On the hunt for a synth/drone machine...

[WeHuntKings]

http://casperelectronics.com/finished-pieces/drone-lab/drone-lab-v2/

my GOD. GIVE ME THAT.

[Rob Fossil]

Well Prymaxe is having a sale on just about everything for 15% off and I dropped a Skychord Sleepdrone 6 in my cart, it'll cost $272.

If you do go the Skychord route I think you will be happy. I have a Utopia Synth back from when they were King Capitol Punishment and it's a great little noisemaker. Get ready to waste hours on pairing up effects on the thing to discover new sounds. I suggest using a Bluebox or other octave down pedal to get fat bass sounds. Running it through some type of step sequencer (I have a Zvex Seek Trem for this) will allow you to get beats to lay under your drones. Just remember to record whenever you use it, because you will find some "magic" that you will never be able to recreate even if you write down the settings of all of the pedals you have chained together. Enjoy!

[moose23]

I'm a big fan of the Casper Dronelab, tried selling mine a few times but just can't bring myself to part with. It's a fairly straight forward build too if you're in any way handy with a soldering iron. $360 is a lot though for the pre-assembled units but then I'm cheap.

[moose23]

Have you thought about using a Feedback Looper and creating your own synth?
Here is a demo I did for the Basic Audio tourbox.
It's just an example of some sounds you can get using only fuzz (cheaper pedals work well too) in a feedback loop without even using an input instrument.
I kept this to just fuzz and verb but adding modulation and delay or what ever else you want could make it more awesomer.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxuHQsWCcFI[/youtube]

You could also record drones with guitar or sound samples or whatever else and play them back through a pedal chain for further tweaking.

I just think most synths/noise makers are a little pricey for what they do and I get bored with them fairly fast.

What's the switch set up on your feedback looper?

[Wes Mantooth]

Have you thought about using a Feedback Looper and creating your own synth?
Here is a demo I did for the Basic Audio tourbox.
It's just an example of some sounds you can get using only fuzz (cheaper pedals work well too) in a feedback loop without even using an input instrument.
I kept this to just fuzz and verb but adding modulation and delay or what ever else you want could make it more awesomer.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxuHQsWCcFI[/youtube]

You could also record drones with guitar or sound samples or whatever else and play them back through a pedal chain for further tweaking.

I just think most synths/noise makers are a little pricey for what they do and I get bored with them fairly fast.

That's what I've been doing kind of, I just like the ability to tune multiple oscillators for more layered tones. I was planning to use my Eau Claire Thunder's feedback loop in conduction with pedalboard for yet another drone.

I still am drawn to the Drone Commander, it just sounds so good! But with the Skychord I feel like I can get darker, more dissonant drones. The DC clips I've listened to do don't sound quite as dark

[Wes Mantooth]

I seem to be all over the place but a Skychord Sleepdrone 3 might be right for me. I can get more tones o layer from my Mini Ark so I figure the Sleepdrone 6 would probably just be overkill

Going to still wait a few days before I decide but it'll either be a Drone Commander (if I can find one for sale) or a Sleepdrone 3... I think.

[bronzetalon]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4BjLgoT4zM[/youtube]

Drone commander go!!! This is a video I did with the Grendel, Test Pattern, 4545, Blargg, SDD, and RRR.

[Wes Mantooth]

Ok sold on the drone commander

[MEC]

What's the switch set up on your feedback looper?

The left is for a true bypass loop, the middle activates the feedback loop which is controlled by the knob and the right is a momentary that connects the tip of the input to the tip of the output.

[Bassus Sanguinis]

Although ALL my pedalboard is just a noise synth, with the feedback loopers and shit, BUT I have used the Dwarfcraft Rot Yr Brain as my MAIN synth for two years now. Fuck You, keyboards.

Been on friends album, too, playing the synths by that. Their producer how ever disagreed in the final mix and so all that got somewhat buried.

...well okay I admit I am contemplating on getting keybs back in the band for mellotron sounds and broken piano stuff but... just not sure if quite yet...

[lakeshoremicheal]

Skychord 5 for sale... viewtopic.php?f=44&t=22763

[Wes Mantooth]

Skychord 5 for sale... viewtopic.php?f=44&t=22763

The videos on your thread are what got me to look at Skychord, the first one was really cool.

Sadly I don't know if I need to individual oscillator outputs of the SD5, definitely an awesome feature and your price is reasonable so I'm guessing someone is going to snatch it up soon.

I'm still debating about what to do, love the Drone Commander and the Sleepdrone 3 or 6, I'm sure either would make me happy. I could get the 6 for $270 though, almost $100 less than the DC but at the same time, I don't want to wish I spent a little extra money on the Drone Commander. I'll take a few days to think it over.

But it looks like my board for the synth so far will consist of:
Snazzy FX Mini Ark for extra octaves (up and down) and general noise since I'm guessing it won't track perfectly (which will sound awesome)
smallsound/bigsound Year4545 w/ clean blend for more noise and oscillation, the clean blend will be super helpful. I'm reluctant to take this off my guitar board though so it'll probably serve double duties.
Mid-Fi Deluxe Pitch Pirate for delay and those wacky vibrato and chorus tones

I also want to add something that will give the drone more rhythmic qualities like a Goatkeeper or some Copilot stuff like the Dubscope or Gyroscope. That won't probably be until the summer though.

[bronzetalon]

Don't forget reverb gotta have reverb. I can demo the grendel with my deluxe pitch pirate, wet, and 4545 if you want.

[Wes Mantooth]

That'd be awesome, that's true I do need some verb, the Dr. Scientist Reverberator will do double duty for a while then maybe I'll get a Space some time in the distant future if it ends up being worth it.

And yeah I'd love to see that demo!

[bronzetalon]

Dont need a space go for seething simple hof or rv-5