Synths—Is it Time to Let the 1980s Go Again?

[CHarrell]

6 hours ago, My Keys And Me Are Vintage said:

But how to compare to a computer VST? There is a smell to an old synth, a feel, a scratch on the display from that crazy drunk chick falling on my stuff. Will the kids in twenty years have sentimental feelings over software they used in 2024?

 

I have nostalgia for VSTs I used 10 years ago. 😂 What I get the warm fuzzies over was the process of making the music, and that goes beyond what kind of box I used.

[MathOfInsects]

There's a guy in town who does the "one board for each sound" thing -- a Hammond chop with a Leslie, a Wurly and/or Rhodes (plus separate amp), sometimes a clonewheel, even an upright piano.

 

It makes great optics. 

 

I'll leave it at that. 

 

Signed,

Guy whose NS3C weighs 22 pounds.

[Tusker]

9 hours ago, J.F.N. said:

For sure the reason round robin was invented, adding a way for samplers to represent real world sounds in a less static way...

 

Great analogy. 👍

 

In synth land, variation can be created with traditional LFOs and Envelopes, but people are also inventing new tools.  U-he's Zebra for example has four modulation mappers which provide 128 random values before restarting. You could think of them as 128 round robins. Once you direct those four to different parts of the synth architecture, your sound is very alive.

[K K]

Ahhh... The 80s... Or was it the 70s.. ? Or the 60s... ?  

 

In any case, my very first synthesizer/organ/horrible noise generator.  

 

[MathOfInsects]

Want.

[Dr Mike Metlay]

Very few people here have mentioned that a huge part of a hardware synth's appeal – really the biggest part for me – is the user interface. It's simply fun to design sounds on a well-made synth, and to play them in expressive ways. I have gradually been shrinking my keyboard collection over the years; if my latest buy/sell works out decently well, I will be down to only four of them, one of which is on permanent loan to a friend and two of which are in a closet. Nevertheless, I would be bereft if, despite all the great plug-ins and iOS apps I have and all the fun controllers I play them with, I didn't have that one keyboard to just sit and play and create with.

 

YMMV.

 

mike

[Dr Mike Metlay]

Also: before you go buying a plane ticket to Switzerland, be aware that SMEM is closed to the public except for an audition room where a small number of keyboards are rotated in and out for people to play with. Those nifty YouTube videos are showing you something you are likely to never get to see in person.

 

Also also: SMEM's remit is to save synthesizers from loss and destruction, period. They don't care what condition the stuff is in, and a considerable proportion of the keyboards on those shelves are broken, up to and including precious single examples of very rare synths that are saved even though they're smashed to bits. By contrast, Synthorama in Switzerland, the Eboardmuseum in Austria, and EMEAPP in the USA have nearly all working machines, many of them in pristine condition... and while getting into EMEAPP is damn near impossible these days, anyone can go to the other two and actually play these instruments.

 

Hell, if you ever wanted to play the very first Minimoog Model D, Serial # 1001, complete with handwritten notes by Jim Scott stuck to the inside, you could go to the Eboardmuseum and ask the owner if he could turn it on for you. Kim Bjørn got to do that while prepping the new Minimoog Book.

 

mike