Tetra... Prophet 08 rack or something else?

[Uncle E]

One could even say that Voyager and Andromeda are in an entirely different world, a different galaxy even

[ghettosynth]

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[Shy]

Here's a little tune I just knocked up. 2 voltage controlled oscillators per voice. MIDI included, so feel free to compare the performance of synths with DCOs.

2VCO
2VCO (no echo)
2VCO MIDI

[Dogboy73]

Listen to this CS70



Yeah there's reverb on that. Duplicate it. Impress me. It's simple, you can play it. Make a video that sounds just like that.

Using Reverb & constant hands on tweaking that this guy does I reckon you could get pretty close with any capable poly synth. But I've a feeling that even if someone did you would still take the same line & that's your right. And whilst I accept that the CS70 sounds great it also seems to me that unless your doing Vangelis impersonations or trying to re-create the Blade Runner theme song the CS70/CS80 can quite easily sound like a set of broken bag pipes if you so much as sneeze on it! The CS80 weighs in at 100KG, which is the same as 5 bags of cement & is notoriously un-reliable. It's the Lamborghini of analogue poly synths - totally impractical, ridiculously expensive & vulgar. I'm not sure there would be a place in my set-up for something like that just so that I could make Blade Runner strings! BTW, Ghetto. You should be commended for the level of detail you've gone into in your explanations in this thread. You're obviously very passionate about this. The level of detail is staggering.

[Dogboy73]

Here's a little tune I just knocked up. 2 voltage controlled oscillators per voice. MIDI included, so feel free to compare the performance of synths with DCOs.

2VCO
2VCO (no echo)
2VCO MIDI

What synth did you use for this BTW?

[Shy]

Forgot to mention, Little Phatty Stage II.

[ghettosynth]

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[Dogboy73]

Here's a little tune I just knocked up. 2 voltage controlled oscillators per voice. MIDI included, so feel free to compare the performance of synths with DCOs.

2VCO
2VCO (no echo)
2VCO MIDI

What synth did you use for this BTW?

Since the midi file is right there, I'd like to hear your tetra play this track.

I'll do that. Actually I might set-up a comparison using the TETR4, my MS2000, Neptune 2 & maybe throw a soft synth in there as well. Hopefully what we will here is 4 quite different results .... otherwise what's the point of having all these different synths?!

[Dogboy73]

The Vermona sounds good to me, but not appreciatively better than the DSI stuff (just going by mp3 samples) so perhaps the subtle difference is lost on me

No, you're correct that the sound isn't significantly better, the Vermona and other VCO synths in its price range just aren't as good as the classics. Even the Little Phatty or ATC-1, though better than the Vermona, aren't on par with a Voyager or Andromeda.

One could even say that Voyager and Andromeda are in an entirely different world, a different galaxy even

Just been reading about the Andromeda & I came accross this;

Alesis Andromeda's fully analog signal path is controlled by a high-speed Motorola Coldfire microprocessor, offering 16-voice polyphony with 16-part multitimbral capability. Alesis Andromeda features two analog oscillators per voice

Microprocessor controlled signal path? Analogue oscillators but with a signal path controlled by a microprocessor. Ghetto, can you explain this? How does this fit into the digitally controlled oscillator points you made? Is this the same thing? Does the fact there's a microprocessor controlling the signal path have any bearing on what the oscillators are doing?


EDIT: Also just found this on Sound on Sound;

Let's get one thing out of the way before I begin. Despite Alesis' claims to the contrary, the Andromeda 16-Voice Real Analogue Synthesizer (as they call it) is not a real analogue synthesizer — at least, not completely. Huge chunks of its architecture are digital, and I'm not only referring to the digital effects, the microprocessor-controlled operating system, or even the memories. No... the controllers in the sound-generation system — the envelopes, the LFOs, and the Sample & Hold — are all digital, as is the oscillator tuning (although not the oscillators themselves). This makes the Andromeda a hybrid analogue/digital synth, much like, for example, the Sequential Prophet T8. However, the signal path is analogue. Alesis has even placed the digital effects section in a side chain. This means that, if you avoid these, the output from the Andromeda remains pure analogue, all the way from the oscillators to the outside world.

Interesting. So does this mean that technically the Andromeda has DCO's (of a sort) as well?

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr01/a ... alesis.asp[/i]

[ghettosynth]

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[Dogboy73]

Interesting. So does this mean that technically the Andromeda has DCO's (of a sort) as well?

Only in the same way that the Prophet 5 has DCOs. In short, no, it does not. It has VCOs that are under digital control. It's the all important V missing from "DCO" that matters.

Thanks again for the detailed explanation. But this is the bit I was confused about. I was thinking that an analogue oscillators that was under digital control constituted a digitally controlled oscillator ...... or do I need to read over the last few pages again!!

[ghettosynth]

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[Dogboy73]

Cool. Thanks again for the detailed explanation.

Now, My Neptune 2 apparently has temperature stabalised VCO's. What are they when they're at home?!

[waveriderarts]

I want to add that I think that this "fully analog signal path" business is completely overrated.

well I read the whole thread and it was a wonderful read.

I myself had a CS-60, Jupiter 4 and lots of other vintage Roland stuff 2 decades ago, used a P5 for 3 months back then, and I agree it has a sound that is mostly unmatched today

but I now have a P8 rack and record with it a lot, its a good color in my palette among other synths... the thing is a P5 or a CS-60 equivalent made today would cost too much for me to own, I bet $10 000 +...

so end of story and thanks to DSI ...and MFB while we're at it

cause I still like what I hear...

but you got me real interested... but I doubt I could build my own modular or synths from discrete components

[ghettosynth]

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