Ableton Forum

For those of you who pull your head from out of ableton and into the world of hardware, what is your favorite hardware synth?

While looking through the photos of people's set up I saw a shed load of DSI Mophos and Waldorf Blofelds.
I've got 50,000 yen to drop on some hardware this month.

Without doubt, my favourite hardware synths are Nord Modulars - I have a G1 rack and a G2 engine and like both equally. The reason I like them so much is the sheer range of what you can do and the quality of their editors. In my opinion, they are the best digital synths ever made. Someone was selling a G1 keyboard recently on here for £400 which I found unbelievable. If I didn't have one, I would jump on it!

I recently bought a DSI Tetra (pretty much 4 mophos) and it sounds great, though the editor is pretty poor. Might be better with a mopho as generally I am trying to edit 4 sounds in the tetra and the editor does not seem to like that. A problem you wouldn't have with a mopho.

Haven't messed around with a Blofeld, but have used a Waldorf Q quite a bit, which I liked but always thought something was missing. The specs on the Blofeld look really good though - you certainly get a lot for the price of it. If you are going Waldorf, might be worth waiting for the Pulse 2 though!

Only reason I'd ever buy hardware is if it offers an interface with no menu diving or need to use a software editor, so my 2 hardware synths fit the bill perfectly (SH-101 and Nord Wave) whereas neither of the ones you posted do.

That said, they are 2 v popolar synths so I guess a lot of people disagree with me.

dazzer wrote:Only reason I'd ever buy hardware is if it offers an interface with no menu diving or need to use a software editor, so my 2 hardware synths fit the bill perfectly (SH-101 and Nord Wave) whereas neither of the ones you posted do.

That said, they are 2 v popolar synths so I guess a lot of people disagree with me.

Actually I really like the Roland gaia , no LCD display, 100% hands on. I think it's too expensive for me though.

trevox wrote:Without doubt, my favourite hardware synths are Nord Modulars - I have a G1 rack and a G2 engine and like both equally. The reason I like them so much is the sheer range of what you can do and the quality of their editors. In my opinion, they are the best digital synths ever made. Someone was selling a G1 keyboard recently on here for £400 which I found unbelievable. If I didn't have one, I would jump on it!

A friend of mine is a huge nord modular fan. When it first came out I was just getting into producing. I was desperate to buy that or a Jupiter 8000, very different synths I know but at the time I like them for different reasons. The modular would be a steal at 400 quid.
I found a jp 8080 for 400 as well, but that thing is so old and it dated now lol.

http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=178756

I am sure it was £400 the other day - now £450!!

dazzer wrote:Only reason I'd ever buy hardware is if it offers an interface with no menu diving or need to use a software editor, so my 2 hardware synths fit the bill perfectly (SH-101 and Nord Wave) whereas neither of the ones you posted do.

That said, they are 2 v popolar synths so I guess a lot of people disagree with me.

There seems to be 2 schools of thought on hardware alright. Hands on control or sound. For me, sound is far more important as you cannot hear the hands on control in recorded music! Also, you can always use external controllers to control pretty much any paramater on most synths. But that's just my opinion! I guess you could just buy a CS-80 and get the best of both worlds if you had a spare 15k lying about!

For simple mono synth with VCO, I have 2 favorites, the Technosaurus Microcon 2 and Korg Monotribe. Both are really complimenting each other. Almost anything that I expect from a small, simple analog synth. For a complex 3 OSCs analog mono, I love the Waldorf Pulse+.
Digital; uWaveXT, JD-990, Nord Modular G1 and TG77.

that i own nord modular
that i can't afford but love deeply, alesis andromeda

Great discussion here as I've been eyeing a few hardware synths just because I love that hands-on feel.
I've got plenty of amazing soft synths and I could use my Kore 2 controller to give me the hands-on feel but it just doesn't seem as fun as knob twiddling to find that sound you're looking for or even some that you weren't but found anyway.
I don't really care to have a full keyboard version so I've been narrowing down my options to desktop/rack versions.

Of the following, which would you guys go for:
Moog Voyager Rack
Prophet 08
Nord Rack 2x
Virus TI2 desktop

I realize these are all good for different reasons but I chose them because of the amount of controls on the unit. I think it'd be pointless for me to get a unit like the Pulse 2 or Blofeld or TI Snow or even the Slim Phatty when I could just use a soft synth with my Kore 2 controller to achieve the same kind of feel.

McQ714 wrote:Great discussion here as I've been eyeing a few hardware synths just because I love that hands-on feel.
I've got plenty of amazing soft synths and I could use my Kore 2 controller to give me the hands-on feel but it just doesn't seem as fun as knob twiddling to find that sound you're looking for or even some that you weren't but found anyway.
I don't really care to have a full keyboard version so I've been narrowing down my options to desktop/rack versions.

Of the following, which would you guys go for:
Moog Voyager Rack
Prophet 08
Nord Rack 2x
Virus TI2 desktop

I realize these are all good for different reasons but I chose them because of the amount of controls on the unit. I think it'd be pointless for me to get a unit like the Pulse 2 or Blofeld or TI Snow or even the Slim Phatty when I could just use a soft synth with my Kore 2 controller to achieve the same kind of feel.

Interesting question, I "sort of" have all 4. I would say get the Virus, it's capable of almost any sound and it's so much fun. I can't get the TI to work but using the hardware is super fun. The Tetra is 4 voices of the Prophet. While the Slim Phatty is nowhere near a Voyager, it's still a lot of fun to play with. A nord's a nord and everybody has one. They're dope

Minimoog Voyager Old School.
Got it in a great deal and it has been an amazing education. No presets so you need to build your own sound every time. Learned a lot about synthesis really quickly and can be guaranteed the fattest sounds whenever i fire it up. Also got a midi to cv convertor so I can trigger it from live and use both hands to play with the knobs. It's sexual.

A few of mine would be:

Moog Voyager
Prophet 08
Alesis Andromeda
Juno 106
Korg Mono/Poly
Novation Super Nova

all of which I've been using much more these days, getting fed up with live crashing all the bloody time if you insert a damn vsti unstable arse software rubbish lol.

spot on djadonis lol

i'm in the market for synths myself. your setup is great. i'll be buying a blofeld/virus ti2 and a nord wave. haven't tried the wave out but i think its really strong judging by the specs. any users here?

back to the blofeld it has great sound to it and great modulation possibilities. it's very powerful, u can do a lot with it and personaly i love its sound character. but i think the whole idea of having more synths is for them to complement eachother just like the setup above where the sound of the nord complements the sound of the virus and then there's the analog slim phatty

korg MS20

how about the young minibrute ? (anyone tried it?)

tigali wrote:Minimoog Voyager Old School. Also got a midi to cv convertor so I can trigger it from live and use both hands to play with the knobs.

Hello tigali

I too run a Voyager Old School, in fact the other day I got a MF-103. I've had my VOS for a couple of years now, best hardware purchase I've ever made. You say you have MIDI to CV converter, what type? MP-201?

Regards.

djadonis206 wrote:

I am dribbling.... i would give my left nut for that set up. Unfortunately way out of my price range, although I found a Nord Rack 2 for 45,000 yen (thats about 500 quid).