NAMM 2019 : The thread

^gonna have to read what all that's about

 

In the meantime, I'm considering buying this if only as an investment.

 

Additive and subtractive are terms that apply to many mediums, and I still argue that in that sense, FM is additive. Even though it’s more like multiplication.

 

But whatever you’re right I’m wrong I learned something today I admit it even though I already knew the difference between fm and drawbar and even though I can use both of them better than most people here!

 

But I don’t have time I’m just a dumb day laborer these day yessir. Pressured washed a house today, two stories, made $800 bucks but that money’s already spent. I think about music all the time when I’m sitting in my truck in the dark parking lot of a Home Depot eating a Wendy’s $4 meal deal listening to classic county.

  On 1/25/2019 at 3:25 AM, auxien said:

^gonna have to read what all that's about

 

In the meantime, I'm considering buying this if only as an investment.

 

here's mutable's statement about the arturia synth:

 

https://forum.mutable-instruments.net/t/about-the-microfreak/14878

  Quote

Hello peeps!

There is a lot of noise on the internet regarding the Arturia Microfreak.

Let me clarify a couple of things.

First of all, Plaits’ code is open-source, which means that anybody is free to use it, as long as they credit me somewhere (it can be in a product description page, or a footnote in a downloadable manual, or an “about” dialog). This is why you can find Mutable Instruments’ DSP code in the Korg Prologue, the Axoloti, the Organelle, VCV Rack, and plenty of other bits of software or hardware. This is not stealing. Plaits’ code is a summary of everything I’ve learnt about making rich and balanced sound sources controlled by a few parameters, it’s for everyone to enjoy.

Now, regarding the Microfreak.

Arturia had been in the process of developing a hybrid synth for a while, and contacted me about using some of Plaits’ code inside. I had no objection to that.

In May, they invited me to their headquarters for a product development meeting where they showed me mockups of the Microfreak. It was fairly clear at this point that it was their product. The feature set, UX, sound engine were all already set in stone. The product obviously followed Arturia’s design language and branding. My expected contribution to the project was none: Arturia’s engineers would do their own thing with my code, the tone character and sound design was their responsibility. It was pointless for me to suggest features and ideas, or spill the beans about ideas I wanted to keep for upcoming Mutable Instruments products, and this awkward event felt more like a focus group.

Arturia offered to mention something like “Oscillator code from Mutable Instruments” in the product description, which is my preferred form of citation. No monetary compensation has ever been discussed – which is fair, because I provided exactly 0 hour of work and 0 original line of code. No contract has been drafted or signed.

Arturia contacted me back last week with a photo of the finished product. I never had the opportunity to playtest it. I have not been asked to approve or veto any promotional material.

As you can see, my involvement was fairly limited.

I don’t feel wronged. It’s their product.

However, I feel uneasy when people got excited, seeing it described as a collaboration between Mutable Instruments and Arturia, because none of the technical and design choices involved in this product originate from me. I have been quite disconcerted by the private messages congratulating me for this release and achievement. I know some people have been waiting for a Mutable Instruments keyboard synth, or at least non-modular product, for a while. Well, this is not it. That’s what I wanted to say to the world. I don’t want people to associate any negative experience they could have with this product with Mutable Instruments. I don’t want people to think that I endorsed or at least authorized some aesthetic decisions regarding this product or the communication surrounding it.

With its focus on local production, open-source, deliberate lack of marketing and advertising, Mutable Instruments is an unusual company. It’s stimulating and fun, but somewhat dangerous too. Turning Arturia into an enemy – those talks of boycotts and those tweets demanding justice – is only adding fuel to the fire and increasing the risks of getting me attacked in ways I don’t expect and I am not protected against.

If you care about me, move on! I need a lot of strength and energy at the moment, and it should all be focused on finishing new products.

So please let Arturia enjoy their release party, it’s hard work to ship a product. Buy their product if you think you’ll have fun and make good music with it, don’t buy otherwise. Buy Mutable Instruments products (or the Softube clones) if you want to fund me, or build your own and give the money to charities.

Love,
Émilie

 

The original Yamaha FM synths were meant to provide some additive functionality, otherwise what are DX7 algo #32 and TX81Z algo #8 for? I don't see any problem calling them additive, although when it comes to additive, you probably want more than 4 or 6 oscillators.

 

Edit - ignatius beat me to it!

Edited January 25, 2019 by sweepstakes

  On 1/25/2019 at 5:44 AM, sweepstakes said:

 ignatius beat me to it!

 

 

that's what she said...   

 

damn ! was this the FPGA based synth they teased last year ? looks promising !

Edited January 25, 2019 by D4M0

That man is sufficiently caffeinated.

 

The microFREAK's keyboard is messing with my eyes. It looks like one of those memes with the saturation cranked beyond recognizability.

This Elektron Sampler thing has got me wondering.  For those of us who don't have €700+ to spend (or indeed want to) on a sampler, what options are there if you're on a relative budget?  It would be nice to have the option to fuck around with samples since I've finally ditched Ableton I'm tending to work increasing OTB.

Edited January 27, 2019 by b born droid

  On 1/27/2019 at 11:01 PM, b born droid said:

This Elektron Sampler thing has got me wondering.  For those of us who don't have €700+ to spend (or indeed want to) on a sampler, what options are there if you're on a relative budget?  It would be nice to have the option to fuck around with samples since I've finally ditched Ableton I'm tending to work increasing OTB.

I have heard more and more good things about the newest Electribe sampler but i haven't had a chance to mess with one.

 

The Volca Sample is really fun, especially with an external sequencer like a beatstep pro.

An MPC?

  On 1/27/2019 at 11:08 PM, omnii said:

The Volca Sample is really fun, especially with an external sequencer like a beatstep pro.

Yes. The note trigger implementation is dumbfounding (1 channel for each voice and it ignores note pitch and velocity) but once you get over that you have 12 CCs per voice to go to town on. The EQ is gimmicky but it sounds pretty cool.

  On 1/27/2019 at 11:08 PM, omnii said:

 

  On 1/27/2019 at 11:01 PM, b born droid said:

This Elektron Sampler thing has got me wondering.  For those of us who don't have €700+ to spend (or indeed want to) on a sampler, what options are there if you're on a relative budget?  It would be nice to have the option to fuck around with samples since I've finally ditched Ableton I'm tending to work increasing OTB.

I have heard more and more good things about the newest Electribe sampler but i haven't had a chance to mess with one.

 

The Volca Sample is really fun, especially with an external sequencer like a beatstep pro.

 

In what way?  I own a BSP.

 

I remember fucking with a Volca Sample years ago in store and having fun with it.  Can't remember much about the sound quality though.  There was something about the initial Volca range that sounded weak and thin to me.

The only volcas of questionable value were the first 3 analogs imo

http://cdm.link/2019/01/behringer-crave-synth-vintage-bits-all-the-extras-199/

  On 1/28/2019 at 2:41 AM, sweepstakes said:

The only volcas of questionable value were the first 3 analogs imo

 

Them's fighting words ;-)

 

I like my Volca Keys. In ring mod mode it can make some mean and nasty noises. In poly mode it provides perfectly serviceable base material for stabs.  In unison mode it does fairly useful bass.

 

(but I wouldn't cry if something bad were to happen to it - so there's that)

 

$199 USD means it's cheaper than the parts to build a x0xb0x were (when you figure in panels and enclosure and everything) ten years ago when you could still source the NOS stuff easily.

Edited January 28, 2019 by RSP

  On 1/27/2019 at 11:08 PM, omnii said:

The Volca Sample is really fun, especially with an external sequencer like a beatstep pro.

 

It sounds really great, but if you need to store a lot of patterns it's not ideal. From what I've seen, there's no way to get patterns off the device. Of course it's possible to just do everything in Vosyr and keep archives, but that ruins the spontaneity of making patterns on the device.

The sequencer seems like more or less a knockoff of the Mother 32 sequencer, and for $199 I could see it being useful to have that, with its own internal synth just being a bonus.  Not something I'm interested in but it seems like a useful little bit of kit.

Edited January 29, 2019 by RSP

Seems OB is finally on the horizion, didn't exactly get what he was saying towards the end in terms of the Digitone version - are they waiting till thats sorted before offically releasing it to public, or can you already get the Digitakt final public release now?

 

 

also this seem pretty kewl:

This is the first NAMM I can remember having so little effect on my GAS. The volca drum looks interesting but I can live without it, and the MicroFreak I wouldn't turn down... but there's nothing else here I'm even going to remember in a month. Except maybe that Elektron thing because I actually like the way it looks even if it seems kind of pointless.

  On 2/1/2019 at 2:59 AM, sweepstakes said:

This is the first NAMM I can remember having so little effect on my GAS. The volca drum looks interesting but I can live without it, and the MicroFreak I wouldn't turn down... but there's nothing else here I'm even going to remember in a month. Except maybe that Elektron thing because I actually like the way it looks even if it seems kind of pointless.

Yeah, me too. Volca Drum? Cool, but I already have an ER-1. Microfreak? Also cool but I have a Braids *and* a Shruthi.

 

Guess I'll have to make music this year instead of obsessing about gear

The Microfreak made me check out Plaits, and hoooly shit that's gonna be one of the first things I buy when I go Eurorack (any day now..).

  On 2/1/2019 at 2:54 PM, modey said:

The Microfreak made me check out Plaits, and hoooly shit that's gonna be one of the first things I buy when I go Eurorack (any day now..).

BR/PLaits is an excellent starter module. That and a MIDI input module is already enough to begin making interesting sounds.

 

Once you have those (and a case, if course) you can slowly build out your system one module at a time - and individual modules aren't all that expensive.

 

Have fun!