GovernorSilver

Wonder if JJ Abrams contributed synth tracks to the soundtrack. A featured planet in the movie was named after a synth - which he flew to Japan to pick up. https://cdm.link/2019/12/kijimi-star-wars-planet/?fbclid=IwAR34iIcfUWudfnvGR0_9FhQFxEfI1bfduI2a3I6fxRjym5GA4g6eWYRhr1M

Looking forward to more info on the 10 sequence generator algorithms - particularly whether they are capable of generating more than just simple major or minor triad based harmonies.

In case anyone is in the market for one, the Furman SS-6B is on sale here at a nice discount: https://www.proaudiostar.com/furman-ss-6b.html I got it to try to reduce the buzz of my Boss Katana violin/guitar amp. It might not solve all noise problems but it'll at least address the EMI/RFI one.

Joe Zawinul was the one player that I recall who talked about using volume pedals to manage synth dynamics rather than relying on velocity. He had a background in playing accordion long before he went pro, so he was already accustomed to relying on something other than velocity to manage the envelope of a sound. You can't get louder notes by whacking the keys harder on the accordion - you have to instead change how you squeeze on the thing. This is the Jordan Rudess video that helped me change from a piano perspective. He explains how he practices scales with legato and tweaking envelope decay. This in turn led to me understanding what is possible by setting the envelope so that you get sound at one dynamic level upon initial key press, which can, say, swell in to a louder dynamic level if the key is held long, and how it can be controlled simply by playing stacatto notes vs. notes held longer.

In my case, I never owned a non-velocity sensitive analog synth until much, much later, when I bought my Korg MS-20 Mini. Not having lived with a real Minimoog or other classic non-velocity sensitive synths, I never got a similarly direct experience that you and other esteemed gents who bought their first synths in the 70s had as far as using volume pedals to help manage dynamics on a synth. Thus, I was stuck with the piano mentality for a while. I also didn't understand how to use envelope controls and such to compensate for lack of velocity control over volume and filter/envelope. The short video lesson series that Jordan Rudess did on the Moog Little Phatty helped the light bulbs turn on for me.

Nice to see at least one Weyes Blood album make the list. I get a late 60s/early 70s vibe out of her music. It's not disco, and it's not dance-oriented. She has quite a presence in live concert too. I can't explain how - she doesn't get into theatrics, wild looks, or anything. Definitely has something to do with her poise and vocal delivery. Angel Olson gives off a similar vibe as Weyes Blood - latest album kind of has a Phil Spector feel. And yeah, nice representation from Aussies Nick Cave and Courtney Barnett.

I correct myself. The Osmose's engine will actually be three times as powerful as the previous one, according to a hardware developer at Expressive E who shared some specs on another forum. mike Thanks for the hot tip! https://community.polyexpression.com/t/expressive-e-osmose/409/69 So to your knowledge, Continuum has only one DSP, while Osmose will have 3, thus having triple the power? Or does Continuum also have a triple DSP board, but Osmose will get a processing bump? Although keys is not my main instrument, I too appreciated how quickly Nick adapted to the Osmose as an instrument, which indeed must be reassuring to keyboardists.

NiftyBundle modular is priced like a Behringer: https://www.cre8audio.com/niftybundle If you just want the 84hp case, which comes w/ power supply and MIDI-CV converter, they're asking about $200 for it

I agree about nylon string, especially played fingerpicked, being very different than steel string guitar. It's an even bigger gap than the one between viola and violin - imo.

Kind of related - didn't know one of my session guitar heroes also played keys.

I've been playing electric violin or acoustic viola for the majority of my live shows. I've put in more work on guitar, thanks to the habit of playing guitar while watching streaming video, and TV in the old days. But I guess those who've asked me to play live, either with a band or solo, find the sound of my viola/electric violin more compelling than anything I can do on guitar. I'm ok on guitar, and barely functional on the bowed instruments, yet the latter is what people want from me even with that gap in skill level between the two types of instrument. Piano was my first instrument but I just use keys for MIDI data entry. I've played with MIDI guitar before and still have a couple of guitars that have Roland GK3 pickups but in general, MIDI data entry from keys is a faster workflow for me. I paid the deposit for an Expressive E Osmose, the upcoming keyboard synth which will let you wiggle individual keys for pitch bend/vibrato and other neat stuff. When it arrives a couple of years from now I'll probably play keys more often. Based on discussion I've seen on a couple of forums, there seems to be more interest from players like me who don't specialize on keyboards, than from the keyboard specialists - kind of ironic.

I had my eye on the Moog Matriarch and Elektron Analog Four MKII, which isn't as new as the others but still has a great sound and sequencer. But the Osmose won my wallet vote for this year.

I'm more than happy to just read what you professionals are using. But since you asked Mr. Anderton, here are my favorites Eventide H9 Blackhole algorithm - doesn't even try to be a "natural" reverb. Very in your face about not being "natural", and one of the reason I love it. Boss Katana Plate - my favorite of the reverbs available in this popular working muso's guitar amp. Somebody posted a collection of ambient patches for Katana and they all used Plate rather than the other reverb types. Versatile enough for uses from basic practice amp usage to super long trails and such. Empress Zoia - Actually haven't found a reverb in this little modular pedal that I didn't like. Some peeps make much ado about how the Ghost reverb consumes so much CPU but there are a lot of great Zoia (imo) patches that do NOT use Ghost and still sound awesome. QES Retrofier Roadtripper MCM Spring - my favorite of all the real spring reverbs I've tried, and the only one that I think sounds good with electric violin. All other spring reverbs I've tried - real and virtual - insert ringing tones that ring in the wrong way for electric violin.

I've been wanting something like this, since I tried a half-size Continuum with pretty much the same EaganMatrix synth engine, at Discovery World in Milwaukee a few years ago. Osmose with the promo deal is quite a bit more affordable, and the keyboard is easier to use for "normal" musical ideas than the freeform ribbon format of the Continuum.

For the first time in years I have GAS for a classical guitar again. Stopped by a local area shop and tried one. It's priced about the same as the $200 Yamaha classical that I once owned, except its 10x more playable and with lower action. The nylon strings are so comfy for fingerstyle compared to steel strings. It's a legit threat to unseat the steel string acoustic that now sits in my living room for anytime playing.

Shout out to longtime Friend of KC, Synthmania [video:youtube]

There"s still something special about a carefully tuned analog filter design that can contribute a unique character, but no question it comes at a cost from both a financial and flexibility standpoint. There will come a time when the digital models are so good that it makes no sense to do anything else, but we"re not there yet. The Hydrasynth is an astonishing value for the money but it"s more something that I have been excited thinking about than actually listening to ... so far. What keeps me coming back for another listen is the poly aftertouch keyboard, primarily. Parts of it, almost certainly, but I would be shocked and dismayed if everything was written in assembly. In the quote you provided I"m sure 'assembly' was referring to the labor involved in physically assembling the hardware. I agree about a great analog filter design. I actually like the Prophet X's. I also keep being drawn to the Matriarch even though I keep trying to convince myself I don't need it. Before this thing was announced, I was looking at the Minilogue XD. Post-announcement, I've got some thinking to do. Both of these budget synths sound good enough for my personal taste. Hydrasynth has CV I/O, which reflects Darcey's ongoing personal interest in Eurorack modular stuff. The CV I/O should allow the user to patch in a Eurorack analog filter, if desired, although I've no doubt users will think of more creative cross-patching ideas. An external analog filter would impose a paraphonic limitation, but that may not be an issue for some folks. In the Glen Darcey interview posted from SonicState, he does say that assembly language was used to program the synth. But... he didn't say if it was assembly language generated from a C compiler or something like that.

The Prophet X"s cost is partly rooted in the hybrid design, and partly in the absurd amount of storage for samples. Thankfully SSD prices are dropping rapidly so that can and does change over time. The polyphony limits are due to the sixteen analog filters. I"m willing to cut hybrid instruments more slack in the polyphony department for this reason, presuming their filters speak to me (and even there you have some flexibility - in sixteen voice mode with only one filter per voice you can maintain the stereo image for a sample by bypassing the filter, and in thirty-two voice mode a single pair of filters is used paraphonically.) There was always something special about taking samples and running them through a good filter which is an itch that instrument scratches nicely for me. Obviously everyone"s needs, tastes, and budget will lead them to what works best for them. Fair enough. I think if ASM put 8 analog filters, you're not looking at a $700 desktop/$1300 keyboard Hydrasynth anymore. Novation Peak (a desktop) goes for $1300, so maybe it'd be a $600 price increase for the customer? Hydrasynth has 11 filter types to choose from, so I would assume going w/ analog filters over digital would compromise that flexibility as well. On Elektronauts, one of the very first response on the Hydrasynth thread was "I"ve concluded the price tag is fair compared to what I would have to pay for a mouser cart of components; designing, testing and minting my own pcbs; custom steel case; all that DSP programming, assembly and GUI OS." Perhaps that is what Theo is thinking about - implementing a softsynth on regular PC then porting it to custom hardware. He could probably do it if it's strictly a box just to run the software - no keybed, no ribbon controller no knobs, etc. However if he wants to add a keybed, knobs, display, etc. I think it would be difficult, if not impossible, for him to build his own Hydrasynth, complete with polyphonic aftertouch keyboard, while keeping the cost as low as ASM has managed, thanks to the practically in-house access to keybeds, chip fabricators, etc. Blows my mind ASM did the firmware in assembly language.

If you weren't aware, Glen Darcey also worked on a variety of softsynth products. This is his LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glendarcey So why didn't he and his crew just make Hydrasynth as a softsynth? Good question. I wouldn't be interested at all then - because I don't get along w/ desktop softsynths, but I'm sure other people who have no interest in this hardware product might be more interested in a software version.

The Kurzweil SP6 and PC4 use Medeli keybeds, so I"m hopeful that we"ll see this technology licensed by others soon enough. I"m hoping for a 5-octave version attached to a synthesizer that appeals instantly, and it could come from any number of manufacturers. The combination of all-digital, 4-octave, mono-timbral, and 8-voice here is hard to take. I'm hoping for licensing to happen too. This synth isn't for everyone, but $700 for the desktop version is looking like good value for the money to me. I realize that $700 go to towards a multitimbral digital synth with more polyphony but when I mentally weigh the pros and cons, this one comes out ahead for me. Prophet X also has 8 voice polyphony - when using stereo samples - and from what I recall, is bi-timbral at most. The much steeper price makes it a harder sell.

No, they take up a big chunk of the screen for me too. Started happening for me when they introduced the dark mode option in the forum software.

Interesting Glen Darcey interview (video, not article). He says the polyphonic aftertouch keybed was built by the parent company (Medeli), which has been making keybeds for "years".

Calling it "virtual analog" sells it short for sure. Interview with Glen Darcey of ASM: https://www.perfectcircuit.com/signal/asm-hydrasynth-interview Even Darcey has trouble describing what this synth is in just a couple of words: " It is a wave morphing synthesizer at the heart of the oscillators. You can put eight single-cycle waves of your choice, from a list of 219, and then morph between them. But then the Mutators allow you do things like FM synthesis, three different flavors of pulse width modulation and wave bending, OSC sync, harmonic sweeps, Wavestackingâ¦all this before going into two filters. So it is a wave morphing synthesizer, but you can do legit FM synthesis on it, and it can do VA analog types of things and then mix and combine all of that. It is really a very deep hybrid of all those things."

Unlikely, as they found out about the Argon just today and it's already generated more posts than the Xm. There are not as many people there who are swayed by nostalgic synths like the Jupiters. I wouldn't say there's zero interest in the Jupiters, but the folks discussing them are not participating in the discussions about the new wavetable synths, and the peeps who are excited about the wavetable synths aren't looking for the sounds of yesteryear.