KVR Audio

zerocrossing · Post by **zerocrossing** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 4:11 pm

Uncle E wrote:
JCJR wrote:Fizmo came out when I wasn't doing hardly any playing, too busy programming. Judging by youtube videos, perhaps it is not the ideal axe to tote to a saturday night VFW shindig, though after Iraq maybe VFW's have a different character nowadays.

Maybe some of these old gadgets are like artists unappreciated in their time, only to be cherished in retrospect after the artist is long dead. Maybe even Edsels are better appreciated today than when they were new.
Speaking of synth that should just die, it's good to hear that it's literally happening to Fizmo's. They really weren't very good, even compared to the Supernova's and CS1X's that came out around the same time. The Fizmo only gained a following because it was blown out for extremely cheap at the end of its life cycle, all of a sudden it became a nice budge alternative for people who couldn't afford better synths.

Well, I disagree with that statement. Sure, the Fizmo, like the TR-909, gained a following because it became something affordable, but saying it "wasn't very good" and comparing it to a CS1X makes me think you didn't get the Fizmo at all. Not that everyone should like it, but how would you explain CS1X's going for $200 on eBay and Fizmo's fetch over $1000? I remember thinking the Fizmo was super cool in it's time, but even at it's blow out price I couldn't afford it. I wish someone would do a plug in version like they did with the SQ80.

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 9:46 pm

ghettosynth wrote:If an XT showed up on my radar cheap, I'd buy it, but I think that those days are gone.

Yeah, I looked up XTK's after my last post and was floored to find people getting $2,000+ for them. Now I REALLY wish I'd held on to mine!

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 9:51 pm

zerocrossing wrote:Well, I disagree with that statement. Sure, the Fizmo, like the TR-909, gained a following because it became something affordable, but saying it "wasn't very good" and comparing it to a CS1X makes me think you didn't get the Fizmo at all.

Bingo! I have a VFX and an SQ80, and I've probably bought and sold more Microwaves than any other KVR member, so I do get these kinds of digital wavetable scanning synths. I just don't get the Fizmo at all.

Not that everyone should like it, but how would you explain CS1X's going for $200 on eBay and Fizmo's fetch over $1000?

Mental retardation. I mean that literally, not euphemistically.

ghettosynth · Post by **ghettosynth** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 10:26 pm

moho · Post by **moho** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 11:02 pm

I'm definitely a koolaid drinker wish I'd never sold my mirage, terrible sampler but fantastic synth with a speaker destroying filter (literally as I found out) and who doesn't love programing in hexadecimal.

ghettosynth · Post by **ghettosynth** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 11:11 pm

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 1:04 am

Speaking cool outdated samplers, I've still got an Akai S612, which was the first sampler I ever loved (I had an S-50 before that but it was garbage). That's still the most fun hardware sampler, IMO. I used to have the disk drive but it's so easy to sample with that I never bothered saving anything. It's a great little idea machine.

ghettosynth · Post by **ghettosynth** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 1:58 am

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 2:11 am

ghettosynth wrote:I used to have one, if you have one of the compatible akai synths, VX90 or AX73, and the custom cable, you can run the sampler voices through the synths' CEM filter chip.

That sounds fun. I wish I liked those Akai synths more. For those who don't know (I think you do already), the S612 already has a built-in analog filter but it's not resonant.

I've always dreamed about an Emulator III and its analog filters (the secret to "Homework") but it's not nearly as fun as an S612 is.

ghettosynth · Post by **ghettosynth** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 2:44 am

dcfac73 · Post by **dcfac73** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 1:57 pm

In the case of the 808, it's in a stage of resurgance currently. So I don't think people will stop using those sounds anytime soon. I happen to love the 808 and 909, and never tire of hearing them. They have a timeless, almost primal feel to them. They are the Beatles and Rolling Stones of drum machines.
If anyone doesn't like them, then use the skip button. No use complaining.

ghettosynth · Post by **ghettosynth** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 3:58 pm

aciddose · Post by **aciddose** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 4:25 pm

I actually really like the 909 in samba and jazz. I think all the sounds are far more suited to that genre vs. how they're used in electronic music.

zerocrossing · Post by **zerocrossing** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 5:09 pm

aciddose wrote:I actually really like the 909 in samba and jazz. I think all the sounds are far more suited to that genre vs. how they're used in electronic music.

Funny you should mention that. When I worked in a music store in the mid 80s, I had a guy who told me in very broken english that he was "the king of merengue." The king of merengue wasn't hip to how to program his 909, so he used to come in and give me a few bucks to program in his beats for him. Good times.

zerocrossing · Post by **zerocrossing** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 5:28 pm

ghettosynth wrote:
Uncle E wrote:
zerocrossing wrote:Well, I disagree with that statement. Sure, the Fizmo, like the TR-909, gained a following because it became something affordable, but saying it "wasn't very good" and comparing it to a CS1X makes me think you didn't get the Fizmo at all.
Bingo! I have a VFX and an SQ80, and I've probably bought and sold more Microwaves than any other KVR member, so I do get these kinds of digital wavetable scanning synths. I just don't get the Fizmo at all.

Not that everyone should like it, but how would you explain CS1X's going for $200 on eBay and Fizmo's fetch over $1000?
Mental retardation. I mean that literally, not euphemistically.
Ensoniq always had a strange and loyal following. I've ranted in the past about this a bit and how people that buy into them don't like it when you don't drink the koolaid. The thing that the Fizmo does that no other fully digital ENSONIQ wavetable/sampling synth did before it , other than the knobs, is to incorporate resonant filters in the synth engine. One of my "synth guys", from whom I purchased a lot of used synths, and a scant few new ones, kept trying to convince me that having a resonant filter in the effects engine was just as good. He was quite disappointed when I didn't buy an ASR/TS anything but went with a K2k instead.

So, put the loyal following together with the knobs, the resonant filters, and the fact that most of them are dead, and you have your answer. Try to tell an Ensoniq lover that Transwaves were just a renaming of something else and they look at you like your crazy, "No, Transwaves are unique to Ensoniq."

Well, I don't know if I'm one of the strange and loyal... definitely strange, but I sold my last Ensoniq keyboard, an SQ80 a week after I bought it. I quickly realized it wasn't "all that, nor a bag of chips." I'm fine with the plug in for when I want "that" sound.

But I do sometimes crave my old TS-10. Maybe it's just nostalgia. It was really the first expensive keyboard I owned (though I did previously own a 106 with my brother). I thought the cold Ensoniq sound was really great when put up against my bass and guitar.

http://www.zerocrossing.net/MP3s/A_Cata ... quests.mp3

That's 100% TS-10, guitar and bass recorded into a cheap Korg soundcard. All the parts guitar parts are done real time and looped with a Lexicon JamMan (the original)

To me, the Fizmo was that sound taken to the extreme. Weird and cold. No resonant filter, but it ain't that kind of joint, as the kids say.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBt15k90lZo

If you're looking for warm and phat, please move on. If you want cold, oddly burbling pads, then I think the Fizmo does deserve it's place in history. Would I ever pay $1000 for one? No... but if I won the lottery (note, I do not advocate playing the lottery, nor do I play it myself) I would probably get one and have it modded to fix the power issue. The CS1x? Not worth the shipping it would cost to buy one... hell, if someone was selling one locally it wouldn't be worth what the charge on my car would cost. Software VA had bested everything the CS1x did ten times over. Is there a good Fizmo emulation? I've not heard one.

Will the 808 and 909 ever just die?