Are you moving from hardware to software, the other way around, or both?

  On 9/5/2014 at 1:02 AM, modey said:

 

  On 9/5/2014 at 12:50 AM, skibby said:

I just ordered some fm synth boxes from the 80s and i am really excited about it. also want to give money to some software developers too.

oh nice! I've been considering getting into FM synthesis for a while now. Not sure where to start though!

 

Vopm. It sounds exactly the same as the real thing and as a starting point 4-op is much easier than 6-op for various reasons, plus you get thousands of Megadrive patches. It's also much simpler and more to the point than FM8, which is great but too bloated and confusing for my taste (although i really should spend more time with it!).

  On 9/8/2014 at 10:46 PM, cloudbreaker said:

 

  On 9/8/2014 at 6:32 PM, French said:

Hybrid setup, all the way. Lots of Analog 4, lots of Reaktor, some Volcas, all edited in Studio One.

 

not to derail too hard, but how are you finding studio one? Haven't really heard anything about it.

 

Pretty much perfect for what I'm doing at the moment. Straightforward editing for my live jams, and for automating some Reaktor sound manglers. Maybe then again I could be using any other DAW for that lol, I guess it's a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" situation.

  On 9/8/2014 at 11:02 PM, poblequadrat said:

 

  On 9/5/2014 at 1:02 AM, modey said:

 

  On 9/5/2014 at 12:50 AM, skibby said:

I just ordered some fm synth boxes from the 80s and i am really excited about it. also want to give money to some software developers too.

oh nice! I've been considering getting into FM synthesis for a while now. Not sure where to start though!

 

 

Vopm. It sounds exactly the same as the real thing and as a starting point 4-op is much easier than 6-op for various reasons, plus you get thousands of Megadrive patches. It's also much simpler and more to the point than FM8, which is great but too bloated and confusing for my taste (although i really should spend more time with it!).

 

 

 

the ultimate is the sammichFM midibox, really hard to find at the moment but it's basically what VOPM is based on (the opl3 chip) but in a very small box with perhaps dare I say the best random patch generation feature of any hardware synth ever?

It's basically the holy grail for retro fm synth lusters, unfortunately even the kits themselves are very hard to find and finding a built one is next to impossible

if anyone wants to sell theirs or trade for some other fancy synth gear please contact me

  On 9/9/2014 at 11:59 PM, John Ehrlichman said:

 

  On 9/8/2014 at 11:02 PM, poblequadrat said:

 

  On 9/5/2014 at 1:02 AM, modey said:

 

  On 9/5/2014 at 12:50 AM, skibby said:

I just ordered some fm synth boxes from the 80s and i am really excited about it. also want to give money to some software developers too.

oh nice! I've been considering getting into FM synthesis for a while now. Not sure where to start though!

 

 

Vopm. It sounds exactly the same as the real thing and as a starting point 4-op is much easier than 6-op for various reasons, plus you get thousands of Megadrive patches. It's also much simpler and more to the point than FM8, which is great but too bloated and confusing for my taste (although i really should spend more time with it!).

 

 

 

the ultimate is the sammichFM midibox, really hard to find at the moment but it's basically what VOPM is based on (the opl3 chip) but in a very small box with perhaps dare I say the best random patch generation feature of any hardware synth ever?

It's basically the holy grail for retro fm synth lusters, unfortunately even the kits themselves are very hard to find and finding a built one is next to impossible

 

if anyone wants to sell theirs or trade for some other fancy synth gear please contact me

 

there's supposed to be one last batch coming of the sammichFM's, I'm on the list.. but the guy that does them has been very busy over the past year or so. You could try and email someone on the midibox.org forums, Jason or nILS, see what's up. Jason does all the work preparing the kits. I built a sammichSID kit from him two years ago.

i'm really bad at soldering/kit building but I'll take your advice and try to get on the list for a new one. I was sort of 'over' the idea of having one for a while after I got deeply into VOPM and other retro fm synth generators but after playing with one I am completely in love. There's just nothing else like it, the random patch feature on it in and of itself was fucking amazing.

I will kill anyone who tries to take my Jomox Mbase11.

Ableton is such an overrated piece of trash. I am so tired of these people buying it and acting like they're some musical god because they can load a few files and loop them with the rhythm.

  On 9/8/2014 at 11:02 PM, poblequadrat said:

 

  On 9/5/2014 at 1:02 AM, modey said:

 

  On 9/5/2014 at 12:50 AM, skibby said:

I just ordered some fm synth boxes from the 80s and i am really excited about it. also want to give money to some software developers too.

oh nice! I've been considering getting into FM synthesis for a while now. Not sure where to start though!

 

 

Vopm. It sounds exactly the same as the real thing and as a starting point 4-op is much easier than 6-op for various reasons, plus you get thousands of Megadrive patches. It's also much simpler and more to the point than FM8, which is great but too bloated and confusing for my taste (although i really should spend more time with it!).

 

yeah, i've got about all the virtual FM synths. but they only made me want to get a 'real' one. theres something nice about these, the imperfections, the noise floor. The oscillating chips just feel closer to my ears, even if they are aliasing or whatever. i enjoy and respect virtual stuff of course, thats how i learned, but its a treat to employ and experience the ancient method. maybe this is techno-reactionary, we'll see how I feel later.

finally repaired the hell out of my new D-50 and it was a rush from the moment i opened the flight case seeing the keyboard for the first time, opening the unit, cleaning each key contact with alcohol and a cotton swab, desoldering 4 different 6mm switches, replacing them, removing and tightening the pitch bender, restoring the factory presests (using a Roland UM-1 MKII, don't buy the cheap midi interface with the musical design on it, that was a disaster), using the patch editor i found online to edit params in realtime... the whole ritual has felt extremely sacred (except buying that rancid shitty cheap midi interface before buying the proper UM-1).

after moving from software to hardware (and in the process diving into modular, diy gear and lots of extra stuff) i realised i was spending all my time either doing electronics or noodling and seemed to not get around to recording music even though i was still active with my studio. we just bought a house and my studio room isn't ready yet so i've been back in ableton playing around - it is really refreshing to be able to jam on ideas and have them recorded and sequenced instantly. hopefully my new studio will help integrate recording into the workflow in an easier fashion.

overall i think cycling from hardware to software and vice versa is a blessing as it makes you rethink workflow and gets you out of rutts

  On 9/18/2014 at 1:25 PM, Luka said:

 

overall i think cycling from hardware to software and vice versa is a blessing as it makes you rethink workflow and gets you out of rutts

well said

I've always been hybrid, although I've had urges to purify in either direction that never seem to pan out.

This year I got Max when it was on sale, but I got bored because I didn't do anything musical with it and just tried out a bunch of modular/DSP ideas I had. I'm planning on ordering a Microbrute this weekend. It'll be nice to have something for once that I don't have to stare at to use.

It seems like the best stuff I've made so far was either made in Renoise (usually with some synth samples) or on the MPC with a synth or two.

all talk is worthless, as is process, if the product does not transport the listener.

  On 9/14/2014 at 2:13 AM, mafted said:

Ableton is such an overrated piece of trash. I am so tired of these people buying it and acting like they're some musical god because they can load a few files and loop them with the rhythm.

lol

  On 9/19/2014 at 7:31 AM, sheatheman said:

all talk is worthless, as is process, if the product does not transport the listener.l

The product of talk?

product = music

basically, if it hurts, it works

Anyone made anything half decent just using phone apps?

  On 9/19/2014 at 8:54 AM, BIOXLAT said:

Anyone made anything half decent just using phone apps?

dunno, but Korg Gadget looks good!

  On 9/19/2014 at 8:58 AM, poblequadrat said:

 

  On 9/19/2014 at 8:54 AM, BIOXLAT said:

Anyone made anything half decent just using phone apps?

 

dunno, but Korg Gadget looks good!

 

cool, ill check that out cheers. the ikaoscilator is fun too

Morning, my first post! Have to admit to using a lot of software (Arturia and Reaktor), but find its always the hardware that adds that extra quirkiness. Latest purchases have been a MicroBrute and Monotribe synced together. They're very nice but I find I loose a lot of ideas due to the lack of patch memory and me faffing about, still theyre loads of fun. My trusty Ms2000 is still my main workhorse.

  On 9/19/2014 at 8:42 AM, sheatheman said:

product = music

 

basically, if it hurts, it works

That's deep, man.

I have found the perfect marriage between hard and soft. When I started in the early 90's, I used anything. I had some nice analog pieces that I bought for cheap. I didn't start on the CPU until '98, at which point I sold off some regrettable pieces. Now, I have a fully integrated analog/digital set-up that lets me get the best of both worlds. I like the sounds in the real world mixed with in the box processing. The options are just too many to pass up.

i was gonna make some smart remark about how computers are hardware but then i thought it would have been dickish

inspired by this thread i started trying to use software a bit more but i just dont like the sound of logic and its fx. Its pretty handy for a lot of stuff but i just think i need to play to the advantages of my gear and sequence it all in the mpc and leave the craptop for renoise noodlings.

I tried to make friends with software, i tried. i guess it really comes down to what you own and what your trying to achieve

  On 9/14/2014 at 2:13 AM, mafted said:

Ableton is such an overrated piece of trash. I am so tired of these people buying it and acting like they're some musical god because they can load a few files and loop them with the rhythm.

You've obviously never used it, have you?

I think I'm about 80% hardware for synths, maybe 10% for effects, 0% for sequencing. I love the flexibility of sequencing/editing in a DAW, and I love the convenience of software effects. Hardware is usually more fun to work with in the moment, but software is more fun when you want to fix something months down the line (which I often do). It's really nice to have both and I feel lucky that I can.

  On 9/19/2014 at 8:54 AM, BIOXLAT said:

Anyone made anything half decent just using phone apps?

my bread and butter. the house/techno snips from this are all beatmaker 2

  On 9/19/2014 at 3:19 PM, sweepstakes said:

 

  On 9/19/2014 at 8:42 AM, sheatheman said:

product = music

 

basically, if it hurts, it works

That's deep, man.

 

i love using renoise tho