I would say it’s close...but personally for me I think digital synths should focus on their own sound rather than trying to emulate analog characteristics. That’s just me though. I may actually pull the trigger on the Roland System 8 finally because of this.
I’m guessing you mean that you like the System 8’s core sound as opposed to it’s Jupiter and Juno emulations?
I might have told you this before, but the keybed on that thing is horrid...
People need to embrace digital synths for their ability to go beyond the capabilities of traditional analog....simply trying to emulate analog gear does a huge disservice to these instruments and really robs people of hearing something unique.
I didn’t mean to state that digital synths should only emulate analog synths; I just think that would be a good place to start.
For example, a wavetable synth where you remove the aliasing (through super high sample rates) and model the inconsistencies of analog envelopes and LFOs would probably sound stellar.
I really really hope Sequential do a VCO/Wavetable based synth next. Preferably with two VCOs and two Wavetable oscillators But truth be told, I’d almost prefer if they came out with a Wavetable only or even Linear FM 8 operator based synth and embrace that sonic character.
I think just like we, as synthesists, have sounds and types of synthesis that we gravitate toward, so do synth manufacturers. I bet Dave has never really done a full on FM synth because he just doesn’t care for the sound or style of synthesis.
I guess that’s why I’m not swoon over the reissue of the Prophet 5 and 10. I don’t really want another sawtooth or square wave, doesn’t matter if it’s from Sequential, Moog or whoever...but if there is to be another VCO based Sequential synth I want it to somehow offer me something new. Be it combining it with digital oscillators, having an MPE keyboard, bi timbrality or even multitimbrality etc.
Yet the Prophet 5 isn’t, in my estimation,
just another sawtooth or square wave... it has a tried and true sonic character that is difficult if not impossible to replicate in other synths. A sonic character that most of us find pleasing.
I guess that’s why I’m not swoon over the reissue of the Prophet 5 and 10. I don’t really want another sawtooth or square wave, doesn’t matter if it’s from Sequential, Moog or whoever...but if there is to be another VCO based Sequential synth I want it to somehow offer me something new.
They could use a triangle core VCO instead of a sawtooth core VCO. I can't think of a single keyboard-based synthesizer that has a triangle core VCO. It's hard to tell the difference by ear, maybe the sine is a bit purer. But the triangle core shines when you FM two or more of them.
Sacred S is right when he says that analog waves haven't been sufficiently explored. This is way true. Keyboard synth companies like Moog and Sequential leave a lot of cool techniques on the bench.
You’re talking about modern synths, right? I mean, didn’t the Memorymoog, OB-X and early Sequential boards all have triangle core VCOs?
.... and between you and Sacred Synthesis, I’m gonna need to buy an oscilloscope.
People need to embrace digital synths for their ability to go beyond the capabilities of traditional analog....simply trying to emulate analog gear does a huge disservice to these instruments and really robs people of hearing something unique.
In some ways, virtual analog may have almost created its own distinct category, because a lot of folks (particularly EDM producers) pursue specific traits or sound characteristics from VA synths that, via their origins, started as a by-product of attempting to emulate analog but turned into more than that. In other words they don't really pursue a digital sound or an analog sound as much as they pursue the characteristic sound digital makes when it is asked to behave as analog.
I think that market is what synths like the Waldorf Kyra seek to fulfill.
Yeah... VA could be a third category outside of Analog and digital... in my mind they are the Rave Machines.
Someone will certainly disagree with this, but I would not, however, put the Super 6 or Summit in that category — simply because that super-saw-rave-VA sound is not the core sound of those synths.