Ableton Forum

I'm happy with all my hardware and software synths that I'm using right now. I feel like I'm pretty much set in that area to make music for years to come! Nice feeling in that area.

But I've felt like there's a little hole in my setup. Kind of "bread and butter" preset sounds that would be very difficult or impossible to be made from scratch on a subtractive synth. I think what I need is one good "sound module". I'd like to get one of those which came in rack mount back in the 80's and 90's. They had all those patches with kind of cheesy 80's pseudo "synth" sounds that you couldn't edit much.

I think that's where those semi-cheesy sounds you hear in the deep house tracks are coming from these days. For example, I read somewhere that Miguel Migs uses the Roland Fantom. I went to the music store and tried that one. Hmmm...the old roland stuff is my favorite, but the new stuff just doesn't sound that great to me. I wasn't that impressed with the sounds on the Fantom. I want something with more "character".

After playing for hours with them in the store, I ended up buying a Yamaha Motif XS6 on a whim. I don't like "workstation" keyboards, but I guess that's where all those sounds are these days.

Can you recommend a great rack module from the 80's-90s that would have good sounds for deep (funky) house music? Didn't Roland, Yamaha or Korg make some good ones? Any others?

roland jv 1080 i think with the dance boards

the xv series have no soul

Cool, so they only made the one model in the JV series?

What kind of sounds are on the 1080? Do you know how many dance boards they made for it?

I guess the JP series are mainly just analog subtractive style right?

Would you say that the Motif isn't the best choice for this kind of music? There are some usable sounds in there but some really ordinary run of the mill ones too. I've got kind of mixed feelings about it because I've never tried those old sound modules like the 1080. So, I have nothing to compare it to.

icedsushi wrote:Would you say that the Motif isn't the best choice for this kind of music? There are some usable sounds in there but some really ordinary run of the mill ones too. I've got kind of mixed feelings about it because I've never tried those old sound modules like the 1080. So, I have nothing to compare it to.

the motif stuff is okish, its truely bread and butter though

i think you will probably find yourself with a cheesy grin from time to time when you use the jv


they had the jv 2080 as well but ive only played with the old old models and the xv5050 (bad purchase once upond a time)

Damn. I should have made this thread before I jumped the gun & bought the Motif. You described it exactly. The cheesy grin is exactly what I'm after.

icedsushi wrote:Damn. I should have made this thread before I jumped the gun & bought the Motif. You described it exactly. The cheesy grin is exactly what I'm after.

not too big a deal as JV's are cheap and you will easily sell/swpa the motif and get one.

Great suggestion. I've been looking into getting one of them. It's a nice bonus they're so cheap because everyone is ditching them to use plugins.

Any other suggestions? How about a good rack module from the '80's?

Just scored a mint jv-1080 on ebay minutes ago! No cards but I can collect them as I go. I'll let you know what I think.

I read some comments on sonicstate about the jv-2080 having some aliasing in the tails of some of the sounds...so I didn't go for that one.

Hey how about the D-550 rack? It's identical to the D-50 sound engine right? I found some sample clips of the D-50 on the net and so far I liked what I heard.

Oberheim Matrix 1000 - I have never owned one but I have heard nothing but good things for this box and I think there is an editor for it as well....Yep there are a few editors for it....

http://www.mk2software.com/matrix/index.php



http://reviews.harmony-central.com/revi ... +1000/10/1

Here is a review from Harmony Central....

Product: Oberheim Matrix 1000
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted 06/13/2007 at 05:38am by David

Ease of Use : 9
This is a tricky one to judge really - on the surface it is a "10" as all you can do from the front panel is select patches, change midi channel, select unison on or off and a couple of other very minor points. Doing that is very simple and easy.

Against that, any editing requires a computer and suitable editing software and this is a reasonably sophisticated synth, so learning its in and outs will take some time. This could be very rewarding, but a bit frustrating if all you wanted to do was open the filter a little or sharpen an envelope.

However, I work on the assumption that you should know research what you are buying and this limitation should be no surprise. If you want front panel editing look for a Matrix 6 or 6R.

The Matrix 1000 has 1000 memory slots - 200 user programmable and 800 factory fixed. Due to the limitations of its physical memory - and remember 20 years ago saving a byte was a big deal - the layout and navigation of the presets in memory is not perhaps as easy as it could be.

So I have to score the Matrix 1000 quite highly as it does what it says on the tin!



Features : 8
It is a 20 year old 6 voice analog synth module. NO effects, No sequencer, No memory expansions, etc. It responds to velocity and release velocity (Big Plus+++). If you need more polyhony you can buy another Matrix 1000, 6 or 6R. They can be linked to form a 12 voice. But hey, the Prophet 5 was a 5 voice, the Memorymoog 6 voice. Live with it!
Single mono audio out, Midi in out and thru.


Expressiveness/Sounds : 10
This is what you buy it for!!! On its own it is quite fat, saying it sounds like an Oberheim seems a bit of a cop out, but it does - warm brass, nice strings, etc. These days we have become so used to hearing synths with built in effects units that judging one without, it can be difficult to remain objective. Put it thru an effects unit - mine has a dedicated Lex MPX 100 and it leaps into life. Synth Brass and warm fat pads that a modern synth - Triton, Motif, etc., can never hope to get. Bass sounds so fat and wide hey could block a motorway. A little reverb, sound 434 "CS-80" and instant Vangelis.

This little module always makes me smile - You know it will always sound great.

It is not a miniMoog, don't expect it to be, though it does get close. There is sufficient here to keep most people happy and for the curent price of a mini, I could have bought at least 10 Matrix 1000s


Reliability : No Opinion
It will never be gigged and so this is not an issue

Customer Support : 5
Do know about Oberheim (Viscount) but there is good support on the 'net.

Overall Rating : 10
If it were lost or stolen it would be replaced immediately.
It is a real pleasure to play and I would be very lost without it now.

For the price you pay for one these days it represents excellent value for money. Mine is in great condition

i have a matrix 1000 an i absolutely love it.
the presets were used pretty heavily by aphex for the selected ambient works discs.

once you have an editor set up for it, it's pretty amazing.

great analog poly synth.


it's not really what the op is asking for though.




.lm.

I didn't know about the Matrix 1000. But yeah I guess that's an analog polysynth right?

Looks nice, but I already got a bunch of analog polysynths . So I was looking for something with kind of 80's-90's preset sounds that you can't make on an analog polysynth or with plugins. I'd like to have the ability to do a little tweaking on it, even if it's limited.

I don't mind for it to sound dated. Actually, come to think of it, maybe dated is what I'm after.

They're pretty cheap since people don't want hardware anymore (especially rack hardware without knobs). I think I'd like to get one more of them in addition to the jv-1080. Hmmm...

I have a Proteus 2000 with 3 additional expansion boards that really make it one hell of a 1 space monster. Keep in mind it isn't going to compete with soft synths in terms of quality - they stuffed a lot of presets on those small ROM chips. But you will get a boatload of usable presets if you get the right module.

Ok, this is the sort of thing I guess you are after.
I have an SY85, It sounds very distinctive, it's all about wthose great big 90s sample and synthesis pads and onboard effects.

the rackmount version is a TG500, they go for about £80 - £100 on the 'bay
http://www.sonicstate.com/synth_reviews/yamahatg500.cfm

an editor will set you back about $99

i think you can find these for dirt cheap, you did say "cheesy" and "80's & 90's", this is what came to mind!

Ensoniq ESQM (rackmount) (pain in the ass to edit/program)
Ensoniq ESQ 1 (keyboard) (easier to edit/program)

i sold them (keyboard/rackmount) one day in my "gear lust" days when i was trying to save up for a thing called "kyma".

i think i will eventually get these back, its a "its so bad that its so good" kinda thing.(imo)