Your Introduction to Synthesis

[BobTheDog]

Thanks for the links.

I have the original string port, which cost a fortune and never worked properly. The audio driver they provided was coded by an idiot, absolute rubbish and then they just stopped supporting it and never got it working correctly, so no chance I would buy the second one!

I also have a Moog Guitar with the added 13 pin circuitry for midi converters. It's a more advanced version of that strong-arm thing. Each pickup can vibrate the strings and you can alter the balance between then which effects the harmonics, it also has a Moog ladder filter built in.

[BobTheDog]

An example of what the Moog Guitar sounds like, first part of clip if me effecting the filter with the pedal, the second half after the annoying click is the harmonic balance being effected.


Well there would be a MP3 apart from the fact I just get the following while trying to post an attachment:

Request Time-out

Server timeout waiting for the HTTP request from the client.

Additionally, a 500 Internal Server Error error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

Anyone else having problems?

[dslsynth]

I have the original string port, which cost a fortune and never worked properly. The audio driver they provided was coded by an idiot, absolute rubbish and then they just stopped supporting it and never got it working correctly, so no chance I would buy the second one!

Understandable! This behavior is unfortunately something we see from time to time from smaller manufacturers with limited software development resources and a strong drive to move forward. The only way KMI could rescue the situation would be to offer the new product for a very symbolic fee to users of the original StringPort product. And yeah I have seen some of the comments from existing StringPort customers on the KMI forum.

The Moog Guitar is absolutely awesome. Look forward to hear some of your demos! Have you considered setting up a soundcloud or youtube account to display your demos?

[Soundquest]

  My interest in electronic sounds really started as a kid with a Radio Shack 101-in-1 kit.  If you remember, those kits were those rectangular boxes that contained the springs, electronic parts and wires that you could make radios and other circuits with.  They were marketed for kids.   Anyway,  I spent many hours trying to change the electronic bird sounds into more sustained drones and controlled notes values.   

Meanwhile, growing up as kid, drums were my instrument.   Took lessons on that all thru college and stayed with it, playing in bands as a pastime up till recently.    I liked all sorts of music and still do.  But I think I always had a fondness for the "spacy" parts you'd hear in various songs...whether it be the intro to some Billy Cobham fusion song or a classical piece done by Tomita, or a movie track, or whatever.     I always knew it was synthesizer making such sounds,  but never really knew much about them other than my visual exposure as a young teen to Michael Iceberg doing his live synth show at Disney World.  I guess I always thought synthesizers to be out of my realm- not being a keyboardist myself.   Then one day, about 8 years ago, I walked into my local Guitar Center to buy a set of new Hi Hat cymbals and spotted this used Novation K station for like $100 laying on the floor.   I snatched it up, being cheap as it was and went home without the HH cymbals.  I didn't mind not having the cymbals though.  I was blown away by this "box" and how there was something like this that could make all those 'spacy sounds".  I was very excited that now I could make such sounds on my own  Wow!  Exciting stuff!

Well, since then I started reading and learning and adding to the instrument collection wherever possible.   This hobby has outgrown all others for me, and I do love the synthesizers very much.  I only on rare occasions still pick up my drum sticks- and usually only when I need to make the choice whether or not to turn on my drum machine- I find the sticks a much easier option for me 

I'll eventually tack on to this post my instrument progression over the last several years and the mistakes and good fortunes  I've had with the various purchases along the way.

[Chaparral]

I started teaching myself music in 1976. I bought a cheap violin and a bridge pickup and played it through an old mono Yamaha synth. I wanted to play music that was different to everything else that I heard but only had a small budget. I was saving up to get an instrument built (a fretted viol with a self designed 3D pickup) but I was ripped off by the maker who never finished it. As a late starter I was short on instrumental technique, but my unique approach to music theory meant that I always sounded different and so I got to play with people who were much more instrumentally skilled than I was because I interested them.
 I dabbled with a many different instruments but by 1981 my initial work in music theory was finished and I needed to concentrate on keyboards where the notes are all in a row and any chord is possible. After a couple of years playing a polyphonic Casio (still fed through the mono synth) I had enough technique and money to buy a Yamaha DX7 which I chose after I read the instruction manual and realised that I could build almost any sound that I could imagine.
 Thirty Years later after a lot of fun My DX7 and its replacement DX7 both died and I looked carefully at what else was out there. Nothing seemed to fit my requirements until Dave released the Prophet 12. It was the promise of FM that attracted me, but Exponential FM was not much use to me, so instead I wrote over 100 original quadraphonic voices to create a new palette of spacial sounds. Now we have Linear FM and I am some way towards my next 100 voices.
 I returned to my unique study of music theory 15 years ago, concentrating on rhythm and polyrhythms, so I have also been programming the Layer A and B arpeggiators to make cross rhythms. I don’t have a wide experience of different equipment, but I think I have taken both the DX7 and P12 to places nobody else has.

[Paul Dither]

Thirty Years later after a lot of fun My DX7 and its replacement DX7 both died and I looked carefully at what else was out there. Nothing seemed to fit my requirements until Dave released the Prophet 12. It was the promise of FM that attracted me, but Exponential FM was not much use to me, so instead I wrote over 100 original quadraphonic voices to create a new palette of spacial sounds. Now we have Linear FM and I am some way towards my next 100 voices.
 I returned to my unique study of music theory 15 years ago, concentrating on rhythm and polyrhythms, so I have also been programming the Layer A and B arpeggiators to make cross rhythms. I don’t have a wide experience of different equipment, but I think I have taken both the DX7 and P12 to places nobody else has.

That's very cool, Chaparral. Do you happen to have uploaded a few recordings of your sounds?

[blewis]

My start was buying a Moog Sonic Six at a yard sale for $5. Could not figure it out. I tried to make it sound like a piano. Later tried to make loops that might sound like a Suzanne Vega record 99 Fahrenheit. I think it needed some serious servicing, but I had no clue how to make it work.

Later loaned it to someone. They never gave it back and I didn't care cause I liked Nirvanna and Perl Jam and guitar ruled.

Only later did I realize what happened. I'm cool with it. :-)

[vinnyburns1@mac.com]

Just a reminder, folks, that this thread exists.  I was hoping for many more entries, seeing as we're slowly approaching 700 members.

Firstly, I am a guitarist by trade.
My first hands on experience with a synth was in 1985. My Dare band mate Darren Wharton (Thin Lizzy) had an OB-8 that he was using but also in the studio were an old string machine (maybe a Logan) and a Mini Korg 700. I always wanted to play keyboards so I used to sometimes take the Logan and the Korg 700 home for the weekend. I had no idea what I was doing on that Korg at the time but loved playing about with it through an Ibanez DM1100 digital delay.
I just used to transfer what I knew on guitar and work out the chords on the Logan too.
Later on as the band got more gear like the DX7 and once we got a record deal, JX8P, JX10 etc, the OB-8 was often left gathering dust so I used to have the odd weekend with that and a DX drum machine. I loved that OB-8 although it was a little too complex for me at the time. No manual and no internet then to download one haha. Great fun though and the pad sounds were amazing. I realised at this time that I loved writing on keyboards as well as guitar as it opened new areas for me that I would never stumble across on guitar.
I left the band (Dare) after a couple of albums and joined Asia then Ultravox. Later on I also got to work with Don Airey for a year in my old band Ten. I have been so lucky to have worked with Darren Wharton, Geoff Downes, Billy Currie and Don. Great players and great sounds. :-)
About this time, I bought a Roland JV50EX just for writing. I hated that there was no way of editing anything beyond filter and amp envelope. Over the years I added a few modules (Roland MVS-1, Korg NS5R, Roland MKS 70, EMU Morpheus, Akai S3000XL, Juno 6, etc). Apart from the Juno, these synths all relied on a mouse and editor (if you could find one).
Next came a Yamaha EX5. Loved that synth but again, all programming was a nightmare with tons of menu's. An Emu E4K, E-Synth and E4XT Ultra followed.
After a JV1080 and fully loaded 2080 I bought a Roland Integra 7. I started to miss the old sounds though. I bought a DX7 to cover a few old sounds we used to use then upgraded that to SY99. The problem again was no hands on editing.
During all this time, I also blew thousands on VST and AU virtual instruments. Got stung on so many of these when companies would suddenly stop supporting them and after a few OS grades for Logic or Cubase, they would not be compatible anymore. Money down the drain.
Then, analog came back in fashion. DSI brought out the Pro 08. My mate Chris bought one. Loved it when I heard it. It had a proper hands on interface and I wanted one. Since I bought mine, I never stopped playing and programming it. Next came a Moog Minitaur, Moog Sub 37 and a Nord Electro 4 now replaced by an Electro 5.
I am still on the lookout for an OB-8. I was bidding on one the other week on eBay but there was some shill bidding going on when I looked through the bid history. When I called the guy out, he pulled the auction :-)
Like lots of people here, I don't want the headache of having to service and keep on top of an old synth but until someone brings a proper 8 voice Obie to the table, it's my only option.

[BobTheDog]

Have you thought about getting the OB6, we all know guitar players only need 6 notes

[vinnyburns1@mac.com]

Have you thought about getting the OB6, we all know guitar players only need 6 notes

Haha. Absolutely certain :-) I do love the sounds of the OB6 though. Not heard a bad clip yet. Just don't like the keyboard length or 6 note poly. Will wait until someone gets it right. No 4 octave keyboards and no compromised voice count.

[Sacred Synthesis]

See, even a guitarist agrees!  Five octaves is the ideal.

[Paul Dither]

See, even a guitarist agrees!  Five octaves is the ideal.

No, ideal - in the truest sense of the word - would be something like this:



 

[Sacred Synthesis]

Five octaves is the ideal in that it is both portable and complete.  Only piano-type music requires the above keyboard length.  The standard organ length suffices for nearly all synthesizer music.  In fact, many synthesizer patches - such as the classic Oberheim PWM - couldn't even be used over that wide of a range.  Five octaves is just perfect. 

There, take that!

[Paul Dither]

Five octaves is the ideal in that it is portable and yet complete.  Only piano-type music requires the above keyboard length.  The standard organ length suffices for nearly all synthesizer music.  Take that!

Sigh. Don't always take me too serious.

[Sacred Synthesis]

But if you really want to see my ideal keyboard arrangement....

[Paul Dither]

… and ideal knob sizes.

[Sacred Synthesis]

Yes, the knobs can be grabbed in an instant, such as when you have only that long to add a rank or two while playing.  And notice the thumb presets under the keyboard, for making dramatic changes in registration without even lifting your hand from the keyboard.  There is much wisdom in the design of a pipe organ - obviously due to centuries of collected experience.  I only wish some of it could be incorporated into the synthesizer.  It seems that at least Roland has tried.

[Paul Dither]

It has been done on a lot of preset synths in the 1970s actually. Early Roland synths come to my mind as well, such as the Jupiter 4 and the Promars.

[Sacred Synthesis]

Once again, Roland.  But weren't those factory presets, rather than user programs?

[Paul Dither]

Yes, I think so.