiator, mini keyboard, ext audio in, dual midi outs, midi to cv + din sync...that'd about cover it.

Aside from the mini keyboard, yes. I have huge hands and making chords on one of those fucking toy keyboards is not easy. I'm thinking a 6-8 voice fully VCO poly would be lush. Multi-mode filter or perhaps even separate route-able filter modules would be sick. I guess I'd like a semi-modular poly akin to the PS series from korg minus the octave dividing polyphony and weight of a small school bus.

I also would love to see this hypothetical hardware synth implement something akin to 'motion sequencing' where you can loop things from the sequencer and the sequencer will record your modulations you do by hand during the sequence and play back as such. The electribe does this (lame synth I know) and allowed me to make a ton of really interesting synth lines.

decent replies, thanks.

Sound wise, the qy70 is pretty much spot on for what I like to do. It's a shame the sequencer on it sucks though.

I just want a simple analog phunk synth with wooden keyboard and heavy action, that sounds like a bell injected with heroin being played under a warm blanket in winter, on the moon, farting in a megaphone, in a laser.

  On 4/22/2014 at 7:27 AM, modey said:

Sound wise, the qy70 is pretty much spot on for what I like to do. It's a shame the sequencer on it sucks though.

it's just the GM2 soundset isn't it? as in General Midi expanded? Nothing wrong with this, but it's not exactly unique or anything...

Trying to make music with one synth that did everything would be like trying to perform surgery with a top of the range swiss army knife.

  On 4/22/2014 at 12:46 PM, Rbrmyofr said:

Trying to

  Quote

 

perform surgery

with one synth that did everything would be like trying to

  Quote

make music

 

with a top of the range swiss army knife.

i want this

  On 4/22/2014 at 12:46 PM, Rbrmyofr said:

Trying to make music with one synth that did everything would be like trying to perform surgery with a top of the range swiss army knife.

You mean, "fucking badass"? Imagine you're in a restaurant where someone collapses. The dude's girlfriend starts to scream and is like, "OMG my boyfriend just collapsed!" Then out from some random booth, a doctor steps in all assertive and pushing people out of the way. He's all, "Stand back! ...Stand back!!! ...I'm..... I'm a doctor." Then after touching the collapsed and turning purple- bleeding from the ears and eyes- dude's body, the doctor is like, "This man has acute brocco-loco choco... He needs surgery immediately!" Then the collapsed dude's girl is like, "OMG, I'll call 911-" Then you enter the scene by doing a double-backflip over the crowd and land next to the panicking girlfriend, and you're all, "NOT SO FAST! This man needs surgery, not a telephone call." Then you just push people out of the way who aren't even in the way and grab your top of the range Swiss Army knife from your chest holster of random shit. The doctor mumbles some shit about how the man needs medical attention immediately, and you mumble quietly whilst calculating the situation in its entirety, "Medical attention? Unlike you... that's exactly what I'm giving this man."- you then yell demands at the crowd, "You! Fatass- gimme your beer. Waitress! Yeah, you, big tits-- gimme 27 pitchers of ice... ...NOOOW!!! You! Kid- gimme your shoes and your drink." And then with a bottle, straw, shoelaces, and a ziplock bag you had in your pocket from an O of purple haze, you make a contraption to facilitate the man's breathing with your foot, while the ice is used to slow his heartbeat to near stopping. Then using your Swiss Army knife, you slice open the dude's body, complete some complicated procedure with the assistance of a chicken wishbone, and sew him back up-- all with your 5kg, has-every-feature Swiss Army knife. "He's gonna be fine, miss.", you say to the amazed and thankful girlfriend. Right before walking away, you tell the doctor, "Doctor... Clean this man up, unless you wanna waste more of our time. -Everybody, everybody... Please, stop with the taking pictures. Saving lives and knowing what I'm doing is part of my life. And as much as I'd like to do an interview for you- every single local news channel-- right now, I have to go home and make music with one synth... that does everything. Ciao." *drives away in Lamborghini Countach that has glowing lines like Tron*

  On 4/22/2014 at 12:40 PM, 2WV said:

 

  On 4/22/2014 at 7:27 AM, modey said:

Sound wise, the qy70 is pretty much spot on for what I like to do. It's a shame the sequencer on it sucks though.

it's just the GM2 soundset isn't it? as in General Midi expanded? Nothing wrong with this, but it's not exactly unique or anything...

 

 

hey, like I said, spot on for what I like to do. It has some pretty nice parameters for each instrument (asr envelope, cutoff/resonance), and nice sounding reverbs and delays. I've used it for ambient techno livesets before.

  On 4/22/2014 at 2:06 PM, peace 7 said:

 

  On 4/22/2014 at 12:46 PM, Rbrmyofr said:

Trying to make music with one synth that did everything would be like trying to perform surgery with a top of the range swiss army knife.

You mean, "fucking badass"? Imagine you're in a restaurant where someone collapses. The dude's girlfriend starts to scream and is like, "OMG my boyfriend just collapsed!" Then out from some random booth, a doctor steps in all assertive and pushing people out of the way. He's all, "Stand back! ...Stand back!!! ...I'm..... I'm a doctor." Then after touching the collapsed and turning purple- bleeding from the ears and eyes- dude's body, the doctor is like, "This man has acute brocco-loco choco... He needs surgery immediately!" Then the collapsed dude's girl is like, "OMG, I'll call 911-" Then you enter the scene by doing a double-backflip over the crowd and land next to the panicking girlfriend, and you're all, "NOT SO FAST! This man needs surgery, not a telephone call." Then you just push people out of the way who aren't even in the way and grab your top of the range Swiss Army knife from your chest holster of random shit. The doctor mumbles some shit about how the man needs medical attention immediately, and you mumble quietly whilst calculating the situation in its entirety, "Medical attention? Unlike you... that's exactly what I'm giving this man."- you then yell demands at the crowd, "You! Fatass- gimme your beer. Waitress! Yeah, you, big tits-- gimme 27 pitchers of ice... ...NOOOW!!! You! Kid- gimme your shoes and your drink." And then with a bottle, straw, shoelaces, and a ziplock bag you had in your pocket from an O of purple haze, you make a contraption to facilitate the man's breathing with your foot, while the ice is used to slow his heartbeat to near stopping. Then using your Swiss Army knife, you slice open the dude's body, complete some complicated procedure with the assistance of a chicken wishbone, and sew him back up-- all with your 5kg, has-every-feature Swiss Army knife. "He's gonna be fine, miss.", you say to the amazed and thankful girlfriend. Right before walking away, you tell the doctor, "Doctor... Clean this man up, unless you wanna waste more of our time. -Everybody, everybody... Please, stop with the taking pictures. Saving lives and knowing what I'm doing is part of my life. And as much as I'd like to do an interview for you- every single local news channel-- right now, I have to go home and make music with one synth... that does everything. Ciao." *drives away in Lamborghini Countach that has glowing lines like Tron*

 

holy shit, time to close watmm, I don't think anyone else will ever post anything as amazing as this

peace wins the Internet.

AGAIN!