David Emm

Look, Darth Vader has a custom piano.

Want to take bets on people spending a fifth of their year's income on a real CS-80? Or something similar, as CS-80s are pretty much hunted to death in the wild now. You can also bet that more than a few newbies have dented their rent a bit to nab a deal for two MiniBrutes or a Fantom from a generation back. I'm all for being able to buy through the mail. Its fun to trip through a few NY pawn shops for music gear, too. I love the wildly low prices I've paid for pieces like a MultiMoog that was 100% because the owner had received it for his birthday, plugged it in, went MEH and into storage it went. Serious NOS and $300 took it away.

I don't personally need it at all. I've had mostly Korg gear as my main hardware, but with the Legacy Wavestation and Arturia Pigments in-hand, I'm all wavetabled up. I AM interested in the nice acoustic piano and string patches that cropped up a bit, but they're not the main reason you'd buy this. If you were even halfway serious about a new WS as hardware, here you go, with the programming issues largely addressed. You might argue about form factors such as keyboard length, but the engine and the display's ready presentation of the wave sequences make it a sober contender in this new price range.

I heart Korg overall (& use the Legacy Wavestation), so I like this thing. Its easy to set it next to Roland's new Fantom X-m synth and see several similarities, including the power of being each company's Best Of sounds in a box. I find the display a bit small for the work load, but I could live with that for the great leap ahead of the breakout lanes. You can do all of this in software more readily, but its a pretty good design if you want the means right above the keys. I find the recent mild anti-DAW wave amusing, so I'm sure this will please people who want things in hardware. You have to accept some menu-diving if you want the benefits of the second layer under the panel. That's nothing new. A lot of it will depend on how many people crack not the utter depths of it, but that first player's level, where its >relatively< simple and fun. Its a smart mutation of the Mini/Prologue instruments. Some people once maintained hefty 19" racks of modules. Now, it seems just as likely that you can see a controller, three synths like this one and an iPad. Multitimbrality and a smaller foot print beats a giant prog stack that bakes the house. Sorry, but my eyes and back matter more than pretending I was ever going to be the next Eddie Jobson anyway. (Spoiler: I'm not.)

Looks like "Liquid Sky" on Ecstasy rather than LSD, as near as I can figure. I hope you all had a nice New Year's fling. I think I did, but I'm not sure, because, well, scotch... That zebra seems a bit disturbing, even though I'm sober. I think.

Sure does! I've heard of vanity buys, but I don't know which would be worse: spending such money on that or being impressed by someone who owned it. The Why part escapes me.

They've allegedly amended it to include the ribbon, but it'll all be for naught unless you can lay hands to it and have that Eddie Jobson-era U.K. monster-sound come out. If so- and the keyboard doesn't feel like a lobster trap- gimme the phone, gotta call Sweetwater.

Yes, because the 01Wfd & Triton had the breadth of sounds I was looking for, coupled with approachable sequencers. I ran outside gear from both, but it became too much of an octopus-style PITA to keep it all in sync. It gradually morphed into a lone Korg TR61 and a fistful of software synths, spearheaded by Logic Pro. My DAW became my workstation. I'm sure that's too restrictive for some, but I've wanted to neo-orchestrate above anything else, so my cockeyed software version of a Patrick Moraz rig is right on the mark.

As a bit of a joke, a friend of mine included the stocking stuffer of his old Korg Kaoss Mini-KP in my gift box. I would have killed for this thing 30 years ago. I work in the box so much, I'll have to move two things sideways to plug it in for noodling. I enjoyed playing Korg's Z1, where they released the first version of that pad just above the pitch n' mod wheels. It'll be interesting to see what I can make of it. Far better than just a card of Santa kissing Chewbacca.

I don't know how much use I can make of 2.0. I'm not Jeff Rona by a mile! My jaw still drops when hitting middle C on Synth A and also having one come from connected Synth B. My main interest lies in seeing where MPE goes at its next evolutionary change. Poly AT is reappearing in a measured fashion, so alternate control is having a moment. I still consider a small Seaboard, because I have Cello Envy. Even if that's the only use to which I put it, its beginning to feel more justified. Being able to render certain solos or chordal moments in 5-D seems just as sensible as having useful analog or physical modeling means. I'll read the new spec, just to see what I can pick up about MPE first.

Agreed. In one sense, I roll my eyes a bit at what Pete Townshend called "The neoteric lust" for vintage gear. I'm a bit down the road from the days I was into hot-rodding monosynths and twirling knobs in real-time, before polyphony arose. Still, I'm keenly interested in the feel of the alleged poly AT keyboard slated for their CS-80 clone. That sounds like the right kind of 'organic' aspect for where I am now. With a 3-year warranty, I could imagine putting my fingers in my ears, going la-la-la to the haters and taking that particular leap. Are any of us likely to ever possess a real CS-80, unsane upkeep and all? What if I buy the darned thing and it measures up? No online bitch-slap fight counts for much, especially when proven reality kicks it firmly in the logic.

I've had to schlep a 40-pounder in and out of a few awkward places, but 90% of the time, the WHEELED case kept me from becoming semi-crippled. I strapped the rest onto a dolly with bungee cords and made out surprisingly well. It was a plow-horse of a job, but my center of gravity worked out. These days, it'd be vital to find the sweet spot, including help lifting at a key point or two. It makes lap-topping with controllers seem a lot more appealing. The other route: "You'll take a PX-5S, a Prophet-6 and LIKE it that way!"

I'll add one to the list: "Electri-city: The Dusseldorf School of Electronic Music" by Rudi Esch. Its a detailed recounting of the general 1970-1986 period of German-rooted music such as that of Kraftwerk and Can. There is plenty of colorful input from OMD, legendary engineer Conny Plank, Michael Rother and many others. You get an honest feel for the socio-political frictions of the time, as well as the odd creativity of the various players cross-colliding and inspiring one another. I especially appreciated hearing from Roedelius concerning Kluster and Harmonia, which included Brian Eno at one point. Its a semi-dry read, but also a good historical one if you have any interest in the real godfathers of ambient & the earliest pioneers of the new music technology. Its also a very well-made book on heavy stock, so if you need one to throw at someone, you can be assured that it will allow you to strike with real conviction.

Hi David, could you share your view on the learning curve on Pigments? Your EP comment peeks my interest, but from what I've seen from this synth is pretty overwhelming. There are so much control functions ai'm afraid I'd be swamped by them. Thanks in advance. Mark The learning curve seems less steep once you take in the colorful modulation strip and see how clicking any part of it opens the associated controls underneath. Its pretty much a snap. Like any other synth, it has a top layer you see first and then subsequent layers that open it up more. If you've played more than just monosynths, the layout will be pretty much self-evident. The analog path is traditionally MiniMoog-like. The wavetables have the simpler basics, but also some richer offerings such as the waves that allow for a few decent pianos. I'm new to granular in practice, but what I knew is making more sense, as its easy to feel your way through the process by reverse-engineering a bit. You probably won't get a fully convincing Rhodes out of it, but it has plenty to offer in the general area. It has a couple of near-modular behaviors going on at times, but it shows you almost everything as you go. I'd say its not at all a bad starter synth for someone who can already manage the virtual analog side, because the other engines still follow the same system behaviors. Even old hands still have to RTFM, but Pigments comes with two of them built in. So no, you won't be swamped for long. Its a three-engine synth, too, so its something of a bargain. I have Logic, AAS, Korg, E-mu and a couple of wacky fringe instruments. I'm satisfied that Pigments adds a fresh voice I can enjoy mooshing into shape.

Probably not a "new Kronos," but if they aren't going full-bore to compete with Roland's new Fantom, it'll be their version of a Yamaha MODX. They'll get you to the doorstep of a sequencer and then hand it off to an iPad/PC/Mac. It'd be no surprise if it essentially had a Minilogue XD section.

how could or why did Korg overlook the 01/W ? there must be a reason, just not seeing why Probably because the Triton was arguably the ultimate realization of the M1, so there's no good reason to reach back that far. You won't see the T series as a specific item for similar reasons. The Triton had a more lo-fi sampling rate than the Trinity, IIRC, but far better than the 01W's. Its a resource placement decision to go all-Triton, just as the Polysix came with no sustain pedal jack. BTW, I've learned that the full Extreme library is NOT included, possibly due to the valve aspect of the original. Too bad. That was the ultimate beast of the Triton line.

Tempting in a way, but I'm brimming with EXS samples of my old 01Wfd and I still use a TR61, which includes a lot of the Triton DNA. I prefer the overall Korg sound design direction, but I'll have to ponder this one a bit. Its probably smarter to take newer directions like PM than revisit the 90s. Still, that Extreme library in particular (MOSS or not) is a beast.

I've been using Pigments 2.0 for a couple of weeks and liking it. Buckle up for some thumbnail sketches. Many of the presets reek of EDM to me. Trends drive instrument design too much. Its up to me to turn it into my own best version of Pigments, of course. Its not instant-grat like some synths. The mix is almost baffling, with gorgeous pads next to utterly trashable show-off effects, a standard FM bass and then a powerful, liquid lead. There's more vanilla than expected, but what's good is a bouquet of keepers. There is a GUI commonality across Serum, Falcon, Hive and many others because that's how you do The Wavetable Stuff. Its pragmatic. With Pigments, its easy to click between all of the main playing fields. Thumbs up for Minimal Manual Need, especially if you're an old analog warthog like me. The CPU meter in the lowest right corner is welcome. The graphics no doubt eat up CPU cycles, but its less intrusive than I'd imagined. I'll probably freeze a track or three of it at times. It sits in the middle range, not as slim a hit as PM synths, but a lot less than some big streaming honker. With the animated mod routing strip in the middle, clicking on any field causes the controls to appear in the lower third of the screen. It makes for a smooth work flow. I had no wavetable synth proper and I wanted a flavor of VA apart from the MonoPoly. Pigments handles both well. The former is covering a lot of the additive/FM/single-cycle wave area with class. The VA side is much more 'squirty'-capable than I had expected, although its best analog moment is still understandably clean. Its crawling with great filter variations. The granular side is new to me, but its pretty easy to approach. Its an odd mix of rich pads and glitch, but it seems well-appointed. You can choose a slice and forward/backward scan it at the speed you like. I look forward to parsing it. You can drop WAV files into Pigments and it will resynthesize them into formatted wavetables. Usefulness TBD, as the existing options are plentiful. I'm still pinning down the best presets to dissect. It was a practical, incremental buy more than an inspired one, but I'm gratified by the bang-for-buck.

It made me update the software manager first. It sat there when I first opened it and did nothing, then finally started spinning. I think their server is trying to go faster than it can. They offered this and a $99 Pigments deal very close together. I think their servers got a bit overloaded. I was able to get the software manager to snap to and buy the synth, which is turning out to be a good addition to my 'stack.' I also took up the 2 free sound sets, which loaded smoothly. I'll buy some others, as the instrument is worthy. I understand your woe; been there before, with online everything. It can be especially unnerving with software buys. The Arturia experience has been good overall. I may go for their CS-80, if I can find a ribbon controller that'll fly...

I much prefer my computers at home on a desk. My hands are basically just too damned big to like iPads much, even if their power as additional synths has made them more tempting lately. There's also the main issue I have: there's no SKB case small enough to truly protect a pad as you travel. Phones and pads can be lost, stolen or stomped all too easily. I need one I can wear on my chest that's flat enough that it doesn't impede my sword-swinging abilities when the zombies come. I also tend to upgrade only when the inevitable OS change demands it. I was so involved in Logic 8, I didn't even look up until I bought a new Mac and Logic 10. I have musical things to do. Constantly struggling with upgrading apps and possibly everything else up & down the chain seems less enjoyable to me than establishing a solid system and sitting tight. I rarely need a new plug and my AAS and Arturia buys have installed seamlessly, soooo..... I'm at a disadvantage in this club and certainly no boffin! I see my Mac/Logic as a giant player piano that also brings me KC, evil jpgs and cheap laughs. You see the so-called problem.

I have been wary of compression for all of the stated reasons. I was raised on classical and soundtracks as a kid, so dynamics are nearly as important as the notes. That said, I find myself welcoming a slight *dusting* of compression. Its good for 'drooping' issues with a single instrument's presence at times and yes, I dare to strap it onto the master output once in a blue moon. I've had it work wonders in lifting a mix, but if I think I need more than two more decibels, what I really need is to comb back through the mix and make some per-track adjustments, yah? I also felt like a dark wizard when I squeezed a struggling piece between a limiter and a compressor, which made it pop properly without damaging the sonic footprint. I can't answer for the bizarre social zeitgeist we now accept in pop music, but I don't believe that the 'Us' of KC is aiming for the 'tween audience anyway. I have nuttin' to offer you unless you're far enough along to sit and listen for a minimum of 5 whole minutes without checking your phone. Really narrows the focus, don't it? Compression is only a menace if you use it as a STYLE rather than a tool.

Giving Ozzy Osbourne an ARP 2600 is like giving a toddler a can of Silly String. Its a big ol' can of Instant Mess waiting to happen. When he dies, the biopic of his life will star Jack Black. I scratch my head a bit over the vintage synth madness, since I remember the reality of many a bad design/bad build from Back Then. Drift out of tune much with no warning, spud? The bright spot: you see a lot of smart rigs that include a bit of analog/vintage alongside the usual, more modern suspects. I trust Korg to do solid work, but I'm no longer in good enough health to handle the stress of Modularism. Its a younger person's game. If Roger Daltrey tried to hit the same high notes of his 20s now, he'd pop an internal organ.

Likewise! The chord changes come from letting the cat have a little egg nog with rum in it and then placing them on the keyboard. It can be a real Henry Cow(ell) moment. The general group civility is a real oasis when half of the Net seems to be made of lava and its perhaps a tad MORE welcome than the always-useful technical information. So yes, a semi-sane group, but also an advanced one. Craig Anderton has set a particularly positive standard for years, with the KB and EM writers following closely. My holidays have gone so well, I'm suspicious! My oldest synth pal sent me $100 for the G.A.S. fund and a Korg Mini-KP in fine shape. Now that's a stocking stuffer!

I've played a real CS-80, so I understand how seductive poly AT can be... up to a point. IMO, you rather have to assign it consistently (to the filter, for ex.) to get USED to that expressiveness. Most people, even other synthesists, can't necessarily perceive too delicate a shift, especially if its going to some esoteric modulation on the right side of the sound as a whole. It may be fun to play as an insider, but can it really reach the general listener? I love release velocity (also MIA on most gear) as being much more expressive in real-world terms, but its only one target for HOW many possible modulations? That's right, a wad of 'em. Is that added REQUIRED individual finger strength really going to get any more panties flung onto the stage as you play? To also play angel's advocate, do you think poly AT can become intuitively reflexive to your playing, leading it to be X amount better, more emotive in some solid sense? The great AT configuration that makes your strings massive will sound like crap on some layered synth patch. Is keeping that added complexity in mind as you play resource-effective or a case of diminishing returns? I suppose we'll see as more poly AT instruments appear.

If David R has the chops to even consider this gig with so little prep time, he's a higher form of musical life to begin with. While it IS expected that you be able to adapt quickly and wear several hats on demand, your capacities should also not be pressed to the wall too casually. Of course, "should" and what the client may want aren't always in sync, but if he can pull this one off at such a fast pace, he gets to join the Third Testicle club.