One Man's Quest for the Perfect Mono Synth

Re: One Man's Quest for the Perfect Mono Synth
« Reply #240 on: January 30, 2018, 01:33:24 AM »
Interesting. I remember you bringing up this company about 2 years ago. The Trentasette looks quite well equipped on the modulation side. Really a quite striking feature set for this type of synth/form factor. Not only the four LFOs, but also the four envelopes seem to allow for loads of flexibility. And at first sight I would have never guessed that this synth houses the option to route 21 mod sources to 18 destinations. It sounded quite good as well in the video I've seen.

Also cool that they would make you a 49 keys version, which I guess you can call Quarantanove then.

...with a polysynth in development as well, apparently.

I admit to having been turned off by the wood cabinet / black panel appearance, but it probably merits a second look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw13CzYcJVM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zMT7X9v5T4
« Last Edit: January 30, 2018, 01:35:00 AM by DavidDever »
Sequential / DSI stuff: Prophet-6 Keyboard with Yorick Tech LFE, Prophet 12 Keyboard, Mono Evolver Keyboard, Split-Eight, Six-Trak, Prophet 2000

chysn

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Re: One Man's Quest for the Perfect Mono Synth
« Reply #241 on: January 30, 2018, 07:20:29 AM »
It's nice. I mean, it looks weird, but the sound and feature set are attractive. Personally, I think a monosynth without CV is ridiculous; but if you don't need that, the Artisan seems pretty much spot-on. It reminds me very much of the Mopho, really.
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Sacred Synthesis

Re: One Man's Quest for the Perfect Mono Synth
« Reply #242 on: January 30, 2018, 07:27:23 AM »

chysn

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Re: One Man's Quest for the Perfect Mono Synth
« Reply #243 on: January 30, 2018, 08:29:38 AM »
There are these as well:

https://www.artisanelectronicinstruments.com/neurorack

I'll keep my eye on those. There's basically no information in the world about them, so they probably don't quite exist yet.
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Re: One Man's Quest for the Perfect Mono Synth
« Reply #244 on: January 30, 2018, 08:50:43 AM »
There are these as well:

https://www.artisanelectronicinstruments.com/neurorack

I'll keep my eye on those. There's basically no information in the world about them, so they probably don't quite exist yet.

A few of them are demonstrated in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-H1HQ8MzB0

Sacred Synthesis

Re: One Man's Quest for the Perfect Mono Synth
« Reply #245 on: March 28, 2019, 09:17:23 AM »
I'm a bit in limbo these days, because I'm creeping along at updating my set up and don't have the full instrumental force that I like.  As it stands, I'm using a Poly Evolver Keyboard in place of a Prophet '08 as a part-time monophonic instrument.  It has taught me one surprising thing.  The PEK makes a superb polyphonic synthesizer, but for monophonic uses, I actually prefer the Prophet '08.  I would rather use a bi-tmbral analog instrument than an analog-digital hybrid.  As a matter purely of personal preference, the tones of the Evolver's digital oscillators strike me as lacking in dignity, as being even slightly comical - which is the last quality I want in my music.  And this has to do, not only with the Evolver's particular tones, but with digital tones in general (except those that emulate analog tones). 

Again, the digital oscillators make for superb and more complex polyphonic effects.  I like them for creating dreamy suspenseful atmospheres.  But when it comes to melodic passages, the pure sawtooth and pulse width analog tones, with their simple gravity, alone satisfy.  This realization comes as a happy surprise.
« Last Edit: March 28, 2019, 09:39:08 AM by Sacred Synthesis »

Re: One Man's Quest for the Perfect Mono Synth
« Reply #246 on: March 31, 2019, 10:56:31 AM »
I'm a bit in limbo these days, because I'm creeping along at updating my set up and don't have the full instrumental force that I like.  As it stands, I'm using a Poly Evolver Keyboard in place of a Prophet '08 as a part-time monophonic instrument.  It has taught me one surprising thing.  The PEK makes a superb polyphonic synthesizer, but for monophonic uses, I actually prefer the Prophet '08.  I would rather use a bi-tmbral analog instrument than an analog-digital hybrid.  As a matter purely of personal preference, the tones of the Evolver's digital oscillators strike me as lacking in dignity, as being even slightly comical - which is the last quality I want in my music.  And this has to do, not only with the Evolver's particular tones, but with digital tones in general (except those that emulate analog tones). 

Again, the digital oscillators make for superb and more complex polyphonic effects.  I like them for creating dreamy suspenseful atmospheres.  But when it comes to melodic passages, the pure sawtooth and pulse width analog tones, with their simple gravity, alone satisfy.  This realization comes as a happy surprise.

I think the PEK digital oscillators do have a natural thinness to them.  I believe I read before that it has something to do with sample rate or bit amount.  Of course, I too, am so glad that they are there.  As I described before,  I often will make my own waveshapes in attempts to duplicate some real world instrument.  Usually I'll employee both digital oscillators to make it a fuller sound.  Even then, I find that once I'm done I tend to add a little saw or pulse to fatten it up.   
Sequential/DSI Equipment: Poly Evolver Keyboard, Evolver desktop,   Pro-2, Pro-3, OB6, P-12,
 

https://Soundcloud.com/wavescape-1

Sacred Synthesis

Re: One Man's Quest for the Perfect Mono Synth
« Reply #247 on: August 01, 2020, 05:04:16 PM »
Since we started this thread years ago, the nearly perfect monophonic synthesizer - in my opinion - has appeared, and it is the Korg/ARP 2600.  What a masterpiece!  But who has such money to throw at an individual instrument?  Certainly, I don't.  I've considered an option, though, and that is two Korg/ARP Odyssey Modules panned for stereo and controlled by a P'08 or Rev2 keyboard.  This has its difficulties, since the LFO's obviously couldn't be synchronized, but it would still produce a remarkable sound.  Imagine a four-oscillator Odyssey!  I'm at least considereing it.
« Last Edit: August 01, 2020, 05:08:03 PM by Sacred Synthesis »

LoboLives

Re: One Man's Quest for the Perfect Mono Synth
« Reply #248 on: August 01, 2020, 07:08:33 PM »
Since we started this thread years ago, the nearly perfect monophonic synthesizer - in my opinion - has appeared, and it is the Korg/ARP 2600.  What a masterpiece!  But who has such money to throw at an individual instrument?  Certainly, I don't.  I've considered an option, though, and that is two Korg/ARP Odyssey Modules panned for stereo and controlled by a P'08 or Rev2 keyboard.  This has its difficulties, since the LFO's obviously couldn't be synchronized, but it would still produce a remarkable sound.  Imagine a four-oscillator Odyssey!  I'm at least considereing it.

I'm going for two Odyssey desktop modules myself. JOIN US!!!

Sacred Synthesis

Re: One Man's Quest for the Perfect Mono Synth
« Reply #249 on: August 01, 2020, 07:45:18 PM »
Since we started this thread years ago, the nearly perfect monophonic synthesizer - in my opinion - has appeared, and it is the Korg/ARP 2600.  What a masterpiece!  But who has such money to throw at an individual instrument?  Certainly, I don't.  I've considered an option, though, and that is two Korg/ARP Odyssey Modules panned for stereo and controlled by a P'08 or Rev2 keyboard.  This has its difficulties, since the LFO's obviously couldn't be synchronized, but it would still produce a remarkable sound.  Imagine a four-oscillator Odyssey!  I'm at least considereing it.

I'm going for two Odyssey desktop modules myself. JOIN US!!!

Now wait a minute.  That was my idea first!  ;D

LoboLives

Re: One Man's Quest for the Perfect Mono Synth
« Reply #250 on: August 01, 2020, 08:32:13 PM »
Since we started this thread years ago, the nearly perfect monophonic synthesizer - in my opinion - has appeared, and it is the Korg/ARP 2600.  What a masterpiece!  But who has such money to throw at an individual instrument?  Certainly, I don't.  I've considered an option, though, and that is two Korg/ARP Odyssey Modules panned for stereo and controlled by a P'08 or Rev2 keyboard.  This has its difficulties, since the LFO's obviously couldn't be synchronized, but it would still produce a remarkable sound.  Imagine a four-oscillator Odyssey!  I'm at least considereing it.

I'm going for two Odyssey desktop modules myself. JOIN US!!!

Now wait a minute.  That was my idea first!  ;D

Haha I actually had this idea all the way back when I was looking for alternatives to the Oberheim Two Voice Pro. I got the idea from John Carpenter and Alan Howarth who used two ARP Avatars to do all their sequencing sounds for those soundtracks lol

Believe it or not I’m actually buying a full sized ARP Odyssey that comes with the ARP edition SQ1 sequencer, then selling the keyboard off and buying the two modules...but keeping the SQ1. Totally ridiculous but I just really want that ARP SQ1 haha

Shaw

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Re: One Man's Quest for the Perfect Mono Synth
« Reply #251 on: August 01, 2020, 09:07:19 PM »
Since we started this thread years ago, the nearly perfect monophonic synthesizer - in my opinion - has appeared, and it is the Korg/ARP 2600.  What a masterpiece!  But who has such money to throw at an individual instrument?  Certainly, I don't.  I've considered an option, though, and that is two Korg/ARP Odyssey Modules panned for stereo and controlled by a P'08 or Rev2 keyboard.  This has its difficulties, since the LFO's obviously couldn't be synchronized, but it would still produce a remarkable sound.  Imagine a four-oscillator Odyssey!  I'm at least considereing it.

I'm going for two Odyssey desktop modules myself. JOIN US!!!

Now wait a minute.  That was my idea first!  ;D

Haha I actually had this idea all the way back when I was looking for alternatives to the Oberheim Two Voice Pro. I got the idea from John Carpenter and Alan Howarth who used two ARP Avatars to do all their sequencing sounds for those soundtracks lol

Believe it or not I’m actually buying a full sized ARP Odyssey that comes with the ARP edition SQ1 sequencer, then selling the keyboard off and buying the two modules...but keeping the SQ1. Totally ridiculous but I just really want that ARP SQ1 haha

I had a similar idea back then too, except I was going to use 2 SEM modules controlled by a Pro 2.

I ordered the last 2 SEMs Sweetwater had, but one of them was faulty so I had to send them both back.

It wasn’t to be.
"Classical musicians go to the conservatories, rock´n roll musicians go to the garages." --- Frank Zappa
| Linnstrument | Suhr Custom Modern | Mayones Jaba Custom | Godin Multiac Nylon | Roland TD-50 | Synergy Guitar Amps | Eventide Effects Galore |

LoboLives

Re: One Man's Quest for the Perfect Mono Synth
« Reply #252 on: August 01, 2020, 11:22:09 PM »
Since we started this thread years ago, the nearly perfect monophonic synthesizer - in my opinion - has appeared, and it is the Korg/ARP 2600.  What a masterpiece!  But who has such money to throw at an individual instrument?  Certainly, I don't.  I've considered an option, though, and that is two Korg/ARP Odyssey Modules panned for stereo and controlled by a P'08 or Rev2 keyboard.  This has its difficulties, since the LFO's obviously couldn't be synchronized, but it would still produce a remarkable sound.  Imagine a four-oscillator Odyssey!  I'm at least considereing it.

I'm going for two Odyssey desktop modules myself. JOIN US!!!

Now wait a minute.  That was my idea first!  ;D

Haha I actually had this idea all the way back when I was looking for alternatives to the Oberheim Two Voice Pro. I got the idea from John Carpenter and Alan Howarth who used two ARP Avatars to do all their sequencing sounds for those soundtracks lol

Believe it or not I’m actually buying a full sized ARP Odyssey that comes with the ARP edition SQ1 sequencer, then selling the keyboard off and buying the two modules...but keeping the SQ1. Totally ridiculous but I just really want that ARP SQ1 haha

I had a similar idea back then too, except I was going to use 2 SEM modules controlled by a Pro 2.

I ordered the last 2 SEMs Sweetwater had, but one of them was faulty so I had to send them both back.

It wasn’t to be.

Still tempted to track down a second hand Two Voice Pro because I honestly don’t think Tom is going to do anything any time soon. I think the name is going to just going to collect dust and then once Tom passes Dave might obtain the name and do a tribute synth in Tom’s memory.

LoboLives

Re: One Man's Quest for the Perfect Mono Synth
« Reply #253 on: August 01, 2020, 11:25:08 PM »
Also I think the ARP 2600 reissue is completely sold out now.

Shaw

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Re: One Man's Quest for the Perfect Mono Synth
« Reply #254 on: August 02, 2020, 07:25:59 AM »
Since we started this thread years ago, the nearly perfect monophonic synthesizer - in my opinion - has appeared, and it is the Korg/ARP 2600.  What a masterpiece!  But who has such money to throw at an individual instrument?  Certainly, I don't.  I've considered an option, though, and that is two Korg/ARP Odyssey Modules panned for stereo and controlled by a P'08 or Rev2 keyboard.  This has its difficulties, since the LFO's obviously couldn't be synchronized, but it would still produce a remarkable sound.  Imagine a four-oscillator Odyssey!  I'm at least considereing it.

I'm going for two Odyssey desktop modules myself. JOIN US!!!

Now wait a minute.  That was my idea first!  ;D

Haha I actually had this idea all the way back when I was looking for alternatives to the Oberheim Two Voice Pro. I got the idea from John Carpenter and Alan Howarth who used two ARP Avatars to do all their sequencing sounds for those soundtracks lol

Believe it or not I’m actually buying a full sized ARP Odyssey that comes with the ARP edition SQ1 sequencer, then selling the keyboard off and buying the two modules...but keeping the SQ1. Totally ridiculous but I just really want that ARP SQ1 haha

I had a similar idea back then too, except I was going to use 2 SEM modules controlled by a Pro 2.

I ordered the last 2 SEMs Sweetwater had, but one of them was faulty so I had to send them both back.

It wasn’t to be.

Still tempted to track down a second hand Two Voice Pro because I honestly don’t think Tom is going to do anything any time soon. I think the name is going to just going to collect dust and then once Tom passes Dave might obtain the name and do a tribute synth in Tom’s memory.
I looked for a TVP a couple of months ago when I had some “extra cash”... couldn’t find one.
"Classical musicians go to the conservatories, rock´n roll musicians go to the garages." --- Frank Zappa
| Linnstrument | Suhr Custom Modern | Mayones Jaba Custom | Godin Multiac Nylon | Roland TD-50 | Synergy Guitar Amps | Eventide Effects Galore |

LoboLives

Re: One Man's Quest for the Perfect Mono Synth
« Reply #255 on: August 02, 2020, 10:30:01 AM »
Since we started this thread years ago, the nearly perfect monophonic synthesizer - in my opinion - has appeared, and it is the Korg/ARP 2600.  What a masterpiece!  But who has such money to throw at an individual instrument?  Certainly, I don't.  I've considered an option, though, and that is two Korg/ARP Odyssey Modules panned for stereo and controlled by a P'08 or Rev2 keyboard.  This has its difficulties, since the LFO's obviously couldn't be synchronized, but it would still produce a remarkable sound.  Imagine a four-oscillator Odyssey!  I'm at least considereing it.

I'm going for two Odyssey desktop modules myself. JOIN US!!!

Now wait a minute.  That was my idea first!  ;D

Haha I actually had this idea all the way back when I was looking for alternatives to the Oberheim Two Voice Pro. I got the idea from John Carpenter and Alan Howarth who used two ARP Avatars to do all their sequencing sounds for those soundtracks lol

Believe it or not I’m actually buying a full sized ARP Odyssey that comes with the ARP edition SQ1 sequencer, then selling the keyboard off and buying the two modules...but keeping the SQ1. Totally ridiculous but I just really want that ARP SQ1 haha

I had a similar idea back then too, except I was going to use 2 SEM modules controlled by a Pro 2.

I ordered the last 2 SEMs Sweetwater had, but one of them was faulty so I had to send them both back.

It wasn’t to be.

Still tempted to track down a second hand Two Voice Pro because I honestly don’t think Tom is going to do anything any time soon. I think the name is going to just going to collect dust and then once Tom passes Dave might obtain the name and do a tribute synth in Tom’s memory.
I looked for a TVP a couple of months ago when I had some “extra cash”... couldn’t find one.

I was just going to put a WTB add on Facebook groups. They are rare though. I actually had Tom reach out to Perfect Circuit Audio and offer to personalize it for me....but it was black and the shipping actually would have bumped it up to 6 or 7 grand to get to Canada. I didn’t really want to spend more money on a synth that wasn’t 100% what I wanted in the first place. That being said, it was nice of Tom to reach out after the whole fiasco I went through.

Sacred Synthesis

Re: One Man's Quest for the Perfect Mono Synth
« Reply #256 on: August 26, 2020, 10:38:01 AM »
I could imagine a pair of Pro 3 Modules making a superb monophonic synthesizer+.

jok3r

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Re: One Man's Quest for the Perfect Mono Synth
« Reply #257 on: August 26, 2020, 01:37:00 PM »
I could imagine a pair of Pro 3 Modules making a superb monophonic synthesizer+.
Could you explain, why it would need to be a pair? Even one single Pro3 seems to be a superb monophonic synth to me... at the moment I'm thinking of buying one to complement my Rev2. I was looking at the Prophet 6 for years, but with all of CreativeSpirals VCM techniques I'm not sure it would get me elsewhere.

So I'm looking for a monophonic synth now. I wanted to buy the Matriarch, but then the Pro3 arrived and now I don't know what to do. I simply like everything I heard of the Matriarch and like the idea of patching things with cables instead of using mod matrices. On the other hand, I play live a lot and have to play between 40 and 60 songs an evening. I would use a mono more, if I could save patches for live use. In this category the Pro3 seems to stand out for me. And everything looks familiar to me, because it seems to be the usual DSI style of doing things.

There are other things I could hopefully do: as we all know, the Rev2 is lacking a global LFO. So if I don't need all LFOs on the Pro3 in my setup for a specific song, I could use one LFO per CV out, to be a global LFO for my Rev2 per CV/Pedal in. Has anybody tried that yet? Especially with these two synth?
Prophet Rev2, Moog Matriarch, Novation Peak, Arturia DrumBrute Impact, Korg Kronos 2 88, Kurzweil PC 361, Yamaha S90ES

Sacred Synthesis

Re: One Man's Quest for the Perfect Mono Synth
« Reply #258 on: August 26, 2020, 02:44:56 PM »
Simply, I don't like or use a mono field in any of my recording, not even for the bass parts.  Every instrument is doubled so as to allow for stereo panning, whether the pairs of sounds are identical or different, as in the case of bi-timbral patches.  Think pipe organs and orchestras.  These sorts of immense complex ensembles are sonically spread over an amount of physical space; they are anything but mono.  So, that's my standard in sound.  Otherwise, synthesizers sound sterile, lifeless, and exceedingly electronic to me.  This is why I love DSI/Sequential's practice of offering a keyboard instrument and then a module form of the same. 

I don't have many instruments, but what I do have is always paired - keyboard master and module slave.
« Last Edit: August 26, 2020, 02:49:42 PM by Sacred Synthesis »

LoboLives

Re: One Man's Quest for the Perfect Mono Synth
« Reply #259 on: August 26, 2020, 10:43:05 PM »
Simply, I don't like or use a mono field in any of my recording, not even for the bass parts.  Every instrument is doubled so as to allow for stereo panning, whether the pairs of sounds are identical or different, as in the case of bi-timbral patches.  Think pipe organs and orchestras.  These sorts of immense complex ensembles are sonically spread over an amount of physical space; they are anything but mono.  So, that's my standard in sound.  Otherwise, synthesizers sound sterile, lifeless, and exceedingly electronic to me.  This is why I love DSI/Sequential's practice of offering a keyboard instrument and then a module form of the same. 

I don't have many instruments, but what I do have is always paired - keyboard master and module slave.

The Pro 3 does have two audio outs though? It not a typical mono synth path from my understanding.