Minimoog Softsynth Shootout: Diva MiniV3 Monark Legend Minimonsta vs Model D

[Urs]

I've got two of those. Not sure yet. I bought them for the Cat SRM, if that one goes poof while we measure it.

Cool, so are you going to emulate the Cat next? We thought about it, but if we make another emulation probably we will rather do some vintage polysynth instead (since our parallelized engine calls for 4-8 voice polyphony anyway).

Richard

Yeah, it's our plan. Depends on whether or not the whole team can work on Zebra 3.

In any case, it will certainly be a strictly monophonic Cat with a focus beyond "emulation purity". I don't think we'll have the energy to do a Voyetra 8 as well. I'd much rather add some modifications and extensions.

If you're into doing a polysynth, why not a Jupiter 4? It's got attitude and character, and there isn't any of those yet I think...?

[waltercruz]

I've got two of those. Not sure yet. I bought them for the Cat SRM, if that one goes poof while we measure it.

Cool, so are you going to emulate the Cat next? We thought about it, but if we make another emulation probably we will rather do some vintage polysynth instead (since our parallelized engine calls for 4-8 voice polyphony anyway).

Richard

So, as U-He, Synapse it's really on the game for analog emulations? There will be more synths in the near future?

[zvenx]

I've got two of those. Not sure yet. I bought them for the Cat SRM, if that one goes poof while we measure it.

Cool, so are you going to emulate the Cat next? We thought about it, but if we make another emulation probably we will rather do some vintage polysynth instead (since our parallelized engine calls for 4-8 voice polyphony anyway).

Richard

Yeah, it's our plan. Depends on whether or not the whole team can work on Zebra 3.

In any case, it will certainly be a strictly monophonic Cat with a focus beyond "emulation purity". I don't think we'll have the energy to do a Voyetra 8 as well. I'd much rather add some modifications and extensions.

If you're into doing a polysynth, why not a Jupiter 4? It's got attitude and character, and there isn't any of those yet I think...?

or an Oberheim 4 or 8 voice.
rsp

[Ingonator]

I've got two of those. Not sure yet. I bought them for the Cat SRM, if that one goes poof while we measure it.

Cool, so are you going to emulate the Cat next? We thought about it, but if we make another emulation probably we will rather do some vintage polysynth instead (since our parallelized engine calls for 4-8 voice polyphony anyway).

Richard

Yeah, it's our plan. Depends on whether or not the whole team can work on Zebra 3.

In any case, it will certainly be a strictly monophonic Cat with a focus beyond "emulation purity". I don't think we'll have the energy to do a Voyetra 8 as well. I'd much rather add some modifications and extensions.

If you're into doing a polysynth, why not a Jupiter 4? It's got attitude and character, and there isn't any of those yet I think...?

or an Oberheim 4 or 8 voice.
rsp

Arturia SEM V2 more or less is already a 4 voice and 8 voice too. The advanced settings in the "8 voice programmer" page also include programming for the different voices for up to 6 different parameters at the same time (for each one the parameter is selectable from a drop-down list).

The 4 voice and 8 voice semed to be multiple single SEM units combined with a polyphonic programmer.

[Urs]

Hmmm, the existence of a previous emulation would never stop me from trying to achieve something special.

We're also toying with the idea of a OB-1 / SEM / TwoVoice / FourVoice / OB-X mash up. Or a crossover of 700S / 770 / 800dv. Or an "All Moogs except the Mini in one neat package". However, we don't even manage to release plug-ins that are basically ready, because we concentrate on a broader scope. There's simply no time to do this.

[waltercruz]

Arturia SEM V2 more or less is already a 4 voice and 8 voice too. The advanced settings in the "8 voice programmer" page also include programming for the different voices for up to 6 different parameters at the same time (for each one the parameter is selectable from a drop-down list).

The 4 voice and 8 voice semed to be multiple single SEM units combined with a polyphonic programmer.

But Arturia doesn't have Unison. And it kinda have that 'Arturia' sound - a bit 'veiled'.

[waltercruz]

Hmmm, the existence of a previous emulation would never stop me from trying to achieve something special.

We're also toying with the idea of a OB-1 / SEM / TwoVoice / FourVoice / OB-X mash up.

Nice! OBX-d has a nice Oberheim sound to me, but there's some little details that could make it really better, but seems that it will never happen (a decent preset manager, a setting for pitch bend range). I downloaded the demo of OPX-II Pro and while it sounds real nice the GUI is... strange. And they choose to pack a lot of behaviour while keeping few elements on the screen.. So some buttons trigger different leds colors that changes behaviour... doesn't seem to be a good UI pattern to me.

[Richard_Synapse]

In any case, it will certainly be a strictly monophonic Cat with a focus beyond "emulation purity". I don't think we'll have the energy to do a Voyetra 8 as well. I'd much rather add some modifications and extensions.

If you're into doing a polysynth, why not a Jupiter 4? It's got attitude and character, and there isn't any of those yet I think...?

Yeah, Jupiter 4,6,8 and MKS-80 are all good candidates. As far as character goes, the Jupiter 4 is one of my favorites, it's just very limited in features (though this could be addressed in software)

So, as U-He, Synapse it's really on the game for analog emulations? There will be more synths in the near future?

Possibly yes, the feedback for The Legend has been very positive. Not sure when though- right now we are working on DUNE again.

Richard

[EvilDragon]

MKS-80 is getting mighty too expensive, even though it was on my bucket list of synths to buy... I wouldn't mind having it in virtual form, especially if both rev4 and rev5 get modelled.

[recursive one]

right now we are working on DUNE again.

I, for one, am much more interested in a major (paid) upgrade for Dune than in any dedicated analogue emulation (how much more of these do we need, anyway?).

Could you please tell us briefly what are the directions of the new Dune development? What we may expect?

[Richard_Synapse]

right now we are working on DUNE again.

I, for one, am much more interested in a major (paid) upgrade for Dune than in any dedicated analogue emulation (how much more of these do we need, anyway?).

Could you please tell us briefly what are the directions of the new Dune development? What we may expect?

One of the bigger additions is an (ihmo) really good wavetable editor. Other than that, it will be mostly about new features like improved filters/effects, things we learned from The Legend's development, new sounds etc, so quite a lot of stuff here and there that combined should have a strong effect on the sound quality and sound design possibilities. The concept and workflow will remain roughly the same, however, so that current patches remain compatible and those who mastered the synth will immediately feel at home.

Richard

[egbert101]

<delete>

[recursive one]

right now we are working on DUNE again.

I, for one, am much more interested in a major (paid) upgrade for Dune than in any dedicated analogue emulation (how much more of these do we need, anyway?).

Could you please tell us briefly what are the directions of the new Dune development? What we may expect?

One of the bigger additions is an (ihmo) really good wavetable editor. Other than that, it will be mostly about new features like improved filters/effects, things we learned from The Legend's development, new sounds etc, so quite a lot of stuff here and there that combined should have a strong effect on the sound quality and sound design possibilities. The concept and workflow will remain roughly the same, however, so that current patches remain compatible and those who mastered the synth will immediately feel at home.

Richard

Great, can't wait! Thanks for the reply.

If it is not too late for FRs, could you consider a second resonant filter per layer, identical to the first one and able to run both in parallel and serial mode? It would be great for making crazy Virus-like sequences and vowel sounds.

[Urs]

I guess it depends on the success of Repro-1/Repro-5 and The Legend.

Well, Repro-1/5 is pretty much a direct result of Diva's success. The delay of 4 years in doing so is also pretty much owed to Diva's success. We suddenly had to expand (get people in, train them, see how it goes, let some go, find new people, move into bigger office, learn to delegate, get an assistant, abandon email, ensure there's enough staff to always have someone do customer support, have a lawyer on payroll, outsource bookkeeping, figure out how you like things to be done and OMG why is this taking so long, only to realize, well, it simply does).

[beely]

Ah, scaling issues!

The price of success...