Allright... a lot of changes is taking place in my studio at the moment... en general, I'm going to move to a smaller apartment at some point, and thus need to slim down the selection of synths that I have... Also, I've begun making music in Audio Layers (as stated previously), so I do not need a huge amount of synthesizers anymore. I need basicaly, a single synth for each type of synthesis, so the choice has fallen on eight synths maximum.
The synths need to be geared toward my Ambient projects to come, so it'll be a mixture of digital and analog, so that I can get as many types of synthesis as possible.
Iīm concentrating mainly on polyphonic flagships, mainly to get as flexible synth engines as possible, and as many voices as possible, so a lot of my monosynths has now been sold. Also, I want to get rid of old quirky synths, as I donīt have time to fiddle around with repair and quirky MIDI specs etc.
Another requirement I've set up is that most of the synths must have USB connectivity... I'm tired of huge spaghetti-lumps of cords lying everywhere, so getting rid of MIDI interfaces is a must as well... only a few synths I cannot have with USB connectivity will "survive" the cleanup, and be replaced as soon as alternatives pop up in the future with USB.
Currently, my setup is:
1. Roland V-Synth GT - working as master keyboard, and sampling engine mainly.
2. Yamaha VL-70m - working as physical modelling engine for wind/brass/plucked etc. realistic synthesis
3. Yamaha Reface DX - working as FM engine, and small handy controller as it can rest on my desk next to computer
4. DSI Prophet '08 - working as analog polyphonic engine... will swap this with a P6 when I have the funds.
5. DSI Prophet 12 - working as hybrid allround-synthesis engine.
6. MOOG Sub37 - working as analog monosynth engine, mainly for bass and leads with a character
7. ?
8. ?
Two synths remain unknown for now... whatever catch my GAS I suppose
Some of you probably notice that two synths are missing on the list... Poly Evolver Rack and Tempest... yes... they are being sold... I don't need an Evolver anymore, as the P12 can do much of the same, so it has been sold... I'm finaly free from thinking about MIDI bugs!
... some may say it's not a wise choice... and my GAS still weeps, but I don't need it! ... Tempest has always been a thorn in my side honestly... BUGs still present, bad MIDI implementation, and serious transient problems in my opinion... also, that kind of sound it does best, is not what I need for my Ambient projects, and the samples in it is not of those I DO need... it has also been sold.
I'll be getting a MOOG Sub37 very soon.. .most likely ordering it next week when the funds from Tempest and Evolver ticks in from the buyers... This means I'll have two keyboard, but that's ok... in fact it's nice to have two, if you want to play one synth with one hand, and another with the other hand, and I really need the amount of live tweakability the keyboard offers... The Sub37 will be my only analog monosynth, so it needs to have ultimate analog character capable of creamy deep basses, and be modern with preset storage and MIDI specs worthy of my attention... Sub37 does just that
I'll also get a VL-70m later this month... found a really good price on a used unit, and I allready have the BC3 breath controller to use with it... looking forward to that...
And next purchase... presumably soon too, is the Reface DX.... there are many other FM synths and more capable, especialy the FS1R, but I want USB connectivity, so Reface it is...
At some point, I'll probably get a P6 to swap with my P8... mainly because of it's sound, but also because it has built in effects, and USB connectivity (P8 does not)... only bad thing is that the engine of P6 is less complex, and it does not have the ability to layer two presets as far as I know? ... but I'll live... I can do those sounds on P12 instead.
That's about it for the update in my studio... I'll probably be back soon, ranting about the Sub37
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