It is really cool to get back to real synths.

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
supamonsta
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It is really cool to get back to real synths.

Post by supamonsta » Tue Aug 18, 2009 12:37 pm

Hi, just a little "testimony", to say how cool I feel now that I have bought a few real hardware (analog) synths.

when I say "cool", I don't mean I feel I'm a cool guy, lol, but that I feel really... cool, destressed, peaceful.

3 little synths for approx 850 euros (I sold my virus TI 1200 euros one year ago, then bought NI massive, used alphakanal Automat, and I nearly bought NI kore 2 but hopefully I didn't.)

real gear is so... REAL. it's here, and always will be. you can clean the dust on it, plug it here or there, use it standalone just with earcans, or plug it in the soundcard and then use it in live with other hardware synths, software, plugins...

I don't know if I'm dumb to your eyes, writing this, but now I don't care. I feel cool. I don't feel the need for an extra LIVE 18.2.58 upgrade, or another u-he/waves/racks/glitch multiplugin, or a 2.500$ lemur or logic pro 12 or what else reaktor or NI kore... ((EDIT: well, huuh, REAKTOR I'm soon buying it in fact, but not for the VA synth part. the drummachines, glitchy fx and midi tools attract me. and one day... a lemur, and a voyager rack to replace the cheap mfb synth II, but that's when the music I make will make me earn money. let's say... never ;) )

I'm cool with little analog dusty beasts.

Synth plugs just seem to be a kind of alien un-usable technology to me now... :lol:


anyway, I don't want to criticise software synths, or any other software, I just wanted to say how good it is for me now to play with real synths. even if they are awfully more complicated to use the same way I used to use plugins (daw-automations, patch saved in the project, midi and audio routage...)

it's 100% pure pleasure.

and I'm not speaking about the SOUND !!!! it's another debate, in which I could also say how COOL I feel, when my ears are fullfilled with such creamy fatness. and how cool it is to have pure sounds sitting perfectly in the mix, beeing totally distinctive from other sounds...


well, I'll stop here.

just needed to say it, just to share my joy ;)

peace
Last edited by supamonsta on Wed Aug 19, 2009 1:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

UKRuss
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Re: It is really cool to get back to real synths.

Post by UKRuss » Tue Aug 18, 2009 12:51 pm

But if you fill my ears with your creamy phatness, expect trouble.

What did you purchase by way of said analogue synthesisers my good man?

supamonsta
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Re: It is really cool to get back to real synths.

Post by supamonsta » Tue Aug 18, 2009 12:53 pm

hi Rave,

the evolver and mfb are used in 5 of my soundcloud's tracks (the first three tracks, then "Bump" and "maniac jumper").

Still no track with the juno, I just bought it on last monday :D

but for sure I will give the links to the tracks I'll rework with it!!!!

cheers


EDIT : UKRuss, I HOPE SOME TROUBLE !!!! but I'll keep cool ;)
MFB synth II, DSI evolver desktop, and last but not least ROLAND ALPHA JUNO 2. wooooooooooo
3 synths for half the price of a brand new virus Ti... that I'll never regret!

cheers my good man

djsynchro
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Re: It is really cool to get back to real synths.

Post by djsynchro » Tue Aug 18, 2009 1:22 pm

A Virus is code running on DSPs and so it's a software synth really. The advantage of real analogue is that aliasing doen't exist in the analogue domain... the frequencies just happily carry on existing well beyond 20Khz without any harmonics folding back, filter warping and other anomalies.
But yeah, you get a box & knobs.

On the other hand, I had an SH-101 for years and I really honestly think Sylenth1 is better.

slowdancer
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Re: It is really cool to get back to real synths.

Post by slowdancer » Tue Aug 18, 2009 7:37 pm

speaking of real synths...i just got a new one:

Image

from bleep labs. this thing is the shit.
--------------------
sleetWalker
http://www.sleetwalker.com
TWIT: @sleetwalker

supamonsta
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Re: It is really cool to get back to real synths.

Post by supamonsta » Tue Aug 18, 2009 7:48 pm

8O 8O 8O 8O

funny one! very minimal it seems... wicked!

senator adam
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Re: It is really cool to get back to real synths.

Post by senator adam » Tue Aug 18, 2009 8:27 pm

slowdancer wrote:speaking of real synths...i just got a new one:

Image

from bleep labs. this thing is the shit.


Quality mag too.
My tunes (triphop/downtempo/beats):
http://www.thenewlaw.com

My podcast:
http://www.senatoradam.com

Machinesworking
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Re: It is really cool to get back to real synths.

Post by Machinesworking » Tue Aug 18, 2009 10:03 pm

I agree. I went for years using only software,
and I think it does certain things way better than hardware,
but I love the instability of analog, the hands on control and the way it reacts slightly differently
to chords etc.
I like the round edges and slightly muffled tonal response of analog hardware
vs software. I still use Zebra, Massive and Absynth, but I always use the Memorymoog, Xpander, and Evolver.
$300 van and over 5k in hardware synths, my old business partner would say a Fucked
up sense of priorities. I disagree! :)

aisling
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Re: It is really cool to get back to real synths.

Post by aisling » Wed Aug 19, 2009 4:22 am

Machinesworking wrote: $300 van and over 5k in hardware synths, my old business partner would say a Fucked
up sense of priorities. I disagree! :)
8) Priorities are rather subjective in nature.
http://soundcloud.com/aislingbeing


Live, Reason, Moog sub phatty, Moog sub 37, Ozone 6, guitars, Pedals, proper ergonomic sitting posture, french pressed coffee with a pinch of cardamon.

loquat
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Re: It is really cool to get back to real synths.

Post by loquat » Wed Aug 19, 2009 4:52 am

Real synths are awesome. I am not going to disagree. But I have a ton of fun with Live's macro-controls. That with my cheapo Oxygen 8 gives me the perfect amount of hands-on feeling that I need.

Machinesworking
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Re: It is really cool to get back to real synths.

Post by Machinesworking » Wed Aug 19, 2009 4:58 am

loquat wrote:Real synths are awesome. I am not going to disagree. But I have a ton of fun with Live's macro-controls. That with my cheapo Oxygen 8 gives me the perfect amount of hands-on feeling that I need.
I love Live for being a big sampler, and I think in general the experience of a laptop is perfect for digital synthesis and sampling.
I'm just addicted to analog.... nasty habit.

oblique strategies
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Re: It is really cool to get back to real synths.

Post by oblique strategies » Wed Aug 19, 2009 6:35 am

monstrejumo wrote:I'm cool with little analog dusty beasts.
:)

supamonsta
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Re: It is really cool to get back to real synths.

Post by supamonsta » Wed Aug 19, 2009 8:39 am

:D
Machinesworking wrote:loquat wrote:
Real synths are awesome. I am not going to disagree. But I have a ton of fun with Live's macro-controls. That with my cheapo Oxygen 8 gives me the perfect amount of hands-on feeling that I need.

I love Live for being a big sampler, and I think in general the experience of a laptop is perfect for digital synthesis and sampling.
I'm just addicted to analog.... nasty habit.

I use live since 4 years now (began with live 5, then stuck on live 6), and when I got rid of the virus Ti, I began to think and work 100% software, and I got lost. Began to get bored. even with multiple great controllers and plugins (my beloved alphakanal automat, massive...), the feeling was not here anymore. (I composed several tracks that I still love, but I quickly became stuck like a monolith, unable to explore real experimentations)

then now that I own these 3 synths, Live has come to a new life. I use it differently, with more freedom and creativity.

I could not compose without Live (or perhaps with another big DAW, but Live is the one I really "master")

It's like Live needed food. REAL food, no aspartam.

And now that live eats analog, live becomes bigger, fatter, stronger. It becomes THE alchemic tool to transform the analog matters into divine stone. :lol: I'll stop there, getting fool ;)

thanks for your replies


ps: I passed 3 hours yesterday night playing and modifying the presets of the juno 2 I just bought. GOSH what a sound. I'm J.M. JARRE!!! (baby I listened to jm jarre while drinking my mother's milk) really good cheap synth. and polyphony is great to recover my piano lost skills!

zalo
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Re: It is really cool to get back to real synths.

Post by zalo » Wed Aug 19, 2009 8:53 am

dont get me wrong, i love a real hardware synth, my live set is based entirely around sending midi from ableton to hardware synths

i want a nice analog rack synth for bass parts (any suggestions would be appreciated)

but at the end of the day if i had to make the choice between my lemur and my hardware synths, i would go with my lemur all the way (not that its perfect, i bought a korg k61p for keys and a nanopad for velocity sensitive pads)

without the lemur i would need 3 trigger fingers, a bcf2000, and a i still would have to figure out a way to send some more difficult control changes

and thats just for the live set up, production i dont even want to think about

at the end of the day, a synth is a one trick pony, something i can recreate maybe not with exact precision but close enough for my uses inside ableton

and i understand the "feel" aspect, but 2 of the synths you listed require a midi controller and isnt the juno 2 a digital synth with analog filters?

im not trying to burst your bubble, im stoked that your stoked on synths, if i had it my way i would have everything, (and it seems like that is what im working on), but i only have 2 hands and separate boxes spread out across a table is difficult to play in a live situation, 99% of my live tweaking is done on my lemur, and for that i have to say it gets my vote

zalo
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Re: It is really cool to get back to real synths.

Post by zalo » Wed Aug 19, 2009 8:53 am

oops, double post

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