Lush Bass Synth

I've only used VSTs and midi controllers but I wanted to get into the analog world slowly, so I was looking for a relatively cheap synth just for lush and warm bass sounds (~$500 or less). Anyone have any idea? Bonus points if it also does convincing acid sounds.

Examples:

https://soundcloud.com/user48736353001/14-07-b

https://soundcloud.com/user48736353001/5-just-fall-asleep

I've wanted a solid keyboard for phat phunkiness for 10+ years, but they don't seem to exist under a thousand. This thread made me realize, though, that maybe I could just buy a really shitty (but physically solid) keyboard, put it through several guitar pedals-- voila! Phat.

minibrute

  On 4/16/2015 at 7:21 PM, LUDD said:

minibrute

se

minibrute's a good suggestion. microbrute if you wanna spend less.

I think the Dreadbox Erebus is a good starting point.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tc2KnexGVg

Is the lack of polyphony restrictive on the Minibrute?

  On 4/16/2015 at 8:22 PM, DavieAddison said:

Is the lack of polyphony restrictive on the Minibrute?

not for basslines. if you want polyphony and analog it's gonna be a lot more expensive than what the brutes cost. not saying you have to get analog to make 'lush basslines', but yeah.

thought someone else would recommend it before me but Novation Bass Station 2 is also an option. As far as I could experience it Microbrute have a general grittier sound, which according to your taste might or might not be a good thing. Regarding grittiness, BS2 has several knobs which do the trick : Distorsion, Overdrive and "Osc Filter Mod" (Osc2 freq modulating Filter freq). It also have preset memory, which Microbrute doesn't have (not sure about the mini).

But I don't want to give negative feedback, I made a little test session with those two synths in a shop about six month ago and the little jam I made with the Microbrute was really nice, actually funnier than what I achieved with the BS2 during this test session but in the end I decided to go for the later because I thought BS2 might be more versatile and it also have a good build quality, looked like a solid base for the setup I was putting up together.

Since then I'm really happy with it and use it a lot. The official forum isn't extremely active and moderators / developers could be a bit more reactive with user's feedback (this machine is pretty new) but it's a solid synth anyway so nothing critical to change anyway.

but in the end your choice is just a matter of what you need and then I would advise to try everything you can into that scope : gut feeling is very important for that kind of choice. What you need imo is a mono synth (as said before poly would rise the price way too much) with one or two oscs (two is better for some kind of fatter basses), a nice variety of waveforms, a good sounding filter and good modulation capabilities (one envelope mod and two lfos is fine i think).

ps : I also tried the DSI Mopho and had a pretty bad gut feeling about it, looked cheap built, and not having all the controls under the hand is frustrating for that kind of synth ; way less rewarding imo.

Thanks for replies guys. I'll definitely check out all three. I've looked at the BS2 and Minibrute briefly before and liked what I heard. I'll probably wait a bit because I recently splurged on an Ableton Push.

TX81Z is great but I wouldn't recommend it to someone willing to start with hardware. Not that it's unable to synthesize great basses or other kind of sounds but using it equals going through intensive programming (and also getting familiar with the FM world) and I think the first thing one should discover when getting into hardware is the delicate feeling of twiddling knobs and faders with his own hands. That's why the classical "first bass mono synth" approach is great imo as it allows you to get into that physical dimension of music making, yet with a limited amount of controls so that you don't lose yourself too much into not knowing what you're doing anymore after ten minutes of knob twiddling.

Or maybe that's just the way I use my TX but I see it more like a super VST which I can actually touch with my own hands when I feel aroused lol.

Thoughts on the difference between the MiniBrute vs. Microbrute? Is it worth the extra $$$ ?

  On 4/20/2015 at 11:48 PM, digman said:

Thoughts on the difference between the MiniBrute vs. Microbrute? Is it worth the extra $$$ ?

One has a bit of brute, and the other has just a bit less brute, natch. I hope this helps with your purchasing decisions.

If you want polyphony, get the Pulse 2. Not tried it myself but I have the Pulse 1 and love it so the new one can only be better right? ;)

Buy a SH09, still cheap compared to a 101 and sounds nicer to my ears.

  On 4/18/2015 at 8:49 AM, Mesh Gear Fox said:

yamaha tx81z

korg volca bass

The price of the tx81z is very appealing. I use Max for Live a lot, do you have a link to your editor? I've never seen it used to control hardware although I've known that's a possibility. Do you know of any plugins I could use to control an Alesis D4 drum machine?

  On 4/21/2015 at 12:51 PM, Chesney said:

If you want polyphony, get the Pulse 2. Not tried it myself but I have the Pulse 1 and love it so the new one can only be better right? ;)

Buy a SH09, still cheap compared to a 101 and sounds nicer to my ears.

I love the SH-101 and that looks like a cool, cheaper alternative. I'll definitely keep that in mind, thanks.

+1 for TX81Z. It's a world unto itself. I made the mistake of trading away mine once and my life fell into shambles. Got another one and I'll request to be buried with it. Great basses but also tons of other stuff, and it doesn't sound like anything else.

Take my endorsement with a grain of salt though - I have a Microbrute and I'm kind of bored with it and will probably sell it. I think I'm just not an "analog guy".

controlling a TX81z from an editor can be a PITA because of the tiny midi buffer.

still miles better than using the tiny LCD-screen and the buttons, tho

I have an editor (that $20 windows one) but I actually found that I prefer editing from the front panel for the most part. It was my first proper synth, though, so I got to know my way around it. The editor definitely makes editing envelopes more intuitive though. Also setting frequency ratios, cos Yam made this as awkward as fucking possible, as they liked to do.

A little off topic, has anyone used one of these? Seems like fun.

http://www.tt-303.com/?page_id=49

Sorry to be throwing all my Mini/MicroBrute questions in this thread. But what do most people go for - the Sequencer or Arpeggiator version?

It's not really what it's known for, but some of the best bass I've gotten lately has been from the Wavestation SR of al things. An editor is almost mandatory, though, unless you get one of the older versions that actually has a real interface.

The Yamaha TX802 is pretty great, too. Different than the 81z.

If you or someone you know can build it, the Mutable Instruments Anushri is the most fun I've had with a monosynth in a long time; I got a microbrute and it was broken from the factory (defective pitch whell and completely dead sequencer) and I ended up using the refund for an Anushri instead of replacing it, and have no regrets about that. But you do have to build it, so that could be a deal breaker. It's really well documented, though, and isn't nearly as hard as the part count makes it look. I'm no electronics expert by any stretch of the imagination and I got it done in two afternoons with no trouble.