Small knobby desktop synths

Greetings all,

Looking to potentially replace a Moog Slim Phatty... has been causing many heart-aches as of late - MIDI trips, tuning issues...basically a tad' unreliable

 

Haven't been keeping up to date with new desktop synths ... any sweeties out there in around the same price point or cheaper than said Phatty?

 

Would be using it for lead lines...preferably would be analog, small in size (no bigger than the Slim) and have saveable presets

 

any suggestions would be mighty fine

I was just going to recommend the Moog Mother 32, but it's not what you're asking for.

 

Knobby synth no bigger than the slim phatty is pretty hard to find. I'd probably go for the new Korg/arp oddysey desktop module if I was going to buy myself something neat, but it's much bigger and I don't think it has presets.

Edited September 9, 2016 by Gocab

  On 9/9/2016 at 5:06 PM, Gocab said:

I was just going to recommend the Moog Mother 32, but it's not what you're asking for.

 

Knobby synth no bigger than the slim phatty is pretty hard to find. I'd probably go for the new Korg/arp oddysey desktop module if I was going to buy myself something neat, but it's much bigger and I don't think it has presets.

 

Presets aren't the end of the world...just got spoiled with the Slim Phatty - used to get along fine with just a monotribe

 

Arp isn't a bad shout! May investigate that bad boy

 

was actually considering the Mother 32...but might not be much of a change

  On 9/9/2016 at 5:06 PM, Gocab said:

I was just going to recommend the Moog Mother 32, but it's not what you're asking for.

 

Knobby synth no bigger than the slim phatty is pretty hard to find. I'd probably go for the new Korg/arp oddysey desktop module if I was going to buy myself something neat, but it's much bigger and I don't think it has presets.

 

Yeah, no presets at all, it's basically an Odyssey clone with a Midi to CV converter built in, supposedly the only changes to the actual synth circuit were those necessary to replace some out of production ICs with modern equivalents).  There's MIDI note in, MIDI note out and MIDI pitch bend in on the module version and other than that it's a pre-midi, 70s analog synth for all intents and purposes.

If you can find a well built one used I'm a big fan of the old Mutable Instruments Anushri.  Made one 4 years ago and use it constantly. It's not an SH101 clone but it fills a similar niche. The built in drum machine seems gimmicky at first but it's actually really fun.  I tend to use it as a MIDI drum module to blend in with other drum sounds. Open hardware and firmware, too, so there's still plenty of online support. No presets though. The digital controls save the last state when you power it down and support sysex dumps, but the actual synth itself is fully analog - apart from the secondary digital oscillator that you can use for things like simple 2-op FM or blend in with the analog signal path, which I actually really like doing - with fully analog controls.  Only things you can save are the envelope, LFO, arpeggiator, sequencer and drum machine parameters, and again it's only the state when you turn it off that gets saved, unless you use sysex dumps.

 

The acrylic cases were pretty terrible, though.  Nice looking but there were some bad design choices that make them pretty flimsy (for example, on mine, the screws that hold the end pieces in place are actually a little too long for the notches in the panels, which I found out the hard way when I was assembling it - the case breaks before the screw is fully tightened.  Even when you file them down to fit, the vents in the end panels take up so much surface area that you've got maybe 3mm of acrylic supporting all of the tension.  Just leaving it on a desk is enough for it to end up cracking around the corners eventually, and good luck if you have to open it up very often.  I've been in mine 3 times and was very careful about it but it's already nearly impossible to get it back together solidly.  The synth itself is great though, sounds good, well laid out, compact, stable firmware for the digital parts, quality PCBs.  As long as the builder was competent it should last a long time.  Eventually I'll put mine in something more like this, but I want to look in to the modding/expansion options first. 

 

Anyway, very big fan with the caveats that the enclosure sucks and it was a kit so if the builder didn't know what they were doing it's probably not going to be as reliable as it should be.

anybody got the ns1nanosynth while we're talking about tiny synths

I just came in to mention the Odyssey desktop module as that's what I'm getting, but I see that's already covered. Interested to see what others come up with.

 

The Anushri looks interesting, but might just have too much of a distinct sound... If that makes any sense, shall look into it further tho

 

Was looking at the MS-20m desktop module earlier, didn't realise it was so expensive! Would have been perfect, but out of my price range

i haven't used it but:

 

How about the Roland System-1m? It's also semi modular

You can buy my Waldorf pulse 2, but it's not very knobby. I don't really like how it sounds.

A good friend has owned both the Waldorf Blofeld and Pulse desktop units, and sold both of them after a while. I got to use them a bit, and they're pretty menu-divey, not as accessible for fun knobby tweaky time. Would not recommend for your case.

Doepfer dark energy? Maybe too nichey though.

  On 9/9/2016 at 11:21 PM, ussr said:

Doepfer dark energy? Maybe too nichey though.

It is quite knobby. Kind of limited, but it's really fun if you have other synths you can patch into it & vice versa. Trying to sell mine atm, so if anyone is interested, pm me

I've got an Evolver that sort of follows some of your requests, but they're a bit twitchy and not the most reliable. Also very heavy learning curve as in it's a matrix grid for programming. Great sounds are possible with it, though.

 

Honestly I'd probably suggest Gocab's Pulse 2, been lusting after these for a while, I've just never but the bullet.

Edited September 10, 2016 by auxien

  On 9/9/2016 at 8:23 PM, TRiP said:

The Anushri looks interesting, but might just have too much of a distinct sound... If that makes any sense, shall look into it further tho

 

 

Yeah, it's definitely got its own thing, almost like a combination between an SH101, an MS10 and a Wasp if that makes sense.

 

The sound in the video I linked isn't the only thing it does, though, it can get quite smooth at low resonance.

 

 

Anyway, I'm almost definitely getting an Odyssey module like so many other people, unless the price on an old poly I'm looking at stays in my budget.

Edited September 10, 2016 by RSP

 

Thanks for the suggestions

 

Out of aesthetic principal alone I almost want to ignore the Roland system 1-m but shall give it a proper investigation

 

Not pushed on the Blofeld - would prefer a more powerful, knobby, monosynth

 

Was never crazy about the Dark Energy's filter but will give it another look

 

Was looking into this Lad here, seems pretty nice but shall keep looking

 

http://www.dreadbox-fx.com/erebus/

Not to harp on it but just because the demos on youtube aren't very varied and mostly focus on its harsher side, here are some passable examples of what it sounds like with the resonance rolled back:

 

 

 

 

Definitely has it's own identity though.

I have owned a Blofeld, Dark Energy and Evolver...sold all of them. Blofeld was the most usable and has the best sound to my ears. Never really liked the Evolver's sound and hardly used it and the Dark Energy never sat in a mix well with other synths, also ended up never using it.

  On 9/10/2016 at 5:06 AM, RSP said:

Not to harp on it but just because the demos on youtube aren't very varied and mostly focus on its harsher side, here are some passable examples of what it sounds like with the resonance rolled back:

 

 

 

 

Definitely has it's own identity though.

 

 

mmm does sound tasty indeed!

I was thinking about getting an erebus as well a while back, but I never got round to do it. Looks really nice. Support the little guy innit.