analogue synth purchase help!

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robleighton22
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analogue synth purchase help!

Post by robleighton22 » Wed Nov 21, 2012 10:03 pm

ok ive got a £900ish budget. I currently have a miniak, which to be honest does not sound great...although it is quite good for pads and some lead type stuff, but i dislike low end sounds massively on it. furthermore, unlike the ion (which is shares the same engine), its a pain to edit on the hardware, and i don't massively enjoy editing on the software.

im lookng at trying to find a prophet 08 module for £900ish, or maybe a more random setup like a tetra (£400-500) and a moog slim phatty (£400-500). so essentially, i do want polyphony and an analogue setup. i also want something hands on.

on paper the tetra sounds ace, but it clearly has loads of bugs according to some of the forums, and i also don't like the idea of editing on this thing. a moog slim phatty is clearly a great choice, but is monophonic - so would want something to complement it, but there just aren't many polyphonic option. Also any ideas if the tetra can be controlled by something like a slim phatty

the prophet 08 is clear all rounder - more voices and more stable than the tetra, lots of hands on controls. but it is hard to find under £1,000. also there seem to be mixed opinions on how the sound compares to other synths. any recommendations? i want to aim to stick with newer gear if im going to spend this amount of cash, but open to suggestions.

cheers

andydes
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Re: analogue synth purchase help!

Post by andydes » Wed Nov 21, 2012 10:22 pm

I've been eying this up. Editing should be much better than the tetra. However it's not multitimbral. So can only play one sound at a time (still 4 notes though). Bit of a shame that.

http://www.dv247.com/keyboards-and-midi ... er--100842

Winterpark
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Re: analogue synth purchase help!

Post by Winterpark » Wed Nov 21, 2012 10:28 pm

I'd save up for the Prophet 08. It definitely has it's own sound... and I reckon that sound is awesome... pretty brassy, and great for organ/key sounds. I also like it's subby bass tones. It's definitely not about that filter cutoff tweaking thing though... it has more to it than that.

It's got loads of routing options, and you can get a load of really good analogue sounds out of it.
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robleighton22
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Re: analogue synth purchase help!

Post by robleighton22 » Wed Nov 21, 2012 10:40 pm

ok a plus 1 on the prophet. pretty sold on this but just waiting for a second hand module to turn up. also worth mentioning as ive got a miniak (which actually 3 octaves is perfect for me due to space), i am not looking for an option with keys. so im looking for module/s ideally. think the mopho x4 will b too big, tho it is just within the price range. thanks so far.

Machinesworking
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Re: analogue synth purchase help!

Post by Machinesworking » Wed Nov 21, 2012 10:55 pm

Well you pretty much named the existing new analog poly synths that are even close to 900pounds.
Although I like Dave Smith Instruments I don't think they sound as noticeably analog as the Moogs, and that's probably due to the Digitally Controlled Oscillators VS the Voltage Controlled Oscillators in Moogs.

The Moog Minotaur sounds really really good, I like it more than the Phatty personally, and you would have money left over for something else.
The 08 is the other obvious choice. Definitely go to a music store and play with it though, as all analog synths have a certain sound that you may like or not....

login
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Re: analogue synth purchase help!

Post by login » Wed Nov 21, 2012 10:57 pm

Right now I would pick the new analogfour by elektron, their gear is always ace and you get analog sound with up to day features.

robleighton22
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Re: analogue synth purchase help!

Post by robleighton22 » Wed Nov 21, 2012 11:15 pm

login wrote:Right now I would pick the new analogfour by elektron, their gear is always ace and you get analog sound with up to day features.
its not polyphonic from what i have read. obviously its not out yet either. so difficult to judge. vermona lancet sounds nice as well, mayb that and a tetra. grrr tooo many options (tho amazing ppl r making analogue hardware again, more choice is better essentially).

robleighton22
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Re: analogue synth purchase help!

Post by robleighton22 » Thu Nov 22, 2012 12:25 am

ok, listening to some minitaur demos - this sounds amazing as a dedicated bass synth. also the software for it looks really good and seems to compliment the hardware nicely. so thinking this and a tetra or a prophet 08 modeule? opinions please....price should be pretty similar altho the prophet module would prob be more (seen it for £960 new, so just over my budget)

login
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Re: analogue synth purchase help!

Post by login » Thu Nov 22, 2012 12:30 am

robleighton22 wrote:
login wrote:Right now I would pick the new analogfour by elektron, their gear is always ace and you get analog sound with up to day features.
its not polyphonic from what i have read. obviously its not out yet either. so difficult to judge. vermona lancet sounds nice as well, mayb that and a tetra. grrr tooo many options (tho amazing ppl r making analogue hardware again, more choice is better essentially).

Tetra is full of bugs and software is not in development, elektron boxes always get updates and maybe it will be able to be used as a polyphonic synth in the future and anyway you could copy the sequence in each track and traspose it (easy on the monomachine os it will be easy on a4). Also is just some days away before it starts shipping, wait for reviews.

Simply there isn't another analog synth with a sequencer as good as the one in elektron boxes.

robleighton22
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Re: analogue synth purchase help!

Post by robleighton22 » Thu Nov 22, 2012 12:37 am

login wrote:
robleighton22 wrote:
login wrote: Simply there isn't another analog synth with a sequencer as good as the one in elektron boxes.
quite possibly. altho we do have live of course. how many tracks can you sequence? i know it says 4 analog tracks...but do you get say more midi tracks to sequence external gear with? it does look nice.....tho some of the videos for the minitaur are amazing (and you can get it for under £400 if you look hard enough). decisions decisions!!

filosofem
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Re: analogue synth purchase help!

Post by filosofem » Thu Nov 22, 2012 4:14 am

robleighton22 wrote:
login wrote:Right now I would pick the new analogfour by elektron, their gear is always ace and you get analog sound with up to day features.
its not polyphonic from what i have read. obviously its not out yet either. so difficult to judge.
Elektron Analog Four isn't polyphonic at launch but is most likely going to be in a future OS update. And can I say as an Elektron user, you just know it's going to be good and that's an under statement.

filosofem
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Re: analogue synth purchase help!

Post by filosofem » Thu Nov 22, 2012 4:27 am

robleighton22 wrote:how many tracks can you sequence? i know it says 4 analog tracks...but do you get say more midi tracks to sequence external gear with?
No external MIDI sequencing but offers 6 independent sequencing tracks (4 x synth tracks, 1 x FX track and 1 x CV/Gate track). Couple Analog Four with an Octatrack and Machinedrum and the possibilities are endless.

loydb
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Re: analogue synth purchase help!

Post by loydb » Thu Nov 22, 2012 3:34 pm

With your budget, I'd grab an Analog Four as well. You can stack tracks until they release polyphony. :) If you must have poly, look at the Mopho x4.
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Synthbuilder
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Re: analogue synth purchase help!

Post by Synthbuilder » Thu Nov 22, 2012 4:30 pm

Vermona's Perfourmer mk II is well worth a look. Rather different to the Dave Smith stuff in that it has a fully analogue front panel for each of its four voices which can be used in either polyphonic and four way monophonic modes.

Image

http://www.vermona.com/index.php/en_p4m.html

andydes
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Re: analogue synth purchase help!

Post by andydes » Thu Nov 22, 2012 5:09 pm

^ the question is, do you want to be tied down to the workflow necessary for this kind of kit?

Part of me quite likes the idea of being forced to commit to audio early on. Make something you like, record it, and move on. But the convenience of being able to recall presets on vsts and more "advanced" synths can't be ignored. I tend to do music in short spells when I find the time and I switch around between 2 or 3 projects at any one time.

So for me personally, I wouldn't make the most of these pure analogue boxes.

Anyone considering one needs to think about how they'd actually use it day to day.

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