M-Audio Venom Analog Modeling Synthesizer

[f.poce@tiscali.nl]

In fact the Venom is now available at 200$ (correction - 200 EURO, not dollars!).

I bought one some weeks ago. It is a pretty nice machine, in fact having quite nice sculpting features such as ring mod, FM, a nice filter, and plenty of modulation routes. It is absolutely worth all those 200 bucks. No doubt. I really recommend it at this price.

By the way, I am a programmer, and I made a complete editor/control surface for this machine (it is only for Ableton Live / Max for Live, anyway).
The package provides tools for automation, synthesis and preset handling (storage, recall, morphing). Max for Live licence is, of course, required.

You can see a demo/tutorial here:


A synthopia blog on it here as well:
http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2012/ ... eton-live/

Here you can find it.
http://fabriziopoce.com/VenomControl.html

Cheers
Fabrizio//June74
http://fabriziopoce.com

[Ashe37]

I'd like to know where you're seeing it for $200.

[V0RT3X]

Id love to see this in a Desktop version.

[justin3am]

Id love to see this in a Desktop version.

Not likely. inMusic (Numark, Alesis, Akai) bought M-Audio and let go of most (if not all) of the people involved with that project.
I think they'll get rid of all existing stock, then Venom will be no more.

[f.poce@tiscali.nl]

I'd like to know where you're seeing it for $200.

Here for instance (UK/DE/NL...):
http://www.thomann.de/gb/m_audio_venom.htm

[breakmixer]

I'd like to know where you're seeing it for $200.

Here for instance (UK/DE/NL...):
http://www.thomann.de/gb/m_audio_venom.htm

That's 200 Eur not Dollars, which is the equivalent of $255!

It's actually 198 Eur btw!

[f.poce@tiscali.nl]

Sorry, you are completely right! I actually do not know why I wrote the dollar sign.... Maybe wishful thinking... (post above corrected, now)

[breakmixer]

Sorry, you are completely right! I actually do not know why I wrote the dollar sign.... Maybe wishful thinking...

Seems people are getting anxious about the VST editor never showing up! http://www.vyzor.com/support/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=1456


M-audio promised customers a VST editor would follow the release it seems...

never happened, I was looking into this synth at one point...

[f.poce@tiscali.nl]

M-Audio has been kind of dismounted by Avid and then the product line sold to InMusic. Company kind of freeze in this case, so I am not surprise developments have been dropped (such as a VST version of the editor, only standalone for now).

PS: that's also why I made a full editor myself for Ableton Live (in Max for Live). It has been blogged on synthopia a couple of weeks ago:

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2012/ ... eton-live/

It does what the VST should have done. But of course is Ableton Live / Max for Live only.

[mkdr]

Sorry, you are completely right! I actually do not know why I wrote the dollar sign.... Maybe wishful thinking...

Seems people are getting anxious about the VST editor never showing up! http://www.vyzor.com/support/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=1456


M-audio promised customers a VST editor would follow the release it seems...

never happened, I was looking into this synth at one point...

I could make a vst-editor for it



I've actually been looking at aquiring a Venom. Would it be good as a main keyboard controller? Someone who has one, please comment.

[K-Bee]

I've actually been looking at aquiring a Venom. Would it be good as a main keyboard controller? Someone who has one, please comment.

At €199 I'm seriously thinking about getting this. I was considering a Roland Gaia and it's probably a better synth altogether but at €666 it's over 3 times the Venom. I doubt it's 3 times as good

Loads of Venom reviews on the net.
As a whole people seem to love the sound but complain about the lack of editing capabilities on the actual keyboard itself. Also, the keybed and build shouldn't be all that but a with 49 keyboard weighing 4.6kg that's to be expected. However, I own a DX7 and a Kurzweil PC3x so I'm used to heavy machinery and quality builds so the question remains whether the Venom is just ridiculously bad in this area. No shops carry it in my 'hood so I haven't tried it. If actually playing it sucks, I'm opting out.
Who am I kidding....I'm getting one. Must be the cheapest hardware synth currently available! The fact that I don't have room for it is a minor thing. The wall has to go then

[JimmiG]

I've actually been looking at aquiring a Venom. Would it be good as a main keyboard controller? Someone who has one, please comment.

At €199 I'm seriously thinking about getting this. I was considering a Roland Gaia and it's probably a better synth altogether but at €666 it's over 3 times the Venom. I doubt it's 3 times as good

Loads of Venom reviews on the net.
As a whole people seem to love the sound but complain about the lack of editing capabilities on the actual keyboard itself.

It has certainly got more than 3x the number of knobs, sliders, buttons and lights

That's the deal-breaker for me. A hardware synth that actually *requires* a software editor to access anything but basic parameters...might as well use a softsynth then.

Both the Gaia and the Venom are probably equally plastic-y. I can tell you that the Gaia has a very light, springy, non-weighted keyboard. The knobs feel surprisingly good though. They're rubberized and quite large (not Minimoog-sized).

[K-Bee]

oops!! just ordered a Venom! I have no will or mind of my own!
As for the plastic thing...yes might feel as a toy but honestly anything but anything but stage pianos do do these days. And the price is unbeatable, even if they stop supporting the synth and updates for the editor. Nothing lasts forever you know

I'll get back to you all in a few days when it arrives and I've fiddled about a bit.

That's the deal-breaker for me. A hardware synth that actually *requires* a software editor to access anything but basic parameters...might as well use a softsynth then.

I agree to some extent, but it's not like there is no editing possibilities whatsoever on the board - not everything is possible of course but i'll be interested in seeing how much you can alter the patch by using the knobs/sliders alone. Not in theory but in practical terms. That's what matters to me.
I should mention that there are quite a few free patches available, for instance:
http://www.junodownload.com/plus/2011/0 ... dio-venom/
and
http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2012/ ... nthesizer/

[Flux302]

I just got one like new off ebay as an impulse buy... I gotta say after reading the forums over at http://www.vyzor.com/support/ .... mannnn looks like they led the users on for over a year telling em "by the end of the month" pretty much every month for over a year. then in august they just went silent..... pretty shitty if u ask me. so this would be false advertising right? I mean they promised a vst editor that never came.

[breakmixer]

I just got one like new off ebay as an impulse buy... I gotta say after reading the forums over at http://www.vyzor.com/support/ .... mannnn looks like they led the users on for over a year telling em "by the end of the month" pretty much every month for over a year. then in august they just went silent..... pretty shitty if u ask me. so this would be false advertising right? I mean they promised a vst editor that never came.

what's it like?