Dreadbox Typhon

[KuruPrionz]

Flipping through the pages of the latest Sweetwater Sweet Notes ad thingie, I stopped for some reason and read about the Dreadbox Typhon.

 

Then I checked YouTube and listened to it a bit. It made me remember decades ago goofing off with an Arp Avatar at the music shop and also playing around with a friend's Mini Moog.

It is neither of those things but it looks like a lot of fun to twiddle the knobs and the sounds I heard were pretty nice.

 

The price is nice too. I have an Akai MPK25 with a MIDI DIN out and a power supply (if needed). it's never occurred to me to try and run it off the phone charger battery I have but I bet it would do it.

This will do it too.

 

For $400 more or less I could have a fun analog synth that did not sound like it sucked at all. I am unfamiliar with the Dreadbox line but will have to take a look. At the least, it appears you could get a MIDI splitter (or use the MIDI Out on one Typhon?) and drive a second one. They make enough different sounds that combining them could generate some complex textures and just about get one into full on crazy synth world while keeping it small,simple and affordable.

 

Anybody else checking it out?

[Markyboard]

 

For $400 more or less I could have a fun analog synth that did not sound like it sucked at all. I am unfamiliar with the Dreadbox line but will have to take a look. At the least, it appears you could get a MIDI splitter (or use the MIDI Out on one Typhon?) and drive a second one. They make enough different sounds that combining them could generate some complex textures and just about get one into full on crazy synth world while keeping it small,simple and affordable.

 

I don"t see the value of having 2 of these. There are a number of options that give you way more flexibility and versatility. 0-Coast for one. Still this latest Dreadbox looks and sounds very good assuming you need/want it based on what else you have.

[KuruPrionz]

 

For $400 more or less I could have a fun analog synth that did not sound like it sucked at all. I am unfamiliar with the Dreadbox line but will have to take a look. At the least, it appears you could get a MIDI splitter (or use the MIDI Out on one Typhon?) and drive a second one. They make enough different sounds that combining them could generate some complex textures and just about get one into full on crazy synth world while keeping it small,simple and affordable.

 

I don"t see the value of having 2 of these. There are a number of options that give you way more flexibility and versatility. 0-Coast for one. Still this latest Dreadbox looks and sounds very good assuming you need/want it based on what else you have.

 

One of the reasons I posted is to get information about options, thanks for providing one - I will check it out!

 

At this point, my entire accumulation of keyboards is - an Akai MPK25 MIDI controller. It works. I haven't assigned the knobs so I can twiddle, Komplete Kontrol makes that very easy to do and hosts other brands of soft synths. I'm guessing that will be fun. And, I have a CME XKey that has one key in the middle of the board (I forget which one but a white key) that is not as loud as the rest. I paid $10 for it and otherwise it works. That would be considerably more fiddling about to hook up to the Dreadbox, I would not bother to attempt it. I like the XKey though, have thought about getting a newer, fully functional 37 key just to have it handy.

 

One fun application I can see for the Typhon would be to hook it up to bass pedals. There was a gentleman who used to play Bellingham all the time, from Vancouver BC via Mississipi - Wes Mackey. He ran drum loops, played guitar and pedal bass and sang, a true blues man gone modern. He and I hung out for a bit on one of his breaks and he shared with me how he learned to work the foot bass. Looks like fun!

[GovernorSilver]

This is the video that got me interested in Typhon. It's one thing to see on paper that it is an analog monosynth paired with a digital FX section, and another thing to actually hear it in action:

 

[video:youtube]

 

Dreadbox is a relatively young synth company with a track record for designing really good-sounding analog synths.

 

Sinevibes is the developer who implemented the digital FX section. He has his own extensive catalog of software products for Korg synths and Mac AU.

https://www.youtube.com/c/Sinevibes/videos

 

You can get Korg NTS-1 if you just want to run apps by Sinevibes and others for digital synthesis and effects. The NTS-1 cost about the same as a non-boutique guitar pedal. Korg Minilogue XD and Prologue can also load Sinevibes stuff, but i don't believe any of those have external audio inputs.

 

Going back to Typhon, apparently some users are reporting problems with MIDI sync. I'm sure Dreadbox will get this fixed soon enough.

[KuruPrionz]

Thanks Gov, those sounds are very different from others I've heard in different demos.

It seems like a versatile little box and I think the tones are good too.

 

Which is why I mentioned running two at once. You could come up with some fun combinations.

I listen to Markyboard because this is much more the realm of all of you keyboardists than it is mine as a guitarist but I guess I'll learn what's out there.

 

I've got time, not something I am going to suddenly go out and grab. They'll probably fix the MIDI glitches by then too.

[uhoh7]

[video:youtube]

 

Nick seems to like it quite well. This was suggested to me as an alternative to a Model D or other "bass synth", of which there many strong performers, both analog and digital:

Minitaur

Minibrute

Neutron

Behringer Model D

and many many more.

 

Questions to ask:

 

Can I save presets?

Is there a sequencer?

What effects are there?

 

Since you have only one small keyboard, I wonder if you might prefer a good poly as introduction, with the same simple interface style as the Typhoon. I choose the Deepmind 12, and it was fantastic as a learning synth. You can get it to do most of the stuff these bass synths can do, not quite as well perhaps, but very impressive. Then you can add notesâ¦..and even chords!

 

All this said, I don't think you can go wrong with the Typhoon.

[KuruPrionz]

Oops

 

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dreadbox+typhon

 

Lots of reviews. I watched the Sweetwater vids since the catalog showed it.

 

Yes, you can make presets and it comes with I think 128 presets and 128 open slots. You can erase your presets, since there is MIDI in / out maybe you can save and load presets, I don't know.

It has 32 bit effects, a couple of ways to string out what sounds like sequences to me. Not sure if they can be programmed.

The reviews will show all.

 

For me, I listed with headphones to the tones it made. I get hw it works and what it does. More important, I like the sound, the tones just sound "big" to me.