Music Synths & Keyboards

[The Cat]

Posting my setup here as well. The PC was custom built last December specifically for music production. It has 5TB internal NVMe drives, 3TB internal SSDs, 128GB RAM and USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 for future-proofing. I use Mixcraft 9 Pro and more recently PreSonus Studio One.

Think I'm going to treat myself to ASM's Hydrasynth at the end of the year, The ribbon controller on it is insane. I also have a few virtual synths but wonder if they're exact reproductions of the hardware versions?

Very very nice would love to have something like that.

I use my PC with Reaper together with my Focusrite Scarlett interface to plug my synths and guitars in. Not as sexy but does the job for me. Am hoping to get some tracks down the next couple of months as I will need a break from the heavy garden work I need to do.

 

[sglowrider]

Always wanted to own a Tempest drum machine, but can't justify the pricepoint. They sound gnarly though.

The man invented MIDI, so he's more or less the godfather of electronic music. A seismic contribution. RIP

yah. I know the guy -- he's my nephew's father in law. Dave was a very unassuming, quiet guy. You would have thought he was some accountant by his demeanour. He has just sold the company recently too.
He had other issues besides the heart. For the last decade, he had some MS and had been exercising like a mofo to keep it at arm's length. Biking trips to Europe and around the States, holidays as much as possible. but was using a cane for a while.
It's ironic that it was the heart that gave way.

A good family guy who will be missed.

 

[Cheimoon]

Posting my setup here as well. The PC was custom built last December specifically for music production. It has 5TB internal NVMe drives, 3TB internal SSDs, 128GB RAM and USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 for future-proofing. I use Mixcraft 9 Pro and more recently PreSonus Studio One.

Think I'm going to treat myself to ASM's Hydrasynth at the end of the year, The ribbon controller on it is insane. I also have a few virtual synths but wonder if they're exact reproductions of the hardware versions?

Nice. What kind of music do you make with that?

Softsynth replicas come in all kinds of quality levels from what I've read. They can never be exact, but some apparently get very close. (Arturia tends to do a good job I think? But I'm probably many years behind on this.) More generally, though, I think I would rather treat them as another synth with their own qualities.

 

[Raoul]

Merged

 

[unchanged_lineup]

Nice. What kind of music do you make with that?

Softsynth replicas come in all kinds of quality levels from what I've read. They can never be exact, but some apparently get very close. (Arturia tends to do a good job I think? But I'm probably many years behind on this.) More generally, though, I think I would rather treat them as another synth with their own qualities.

Yeah Arturia ones are very nice. I have the Jupiter one and Synthi V one. They have half price sales from time to time too

 

[unchanged_lineup]

How good Arturia's demo videos are was a big part of why I bought them to be honest.

 

[decorativeed]

Nice. What kind of music do you make with that?

Softsynth replicas come in all kinds of quality levels from what I've read. They can never be exact, but some apparently get very close. (Arturia tends to do a good job I think? But I'm probably many years behind on this.) More generally, though, I think I would rather treat them as another synth with their own qualities.

I've got all the Arturia stuff (well, until they released the latest version of the V collection a couple of weeks ago). It's really good, in my opinion.

I bought it to replace the functionality of my old Nord Electro 3, which in turn I had bought to replace my old Vox Continental and Farfisa Compact Duo combo organs. I loved those old organs, but they were so temperamental, and every time you moved them, you'd have to get the soldering iron out and figure out which wires had come loose.

The Nord did a really good emulation of the Vox, but the Farfisa sounded nothing like. They did have great Mellotron and Chamberlin sounds on them, but the incredibly limited memory to store them was a huge negative. Anyway, I sold it and got the Arturia stuff while it was on sale at half price. Their versions of those organs are spot on, and I really like the mini moog, Juno and CS-80 too.

I also used to have a Korg MS-10, and have used the Korg Legacy soft-synth MS-20 on occasion to replicate that, but I don't think it sounds that much like the original. Maybe Arturia's new one is more faithful, but I've yet to try it out.

 

[RedPed]

Nice. What kind of music do you make with that?

Softsynth replicas come in all kinds of quality levels from what I've read. They can never be exact, but some apparently get very close. (Arturia tends to do a good job I think? But I'm probably many years behind on this.) More generally, though, I think I would rather treat them as another synth with their own qualities.

I made it a personal challenge to replicate as many styles as I could so I've done rock, EDM, trap, electronic, world, orchestral etc., so far. I'm trying to master the orchestral/symphonic/soundtrack genre at the moment. I'd love to do a jingle for Sky Sports or something like that.

I've spent a fortune on the Roland, Korg, EastWest and Spitfire Audio libraries but it's great having all that creative content along with a machine that can handle them all. The softsynths are from the original manufacturers. I have the Korg M1 and Triton, for example, but I don't think the presets are the same as the hardware versions?

 

[Cheimoon]

I've got all the Arturia stuff (well, until they released the latest version of the V collection a couple of weeks ago). It's really good, in my opinion.

I bought it to replace the functionality of my old Nord Electro 3, which in turn I had bought to replace my old Vox Continental and Farfisa Compact Duo combo organs. I loved those old organs, but they were so temperamental, and every time you moved them, you'd have to get the soldering iron out and figure out which wires had come loose.

The Nord did a really good emulation of the Vox, but the Farfisa sounded nothing like. They did have great Mellotron and Chamberlin sounds on them, but the incredibly limited memory to store them was a huge negative. Anyway, I sold it and got the Arturia stuff while it was on sale at half price. Their versions of those organs are spot on, and I really like the mini moog, Juno and CS-80 too.

I also used to have a Korg MS-10, and have used the Korg Legacy soft-synth MS-20 on occasion to replicate that, but I don't think it sounds that much like the original. Maybe Arturia's new one is more faithful, but I've yet to try it out.

Hm, maybe I should consider that then. I feel like the one thing missing from my setup is something for keyboards and organs, so a Nord Electro - but those things are very expensive. I make music very rarely at the moment, so I can't really justify to myself spending that much money on it. I have never been into softsynths, since I like to just play while tweaking buttons a bit on my synths; but maybe I should instead consider buying a good controller to go with some Arturia stuff.

I made it a personal challenge to replicate as many styles as I could so I've done rock, EDM, trap, electronic, world, orchestral etc., so far. I'm trying to master the orchestral/symphonic/soundtrack genre at the moment. I'd love to do a jingle for Sky Sports or something like that.

Wow, that's ambitious! Pretty cool if you can pull it off. :-)

Merged

Thanks!

 

[Conor]

I assume people in here have seen the Bad Gear series on Youtube? Worth a watch if not, he's very funny.

 

[decorativeed]

Hm, maybe I should consider that then. I feel like the one thing missing from my setup is something for keyboards and organs, so a Nord Electro - but those things are very expensive. I make music very rarely at the moment, so I can't really justify to myself spending that much money on it. I have never been into softsynths, since I like to just play while tweaking buttons a bit on my synths; but maybe I should instead consider buying a good controller to go with some Arturia stuff.

Wow, that's ambitious! Pretty cool if you can pull it off. :-)

Thanks!

You can get all the Arturia stuff as fully functional demos that are limited to 20 mins at a time, so it's easy to see whether you would be I to it. I use them with arturia keylab controllers, which can be found on ebay pretty cheaply.

 

[decorativeed]

I made it a personal challenge to replicate as many styles as I could so I've done rock, EDM, trap, electronic, world, orchestral etc., so far. I'm trying to master the orchestral/symphonic/soundtrack genre at the moment. I'd love to do a jingle for Sky Sports or something like that.

I've spent a fortune on the Roland, Korg, EastWest and Spitfire Audio libraries but it's great having all that creative content along with a machine that can handle them all. The softsynths are from the original manufacturers. I have the Korg M1 and Triton, for example, but I don't think the presets are the same as the hardware versions?

It's an impressive system you've got there. It must have cost a fortune. Luckily I've not hit any restrictions on running 40+ vst instruments and FX on my DAW plus a dozen or so high res audio tracks, and that's on a laptop with a 9th gen I7 and 16gb of memory. You could probably record a dozen symphony orchestras simultaneously with yours.

 

[Cheimoon]

You can get all the Arturia stuff as fully functional demos that are limited to 20 mins at a time, so it's easy to see whether you would be I to it. I use them with arturia keylab controllers, which can be found on ebay pretty cheaply.

Oh, interesting - thanks!

 

[RedPed]

It's an impressive system you've got there. It must have cost a fortune. Luckily I've not hit any restrictions on running 40+ vst instruments and FX on my DAW plus a dozen or so high res audio tracks, and that's on a laptop with a 9th gen I7 and 16gb of memory. You could probably record a dozen symphony orchestras simultaneously with yours.

I'll admit I probably went over the top but I didn't want to keep running into any road blocks a few months down the line. I probably only plan to get the Quantum Thunderbolt interface and the ASM Hydrasynth in the future but I reckon I'm good now for many years. Doing a quick tot-up, I don't think I got much change from £10K? Probably a bit less.

 

[oneniltothearsenal]

WTF!!

It was the 90s! We used to have to buy this print booklet in convenience stores called the Recycler (sort of like a Craigs List before the internet) and find old ladies posting them up for garage sale prices.

Dude, that's awesome. I'm actually most curious about the PPG Wave. I know some bands that had it (like early Marillion), but no idea which of their sounds it produced.

That was one of my favorites! It had such awesome sounds that reminded me of being a kid in the early 80s. If you watched TV shows in the early 80s, a lot of the sounds in the Wave would sound familiar even if you couldn't place them. I know Tangerine Dream used them a lot. I always thought of the "big three" analog synths with Roland as the baseline analog sound, Arp was more spacey and blippy and Oberheim had a bubbly, rounded sound. The PPG Wave had this sound I'd call now very retro-futuristic since it had some of the cleaners of digital synths but still had that depth and more unpredictability. It's probably one of the most original synths just because it straddled that analog-digital era and was unique in its construction.

 

[Cheimoon]

It was the 90s! We used to have to buy this print booklet in convenience stores called the Recycler (sort of like a Craigs List before the internet) and find old ladies posting them up for garage sale prices.

I guess you got there just before the vintage craze drove all prices up, and stuff like a Juno (never meant to be an expensive synth) became pricier than it had been originally - by now probaly even Alpha Junos!

That was one of my favorites! It had such awesome sounds that reminded me of being a kid in the early 80s. If you watched TV shows in the early 80s, a lot of the sounds in the Wave would sound familiar even if you couldn't place them. I know Tangerine Dream used them a lot. I always thought of the "big three" analog synths with Roland as the baseline analog sound, Arp was more spacey and blippy and Oberheim had a bubbly, rounded sound. The PPG Wave had this sound I'd call now very retro-futuristic since it had some of the cleaners of digital synths but still had that depth and more unpredictability. It's probably one of the most original synths just because it straddled that analog-digital era and was unique in its construction.

I should watch some videos about it, I'm sure there are people on YouTube demoing the heck out of them.

It's wavetable synthesis, right? Anyway not many synths have used that over the decades; but of course this is a great opportunity to put up a picture of the awesome (well, awesome-looking, anyway; that's about all I know about it ) Waldorf Wave:

 

[oneniltothearsenal]

I guess you got there just before the vintage craze drove all prices up, and stuff like a Juno (never meant to be an expensive synth) became pricier than it had been originally - by now probaly even Alpha Junos!

I should watch some videos about it, I'm sure there are people on YouTube demoing the heck out of them.

It's wavetable synthesis, right? Anyway not many synths have used that over the decades; but of course this is a great opportunity to put up a picture of the awesome (well, awesome-looking, anyway; that's about all I know about it ) Waldorf Wave:

Yes to wavetable synthesis. IIRC, the PPG Wave was just an updated Waldorf Wave since Waldorf made the PPG. The PPG was blue. I actually made a mistake back then and my version of the PPG Wave was the one that was not MIDI which made it less valuable then.

 

[Cheimoon]

Yes to wavetable synthesis. IIRC, the PPG Wave was just an updated Waldorf Wave since Waldorf made the PPG. The PPG was blue. I actually made a mistake back then and my version of the PPG Wave was the one that was not MIDI which made it less valuable then.

The other way round, I think - Waldorf is a kind of continuation of PPG, and the 1993 Waldorf Wave is a (at least spiritual) successor to the 1981 PPG Wave.

Is the PPG Wave 2 the one with midi, or is it just a commonly available mod? I see Waldorf eventually release a PPG Wave 3.V softsynth btw.

I think a friend of mine had a Microwave (the Wave's little brother; funny name ), but I don't remember anything about it. Maybe it was something else. I did have a Pulse myself for a while, which got nothing to do with wavetable synthesis but is a great little 3-osc monophonic rack synth (Waldorf's Minimoog, basically) - even if it's sometimes a little unpredictable what a knob turn will do to the sound. I used it with bass pedals: old-school!

 

[Ali Dia]

Looking forward to going through this thread properly tonight. Only aware of it from today. I don’t play synth but I’m majorly interested in getting started

 

[RedPed]

If you can get your mitts on one of these bad boys, they've got some gorgeous retro sounds that are really fat and funky.

Korg Prophecy

ARP Odyssey

 

[decorativeed]

It was the 90s! We used to have to buy this print booklet in convenience stores called the Recycler (sort of like a Craigs List before the internet) and find old ladies posting them up for garage sale prices.



That was one of my favorites! It had such awesome sounds that reminded me of being a kid in the early 80s. If you watched TV shows in the early 80s, a lot of the sounds in the Wave would sound familiar even if you couldn't place them. I know Tangerine Dream used them a lot. I always thought of the "big three" analog synths with Roland as the baseline analog sound, Arp was more spacey and blippy and Oberheim had a bubbly, rounded sound. The PPG Wave had this sound I'd call now very retro-futuristic since it had some of the cleaners of digital synths but still had that depth and more unpredictability. It's probably one of the most original synths just because it straddled that analog-digital era and was unique in its construction.

In Manchester, we had Loot, a twice weekly (I think) newspaper full of stuff for sale from all over the country. I got two Vox Continentals and a Farfisa Compact Duo from those back in the late 90s/early 2000s for £50 each. Lucky to find one for under £2k now.

 

[F-Red]

Used to have about an £8-10k studio at my old house during university, and moved overseas so sold all the gear. I loved the Access virus, and had the B model and then later the Snow model, with the latter blending hardware sound with a software interface (ahead of it's time!). I'm purely only software based synths now in my DAW, mainly due to space restraints but the quality some of the software synths now are fantastic.

 

[Cheimoon]

If you can get your mitts on one of these bad boys, they've got some gorgeous retro sounds that are really fat and funky.

Korg Prophecy

ARP Odyssey

The Odyssey is an all-time classics of course, but the Korg Prophecy sounds really great. I saw Joe Zawinul live once somewhere in the 2000s, who was of course known for his work with ARP 2600, and he was using a Prophecy as his synth. It sounded awesome - and I've wanted to get my hands on a Korg Z1 (basically a polyphonic version of the Prophecy) every since.

 

[oneniltothearsenal]

The other way round, I think - Waldorf is a kind of continuation of PPG, and the 1993 Waldorf Wave is a (at least spiritual) successor to the 1981 PPG Wave.

Is the PPG Wave 2 the one with midi, or is it just a commonly available mod? I see Waldorf eventually release a PPG Wave 3.V softsynth btw.

I think a friend of mine had a Microwave (the Wave's little brother; funny name ), but I don't remember anything about it. Maybe it was something else. I did have a Pulse myself for a while, which got nothing to do with wavetable synthesis but is a great little 3-osc monophonic rack synth (Waldorf's Minimoog, basically) - even if it's sometimes a little unpredictable what a knob turn will do to the sound. I used it with bass pedals: old-school!

That makes sense. It's been so long I forget sometimes. I think it was the ppg wave 2.0 I had (or maybe 2.2) that was non-MIDI and the MIDI version was the 2.3 but I could be off there a little too.

I love what you describe about the analog synths though, that unpredictability is what gives such awesome sounds although it can make it a little to recreate sometimes even if you record the exact position of the knobs.

 

[Cheimoon]

Speaking of wavetable synthesis (well I was, anyway), I just noticed a new synth is coming out that's actually a continuation of the PPG Wave concept: Groove Synthesis's 3rd Wave. More info here, and here's an image:

That looks pretty cool, and indeed a fair bit like a PPG Wave. But: 'Introductory Purchase Price of $3795 USD'. Don't think you'll be getting this one cheap any time soon, @oneniltothearsenal.

 

[RedPed]

Roland have just added this to their Cloud Library. Their first poly synth with a few enhancements. Just dabbling on it now. Has a great arpeggiator on it.

 

[RedPed]

EastWest have also released this bad boy, Forbidden Planet. I love it. The trailer for it alone was just OTT.

 

[Cheimoon]

Roland have just added this to their Cloud Library. Their first poly synth with a few enhancements. Just dabbling on it now. Has a great arpeggiator on it.

What's a cloud library? A library of VSTs you can subscribe to?

 

[RedPed]

What's a cloud library? A library of VSTs you can subscribe to?

Yeah, they have the Jupiter-4, Jupiter-8, Promars, Juno-60, Juno-106, JX-3P, JX-8P, JD800, JV-1080, XV-5080, D-50, Zenology Pro, Zenology FX, ZenBeats, SH-101, TB-303, TR-606, TR-707, TR-727, TR-808, TR-909 and a few other expansion boards along with a shitload of patches and sample packs. The Zenology FX alone is great.

There are three levels of membership. I have the ultimate which includes everything for around £180 per year but you get to keep 2 instruments for life every year.

I also have the Korg 3 collection, which is a similar setup but not as extensive as Roland's.

 

[Cheimoon]

Yeah, they have the Jupiter-4, Jupiter-8, Promars, Juno-60, Juno-106, JX-3P, JX-8P, JD800, JV-1080, XV-5080, D-50, Zenology Pro, Zenology FX, ZenBeats, SH-101, TB-303, TR-606, TR-707, TR-727, TR-808, TR-909 and a few other expansion boards along with a shitload of patches and sample packs. The Zenology FX alone is great.

There are three levels of membership. I have the ultimate which includes everything for around £180 per year but you get to keep 2 instruments for life every year.

I also have the Korg 3 collection, which is a similar setup but not as extensive as Roland's.

Oh that's pretty cool! And £180/year isn't that bad given the synths included (provided they sound good). Just a real JP-8 would cost you more than a lifelong subscription to that library.

 

[RedPed]

Oh that's pretty cool! And £180/year isn't that bad given the synths included (provided they sound good). Just a real JP-8 would cost you more than a lifelong subscription to that library.

They're not cheap imitations. They're original Roland stuff replicating the same sound architecture as the hardware versions. You can even install them into some Roland keyboards if you're on the road. They all sound great.

I've already got the D-50, Jupiter-8, XV-5080 and SRX Orchestra for life and I'll be eligible for 2 more in August.