KVR Audio

stimresp · Post by **stimresp** » Wed Mar 19, 2014 5:47 pm

Mutable Instruments Anushri has a really nice filter, is all knobs, has a cool little drum sequencer and a decent selection of inputs and outputs. It definitely punches above it's weight. Easy to build and modify too.

You might be able to get a pre-built one for cheap enough.

Sendy · Post by **Sendy** » Wed Mar 19, 2014 6:04 pm

I love the sound of MFB stuff. Build quality is variable/questionable on the cheaper stuff, but my Nano has a very smooth vocal sound and a lot of features packed into it's single economy voice. To me, that is how analog is supposed to sound.

ghettosynth · Post by **ghettosynth** » Wed Mar 19, 2014 6:41 pm

Kriminal wrote:
thecontrolcentre wrote:Here's a demo of my Dark Energy (mk1) with no sequencer or keys attached ...
DE Demo

mk1's are hard to get hold of....shame, as it has a 'better' filter (4 pole)

I don't necessarily agree that the filter is better in the Mk1s. It's a CEM3394. Sure, it's a four pole, but it doesn't sound great to me. I have a six-track sitting next to me and I've built synths with the 3394. Granted, it's usable for noisy dirty sounds because of how it distorts, I think that it goes from too tame to too dirty too quickly.

All I'm saying is that I think that the DSII is a more interesting design, and, in terms of complementary sounds, will be a better complement to a minibrute.

Kriminal · Post by **Kriminal** » Wed Mar 19, 2014 9:07 pm

Yes, from what ive read its a better design/featured synth....but i read the mk1 filter was better.... but i havent played either so.....

just got back from picking up the CS5.....seems ok, will test tomorrow. Would like to get it serviced properly....anyone know one near me?

Kriminal · Post by **Kriminal** » Thu Mar 20, 2014 6:52 pm

Been testing the CS5 tonight. No problems so far, seems to be fully working

Great little synth, you can hear Depeche Mode all over it....

http://soundcloud.com/kriminal-dave2/yamahacs5-demo

http://soundcloud.com/kriminal-dave2/cs5-strings

himalaya · Post by **himalaya** » Thu Mar 20, 2014 9:32 pm

I have the Minibrute and DE Mk1. Have played BassStation 2 at Music Messe last week.
If I had to compliment the Minibrute, I'd choose the Basstation, simply because it will provide all the standard bread & butter analog sounds with ease. It's also very well built.

DE Mk1 is great at whacky effects, but since it can not produce a two-oscillator sound, nor can the Minibrute, Basstation2 will fill that gap very nicely.

Kriminal · Post by **Kriminal** » Thu Mar 20, 2014 9:52 pm

Thank you.

thecontrolcentre · Post by **thecontrolcentre** » Thu Mar 20, 2014 9:56 pm

That Yammy looks nice ... how much was it?

Kriminal · Post by **Kriminal** » Thu Mar 20, 2014 10:11 pm

£150.

ghettosynth · Post by **ghettosynth** » Thu Mar 20, 2014 10:12 pm

himalaya wrote:I have the Minibrute and DE Mk1. Have played BassStation 2 at Music Messe last week.
If I had to compliment the Minibrute, I'd choose the Basstation, simply because it will provide all the standard bread & butter analog sounds with ease. It's also very well built.

DE Mk1 is great at whacky effects, but since it can not produce a two-oscillator sound, nor can the Minibrute, Basstation2 will fill that gap very nicely.

This depends a lot on what you expect to get out of a two oscillator sound. The bass station 2 is a DCO based synth. If you want a two DCO sound, then sure, it will do the job. There are some reasons that you might want that. If, on the other hand, you want a two VCO sound, then not only will the bass station not deliver, it's not as useful to integrate because of the DCOs.

Many v/oct synth can be integrated with the mini brute to provide a two vco sound. A microbrute, for example will work nicely. Map pitch and gate from mini to micro, feed audio out from micro back to mix in on the mini. Open the filter on the micro and turn off modulation to the filter. You now have a two oscillator brute.

Now, what you don't get is oscillator sync. I think that arturia missed the boat here and should have provided a sync input. The Dark Energy II does not provide this externally, but does internally so it is trivial to add a jack for both linear FM and Hard sync input.

Now, that's a bit of work, so, I agree it's good to select a two oscillator synth. That said, I've found that the ability to connect synths together dramatically increases their usefulness. The micro/mini brutes are super flexible here and they really invite another similarly useful synth. Things that work against you in this kind of integration are v/hz tuning and no voltage control at all, i.e. DCOs.

I liked the sound of the CS-15 that I had, but, it just never got used because it didn't play well with my other stuff. Semi-modular stuff, even in a limited sense, is so much more useful than synths with limited i/o, and so much less hassle than fully modular stuff.

AtaRaxis · Post by **AtaRaxis** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 5:02 am

I bought a subphatty and mopho kb soon after buying my minibrute trying to fill the gap I imagined was there. I think I feel the same about the subphatty as ghettosynth felt about his cs-15. It's really nice. Great interface, sweet sound, but it sticks out like a sore thumb beside the minibrute/analog 4 tracks. The mopho on the other hand, I feel, blends like oil paint in almost any context I've used it. But owning both the module mopho and the keyboard version I'd only recommend the keys. The module is an engineering failure on it own. Polychained voice it's great, but editing from its front panel is a bizarre frustration. And the keyboard version is, in all honesty, overpriced.
I've heard and read a lot of good things about the Bass station 2. But for me personally, of the three different products I've bought from novation, three of them arrived malfunctioning.
The Dark Energy has always intrigued me and if I'm not mistaken has a very similar filter voice to the mopho.
Also the System 1 from Pittsburg Modular looks like it 'd be very complimentary to a brute. Very clear round voice with a moog-ish filter. This is the next on my list!

bailees7irish · Post by **bailees7irish** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 5:15 am

Kriminal wrote:ive got the MiniBrute, im looking at something to 'go with it'

Dark Energy2, MFB Microwerzg, MicroBrute even.... ideally i wanted a 24dB filter and keyboard, but prices go up a bit for that stuff...the ones i mentioned are under £300 new.

any other suggestions? I want hands on control, not menus/matrix fumbling stuff....

cheers

Ah man, I read the thread title and thought someone was giving away a free analog synth...

ghettosynth · Post by **ghettosynth** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 7:27 am

AtaRaxis wrote:I bought a subphatty and mopho kb soon after buying my minibrute trying to fill the gap I imagined was there. I think I feel the same about the subphatty as ghettosynth felt about his cs-15. It's really nice. Great interface, sweet sound, but it sticks out like a sore thumb beside the minibrute/analog 4 tracks.

I should clarify because I know what you're talking about, and that's not quite it with the CS-15. I felt the way you describe about the MemoryMoog. My god that's a wonderful synth but it always had to be the star of the show. The CS series blends nicely, in fact, it's great for that, but, it's technically annoying. Because it's v/hz and not v/oct it was a pain to interface it with anything but trivial connections, e.g. modulating the filter. Seriously, if you like the CS5, and the lack of interfacing doesn't bother you, keep your eyes open for a CS15, it's a nice synth.

The thing that your sub-phatty and my long gone MemoryMoog have in common is the Moog ladder filter. It's a bit of a beast to tame. I still have one in my Radio Shack MG-1, a charming synth that I just don't want to let go.

The Dark Energy has always intrigued me and if I'm not mistaken has a very similar filter voice to the mopho.

For the Dark Energy 1, this is true. The Dark Energy 1 is based on a CEM3394 synth on a chip. This is a single VCO synth with VCF and VCA all on a single chip. It is the voice used in the SCI-SixTrak and the Akai VX-90, among others, as well as quite a few drum synths. All of the current DSI synths use the PA397 which is really little (some say nothing) more than a CEM3396 in a surface mount package. The CEM3396 was used in many synths, most notably, Oberheim DCO based synths from about 1984 onward. This includes the Matrix 6 and 1000 as well as some others. These aren't exactly the same chips. The 3394 is a true single VCO whereas the 3396 is designed to be the analog part of a two DCO based synth but the filters are very similar. They are what I refer to as "late model CEMS" as they are somewhat different from the earlier CEMS such as the 3320 used in the Prophet 5 rev2,3 and even the CEM3328 as used in the Ensoniq Mirage. The 3396 and 3394 filters aren't identical, but they are quite similar and have that characteristic late model CEM sound. Here late model refers to the period of mid to late eighties where these chips were used in many consumer products.

The thing with these chips is that other than the PA397, which AFAIK, is not accessible to other manufacturers, there are no production level quantities of any CEM chips available anymore. This is why Doepfer had to create the Dark Energy II which is a completely new design and does not have a CEM filter at all. As far as I can tell from looking at the technical manual, it's an SSM2164 VCA based filter. To my ears, it sounds good. It's a modern design and, AFAIK, is not trying to duplicate the CEM filter in any meaningful way.

The CEM filter sound is easy to come by as it is ubiquitous in early mid to late 80s analog synths. Almost anything that cost less than $1500 in the eighties and wasn't made by Roland or Korg probably had a CEM chip inside. Pretty much everything by Akai, Ensoniq, Oberheim, SCI, and many many others. It's really quite challenging to make a CEM synth sound not like a CEM synth, this is especially true for the DCO variants.

Also the System 1 from Pittsburg Modular looks like it 'd be very complimentary to a brute. Very clear round voice with a moog-ish filter. This is the next on my list!

Very nice choice. I agree, that's a nice looking synth in a nice form factor.

Best,
gs

thecontrolcentre · Post by **thecontrolcentre** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 8:00 am

Great info ghettosynth. Thanks.

Kriminal · Post by **Kriminal** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 12:18 pm

Need a mixer now i have 3 synths and 2 drum machines, so just got a "used once" Xenyx 1002 on ebay for £36.

Complimetary Analogue