School me on synths

[Dapper Bandit]

Hi everybody,

I'm looking at revamping my setup a bit and cut down to 2 nice guitars and 2 nice basses, clear out some space and spend more time bonding with stuff rather than flitting between instruments, right? Then a little voice pipes up in the back of my head "while you're at it, get rid of those pedals you use to make synth sounds and just buy a nice synth. That'll save time and space and money. As you have 2 nice guitars and 2 nice basses why not get 2 nice synths? That'll save something or other. Just not money, time or space".

I find it hard to ignore the solid reasoning of this voice.

I'm looking at getting a mono and a poly analogue synth for toanz. I think Flashlight is one of the greatest songs ever written. I think Eno's Ambient series are wicked. Tortoise, Ui and Bill Laswell see a lot of airtime in my house. I would ideally like to do big pads, piano-y type stuff, nice tinkly bell-like textures, fat basses, wiggly leads and some sequencing. So as far as mono goes I'm looking long and at the Moog Sub 37 and maybe the DSI Rev2 for the poly. I would ideally like a knob-per-function layout as menu diving can be a pain.

Any thoughts / suggestions on whether I am absolutely spot on in my choices or if there are double-better synths I am missing out?

Help me ILF, you're my only hope!

[chrisdermo]

Every time Ive seen tortoise play they have a moog voyager, a microkorg (!), a buchla marimba lumina, and some full sized keys digital synth/laptop combo Ive never been able to cop a proper look at. You can cop a lot of their sounds on a lot of different synths for sure.

[D.o.S.]

Sub 37 seems pretty legit for what you want.

[echorec]

Instead of getting 2 synths for roughly $3800, you could get an OB-6 or P~6 for about $2300. It takes one click of the Unison button, to enter mono mode. The P~6 and OB-6 have arpeggiators (with a nice random setting), along with a dummy-proof poly-sequencer. There are no menu screens and after 30 seconds in the manual, you'll be able to start saving preset 1 of 500 user slots.

I have a P~6 and a Sub 37, but I'd probably be just as happy with multiple other combinations. The immediacy of the P~6 & OB-6 really spoil the experience of using a lot of other machines. The knob-to-function ratio, built-in (dual DSP) effects, push-button preset recall, along with aftertouch & other features really make these overshadow a lot of other stuff.

--The Studiologic Sledge 2.0 has sampling, wavetables, and a user-friendly layout as well. You could use it for EP sounds, cold cinematic textures, and a lot of atmospheric sounds. I don't see it as a synth to replace all synths, but it should complement a second synth (analog or digital) quite well.

Good luck.

[spacelordmother]

You mentioned Eno, pads, and bells.

You need FM.

[space6oy]

a microkorg (!)

black moth super rainbow used one for their vocoder for a long time.
they're great little cheap synths. i've owned and sold them four times.

[fcknoise]

I'm looking at getting a mono and a poly analogue synth for toanz. I think Flashlight is one of the greatest songs ever written. I think Eno's Ambient series are wicked. Tortoise, Ui and Bill Laswell see a lot of airtime in my house. I would ideally like to do big pads, piano-y type stuff, nice tinkly bell-like textures, fat basses, wiggly leads and some sequencing. So as far as mono goes I'm looking long and at the Moog Sub 37 and maybe the DSI Rev2 for the poly. I would ideally like a knob-per-function layout as menu diving can be a pain.

This does sound like FM. Maybe try fuxing with a volca fm to start out without dropping a whole lot of cash on something you are unsure about?

[chrisdermo]

a microkorg (!)

black moth super rainbow used one for their vocoder for a long time.
they're great little cheap synths. i've owned and sold them four times.

Everything can sound good in the right hands. Ive always had a negative view towards them as around the time of the 'being a dickheads cool' meme song literally every p.o.s. Cheeseball indie band in east London used one in the worst possible way. It is definitely a powerful tool if tweaked though!

[D.o.S.]

I play synth.
we all play synth.

do de du do do

[chrisdermo]

precisely. I was also the synth player in a band at the time.....

[Dapper Bandit]

Hmm, Microkorg sounds interesting, but am I right in thinking that it only does presets or can you actually tweak sounds on it? I looked at FM synthesis and it looks scary so may steer clear of that.

[spacelordmother]

You can tweak the MK to your heart’s content!

FM is only as hard as you make it. Historically it’s the interface which makes it so tough. If you got something that takes DX7 patches (VolcaFM for example) you already have access to tens of thousands of patches to start from.

[fcknoise]

You can tweak the MK to your heart’s content!

FM is only as hard as you make it. Historically it’s the interface which makes it so tough. If you got something that takes DX7 patches (VolcaFM for example) you already have access to tens of thousands of patches to start from.

Yeah this was what I was thinking of too. I wouldn't suggest FM synthesis to a newbie otherwise haha. I wouldn't fucking recommend it to myself to be honest.

[spacelordmother]

Well, there’s a difference between “I want to patch something that sounds like a clarinet” and using a basic understanding of FM to generate cool sounds.

Cool sounds are easy, barring interface.

[Disarm D'arcy]

You can tweak the MK to your heart’s content!

FM is only as hard as you make it. Historically it’s the interface which makes it so tough. If you got something that takes DX7 patches (VolcaFM for example) you already have access to tens of thousands of patches to start from.

Yeah this was what I was thinking of too. I wouldn't suggest FM synthesis to a newbie otherwise haha. I wouldn't fucking recommend it to myself to be honest.

Seconded.

I started with software synths virtual analog synth and they were a pretty good place to get a grip.