Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...

Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #280 on: February 22, 2017, 08:52:28 AM »
I loaded my E-mu XL-7 Command Station up with the Rob Papen Techno Synth Construction Yard and Beat Garden ROMs, along with the World Expedition (which I absolutely love), though it is nice to have a standard Composer ROM around (in the guise of the Proteus 2000) as well.

That said - some of the E-mu P2K ROMs are selling for more than the units they were shipped in....

Wow, I'm very close to that - MP7 with the 2 Papen and a Composer.  I plan on getting the World next time I see one, to replace the default MP7/MoPatt which just isn't quite up my alley.  Only thing is I'd kinda like the XROM too, but... only 4 slots.  :D

You may find that a 64-voice Planet Earth rackmount module ends up being cheaper (e.g., $200 for one in the Atlanta area, on Craigslist presently) than the ROM on its own....

Yeah, I've casually kept an eye out for those as well, but I should add them to my searches.  Do you know if these ROMs work in the Ensoniq ZR-76?  I know it's sounds were used in the HALO, but can't find any info to verify if, for example, I could put the Composer or World Expedition ROMs in it.  I'm kinda looking at one as a 76 key controller for my studio (since once it's in place, I would never, ever move it  :D).

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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #281 on: February 22, 2017, 09:10:03 AM »
I have a Proteus 2000 and Audity 2000, sitting in a rack here. I have no idea when they were last powered up.

Good luck with the preset creation, I always thought it was a pain in the arse.

Might hit the power switches tomorrow to see if they still work...

They ARE a pain to program from the front panel... but with an editor, it's a breeze ;)
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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #282 on: February 22, 2017, 09:16:17 AM »
I loaded my E-mu XL-7 Command Station up with the Rob Papen Techno Synth Construction Yard and Beat Garden ROMs, along with the World Expedition (which I absolutely love), though it is nice to have a standard Composer ROM around (in the guise of the Proteus 2000) as well.

That said - some of the E-mu P2K ROMs are selling for more than the units they were shipped in....

I had those Rob Papen ROMs in the old XL-1/P2000 I once had... They are good for EDM etc. but not as important for my Ambient projects... back then I was into Techno etc. so that made good sense :D

I have been thinking about the Composer ROM as well, but it is too much bread'n'butter for me... what I need is samples with harmonically rich content, preferably looped, so that they can be used for creating pad sounds that fade in and out slowly... thus the looped portion is more important than the transients really... that is why I'm going for the Virtuoso ROMs now... I would also really like the Vintage Pro ROM, but it is also pretty rare... unfortunately.

But most of all, I'd like a 32MB FLASH SIMM module... mainly because I need samples of nature (rain, fire, water, storms etc.) that work well in Ambient pad sounds... and E-MU obviously never made an FX-oriented ROM... so I'd be really happy to be able to create my own ROM for this.. hundreds of tiny looped snippets of audio FX textures...
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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #283 on: February 22, 2017, 10:05:10 AM »
Yeah, I've casually kept an eye out for those as well, but I should add them to my searches.  Do you know if these ROMs work in the Ensoniq ZR-76?  I know it's sounds were used in the HALO, but can't find any info to verify if, for example, I could put the Composer or World Expedition ROMs in it.  I'm kinda looking at one as a 76 key controller for my studio (since once it's in place, I would never, ever move it  :D).

Nah, you can get the ZR expansion ROMs as the Ensoniq Project ROM for the P2K series (i.e., Ensoniq -> E-mu), but the ZR predates the P2K architecture by some measure, so there's no E-mu -> Ensoniq mapping.

Alternately, you could score a TS-12 (which can load ASR-10 samples) and backport the Emulator X sound library by way of the Chicken Systems Translator stuff. (I'm considering this for my poly-aftertouched TS-10).

But most of all, I'd like a 32MB FLASH SIMM module... mainly because I need samples of nature (rain, fire, water, storms etc.) that work well in Ambient pad sounds... and E-MU obviously never made an FX-oriented ROM... so I'd be really happy to be able to create my own ROM for this.. hundreds of tiny looped snippets of audio FX textures...

Yeah, those are unobtainium, yet there seems to be quite a bit of demand for them. I'd buy an Ultra for that purpose alone (blowing custom P2K ROMs).
« Last Edit: February 22, 2017, 10:07:43 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

Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #284 on: February 22, 2017, 03:03:51 PM »
Yeah, I've casually kept an eye out for those as well, but I should add them to my searches.  Do you know if these ROMs work in the Ensoniq ZR-76?  I know it's sounds were used in the HALO, but can't find any info to verify if, for example, I could put the Composer or World Expedition ROMs in it.  I'm kinda looking at one as a 76 key controller for my studio (since once it's in place, I would never, ever move it  :D).
Nah, you can get the ZR expansion ROMs as the Ensoniq Project ROM for the P2K series (i.e., Ensoniq -> E-mu), but the ZR predates the P2K architecture by some measure, so there's no E-mu -> Ensoniq mapping.

Alternately, you could score a TS-12 (which can load ASR-10 samples) and backport the Emulator X sound library by way of the Chicken Systems Translator stuff. (I'm considering this for my poly-aftertouched TS-10).

Ah, well my main motivation was to have a good 76key controller for cheap, that had the added benefit of being able to fit in more E-Mu ROMs.  Ultimately I'd like to have access to the 2 Papen, Composer, World and XROM, maybe the Orchestral, since layering is what it's all about.

Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #285 on: February 23, 2017, 03:51:46 AM »
Ah, well my main motivation was to have a good 76key controller for cheap, that had the added benefit of being able to fit in more E-Mu ROMs.  Ultimately I'd like to have access to the 2 Papen, Composer, World and XROM, maybe the Orchestral, since layering is what it's all about.

An E4K or E-Synth keyboard would allow you to load those libraries–and you get a great-feeling 76-key Fatar synth-action (TP/8S) keybed out of the deal:

Sequential / DSI stuff: Prophet-6 Keyboard with Yorick Tech LFE, Prophet 12 Keyboard, Mono Evolver Keyboard, Split-Eight, Six-Trak, Prophet 2000

Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #286 on: February 23, 2017, 10:22:29 AM »
Ah, well my main motivation was to have a good 76key controller for cheap, that had the added benefit of being able to fit in more E-Mu ROMs.  Ultimately I'd like to have access to the 2 Papen, Composer, World and XROM, maybe the Orchestral, since layering is what it's all about.

An E4K or E-Synth keyboard would allow you to load those libraries–and you get a great-feeling 76-key Fatar synth-action (TP/8S) keybed out of the deal:



Ooh, never new they made a keyboard version.  Looks like all 3 of these (ZR76, EK4 & Esynth) are all mono/channel aftertouch though.  Womp womp.  Surprising since my Command Station is poly aftertouch.  But yeah, otherwise those offer a lot of interesting options.

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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #287 on: February 23, 2017, 10:26:05 AM »
Oh yeah... the good old E4K keyboard sampler... my first entry into the hardware market... won that one in 1998 in the Creative Open MIDI Contest, along with ten 24 karat gold coins (specificly molded with the competition logo)... I actually miss it, and one is for sale here in DK right now... my GAS is kicking in to get that thing again :)
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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #288 on: February 23, 2017, 12:46:34 PM »
If you desire poly-aftertouch, then you want one of these (same Fatar TP/8S keybed):

Sequential / DSI stuff: Prophet-6 Keyboard with Yorick Tech LFE, Prophet 12 Keyboard, Mono Evolver Keyboard, Split-Eight, Six-Trak, Prophet 2000

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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #289 on: February 27, 2017, 01:31:12 AM »
Allright... I think I have found the last member for my studio now, giving me what I wanted; 8 synths, and one drummachine, all hooked up to a Mackie ONYX 1640 with two Lexicon FX processors for Delay/Reverb/Modulation (MX300 and MX400).

It has taken some time (more than 25 years) to arrive at this setup, which I now HOPE is complete for starting my Ambient projects. This has been one hell of a ride with more than 150 hardware instruments going thru the studio (I really have lost count). I've tried both direct MIDI sequencing and also Harddisk recording, and I've had love/hate relationship with both methods of making music... switching back and forth between the two, I finally decided that the solution would be to do BOTH! ... so I have been carefully setting up my mixer and synths, so that I can both make a piece of music using direct MIDI sequencing, and/or harddisk recording, depending on my mood and the score in general... not having to decide between the two has helped a lot.

My synthesizers today is a mixture of both analog and digital, but has definitely shifted a lot more towards digital machines, simply because they are more flexible, and have more synthesis options... today I have only one type of instrument where I will not let go of analog, and that's Bass sounds... and in a very few situations, when pitch needs to be very high and crystal clear without aliasing.

I use all my synths in single mode... simply because that gives most flexibility in sound design, at FX is usually compromised as soon as you enter multimode of almost all synthesizers, and also, I want the individual analog EQ and FX send on my mixer to be on a "per part" basis. I have only one machine that work standalone, and that is the drummachine. So basically, my setup is an 8 track plus a drummachine/FX track that work completely stand alone (incl. DSP effects).

The synths I ended up with are:

Waldorf - Blofeld Keyboard
DSI - Prophet 12
Roland - V-Synth XT
Yamaha - FS1R
E-MU - Proteus 2000 (with XL-1, World Expedition, Virtuoso 1+2 ROMs)
Waldorf - Microwave II
Waldorf - Pulse 2
Evolution Synthesis - EVS-1
Waldorf - Rack Attack

The new member in the studio is the Evolution Synthesis - EVS-1 synthesizer, which I got rather cheap. It is a strange hybrid digital beast from about 1990, featuring a mix of FM, Phase Modulation, Formant, Subtractive Synthesis, Waveshaping and other "modules" of synthesis, set up in algorithms like on an FM synth... it has a really special sound that is both analogue'ish and brutally digital... it is based on a custom digital synth DSP chip I did not know about, but found the datasheet for, and is 16 voice polyphonic... can be really dirty and gritty with aliasing in the higher notes like a digital oscillator of the Evolver. It also has full SysEx specs for creating an editor for it.

Here are three links to some youtube videos of it in action:

https://youtu.be/r9xIg63UtfM

https://youtu.be/8ZfB9iG0Qt0

https://youtu.be/JKeigA4P8Y4
« Last Edit: February 27, 2017, 01:45:13 AM by Razmo »
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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #290 on: February 28, 2017, 11:09:50 AM »
Allright... I think I have found the last member for my studio now, giving me what I wanted; 8 synths, and one drummachine, all hooked up to a Mackie ONYX 1640 with two Lexicon FX processors for Delay/Reverb/Modulation (MX300 and MX400).

It has taken some time (more than 25 years) to arrive at this setup

The synths I ended up with are:

Waldorf - Blofeld Keyboard
DSI - Prophet 12
Roland - V-Synth XT
Yamaha - FS1R
E-MU - Proteus 2000 (with XL-1, World Expedition, Virtuoso 1+2 ROMs)
Waldorf - Microwave II
Waldorf - Pulse 2
Evolution Synthesis - EVS-1
Waldorf - Rack Attack


Awesome.  We definitely have similar tastes.  :)  How does the Blofeld compare to the Microwave?  I know it has some of the waves from previous Waldorfs, but don't know enough about the line to know what is different.

Also curious about the V-Synth; I've been planning on getting a regular 2.0 version when I see a good deal on one, because I think I'd want the keyboard and hands-on controls, but I know the XT has the D50 and Vocal cards included.  Have you had the regular and/or GT versions to compare?

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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #291 on: February 28, 2017, 03:16:05 PM »
Allright... I think I have found the last member for my studio now, giving me what I wanted; 8 synths, and one drummachine, all hooked up to a Mackie ONYX 1640 with two Lexicon FX processors for Delay/Reverb/Modulation (MX300 and MX400).

It has taken some time (more than 25 years) to arrive at this setup

The synths I ended up with are:

Waldorf - Blofeld Keyboard
DSI - Prophet 12
Roland - V-Synth XT
Yamaha - FS1R
E-MU - Proteus 2000 (with XL-1, World Expedition, Virtuoso 1+2 ROMs)
Waldorf - Microwave II
Waldorf - Pulse 2
Evolution Synthesis - EVS-1
Waldorf - Rack Attack


Awesome.  We definitely have similar tastes.  :)  How does the Blofeld compare to the Microwave?  I know it has some of the waves from previous Waldorfs, but don't know enough about the line to know what is different.

Also curious about the V-Synth; I've been planning on getting a regular 2.0 version when I see a good deal on one, because I think I'd want the keyboard and hands-on controls, but I know the XT has the D50 and Vocal cards included.  Have you had the regular and/or GT versions to compare?

The Blofeld can certainly do some of the same wavetable kind of sounds, but it sounds much more polished because of the 21bit waveforms in the wavetables, compared to the MW2's 8bit waveforms... also, the Blofeld can have full cycle waveforms in the wavetables... the MW2 has the first half of a waveform flipped and reversed for the second half.

Other differences are in the engine... the MW2 has a dedicated wavetable envelope with more segments, that the Blofeld does not, which sadly makes it impossible to port MW2 patches to Blofeld very well.

Another difference is that MW2 can interpolate between single waveform cycles in a wavetable "in the box", which makes changing the wavetable faster and more intuitive... with the Blofeld, you will have to create the wavetables on a computer and dump them via SysEx.

All in all... the MW2 sounds grittier, more "raw", which adds to it's charm, compared to Blofeld.... Blofeld on the other hand, sound much more clean, which is good for other things... this is why I have both. Besides, Blofelds entire engine lets you use the wavetables in a lot of ways that a MW2 cannot... you can use wavetables to modulate samples or oscillators and vice versa... the Blofeld is one huge sound designers machine, that the MW2 will not even touch.

About the V-Synth.... I've had the GT and the XT... The GT is basically two XT's in abox, with some additional bells and whistles. The main difference to the first V-Synth keyboard is that you can layer two independent voices... thats why it is "two XTs" basically... also, the D50 and Voice cards cannot be used with it, but the voice card has been implemented into the synthesis engine in a more limited fashion...

What suits you best depend on your needs... if I had to choose one of the keyboard versions, I'd probably take the GT because of the better polyphony, added USB storage and the added AP Synthesis (early SuperNatural)... but I have the XT because it does what I need, is not that much different from the GT, and it's compact... also remember, that the only model capable of being used in a multi timbral fashion is the XT.

Some people though, prefer the first version because of it's user interface which should have been much better than on the GT... I've never had the first keyboard version, so I do not know about this, but I've seen that statement countless places on forums.

And please remember: the drivers for these synths DO NOT WORK with latest operating systems on Windows machines! ... be prepared to use MIDI cables!
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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #292 on: March 01, 2017, 10:33:14 AM »
All in all... the MW2 sounds grittier, more "raw", which adds to it's charm, compared to Blofeld.... Blofeld on the other hand, sound much more clean, which is good for other things... this is why I have both. Besides, Blofelds entire engine lets you use the wavetables in a lot of ways that a MW2 cannot... you can use wavetables to modulate samples or oscillators and vice versa... the Blofeld is one huge sound designers machine, that the MW2 will not even touch...

...Some people though, prefer the first version because of it's user interface which should have been much better than on the GT... I've never had the first keyboard version, so I do not know about this, but I've seen that statement countless places on forums.

And please remember: the drivers for these synths DO NOT WORK with latest operating systems on Windows machines! ... be prepared to use MIDI cables!

Oh, great to know the MW is grittier, that's usually what I want.  :D 

Also do you mean the most current Vsynth drivers don't work over USB with current Windows?  I use a Mac so Windows isn't a problem, but I run it into an iConnectMIDI4+ to connect to my 5pin MIDI devices, so hopefully that would work.  I do think I'll look for a regular 2.0 keyboard version, because I think I'd want the performance features and ease of use, but the built-in D50 and Vocal in the XT are pretty attractive too.


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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #293 on: March 01, 2017, 10:54:28 AM »
All in all... the MW2 sounds grittier, more "raw", which adds to it's charm, compared to Blofeld.... Blofeld on the other hand, sound much more clean, which is good for other things... this is why I have both. Besides, Blofelds entire engine lets you use the wavetables in a lot of ways that a MW2 cannot... you can use wavetables to modulate samples or oscillators and vice versa... the Blofeld is one huge sound designers machine, that the MW2 will not even touch...

...Some people though, prefer the first version because of it's user interface which should have been much better than on the GT... I've never had the first keyboard version, so I do not know about this, but I've seen that statement countless places on forums.

And please remember: the drivers for these synths DO NOT WORK with latest operating systems on Windows machines! ... be prepared to use MIDI cables!

Oh, great to know the MW is grittier, that's usually what I want.  :D 

Also do you mean the most current Vsynth drivers don't work over USB with current Windows?  I use a Mac so Windows isn't a problem, but I run it into an iConnectMIDI4+ to connect to my 5pin MIDI devices, so hopefully that would work.  I do think I'll look for a regular 2.0 keyboard version, because I think I'd want the performance features and ease of use, but the built-in D50 and Vocal in the XT are pretty attractive too.

MW is DEFINITELY grittier, more harsh (in a good way)... and also, if you rely on presets, rather than wanting to program all yourself, then there are a great deal of great presets for the MWII, that you will not get any other way than to buy either a MWII or a MW XT (basically they are the same, XT just has more knobs, and a few more DSP FX like Delay for example)... that is why I got both actually (blofeld and MWII), because I want a huge pool of sounds to inspire me, and the Blofeld is loaded with the Q/Micro Q sounds as it is compatible with these... MWII has other sounds.

Honestly... I don't use the D-50 plug in the V-Synth XT... it does sound absolutely fine, and are 100% compatible even with SysEx to the D-50, but honestly ... compared to the sound of the V-Synth itself, the D-50 sounds are outdated and inferior compared to the V-Synth sounds... The Voice Card may be handy at some point, since it's REALLY good for a lot of things... I just never used it... yet.

So if you want the performance features of the keyboard version, and can live without the outdated D-50 sounds and Voice Card, I'd certainly go for the first keyboard version, updated to 2.0 ... if you are lucky, you might even find the cards on EBAY, but be prepared to pay A LOT for them... they are RARE! ... this is why the rackmount XT is horribly more expensive than the first keyboard version... it's not rare for the XT to cost the double in price! ... Had I not needed the compactness of the XT, I would probably have gone for the first version with keys as well.
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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #294 on: March 15, 2017, 11:59:49 AM »
Great news with your current studio equilibrium! I hope you will like it. Very happy to see the Pulse 2 and Microwave II back in your studio. The Evolution Synthesis EVS-1 demos you posted earlier on sounds very interesting.

Looking forward to your new music and demos! Consider making any demo videos of your setup?
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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #295 on: March 16, 2017, 03:13:31 AM »
Great news with your current studio equilibrium! I hope you will like it. Very happy to see the Pulse 2 and Microwave II back in your studio. The Evolution Synthesis EVS-1 demos you posted earlier on sounds very interesting.

Looking forward to your new music and demos! Consider making any demo videos of your setup?

Thanks :) ... I like it so far, but it is an almost OCD like challenge to figure out the final setup to be honest... it's not easy for me, settling with just eight synths and a drummachine, but I HAVE TO, so that I can switch from collecting to making music, otherwise it would be ridiculous gathering all that stuff.

The Pulse 2 will stay, until an equally sounding analog polysynth comes along, and then it will be replaced, since Polysynths are more valuable to my style of music these days... it's here because it's the best solution to a full MIDI spec'ed ladder filter synth with a deep enough engine for my liking. I've actually considdered getting 4-8 of these and polychain them instead, but I think I'll wait and see what either MOOG or Waldorf comes up with in the future, and keep the Pulse 2 until then... I still hope for a PolyPulse from Waldorf.

The Microwave II is staying mainly because it's unique in it's wavetable sound, and it has a lot of very useable presets for me as well... if Waldorf ever make a hardware Microwave III that is backwards compatible, it'll be swapped for that... I prefer modern synths without quirks.

I still have the EVS-1, and it certainly is a weird little beast... it's audio output is distorting in a very pleasing way on almost any preset, if you do not turn down the volume (digitally, not via the volume pot), making many presets sound really dirty and varm... this is probably why it has been called "analog'ish" in sound... unfortunately it is a bit complicated creating an editor for, and information on settings of parameters is very sparse... so much I had to use an Atari ST emulator to run an old piece of software editor, just to find out the settings for Envelope and LFO destinations... not even the manual for the synth has that written down, as it was sold with the Atari software, and the manual for the software has no clues to the destinations... so I have to run this shitty old software to find the values... I am not yet sure if this synth is going to stay... it's sound is hard to compare to anything... it sounds both like a distorted old stringer synth, like an FM synth, like a Casi PM synth too... weirdo synth :D

I'm not sure about videos... I have been thinking about it, and I may do it one day when I've found equipment to synchronize the audio down into the video I'm recording... but first I need to finish the studio completely... which is close... I need a Lexicon PCM92, and one more synth to fill out the last stereo slot in my mixer... then I should be set.

I'm still not certain what that last synth will be... only thing that tickles my GAS right now are a Nord Lead A1 to be honest, and that is mainly to have one synth that has my favourite Ensemble effect built in... still not sure though... I'm also keen on the new Elektron Digitakt as a means to fire of samples... unfortunately they spoiled that product completely by not supporting stereo samples...
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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #296 on: March 18, 2017, 05:20:32 AM »
Sounds like loads of fun deciphering the old EVS-1 sysex and parameter formats. Its always so good when these are documented well!

:o . o O ( cough cough )

May I suggest that you leave that slot in your setup open for a while? Instead just use what you got and make notes whenever you are making music what you miss having in your setup. You may call it your dream slot. In this way you actually try out your setup in practice and gain hands on experience with how it work for your musical goals.

Such an approach is not new. Digital's good old System Research Center did just that. Well, except that they build full operating systems or large components thereof to determine how they were to work with. Pretty cool place!

With the patience in place its worth considering two additional approaches: (1) rolling studio updates and (2) multiple synthesizers on the shelf to pick whenever their particular sound are needed. I can easily see multiple smaller machines that could be useful in some cases for your projects. Why not keep them and simply bring them into your setup when they are needed?
« Last Edit: March 18, 2017, 05:22:08 AM by dslsynth »
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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #297 on: March 19, 2017, 02:10:24 AM »
Sounds like loads of fun deciphering the old EVS-1 sysex and parameter formats. Its always so good when these are documented well!

:o . o O ( cough cough )

May I suggest that you leave that slot in your setup open for a while? Instead just use what you got and make notes whenever you are making music what you miss having in your setup. You may call it your dream slot. In this way you actually try out your setup in practice and gain hands on experience with how it work for your musical goals.

Such an approach is not new. Digital's good old System Research Center did just that. Well, except that they build full operating systems or large components thereof to determine how they were to work with. Pretty cool place!

With the patience in place its worth considering two additional approaches: (1) rolling studio updates and (2) multiple synthesizers on the shelf to pick whenever their particular sound are needed. I can easily see multiple smaller machines that could be useful in some cases for your projects. Why not keep them and simply bring them into your setup when they are needed?

Good points... I've had like thoughts myself from time to time... I actually have two slots left, since I decided to get rid of my Pulse 2 again... the problem is not the sound (definitely not!), but that it's a monosynth... these can be used in Ambient music for sure, but they are not as useful as polyphonic ones, ESPECIALLY because I've decided to record MIDI live, and not do harddisk recording... the reason for this is, that for every layer you HD record, you record the same amount of noise from the mixer, and it all add up to a point, where quiet passages has clear noise in them... I HATE that to be honest, and Ambient does have quiet passages from time to time... it is especially the reverb unit that is the culprit, since it takes the noise, and reverberates it making it even worse... if I do live MIDI recording, the noise is only present ONCE, no matter haw many channels I use, and even lower when I mute channels I do NOT use.

So because of this, I need the eight synths stereo channels I decided to have (max), synths that are as flexible as possible, and preferably ones that can do more than one trick, and play polyphonic (because if only ONE synth does drums for example, then that particular synth will do that every single time, ind will not be used for other types of sounds, which is a waste I think)... but still be unique enough to warrant my interest, and have plenty of free presets for my Ambient genre... yes! ... I am VERY demanding, I know! :D

So I get your point.... wait... which is not my biggest skill I admit :D ... the point here is, as you say; what I need... instead of what I want. the two need not be the same you know :) ... so I've had the thought of just letting them two channels be open, and start making music... then I'll certainly find out what I fell that I NEED, rather than what I want.

But one thing is pretty clear now, that I need... I need something that will allow me to take in samples of strange vocals, sound effects etc. especially for the Dark Ambient style I also want to create... and that means I will have to find a sampler of sorts... the V-Synth XT that I got is not very much geared for multi-timbral use, and the management of samples is cumbersome to work with... not at all intuitive enough for me... so I guess I'm having thoughts about getting an E-MU E5000/6400 again soon, to take care of all things vocal, effects, percussion etc... this machine is the only one I've ever had that has the intuitiveness I need of a sampler... I hate the SCSI connectivity, but I'll just have to live with that... now is the problem of finding one at a good price :)

The last slot in my mixer will just stay open for whatever will tickle my GAS later on.... I know DSI will produce something at some point... Waldorf most likely too...
« Last Edit: March 19, 2017, 02:14:24 AM by Razmo »
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dslsynth

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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #298 on: March 19, 2017, 01:04:34 PM »
I've had like thoughts myself from time to time... I actually have two slots left, since I decided to get rid of my Pulse 2 again...

Oh no! So you sold your Pulse 2 again without even asking me if I wanted to buy it for 50 danish kroner!? ;) ;) ;)

ESPECIALLY because I've decided to record MIDI live, and not do harddisk recording... the reason for this is, that for every layer you HD record, you record the same amount of noise from the mixer, and it all add up to a point, where quiet passages has clear noise in them...

I do get that problem. Is there any way to solve that such as with a higher quality mixer and/or a high quality audio interface? Or perhaps a combination of these technologies depending on what you are doing?

So I get your point.... wait... which is not my biggest skill I admit :D ... the point here is, as you say; what I need... instead of what I want. the two need not be the same you know :) ... so I've had the thought of just letting them two channels be open, and start making music... then I'll certainly find out what I fell that I NEED, rather than what I want.

You can say that there are two parallel processes going on at all time. One is the tools actually needed to accomplish one's musical goals. The other is what one wants to have. For me the latter is quite often stuff that haven't been made yet. So if I had the knowledge and resources for it I would quite likely be designing my own synthesizers. Its not going to happen though.

Hope that the build and test how it works will work for your studio setup. Like with any design its value and usefulness can only really be determined by practical use. So its an iterative process. Very happy to see you head in this direction.

But one thing is pretty clear now, that I need... I need something that will allow me to take in samples of strange vocals, sound effects etc. especially for the Dark Ambient style I also want to create... and that means I will have to find a sampler of sorts...

Is there by any chance a good sampling plugin you can use with your DAW? Maybe that would be the best way to start out. Playing around with old samplers using expensive SCSI interfaces is a too expensive way to head? Especially when there are so many good plugins and that a new hardware machine with analog filters may show up in the future.

The last slot in my mixer will just stay open for whatever will tickle my GAS later on.... I know DSI will produce something at some point... Waldorf most likely too...

Certainly look forward to see their new designs in the future. Something featuring their discrete filters and plenty of modulation features would be very good. Especially if the design would be somewhat evolved!
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Razmo

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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #299 on: March 19, 2017, 04:25:57 PM »
About the noise.... no not really... the RANE rack mixer I used earlier, had special circuitry that prevented the mixer's own noise from being raised when the gain knobs was turned up... all 8 stereo channels could be fully clockwise, ands the mixer was dead silent no matter if it was at that position or all the way down... but the noise came anyway... not because of the mixer, but because of the noise coming from the synthesizers themselves... and as I prefer having outboard FX (reverb), the reverb of the Lexicon MX400 just enhanced the noise by reverberating it... you could use noise cancellers maybe, but I really do not want to begin messing with stuff like that... also, I just bought a Mackie 1604 VLZ4 mixer, which I am really happy with, and was bought specifically with this setup in mind.

I'm not going software by the way, so no... no software sampler for me, I want ONLY hardware... a principle of mine taken loooong ago :) ... I'm almost certain it will be an Ultra sampler because I know that machine in and out, and anything else I've tried is just plain unsatisfying for my use... The EOS of the Ultra samplers let me browse soundbanks in realtime, which is EXTREMELY intuitive to work with... the sampler itself is perfect for what I need right now, the only thorn in the side is, as you mention, SCSI problems.... one thing is for sure, I'm NEVER going to connect it to my computer using an SCSI card again... NEVER EVER AGAIN! ... major frustrations with drivers, ATAPI layers and what have you.... do not want to mess with that again.... if I get an Ultra sampler, I will find one of those SCSI bays for connecting CF cards, and then install this instead of the normal floppy drive, so that I can simply transfer samples via CF cards back and forth...

Actually I already have my V-Synth XT, and it can run in multimode, but I'd really not want to rob it of it's polyphony by using it for triggering vocal samples etc.... I need that synth to concentrate on doing what it does best, in single mode... so I need a sampler. only other solution is tha sample flash RAM in my Blofeld... but that is really not the way to do it... it's very complicated getting samples in and out of this...

I would of course hope that DSI did a hybrid sampler someday, but honestly... I don't think it will ever be as userfriendly and intuitive as an Ultra sampler... these samplers simply are something special to me.... I'd like a sample based synth from DSI nonetheless of course, but it would be for totally differnt reasons than to let it play vocal samples :)
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