I think I changed my mind

  On 5/20/2020 at 3:05 PM, pizza said:

do you have experience with one? would love to hear some thoughts

the FS1R was one of my dream synths for years and i was finally able to get one about 4 months ago. it instantly became the best sounding synth i own. it has a super high resolution "hyperreal" sound that i've only previously heard coming from the monomachine. you can make very 'tactile' sounds with it that still sound completely digital & synthetic. you can call up some of the cheesy presets, start changing the fm algorithms & levels, and things can get really weird really quick. tons of room for exploration and happy accidents. there's a bit of a steep learning curve and i've just barely scratched the surface of it, but it's also pretty easy to come up with some wild alien sounds while changing relatively few parameters. i haven't heard anything in software that comes anywhere close to what this thing can do and how good it sounds.

edit: @sheatheman

Quaristice and Untilted, then back to Max after that.

Nord Lead is basically my favourite synth ever, sounds great even dry. 

  On 5/21/2020 at 11:36 AM, modey said:

edit: @sheatheman

 

Quaristice and Untilted, then back to Max after that.

Nord Lead is basically my favourite synth ever, sounds great even dry. 

I hear MnM in Oversteps too! 
Can’t remember exactly where in this moment but it’s there imo

  On 5/21/2020 at 10:19 AM, digit said:

the FS1R was one of my dream synths for years and i was finally able to get one about 4 months ago. it instantly became the best sounding synth i own. it has a super high resolution "hyperreal" sound that i've only previously heard coming from the monomachine. you can make very 'tactile' sounds with it that still sound completely digital & synthetic. you can call up some of the cheesy presets, start changing the fm algorithms & levels, and things can get really weird really quick. tons of room for exploration and happy accidents. there's a bit of a steep learning curve and i've just barely scratched the surface of it, but it's also pretty easy to come up with some wild alien sounds while changing relatively few parameters. i haven't heard anything in software that comes anywhere close to what this thing can do and how good it sounds.

From what I've read countless times, sound is amazing but overall UX is quite counter-intuitive. Do you use an editor with it ?

Does anyone have experience with the TX81Z? Seems like the DX7/TX7 still has a lot of vibe compared with later outings...

Snd- atavism was made with the fs1r iirc 

Always wanted to try it but the prices are still quite high. Does that editor make things any easier? Can you save presents on it?

Would love to save presents on my synths

  On 5/21/2020 at 12:09 PM, chim said:

Does anyone have experience with the TX81Z? Seems like the DX7/TX7 still has a lot of vibe compared with later outings...

I've never messed with one but a friend of mine has had one for a few years and does basically everything on that, a Kurzweil K2500RS and a Kawai K1.  I'm not usually around when he works on stuff but what I've heard sounds great and definitely not like stereotpyical FM sounds.

The TX802 was easily the best value in FM for a long time but it looks like they're getting more expensive lately. I don't even know how long I've had one (first real synth I ever got, back when nobody wanted FM) and I still find uses for it.  I'd say if you find one under $250 it's still a good deal, but for $300+ it's a lot harder to justify.  It really does sound fantastic, though. Doesn't have the grit of the 12 bit FM synths but it sounds really good. I'd definitely recommend one over a DX7-II unless you absolutely need the keyboard.  The DX7-II is easier to program but the 802 does a bit more (multitimbral, 10 outs, microtuning that I'm not sure the DX could do) and is essentially the same synth.

  On 5/21/2020 at 10:19 AM, digit said:

the FS1R was one of my dream synths for years and i was finally able to get one about 4 months ago. it instantly became the best sounding synth i own. it has a super high resolution "hyperreal" sound that i've only previously heard coming from the monomachine. you can make very 'tactile' sounds with it that still sound completely digital & synthetic. you can call up some of the cheesy presets, start changing the fm algorithms & levels, and things can get really weird really quick. tons of room for exploration and happy accidents. there's a bit of a steep learning curve and i've just barely scratched the surface of it, but it's also pretty easy to come up with some wild alien sounds while changing relatively few parameters. i haven't heard anything in software that comes anywhere close to what this thing can do and how good it sounds.

super powerful synth that goes beyond FM (subtractive, additive, formant) but yes, UI is nightmarish without a good software editor which is sad cause this synth is a true gem. Regarding FM I use a preen FM 2 and a reface DX, both are great but I still need to learn a lot about FM synthesis (Theory in particular)

That's always been the beauty of the DX series keyboards for me, and why I wish I still had one - you really don't need to understand FM theory to get good results quickly.  There's a little bit of learning curve at the beginning, but the DX interface is really intuitive once you get the basics, there's direct access to basically every parameter (not control-per-function but close - press a button with your right hand, play the keyboard with your right hand while tweaking the parameter with your left, repeat) and it's easy to work by ear. No other FM synth I've tried is like that, least of all the Yamaha rack modules (even though they tend to be more flexible than their keyboard counterparts).

Since we're talking boutique FM like the FS1R, there's this new French creation, the Kodomo EssenceFM. 

Highlights include 6 operators, 300 voice polyphony and neat touchscreen functions (draw your envelopes etc). 

  On 5/21/2020 at 10:27 PM, chim said:

Since we're talking boutique FM like the FS1R, there's this new French creation, the Kodomo EssenceFM. 

Highlights include 6 operators, 300 voice polyphony and neat touchscreen functions (draw your envelopes etc). 

 

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Beast!!! If I had the money lol.

  On 5/21/2020 at 11:47 AM, xox said:

I hear MnM in Oversteps too! 
Can’t remember exactly where in this moment but it’s there imo

pretty sure no monomachine on oversteps (oversteps = over step sequencers - ie: the elektrons). the FS1R is all over it, tho.

  On 5/21/2020 at 12:01 PM, Nil said:

From what I've read countless times, sound is amazing but overall UX is quite counter-intuitive. Do you use an editor with it ?

yeah, you definitely want to use an editor with it. i'm on a mac so i use the mac version of this one: https://synth-voice.sakura.ne.jp/fs1r_editor_english.html

that being said, the front panel isn't that bad. you can use it for some basic stuff & it gets faster once you learn how everything is laid out. the knobs can be used to navigate thru the menus & change values. but the synth is so deep that you really need an editor to get a birds-eye view of whats going on & make changes more quickly.

ps - the effects in the FS1R are really good. i was surprised because nobody ever talks about them. there is a wide range of built-in effects including distortion, amp simulators, filters, compressor, pitch shifter, bit-reduction, etc. a real diverse range of stuff and they all sound fantastic.

  On 5/21/2020 at 10:27 PM, chim said:

Since we're talking boutique FM like the FS1R, there's this new French creation, the Kodomo EssenceFM. 

Highlights include 6 operators, 300 voice polyphony and neat touchscreen functions (draw your envelopes etc). 

 

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pretty interesting and deep, a few good sounds in there. but i don't know that i'd ever want a touchscreen on music hardware, and further it basically just looks like they took a computer program and wrapped it in some sorta mediocre rack enclosure. which itself isn't too far away from a lot of digital hardware synths but...that all would worry me if i was considering it is all i'm saying. could definitely see it being cool for certain users.

It is way too clean sounding for me. I have the same issue with FM8, it's one of the most powerful synth engines I know but it never reaches that point where you let go of the controls and just wanna play. Reminds me of the Echofix modern RE-201 clone, all high quality internals with a minimum of noise and flutter, almost defeats the point of using one... 

  On 5/18/2020 at 11:45 PM, nikisoko said:

oh yeah, i'd say the build quality is good. I dont worry about breaking it.  I think its a limit of the chip, but I find the shape of the envelopes to be a bit fiddly. It's easy to go from really long decays to what to short, so I have to be careful there. I have noticed on occasion I have to move a slider around a bit to get it to 'catch',  but I think this is a common issue with digitally driven synths from analog style controls and not too far off from my experience with using some midi controllers on softsynths.

heya

any long term thoughts on this? assuming you've still got it. still love all the sounds i've heard from it but i'm worried about the various comments i've seen regarding the sliders thing among other hardware issues. the company has been pushing out a good bit of firmware apparently so that's likely a good sign at least...anyway just thinking ahead to maybe grabbing this down the way a bit.

  On 9/20/2021 at 2:34 AM, auxien said:

heya

any long term thoughts on this? assuming you've still got it. still love all the sounds i've heard from it but i'm worried about the various comments i've seen regarding the sliders thing among other hardware issues. the company has been pushing out a good bit of firmware apparently so that's likely a good sign at least...anyway just thinking ahead to maybe grabbing this down the way a bit.

hi. good question. i'm still using it though i would say that its my most niche synth. programming it can be tricky and i would say its harder to find the sweet spots than most other synths i have. sometimes its easier to start with a regular fm synth and then added the grunge i'm looking for somehow.  i would say the biggest drawback is that a having long release on the adsrs gets really noisey, really fast.  i know thats something that is desirable in some cases but definitely not all. I run it through a lowpass filter with an envelope follower prettry frequently for pads.

that being said, I still think its worth the money and i'm glad I have it.  the hardware still all works fine but its just been sitting on my desk this whole time so i'm not sure how it would have gotten broken anyway. it does percussion really well, and bass stuff as well.  The main drawback is that its not super precise to program so for me its better to start experimenting with it earlier in a track and let it define part of the palate of the track, rather than going for it at the end of a track thinking "i need this specific sound", because its probably going to be easier to dial it in on another synth.

  On 9/20/2021 at 4:26 PM, nikisoko said:

hi. good question. i'm still using it though i would say that its my most niche synth. programming it can be tricky and i would say its harder to find the sweet spots than most other synths i have. sometimes its easier to start with a regular fm synth and then added the grunge i'm looking for somehow.  i would say the biggest drawback is that a having long release on the adsrs gets really noisey, really fast.  i know thats something that is desirable in some cases but definitely not all. I run it through a lowpass filter with an envelope follower prettry frequently for pads.

that being said, I still think its worth the money and i'm glad I have it.  the hardware still all works fine but its just been sitting on my desk this whole time so i'm not sure how it would have gotten broken anyway. it does percussion really well, and bass stuff as well.  The main drawback is that its not super precise to program so for me its better to start experimenting with it earlier in a track and let it define part of the palate of the track, rather than going for it at the end of a track thinking "i need this specific sound", because its probably going to be easier to dial it in on another synth.

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interesting, didn't think the programming would be noteworthy. but there's a bit of depth to it, glancing at the manual now....can see some of that definitely getting frustrating when programming a new sound. i'm not surprised by the narrow sweet spot comment, and i'm used to that with synths so not a big issue imo.

the noise along with a long release makes sense, don't think it's something i've noticed in the demos but good to know you're experiencing that as a problem at times. at least you've found a workaround with running it all through another filter, but that sounds a bit of a hassle.

yeah, i don't think i've heard anything about it being easily broken, more so that it's just showing up from the factory with the hardware in a faulty state. but good that it feels solid in the long term.

appreciate your time to chat about it, sounds like you're getting on pretty well with it despite any quirks (a synth like this is sure expected to be quirky).